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NATO
The US and 11 other Western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in fear that Communism would be expanding. The Soviet Union and other Communist nations in Eastern Europe -
Space Race
World War II was ending but there was still a lot of tension between the US and the Soviets. Each power was trying to prove its technology superiority by exploring space.The US and the Soviets were both creating rocket technology to send animals, humans, and satellites to space. -
Sputnik
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the worlds first artificial satellite. Sputnik weighed 184 pounds and traveled at 18,000 miles an hour. Americans that were able to see and hear it would observe in awe and fear. The year after it launched, Sputnik deteriorated and burned up in the atmosphere. -
U-2 Incident
The USSR shot down and American spy plane and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, because he was in Soviet air space. They sentenced Powers to 10 years of prison, but was released after two years to because of the first ever "spy swap". This incident raised the tensions between the Soviets and the US. -
Berlin Wall
The Communist government of East Germany started to build a concrete and barbed wire wall between East and West Berlin. The Eastern Germans created this because they didn't want the Western "fascists" to enter East Germany. Berlin was the gateway between the two, so it needed to be blocked up. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Leaders of the US and the Soviet Union partook in a 13-day political and military standoff over the instillation of the Soviet missiles on Cuba, only 90 miles away from US shores. President John Kennedy announced that he decided to blockade around Cuba and make it clear we were prepared to use military force if necessary. It was a fear that this would start nuclear warfare, but instead, the Soviets removed the Cuban missiles in exchange for the US to promise to not invade Cuba.
