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Berlin Bloackade and Airlift
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift was an international crisis that arose from an attempt by the Soviet Union, in 1948–49, to force the Western Allied powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) to abandon their post-World War II jurisdictions in West Berlin. -
Korean War
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. -
Space Race
This is where the US and Soviets had an intense rivalry about space and who can get the farthest first. Soviets started with the lead with Sputnik 1, however when the kept competing it actually brought them together and made the International Space Station. -
U-2 Reconnaissance Plane
This is where the US’s CIA had a plane trying to spy on the Soviets and the Soviets shot it down and this lead to an embarrassing conference between US and Soviets.An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month. -
Bay of Pigs
More than a thousand Cuban exiles stormed the beaches at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba, intending to ignite an uprising that would overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. This week, we look back at the events that unfolded and at the key players whose covert performances played out for all the world to see -
Reagan visits the Wall
The "tear down this wall" speech was not the first time Reagan had addressed the issue of the Berlin Wall. In a visit to West Berlin in June 1982, he'd stated "I'd like to ask the Soviet leaders one question. Why is the wall there?'', and in 1986, 25 years after the construction of the wall, in response to West German newspaper Bild-Zeitung asking when he thought the wall could be "torn down", Reagan said, "I call upon those responsible to dismantle it today. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. In a TV address on October 22, 1962, President John Kennedy notified Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Srategic Arms Limitation Talks, negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union that were aimed at curtailing the manufacture of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The first agreements, known as SALT I and SALT II, were signed by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1972 and 1979, respectively, and were intended to restrain the arms race in strategic. -
Soviets invade Afghanistan
As midnight approached, the Soviets organized a massive military airlift into Kabul, involving an estimated 280 transport aircraft and three divisions of almost 8,500 men each. Within a few days, the Soviets had secured Kabul, deploying a special assault unit against Tajberg Palace. Elements of the Afghan army loyal to Hafizullah Amin put up a fierce, but brief resistance. -
Reunited Germany
This where East and west Germany reunited, East Germany was no longer Communist, and this was evidence that the War Saw Pact’s days were numbered. He promised East Germans blooming landscapes and a new western-style life. Not everyone in the western world wanted a united Germany. Great Britain and France were opposed because they thought Germany would become too powerful.
