-
Period: to
Berlin Airlift
The crisis started on June 24, 1948,
when Soviet forces blockaded rail, road,
and water access to Allied-controlled
areas of Berlin. The United States and
United Kingdom responded by airlifting
food and fuel to Berlin from Allied air
bases in western Germany. The crisis
ended on May 12, 1949, when Soviet
forces lifted the blockade on land
access to western Berlin. -
Period: to
Korean War
The Korean War was fought between
North Korea and South Korea from
1950 to 1953. The war began on June
25, 1950, when North Korea invaded
South Korea following clashes along
the border and rebellions in South
Korea. -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was created on May
14, 1955, immediately after the accession of West Germany to the Alliance. The Soviet Union formed this
alliance as a counterbalance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a collective security alliance
concluded between the United States, Canada and Western European nations in 1949. The Warsaw Pact supplemented existing agreements. It was a collective defense treaty. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a conflict in
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from
November 1, 1955, to the fall of Saigon
on April 30, 1975. It was the second of
the Indochina Wars and was officially
fought between North Vietnam and
South Vietnam. Alleged unprovoked
attacks on two U.S. destroyers by North
Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of
Tonkin on August 5, 1964, is what
provoked this war. -
Sputnik
The USSR rocketed to the lead in the
Cold War's "Space Race" with the
launch of Sputnik, a basketball-sized
satellite that became the first manmade
object to orbit the Earth. On October 4,
1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the
first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. -
Cuban Missile Crises
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October
1962 was a direct and dangerous
confrontation between the United
States and the Soviet Union during the
Cold War and was the moment when
the two superpowers came closest to
nuclear conflict. -
Moon Landing
Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight
that first landed humans on the Moon.
Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar
module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the
Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20,
1969. Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz"
Aldrin were the first of 12 human beings
to walk on the Moon. -
Destruction of Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War
began to thaw across Eastern Europe,
the spokesman for East Berlin's
Communist Party announced a change
in his city's relations with the West.
Starting at midnight that day, he said,
citizens of the GDR were free to cross
the country's borders.