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The Berlin Airlift
In June 1948 the U.S. and Britain announced establishing a new currency into West Berlin. This immediately caused economic chaos. The Soviets responded on June 24 by cutting off all road, rail and canal links between West Germany and West Berlin. This was the start of the Berlin Blockade. U.S and British planes managed to supply to people with supplies by plane. This was the Berln Airlift. -
Korean War
Korea was occupied by Japan until the end of WWII. After the end of WWII, Korea was divided by the U.S. to the south and Russia/China to the North similar to what happened in Germany. On June 25, 1950, the North invaded the south pushing all the way to the tip of the peninsula in a matter of months. -
Sputnik Crisis
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite. Although Sputnik was itself harmless, its orbiting intensified the continual threat the United States watched for from the Soviet Union. -
U-2 Incident
The Soviet Union shot down a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane and called it an aggressive act. The U.S. denied Soviet claims that the pilot had stated that his mission was to collect Soviet intelligence data. The Soviet leader at the time declared that the Soviet Union would not take part in a summit conference with the U.S., Britain, and France unless the U.S. immediately stopped flights over Soviet territory and apologized. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
On October 14, 1962, a U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba discovered nuclear missile sites under construction. These missiles would have been capable of quickly reaching the United States. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba and all U.S. military forces to DEFCON 3. -
Vietnam War
The French could no longer control Vietnam so Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam decided to form a communist country. The fighting escalated until in 1968 there were about 550,000 Allied troops there assisting the south. The U.S. made very little progress in Vietnam because they couldn’t seem to adapt to the fighting style. Eventually, the cost and the death toll turned Americans totally against the war and on April 30, 1975 the last American troops left Vietnam by helicopter -
Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, and to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. -
Soviet Afghan War
The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. It was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against multi-national rebel groups called the mujahideens. -
Perestroika and Glasnost
When Mikhail S. Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1985, he launched his nation on a dramatic new course. His dual program of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) introduced huge changes in economic practice, internal affairs and international relations. -
Berlin Wall Falls
The new leader, Egon Krenz, decided against violence and instead ordered a relaxation of travel restrictions to the West in order to try and defuse rising tensions.Word soon spread and people gathered at the border crossings. Although the guards had no orders to do so, they reopened the borders with the rest of Germany, allowing people to cross freely. The wall ceased to function from that day forward, and people were soon chipping away at it, eventually knocking it down.
