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KOREAN WAR
The Korean War (1950-1953) began when the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea. As Kim Il-sung's North Korean army, armed with Soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea, the United States came to South Korea's aid. -
SPUTNIK CRISIS
The launch and orbit of Sputnik 1 suggested that the Soviet Union had made a substantial leap forward in technology, which was interpreted as a serious threat to US national security, which spurred the US to make considerable federal investments in research and development, education, and national security. -
U-2 INCIDENT
The U-2 incident was a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union in 1960 and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. -
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
The Cuban Missle Crisis was a major confrontation in 1962 that almost brought the United States and the soviet union close to war over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles in Cuba, 90 miles close to the US -
SOVIET AFGHAN WAR
The Soviet Afghanistan War was fought between Afghanistan rebels called the Mujahideen and the Soviet-supported Afghanistan government. The United States supported the Afghanistan rebels in order to try and overthrow the communist government and to prevent the spread of communism. -
PERESTROIKA AND GLASNOST
Within his first few years as general secretary of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev instituted the policies of glasnost ("openness") and perestroika ("restructuring"), which opened the door to criticism and change. These were revolutionary ideas in the stagnant Soviet Union and would ultimately destroy it. -
BERLIN WALL FALLS
It was on 9 November 1989, five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, that the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled. East German leaders had tried to calm mounting protests by loosening the borders, making travel easier for East Germans. -
BERLIN AIRLIFT
It was on 9 November 1989, five days after half a million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest, that the Berlin Wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbled. East German leaders had tried to calm mounting protests by loosening the borders, making travel easier for East Germans. -
NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY
Opened for signature in 1968, the Treaty entered into force in 1970. On 11 May 1995, the Treaty was extended indefinitely. A total of 191 States have joined the Treaty, including the five nuclear-weapon States. -
VIETNAM WAR
The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
