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Soviet Satellite States
The 8th of May is the date of German surrender near the end of WWII. There is no definite date for the Soviet satellite states, but all of them came about due to Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe following WWII. Before pulling out, the Soviet regime shaped the governments of many eastern European countries into communist puppets, where Stalin controlled leadership and media. Thus began the Cold War pattern of spreading influence by aligning a weaker country's government to your own. -
People's Republic of China
After a bloody civil war, Mao's communist People's Republic of China declared themselves a country, having driven Chiang's nationalist Republic of China onto the island of Taiwan. China slowly became a major communist influence in the world and a huge boon to the Soviet Union's efforts in the Cold War. China is the reason why the US still occupies Japan and has presence in Taiwan and South Korea, and why the US struggled to make a dent in the Korean and Vietnam wars. -
Korean War
The Korean War is thought to be between North and South Korea, but it was in fact between two larger parties. The United States and multiple UN states supported the South while communist nations China and the Soviet Union backed the North. This war was signature of a type of the indirect fighting that categorized most battles between superpowers in the Cold War. In later wars, such as in Vietnam and Afghanistan, conflicts would typically be fought by funding and discreetly supporting sides. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was, like the Korean and Afghanistan wars, a conflict fought between foreign powers supporting local sides of the conflict. Much like how the U.S. supplied Mujahadeen rebels in Afghanistan years later, the Soviets backed the Vietcong. Both had the same effect in keeping each side in check. The war signified the extent each country was willing to go for the sake of Cold War politics and the influence that their respective ideologies could have in world events. -
R-7 Semyorka
The R-7 was the first ICBM (nuclear missile that can be fired extremely long distances), and was first successfully tested by the Soviet Union. This not only accentuated fears of nuclear war, but also led to the initial Soviet advantage in the space race. 2 months after its test, an R-7 was used to launch Sputnik 1, the first manmade object ever launched into Earth orbit. -
Sputnik 1
Sputnik was an artificial satellite launched into orbit by the Soviet Union, the first ever by humankind. It marked the beginning of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union and marked a major factor in the escalation of the Cold War. -
U2 Incident
CIA pilot Gary Powers was shot down by Soviet missiles, causing an international incident. It was quickly determined that Gary Powers had been gathering information on military bases, and he was sentenced to the Soviet prison system for espionage. This type of event was signature of the atmosphere of the cold war--where rather than direct fighting, the United States and the Soviet Union favored covert means against each other rather than full on war. -
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space and signaled the next step of the Soviet Space Program just 4 years after the launch of Sputnik 1. Gagarin was yet another wake-up call to the United States, whose space program was still struggling to catch up to the Soviets. It signaled a sense of national pride for the Soviet Union, a proclamation that they were still highly relevant and still a dangerous rival to the United States during the Cold War. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
In April 1961, the CIA sent a brigade of trained Cuban exiles in an attempt to invade Cuba. The invasion failed, and the incident became a public embarassment for the United States during the Cold War. With the failure, Cuba latched further onto the Soviet Union and became a major threat to United States security during the Cold War, particularly during the Cuban missile crisis that took place a year later. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962, an American U2 aircraft obtained evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. This spurred an international incident that ended when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for US assurance that they would attempt another invasion of Cuba as they had during the Bay of Pigs invasion a year earlier. This is agreed upon to be the closest the U.S. and the Soviet Union ever got in starting a nuclear war, and was a period of extreme tension worldwide as a result. -
Apollo 11 Moon Landing
In the summer of 1969, the United States landed a Lunar Lander carrying two men, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin who were the first men in human history to walk on the moon. Apollo 11 marked the end of the space race against the Soviet Union and a major blow to the Soviet morale and their economy. Not only had the Soviets lost the will to undertake their own lunar landing, but the expenditure of their space program had severely crippled the Soviet economy, hastening their collapse in 1991. -
PRC Replaced ROC in the UN
Initially, the People's Republic of China was not recognized by the UN due to the U.S.'s influence in the security council. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. and the Soviets momentarily relaxed pressure on each other. In that atmosphere, the U.S. looked at the benefit with opening relations with a rising economic power such as the PRC. Furthermore, it represented the loosening hold the Soviets had on Mao's China, if ever it had existed in any significant capacity. -
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan mirrors the US invasion of Vietnan, as well as the more contemporary US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. The intention was to secure a communist-friendly government in the region, similar to the puppet system that existed in the Eastern Bloc. Instead, the war dragged on for 10 years, irreversibly damaging the Soviet economy and severely damaging their international repuation. The USSR dissolved in as few as 2 years after pulling out of Afghan soil. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
After a long series of demonstrations, the East German government gradually ceased its efforts to prevent emmigration and travel out of the country, ending in the largely symbolic destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reuinification of Germany a year later. The Berlin Wall had stood as a symbol of communist power in Eastern Europe, and its fall signaled a disentigration of Soviet influence, as well as the nation's eventual collapse in 1991. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
Near the end of 1991, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved by Russian president Boris Yeltsin after the resigning of Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. The dissolution of the USSR signaled the final end of the Cold War after years, even decades of Soviet decline. Even in the following years, Russia and its former satellite states suffered massive economic downturn, though the legacy of the Soviet Union and the Cold War manifests culturally, historically and technologically to this day.
