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Official start of the Cold War
The United States was trying to stop the spread of communism and start the spread of democracy. At the time, the Soviet Union had a communist government. -
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Events of the Cold War
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Bay of Pigs
In 1961, the U.S. tried to invade Soviet ruled Cuba. This invasion was called the Bay of Pigs. The invasion was very unorganized and unsuccessful for the U.S. The goal of the invasion was to overthrow the Cuban dictator, Castro, but all it did was increase friction between the U.S. and Cuba. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The U.S. and USSR came very close to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. For 13 days the world watched and waited as the US and USSR were on the brink of nuclear war. Both countries had massive amounts of nuclear weapons, but they were never used. -
Collapse of Soviet Union economy
The economy of the Soviet Union had many issues. One example was that during the middle of the 1980's about seventy percent of the industrial output of the Soviet Union was going to the military. This caused severe shortages of industrial goods that were needed for the rest of the economy and was a factor toward the collapse of the economy. -
Falling of the Berlin Wall
In November of 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and the border between East and West Germany was opened. After the Berlin Wall came down, East and West Germany reunified into a single German state. One of America's main goals of the Cold War was to put an end to the Berlin Wall. -
End of the Cold War
In 1991 the US and the USSR improved relations with eachother and the Cold War finally came to and end.