The Cold War
Wars everywere, first WWI and then WWII, if that wasent enough now lets have a Cold War. The Cold War was a conflict within the United States and the Soviet Union. They were fighting for poewer as well as for territory.
Summary of the Cold War...
The Cold War was a conflict between the USA and the USSR. In other words what this means is that there was a fight for power between the Democratic party ,which was US and then the Communists which were the Soviets. This war was really memorable for both of them. There were many new inventions, progress in both and new ideas.
The Cold War was a time when everyone was really afraid. Specially in the US they impemented security measures in order for them to be able to leave the city in case there was an atomic or hydrogen bomb dropped into the country. One of the many things that they did was that they had a program made by the government to teach children what to do in case of a bomb to hit the country. Many videos were made , but a really famous one was called "Duck, and Cover". Another Fact about the cold war new inovations were that the highways in the US were eventually a cause of this war. The governmet as well as the military belived that if there was a problem and they were hit they could escape really easy with the new highwas system. That is why is was bult. (Shmoop, The 1950's)
The Arms Race
Another thing that they both fought for in the Cold War was who could build the greatest and most powerful weapon. They did this because of protection. By protection what s meant is that if the other country has more weapons or the same amount they would not attack. That was another reason why they mass produced weapons, for the other country to be really scared that if they decided to use one weapon they knew that at any time the other could retailiate with a much larger weapon. This was alsp known as the nuclear space race, because they were competting on who could build and produce nuclear weapons that in the long run desmantle the other country.
What happened with the Soviet Union was tht they were investing 27% of their total gross national product on the military, because of this ther economy started to shatter and later on it gave it and end to the Cold War.
The start of the Arms Race was in August 29, 1949, this was when the USSR tested its first atomic bomb. The entire world was really scared because they never belived thet the soviets would be able to do this, and therfore the Arms race began. The US after looking at this decided it was time to mass produce all of their weapons and began to stock pile all their weapons.
After looking at how the USSR tested its firs atomic bomb the US decided to create a Hydrogen bomb. They succesfully tested it in 1952 and following up the Soviets developed one too and it was tested in 1953. Another thing that both of the countries were working on were Ballistic Missils. This missils were able to be launched from many many miles away.
MAD another important factor of the arms race, this term means mutual assured destruction, both countries had to be able to assure this. They needed to always be building new weapons and developing new technologies in order to defend the country.
Other countries involved: Great Britain, France and The Peoples Republic of China.
Interesting facts about the arms race:
- The Manhattan Project was a top secret project that not even VP Truman knew about it. In the other hand Stalin the Soviet Union leader had spies infiltrated in the country and the project that he knew about it.
-It is estimated that by 1961 there were enough nuclear bombs built to destroy the world. Shmoop, The 1950's)
"Duck and COver"
The Space Race
The Space race was in the long run something really good to had happen in history. As the title states it the US and the USSR were in a fight for powe, not only power but who was the one that will get to the moon first. Sadly the USSR got to the moon first because of there technological aspects.
It was a cometition of who could get to space firts, but not only that it was also a competition on whom could and who had the best technology to get there.
The Space race began right after Worl War II had ended, both countries belived that in order to have a good equiped and large military they had to have progress within rocket making, as a result both of them decided to get scientists so they could begin with there work.
In 1955 both countries announced that they would place orbits in space and soon after in October 4, 1957 the Soviets had a lead in the space race. They sucessfuly placed a satelite and shortly four moths later the US placed the first satelite.
There was a program apart form apollo program called the Gemini Program the US launched the Gemini program which would develop technology for use on the Apollo spacecraft. In the Gemini program the Americans learned how to change the orbit of a spacecraft, they spent a significant time in the orbit to see how the human body would be affected. They also went on the first space walk.
The end of the Space race was because the Gemini and Apollo programs the US had taken a huge lead in the Space Race. In July of 1975 with relations between the US and the Soviet Union beginning to have a better understanding, the first US Soviet joint mission occurred with the Apollo-Soyez project. Because of this joint mission the Space Race was effectively over.
Interesting Facts about the Space Race:
-"The Russians called their space pilots cosmonauts meaning "sailors of the universe". The Americans were called astronauts meaning "star sailors".
-Before Kennedy was assassinated, the Russians and the Americans were discussing working together to put a man on the Moon. After he was killed, the Russians backed off the joint venture.
The US would likely have had the first satellite in orbit if they had been allowed to use military rockets from the start. However, Eisenhower was worried he would be called a warmonger if he used military rockets for space. He told the scientists they must use research rockets instead.
The Space Race was not a long series of successes. Both sides had plenty of failures including crashes and explosions that resulted in the death of several astronauts." ( Technological Solutions, Inc, The Cold War)
The video Duck and Coer was a video made to help the citizens in the USA to know the safety orocedures that had to be taken into consideration at that time. This video was done by the governmnet. The concept of this video is to let know the people that if an atomic bomb would hit the area they had to "duck and cover".
The end of the Cold War began in 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev assumed power over the Soviet Union. No one belived the revolution that this man would bring and because of that he instituded many policies that would eventually make the country fall appart. Another reason why the Cold War ended was because of the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. Going back to Mikhail Gorbachev reforms, he decided on impossing this reforms in order to make the country progress, in terms of social and economic gain. The end of the Cold War ment many things for the Soviets, as well as for the US.
Shmoop, The 1950's)
End of the Cold War. 1945 -> 1991