Arms Race

There was a historical period of time following World War 1 where many countries strived to build up there own militaries. The example of this during the Cold War would be the Nuclear Arms Race. This race was mostly between the USA and the USSR. These were the two countries that had the most tension. There was a lot of contreversey about the arms race. It was bad.

Modern Day Analysis

In March of this year, President Barack Obama met with Russia's president to reduce the number of nuclear arms that these countrys have. This is an example of Cold War tension that we see today becuase it shows that there are still nuclear tensions between the USA and the USSR. It shows that there is still progress that needs to be made after the cold war was over to make sure that we are going to be at peace.

The U.S.S.R.

The United Soviet Socialist Republics was a communist country that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. They were in World War 2 from 1939 to 1945. They were allies with America. Then they were in the Cold War with America from 1945 to 1991. The Cold War ended when the USSR in 1991. The USSR then became known as Russia and the Cold War was over.

Cold War Summary

The Cold war was an extremely long war. It lasted from 1947 to 1991. Thats how long it was. There was not direct fighting between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Even though there was no direct fighting there was still alot of proxy wars. There was many different parts to the Cold War, like the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race, the Nuclear Arms Race, Berlin Crisis, and Vietnam. Russia's government was Communist, and America wanted to contain them. The Cold War finally ended when the U.S.S.R. collapsed in 1991.

The Korean War

The Korean war began on June 25, 1950. It began when North Korea crossed the 38th parallel, and invaded South Korea. The war ended July 27th 1953, when the two countries signed a treaty. This caused a stalemate. This war used strategies that were used both in World War 1 and in World War 2. They used swift infantry attacks followed by bombing raids. This war was the first military conflict of the cold war. The cold war tensions continued even after this though.

38th Parellel

The 38th parallel was an imaginary line that separates North and South Korea. It was established after the surrender of Japan in 1945 after World War 2. It was established by Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel. The 38th parallel is a circle of lattitude that is 38 degrees above the earths' equitorial plane. This is also known as the division of Korea. On June 25, 1950 North Korean Forces invaded South Korea. They crossed the 38th parallel. The 38th parallel still exists today.

The Space Race

The space race was a very heated competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during the cold war. The space race began on October 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, which was a satellite that orbited around earth. The Soviet Union was the first country to ever do this. The United States was not able to do this until many years later, and had many failed attempts at satellites. They had their first succesful satellite in 1958. A Soviet cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space when he entered orbit in the Soviet Space ship Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. This day is now a holiday in Russia and in many other Eastern bloc countries. The Russians were the first country to send a human into space. Many people feel that the Russians won the space race.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis took place in September of 1962. It is also known as the Caribean Crisis. In Cuba it is called the October Crisis. The United States discovered that the Soviet Union had nuclear missiles positioned in Cuba. The tensions were highest October 27, 1962, known as black saturday. The United States discovered the nukes being built on October 14, 1962.The crisis was over 14 days later on October 28, 1962. President John F. Kennedy reached an agreement with the Soviet Union to get rid of the nuclear missiles in exchange for a no-invasion agreement. There were also nuclear missiles positioned in Turkey too. The last missiles were flown out of Turkey soon after April 24, 1963.