MR.

MCCASKILL

The
Cold
War

Setting the Stage

During World War II, the USA and the Soviet Union

fought on the same side.

But soon after the war, they became suspicious of
each other.
The USA was capitalist and the USSR was
communist.
For the next 40 years the two fought a war of words
and threats that became the Cold War.

Communism Spreads
By the end of WW II, the Soviet Army had moved

into Germany.
After the war, the Soviet Union began to help set up
more Communist countries in Eastern Europe.

Taking Sides
Countries like the US and Britain grew worried that

the USSR wanted to control all of Europe.

In 1949 Western countries formed NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty Organization).

All the members agreed to defend each other if the Soviets

attacked (like alliances).

In 1955, the USSR and Communist countries did the

same, called the Warsaw Pact.

Germany gets divided

At the end of WW II, Germany was divided into two

primary zones.
The eastern zone was controlled by the USSR.
The western zones were controlled by the USA,
Britain, & France.
To stop people from traveling back and forth and to
keep the sides divided, the Soviets built a huge wall in
Berlin.

Anyone from the east who tried to escape was shot!

Crisis in Cuba
During the Cold War, both sides built up huge

supplies of weapons.
In 1962, the US discovered the USSR was planning
to use Cuba as a base for missiles.
This was the closest we got to actual war with the
USSR.
However, neither side wanted a nuclear war.
After a week, the Soviets were persuaded to back
down.

Korea and Vietnam

The USA and the USSR never actually fought each

other during the Cold War.

However, both sides sent weapons and troops to
support Communist and Capitalist who were fighting
each other in different parts of the world.
The main places this happened was Korea and
Vietnam.

Space Race
For thousands of years people dreamed of exploring

space.
In the 1930s space became possible with the
invention of the rocket.
Once the Cold War began the USA and USSR
competed fiercely to be the first country to send a
rocket into space.

Satellites in space
In October 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik 1.

This was the 1st man-made object to go into space.

Today objects like this are called satellites.

People in space
In 1961, Yuri

Gagarin became
the first person
to travel into
space.
During his
flight Gagarin
made one
complete orbit
of the Earth.
He was later
treated like a
hero in the
Soviet Union.

Flying to the Moon

In the 1960s the US was losing and became desperate to

change this.
John F. Kennedy announced a daring plan to put
American astronauts on the moon.
In 1968 an American spacecraft, Apollo 8, flew around
the Moon for the first time.
6 months later, Neil Armstrong became the 1st person to
land on the Moon.

Lasting Impact
During the space race we will see the invention of the

space shuttle and the space stations.

In the end, the space race actually helped to bridge a gap
between the two nations following the end of the Cold
War.

The Fall of Communism

By the 1980s, the Communist countries were facing

serious problems.
People were extremely poor and many people were
starving to death.
With such poverty, most countries depended heavily
on the Soviet Union for assistance.

A new leader!!
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR

and began modernizing the country.

Gorbachev allowed people to set up businesses and vote
freely.
He made it clear the USSR would no longer help the
Communist leaders stay in power.

Opening borders
East Germany made it law that people could not travel

over to West Germany without possibly being shot.

In September 1989, Hungary opened its border with
Austria.
Thousands of East Germans began escaping to
Hungary into Austria and West Germany.
Meanwhile in East Germany there were massive
protests against the Communist government.

The Wall falls

On November 9, 1989 the East German government

agreed to let people travel to the West.

The gates were opened for the first time in 25 years.
In October 1990 the country became one again.

The Fall of the Soviets

In most countries, Communism began to end by 1989.
In the Soviet Union, President Gorbachev resigned on

December 31, 1991.

As a result, the USSR split into 15 different countries.
This marked the end to the USSR!
With the fall of the USSR, the Cold War was finally over.