Cuban Missile Crisis(Extra Credit)

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the nuclear weapons that USSR Installed in Cuba. Cuba was a communist country just like USSR, and was USSR's allied friend.Soviet Union only had missiles that could reach to Europe, but they needed to come up with an strategy make the missile go to America. So USSR decided to install the missiles in Cuba, which is just 90 miles far from the coast of Florida, America.After seeing the pictures of the Cuban missiles the U.S got worried. John F. Kennedy took the time to tell the USSR to remove their missiles.He also told them that he built a blockade around the country. After seeing no change, Kennedy was ready to order the navy to attack, but the USSR came up with a deal to stop the attack. If the U.S. would leave Cuba alone, then Russia would take out all its missiles in Cuba.This is why this point in the Cold War is called the hottest point. Throughout the Cold War no one fought physically, but this was the point where two of the Super Powers of World were about to fight which made this the hottest point of the Cold War.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

The U.S and the USSR were competing to be the first one to break the sound barrier.Their mission was to break the sound barrier by using a small rocket-powered test plane called the X-1. The USSR send a satellite into space which led to the US breaking the sound barrier. Later on the US realized that the USSR has rocket.The U.S felt embarrassed, and so they were looking for the best pilots to go to space. The pilots have to be in best physical shape, and have to be very healthy, and also smart.The U.S did so many tests on the rockets but they were unsuccessful. After many faliures they accomplioshed, and the rocket was successful.However we send monkeys for our first trial, and the USSR sent people.The US wanted to build a rocket that will be faster than Soviet Union. The USSR were winning the competition because they were the first one to send the rocket, and a statelite called sputnik, which also made U.S mad and jealous.The scene from the film that will help me remember the Cold War is the testing that they were doing on the pilots, because the training is very hard, and only likmited amount of people get selected to be the astronaut.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. It was created to prevent USSR to spread communism. The Warsaw Pact was when the Soviet Union institutionalized its East European alliance system when it gathered together representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania in Warsaw to sign the multilateral Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, which was identical to their existing bilateral treaties with the Soviet Union. It was pact of communist countries, just like the NATO which was for the Democratic government. Countries that were in NATO were Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, & United States. These are the 26 countries that are currently in the NATO, and on the Warsaw pact the countries were Soviet Union, Albania (until 1968) , Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany (until 1990), Hungary, Poland, and Romania. These were the two groups created as a defensive system. If one group attacks another group all of the countries envolved in the groups would declare war on each other. It was like friends protecting their friends, or we can say gangs. Gangs protect their gang members from their common enemies.