In October 1962, the U.S. found out that the Soviets had nuclear missiles in Cuba, only 90 miles away from the U.S.

Things got tense fast, and the two superpowers were close to starting a nuclear war.

President John F. Kennedy set up a naval blockade around Cuba, demanding the missiles be taken down.

After some tense talks, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to take down the missiles in Cuba if the U.S. promised not to invade Cuba and secretly removed missiles from Turkey.

After WWII, Berlin was split into different areas controlled by the Allies, with the Soviet Union taking control of the eastern part. In 1948, the Soviets blocked off West Berlin to try and force the Allies out.

In response, the U.S. and its allies started a huge airlift, bringing food, fuel, and other supplies to West Berlin.

Over 277,000 flights brought more than 2 million tons of supplies, showing the U.S. was serious about stopping communism and protecting West Berlin.

The Korean War started when North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea.

The U.S. led a UN force to defend South Korea, making it the first big military conflict of the Cold War.

The war ended in a stalemate with no clear winner, but Korea was divided at the 38th parallel, creating North and South Korea.

Although no peace treaty was signed, an armistice in 1953 stopped the fighting, and the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was set up.

The Vietnam War was a tough fight where North Vietnam, backed by the Soviet Union and China, fought South Vietnam, which had U.S. support. It caused a lot of division in the U.S. politically and socially.

U.S. involvement went from offering advice and money to direct military action after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964.

Even though the U.S. spent a lot on military resources and soldiers, the war ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon and Vietnam becoming one country under communist rule.

The Civil Rights Movement wasn’t really connected to the Cold War, but the global fight between communism and democracy made the U.S. see it had to fix racial segregation and inequality at home.

Key events included the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that declared school segregation illegal, and the March on Washington in 1963.

The movement led to important laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which tried to end racial discrimination.

The Space Race was a big part of the Cold War, where the U.S. and the Soviet Union competed to lead in space exploration.

It started in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, which made the U.S. worry about getting left behind in technology.

In response, the U.S. started the Apollo Program, which led to the moon landing of Apollo 11 in 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon.

The Red Scare was a time when there was a lot of fear and suspicion about communism in the U.S., especially during the early Cold War years.

Senator Joseph McCarthy led the charge to find supposed communists in the U.S. government, Hollywood, and other areas, often with little or no real evidence.

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) also investigated suspected communists, leading to the Hollywood Blacklist, where people in the film industry were banned from working.

At first, the U.S. had a monopoly on nuclear weapons, but that changed in 1949 when the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb.

Both countries built up tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, leading to the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), where neither side would attack with nukes because they knew the other would retaliate.

In 1989, as communist governments in Eastern Europe started falling apart, East Germans were allowed to cross into West Berlin, and on November 9, 1989, citizens took down the wall.

Important events were the SALT I treaty, the Helsinki Accords, and setting up better ways for the two countries to talk to each other.