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Cause: Berlin Blockade/ Airlift:
 * 1945 after the end of World War II the allies decided to split Germany into four zone. The zones were the USSR zone, United States zone, Britain zone and France zone. They also split the capital, Berlin, into four zones. United States, Britain and France were trying to improve the conditions will the USSR was doing the total oppisite. Then in June of 1948 Britain, America and France decided to unite their zones and form a new country, and form a new currency that would help them trade. The new currency came on June 23, 1948.
 * The following day Stalin cut off all the rail roads and roads that linked Berlin to the west side, this was the Berlin Blockade. The west wasn't going to let Stalin deprive Berlin into surrendering, so the west used airlift to supply them. The Blockade lasted for 318 days and during those day 275,000 planes transported 1.5 million tons of supplies.
 * Then on May 12, 1949 Stalin ended the blockade, but the Berlin Crisis would leave Germany divided into the Federal Republic of Germany, the west side, and the Democratic Republic of Germany, the east side until 1990.
 * Another result of the Berlin crisis was the Cold War would break out and the two superpowers, United States and the Soviets would began and Arms Race.

Major Players: United States and Soviet Union

Major Events:

October 4, 1957- The former Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. This was the World's first artificial satellite, it was the size of a basketball and weighed 183 pounds and took 98 minutes to orbit the Earth. This marked the Soviet Space age between the U.S and the Soviet Union. The launch of the Sputnik I concerned the world, but ecspecially the U.S. because the Soviet Union had the ability to successfully launch satellites into space and could translate into ballistic missile technology that could carry nuclear weapons.

November3, 1957- Sputnik II was launched which carried a much heavier payload and a dog named Laika.

January 31,1958- The U.S was able to successfully launch the Explorer I into space. The Explorer I carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth. It was named after the principal investigator James Van Allen.

October 1, 1958- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA was created and passed through Congress called the Space Act.

May 1, 1960- A pilot for the U.S., Francis Gary Powers was allegedly shot down while he was flying on Air Force Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance airplane, known as the Dragon Lady. Powers was 1,200 miles in the Soviet Russia airspace. There is a mystery about weather or not the plane was shot down by a surface to air missile or if it had to land because of mechanical problems, but either way Power's plane was taken out of the sky some way. This incident fueled a verbal battle between the U.S. and the Soviets because the Soviets felt that U.S. was spying on them and the United States felt that the Soviets were spying on them. When ever Powers landed he was arrest by the Soviets right away. Powers was put to jail, but only served 22 months because the U.S and the Soviets agreed to exchange Powersfor Soviet spy Colonel Rudolph Ivanovich Abel.

August 13, 1961- The Berlin Wall was created to divided West Berlin and East Germany, it also represented the division of Democracy and Communism. After WWII Germany was divided into U.S piece, France piece, Britain piece and Soviets piece. The U.S piece, France piece and Britain piece came together and made there side the Democracy part and the Soviets formed there piece into Communism part. The East side, which was the Soviets side, had severe restrictions on what the people could do, so the West side people would try to flee to the West side. Since many people fled the Soviets threatened to use Nuclear Weapons against the U.S., this is also when the Berlin Wall was built. The wall went directly through Berlin and wrapped around West Berlin to directly shut off the West from the East.

April 17, 1961- 1300 U.S. exiles landed at the Bahia de Cochinos(Bay of Pigs) intending to cross the island to Havana. The U.S was attempting to attack Cuba, to weaken them.

April 19, 1961- With 90 soldier killed and the remaining were taken as prisoners the battle was ended. The Cubans did so well because Castro had a strong army.

April of 1962- Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Premier, place intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.

October 15, 1962- A reconnaissance photograph revealed Soviet missiles being made in Cuba, the next day President Kennedy was informed of this event. Kennedy organized the EX-COMM, which was a group of his twelve most important advisers to handle the crisis. The impose a naval quarantine around Cuba, which they would hope to prevent the arrival of more Soviet offensive weapons. Tensions kept building on both sides, so Kennedy ordered low level reconnaissance missions once every two hours.

November 9, 1989- The sides of both the wall united together and the people began to celebrate and started to tear down the wall. It was a major even in the history of the fight against the spread of Communism.

End of the Cold War: -US defeated the Soviet Union -Soviet Union collapsed -Throughout the war US had more successful attempts with air planes, and better technology -Soviet Union had a greater rate at failed attempts of attack http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/powers.htm

Effects: -Both U.S. and Soviet Union built up huge arsenals of atomic weapons and ballistic missiles -Military blocs NATO and The Warsaw Pact were formed -Led to destructive conflicts in Korean and Vietnam War -Soviet Union collapsed because of economic weaknesses -The Berlin Wall was destroyed, two German nations united -The Baltic States and few former Soviet Union republics achieved independence. -US became most powerful country in the world -Communism collapsed worldwide. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-effects-of-the-cold-war.html

media type="file" key="Cold War Podcast AG_MW_MB.m4a"

Work Cited: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/berlinblockaderev2.shtml http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/sputnik.asp http://www.hpol.org/jfk/cuban/ http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/bay_of_pigs.html http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1872.html http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall_2.htm