July 20th

On this day - July 20th 1969 - Apollo 11 lands on the moon 

Apollo 11 was the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon. The flight had started in Florida on July 16th and was the 5th manned mission from NASA. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were  the two first people to land on the moon, although the moon-walk wasn't done until 6 hours later, and therefore the next day. Aldrin and Armstrong stayed for 21 and a half hour on the lunar surface. They collected 21.5 kg of moon-material and brought it back to earth for research.

July 3

On this day - July 3 1969- Soviets N-1 Rocket exploded 

The explosion of Soviets N-1 rocket is the biggest explosion in the history of space travels. The aim behind the development of the rocket was to send a man to the moon and to compete with Apollo V. It was the second N-1 rocket the soviet tried to launch which created the biggest explosion. It exploded just before liftoff. It took 18 months to rebuild the launch pad.

June 26th

On this day - June 26th 1963 - The "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech 

Ich bin ein Berliner is a famous quote from John F. Kennedys speech in Berlin in 1963. The reason behind the quote was to underline the US support for West- Germany after the building of the Berlin wall. 450.000 people had shown up to listen to the speech in Berlin.The speech is by many considered to be one of Kennedys best speeches and it has become known as a notable event during the Cold War. The speech is also well known because it has been claimed that that sentence "Ich bin ein Berliner" directly translated would mean that Kennedy was a Berliner. A Berliner is a Germany type of pastry. What Kennedy ment to say was that he was a citizen of Berlin, and the Berliner-cake translation have been disproved in recent time, much due to the fact that people in Berlin does not refer to the pastry as Berliner, but as Pfannkuchen.

June 25th

On this day - June 25th 1950 - The Korean War begun 

The Korean war begun when North Korea attacked South Korea on this day in 1950. North Korea was suported by Soviet union and China. United Nations, with USA as its leader got involved in the war with the aim of rescuing South Korea from the communist North. The war ended in 1953, when the border that divides the two countries today was agreed upon.

May 12th

On this day - May 12th 1949 - The end of the Berlin blockage 

The Berlin blockage started in June 1948 and was one of the first major crisis during the cold war. The blockage lasted until this day in 1949. The Soviet union blocked all entry to their part of Berlin in Germany. USA and the western nation respons was to fly over the city to drop food packages to the people. By April 1949 was more food and necessities being transported into the city by air than had previously been transported by rail, and the Soviet union decided to end the blockage. An agreement was reached between the four involved nations (Soviet Union, France, England and USA) on May 4th and the blockage was lifted 8 days later, one minute after midnight.

April 30th

On this day - April 30th 1975 - The Vietnam War Came to an End 

The Vietnam War had started in November 1955 and was one of the hot conflicts which was a result of the cold war. In the US the war was seen as an important fight to keep communism from spreading in Asia (containment policy). The first step towards the end of the war was a gradual drawback and "Vietnamization" of the conflict in the end of the 1960's. In 1973 was a peace agreement, the Paris Peace Accord, signed, but fighting continued. Direct involvement from the US Army ended in August the same year as the Peace Contract. On April 30th fell the city Saigon to North Vietnam and the war came to an end after over 19 years of conflicts. The following year was Vietnam again reunited. Somewhere between 800.000 and 3 million Vietnamese died in the war and over 50.000 american soldiers.

April 17th

On this day - April 17th 1961 - The Bay of Pigs invasion 

The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed military invasion undertaken by the CSI / the US on Cuba. The aim of the invasion as to overthrow the communist regime of Fidel Castro. Castro had gained power when the US friendly dictator Batista had been overthrown in the Cuban revolution between 1952 to 1959. Due to secret intelligens knew the government in Cuba that the invasion was coming. The invasion was defeated after three days by the Cuban revolutionary army. 4 american airmen was killed, together with 6 Cuban airmen and 10 Cuban exiles.  The invasion contributed to a closer relationship between Castro and the Soviet Union, which again contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

March 18th

On this day - March 18th 1965 - The first person to walk in space 

On March 16th left the Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov his spacecraft for 12 minutts and 9 seconds for a walk in Space. He thereby became the first human to do Extravehicular activities, which is the official term for activities done in space outside of the spacecraft. Leonov was connected to the spacecraft with a long cable and pulling this cable was the only way he could control is motions while in space. In June the same year did the US their first spacewalk when Edward White left his spacecraft for 21 minutes. The first person to successfully stay outside of the spacecraft for longer periods was Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin who worked on the aircraft for over two hours in 1966.

March 12th

On this day - March 12th 1947 - The Truman doctrine was announced

The Truman Doctrine became the name of the American foreign policy towards the Soviet Union during after the second world war. It is by many seen as the starting point for the cold war conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union. the Truman doctrine was also an important contributor to the created of NATO in 1949. The policy got its name after the american president Henry S. Truman who announced the plans in 1947. The Truman Doctrine changed American policy towards the Soviet Union from relaxation of tension to containment. In 1948 was the doctrine further developed when Truman pledged to contain Soviet threat in Turkey and Greece. The aim of the policy was simply to keep more countries from becoming communist and aid was a central part of the implementation of the policy.

 "it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

March 5th

On this day - March 5th 1946 - Churchill coined the term "Iron Curtain" about Soviet domination of East-Europe

The former British prime minister Winston Churchill talked about the Iron Curtain in his Sinews of Peace address in 1946. This concept was used to describe the soviet dominated eastern Europe during the cold war conflict. The Iron Curtains was seen as a dividing line between the western and the eastern parts of Europe. The term was not popular at the time, and it was severely criticized in the Soviet Union. Stalin even replied to Churchills speech and defended the Soviets friendship with the eastern states as a safeguard against another invasion. However, as the cold war continued did the term gain popularity and it grew into a well used metaphor for the division between east and west Europe. Physically, the curtain was maintained with border control, except in Berlin where the famous Berlin Wall was built.



"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "Iron Curtain" has descended across the continent".