Space Race and the Friendlier Competitions of the Cold War

Troy L & Joseph B

After World War II the Allied forces relationships mainly between the United States and Russia ended.  Russia was not happy about the divisions of Germany and not pleased with the United States creating the first atomic bomb.  Russia pursued control of a number of countries and became the USSR. This all helped to spark the beginning of a Cold War with USSR and the United States mainly which was over philosophical differences between communist and capitalistic ideals.  The term ‘Cold War’ was coined because there was no battle that ensued in fact fears of mass destruction on both sides would help to deter all out war.  

 What was fueled by the Cold War was a fierce competition that included quarrels ranging from who could make the best music, which had a better military, who was more athletic, all the way to who could build the biggest bomb and who could step foot on the moon first. No matter the venue the race was on and the most dangerous race was the arms race.  The USSR helped formed the Warsaw Pact, which wanted all communist countries to develop and or own nuclear weapons.  The USSR and United States became so deeply entangled in the race to best the other that they could have not for seen the achievements they accomplished.  This race helped spark many technological break throws especially within the space race, which in and of itself help to further technological development within each country and their allies. 

Competitions on certain levels were good, and on certain levels were ridiculous.  Each country tried to outdo the other to prove their superiority.  The end of the Cold War was marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 when the country when through economical hardship and disbanded the USSR.  The United States emerged as the super power and military power of the world.  Through this blog, we will explore some of the friendlier competitions associated with the Cold War.

-Joseph B and Troy L

Photos retrieved from Yahoo! Photos

Zeanna R - Nuclear Arms Race

The Nuclear Arms Race refers to a time period between 1945 and 1989 when the soviet union and The united States were in an ugly competition dealing with the development of their nuclear weapons. The United States dropped two atomic bombs, other wise know as A-bombs, on Japan to end world war two, Joesph Stalin who was a Soviet Premier immediately gathered a team of physicists to work on Russia's own A-bombs. Although the cost was to be three times his budget, Stalin made clear to the team that they were to finish their jobs and to not worry about it. On August 29, 1949, four years later, the soviets answered the challenge by beginning work on a more powerful bomb known as the Hydrogen bomb, or the H-bomb. When The United States detonated this H-bomb on November 1, 1952 it exploded with a yield of 10.40 megatons. In other words it was about a thousand times more powerful than the bomb that was dropped on Japan. Moving faster this time the Soviets developed their first H-bomb in only nine months detonated it on August 12, 1953. Although the explosion was smaller than the United States' H-bomb, it had produced traces of lithium, which the U.S had not been able to accomplish yet.

By 1962 the united states had over 27,000 nuclear weapons, 500 long ranged weapons, and around 2,500 mid range bombers that were ready to be launched by the military at any time. During the year the Soviets began to install IBM launchers in Cuba, only 1,100 miles away from Washington D.C. But the willingness to go to war over this issue caused Soviets to remove the missile launchers from the Western Hemisphere. Because the U.S had gotten so close to war, people began to think that this nuclear war was not winnable. Over the next 25 years both of the Nations made attempts to complete nuclear arms control. But mistrust and fear got in the way of both sides, and not until the Soviet Union Collapsed in 1989 that the Nuclear Arms Race came to an end. This Nuclear Arms race cost the United States around 5.5 trillion dollars, and added another 4 trillion dollars to the Federal Government's debt in the 1980's, when spending money on Nuclear weapons skyrocketed.

http://http://www.audifaz.com/cold war/armsrace.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Coldnucleararms.htm

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Nuclear arms race.

Johnnie C- Olympic Games

In 1952 the world was facing the possibility of full-scale nuclear war. The United States and the Soviet Union were bitterly competing for world domination, at least ideologically, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Soviet Union participated on the field in Helsinki, but the team refused quarters with other nations in the Olympic Village. In fact, the Soviet Union and its satellite nations housed their athletes in their own quarters and enclosed the quarters with barbed wire. No outsider was welcome at the Otaniemi camp. Even news reporters, no matter their nationality, were turned away Encyclopedia (2010).

The amount of attention paid to Nationalist China's boycott of the 1952 Olympics inspired several nations in 1956 to use the Olympics as a forum to air their political grievances. The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland boycotted in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary, which had declared its intention to become a neutral state. Communist China withdrew because Nationalist China had been invited; Egypt withdrew because it was at war with Israel; and Iraq withdrew to protest the military action by France, Britain, and Israel against Egypt in the struggle for control of the Suez Canal. The Norwegians asked the IOC to ban South Africa from the Olympics because of that country's racial policy of apartheid Encyclopedia (2010).

Politics began to intrude on the Games in a serious way at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where Palestinian terrorists attacked Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village. Sixty nations boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, while the Soviets and some of their allies retaliated by declining to take part in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. The end of the Cold War has eliminated the largest source of political conflict, and most Olympic controversies in recent years have centered on accusations Atlas (n.d.).

() (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2010, from http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/olympic.htm

Encyclopedia.Com (2010). In Cold War Olympics American Decades. Retrieved November 10, 2010, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468302131.html

http://formaementis.worldpress.com/2008/04/04/olympic-boycott-history

Heather J- Space Race

The Space Race

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union changed history when they launched the Sputnik I, which was the first artificial satellite. This launch was the single event that started the space age and the competition that started the space race between the United States and the U.S.S.R. (http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik). The U.S. had plans to launch an Earth orbiting satellite for the International Geophysical Year that dated back to 1955 when the White House made an announcement of their plans to use the Vanguard proposal. But this all changed when the Sputnik was launched. It not only started the space race, but it also put a fear into the public that if the Soviet Union could launch satellites into space then they could also launch missiles from Europe into the United States.


As a result President Eisenhower sent a bill to Congress to start the program NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. However the Soviet Union again achieved a first, when they sent the first man into space orbit around Earth in April 1961. In response to the Soviet's launching the first man into space that Americans sent up their first man into space in the Mercury on May 5, 1961. Then again they sent John Glenn to orbit Earth in 1962. The Americans won the next milestone in the space race by putting Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon in July of 1969, this lead to the United States winning the space race over the Soviet Union (www.vibrationdata.com/SpaceRace.htm).
http://spacerace.history.tripod.com
www.vibrationdata.com/SpaceRace.htm
http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik

Travis S- Sputnik Program

The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. This was the world's first artificial satellite which was about the size of a beach ball and weighed about 190lbs. This was beast took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. Since this incredible event happened, it started new political, military, technoligical, and scientific developments. The Sputnik launch started the Space Age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.

The Sputkik was a great achievement that caught the world unprepared. The public feared since the Soviets could successfully launch satellites that they were capable to launch missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. The Soviets struck again on November 3, as Sputknik II was launched, carrying a much heavier load which included a dog named Laika. According to this, that meant the Soviets were closer to sending people into space. Imagine the possibilities and the horrific chaos that would have been if they were successfull with this. The power would no longer be with the Americans who were the first to go into the obis of space.

http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik

http://burro.astr.cwru.edu/stu/advanced/20th_soviet_sputnik.html

Joshua Y T-72

Made in Kharkov, Ukraine, the T-72 tank was introduced into military service in 1972. A numerous many have been built and sold to other warring countries to include Algeria, Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Slovala, Finland, Hungary, India, Iran, Lybia, Myanmar, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Syria, and Yugoslavia. There are many models of the original T-72 tank that are slightly modified to the specification of certain militaries.





The tank has a variety of weapons at its diposal there is the 125mm D-81 smooth bore gun, a 7.62mm co-axial machine gun, and the 12.7mm air defense machine gun. The weapon the T-72 fire armor piercing rounds, high explosive anti-tank rounds and high explosive fragmentation rounds. The T-72 is also protected by an anit-armour missile system known as the AT-11 Sniper. The AT-11 is meant to engage low flying targets and other tanks. The tank is also equipped with its own generator in case the main power source runs out. The T-72 is driven by V-84 liquid-cooled-four-stroke mulit-fuel diesel engine, planetary transmission with hydraulic servo-control system, running gear with RMSH track and torsion bar suspension with hydraulic shock absorbers. In other words it can go as fast off-road as on. A neat feature of the T_72 is its ability to travel underwater although it can only travel at a depth of 1.2m without snorkels to which it can for to 5m.


www. game-artist.net/forums/work-progress/11548-t-72-soviet-tank-wip.html