African Independance

Africa changed so much during 1955-1975, the African to began to study and become more educated. Many young men were enrolling and collage and a steady middle class began to emerge.They made the negritude movement, celebrating all Africans. One African leader who really made a difference was Kwame Nkrumah. He studied in the United States and went to the University of Pennsylvania. He often held boycotts and strikes and was often imprisoned by the British. Other leaders included Leopold Senghor, he was a poet and a politician. Through his poetry he was able to support African traditions and emphasized the need for Africa to separate from Europe.He later on became president of Africa. Finally in 1957 Africa gained its independence and established one of its first nations ran only by blacks, which was Ghana. The Africans were regaining power of Africa and slowly becoming stronger. The Africans were creating a middle class, people began to advance. Other African leaders included, Marcus Garvey, who although being Jamaican born focused on having Africans rise to full power of Africa. Jomo Kenyatta was another African leader, who studied and educated himself in London. He was a nationalist who led the African people toward independence.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

After the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Fidel Castro and many other governmental officials in Cuba felt that another attack was inedible. Cuba felt threatened by America and was looking for a way to defend themselves in case of an attack from the United States. Russia on the other hand, was considerably behind in Nuclear arms, during the Arms race. The United States quickly became a country to be feared. With their overwhelming amount of nuclear arms, we could easily attack anyone, and other countries like Russia had great to fear.
In order to protect themselves, Russia came up with a plan to put missiles in Cuba. Do to Cubans proximity to the United States this location was ideal. This would serve as one of Russia's strategic plans against the U.S in case of an attack. Fidel Castro quickly agreed to the missile plan from the Soviets, do to their need of protection as well. This way both Russia and Cuba would have benefits from the missile. The Cuban missile crisis became the closest time in period were Nuclear war became possible, this is why it is considered the hottest moment during the war.
When Kennedy found out about the missiles being built in Cuba, which was suppose to be a secret, he immediately launched the EX-COMM. It was a group of 12 important advisers who were capable of handling and managing the crisis. Kennedy's main focus now became to prevent more Soviets from arriving on the island of Cuba. On October 28th, teh situation was finally resolved, after a long time of tension, the United States finally came to an agreement with the Soviets, promising not to attack Cuba. Once the Russians felt sure of this promise they returned the missiles back to Russia.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was established April,4,1949. It was an agreement which involved 12 nations, some of these nations included the United states and the United Kingdom.The NATO was established with the singing of the North Atlantic Treaty. The NATO was basically a defensive system of alliance for some European countries and North America. The system was used as defense against the soviets and other countries, stating that if any country in the NATO, had to go to war, the other countries of the NATO would come to their aid. The NATO became very important the to the U.S, as the Soviets expanded in territory and spread communism, the NATO became an even greater symbol of the Unites States power.
The Warsaw pact was made up by the Soviet Union and its Satellite Countries. Satellite Countries were bordering countries around Russia. They were a method of protection for the Soviets. The Warsaw pact like the NATO was the Russians defense system. The Soviets kept military in their other countries, this was the Soviets first attempt to strengthen themselves after the war.

The right stuff

The United States and the Soviet Union were competing during the space race in the movie. When Russia sent the first satellite into space, America was infuriated. We wanted to win this race and by them putting the first satellite, it showed them to look better. The United States needed something more powerful, but putting a person in space was to risky, so instead we decided to send out a monkey into space. We looked really foolish when right after Russia followed up by sending the first Man into space. Although they seemed to be the victorious ones, at the end we one the space race because we were able to send the first man to the moon. The scene that I will most remember about the movie was when the man was trying to break the sound wave. I thought this scene was an important part of the movie because it showed the frustration of the US trying to break the sound barrier, and also our reaction when we were able to actually break it. This is the beginning of the movie and I feel it sets the tone for the rest of the film. The Warsaw pact was successful in showing neighboring European countries that they in fact were the biggest military and political power.