History Timeline

Dropping of the Atomic bomb on Japan(Aug 6-9, 1954)

Fact:

Before the bombing the US dropped pamphlets to warn the japanese people to flee

• Allies wanted Japan to surrender but they refused.
• This lead to the bombing of Hiroshima
• After they refused the surrender a second time, the USSR declared war
• Lead to Nagasaki bombing
• Dawn of the Nuclear Age
• Russia committed to to developing nuclear weapons to compete with the US in the Cold War

Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airlift(June 24, 1948)

• East Germany(communist side) blockaded West Berlin(controlled by US, UK, and France). They prevented vital supplies from reaching West Berlin by land.
• America provided supplies to West Berlin through the air
• This became known as the Berlin airlift

Fact:

An US plane landed in Berlin about every 30 seconds. There were about 300,00 flights in all.

Start of the Korean War(June 14, 1950

Fact:

There was technically never a peace treaty so the Korean War never ended

• Communist North Korea, with backing from Russia and China, invaded Democratic South Korea. UN countries including the US sent troops to defend South Korea and push the Communists back. Major confrontation between communism and capitalism

Soviet Union launched the Sputnik Satellite(Oct 4 1957)

Fact:

The Sputnik launch led to the creation of NASA

• First satellite into space
• Launched space competition between the US and the USSR
• Ultimately lead the US to send the first man(Neil Armstrong) to the moon in 1969

Cuban Missile Crisis(Oct 1962)

Fact:

One Soviet officer’s reluctance saved the world from nuclear war.

• USSR installs nuclear missiles in Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US.
• Lead to face to face showdown between the US and USSR.

Find out more in this video

Quick Overview of the Cold War

The Watts Riots

The Watts Riots happened after a police officer arrested a black man because he thought he was drunk driving. The Watts neighborhood community got very angry because they were being treated unequally. They demanded justice and a huge riot happened as a result.

Civil Society

Civil Society changed a lot after the Cold War. Women were viewed more equal and the GI bill guaranteed better lives for veterans by giving them college discounts and other benefits. To celebrate their husbands coming home, many couples decided to start families. This caused the baby boom to happen. Economy really improved after the cold war, and many new jobs were available. Many white families moved South West so that they had more job opportunity and many of these jobs were denied to black people. This is how the civil rights movement started.

Civil rights act of 1964

Civil rights act of 1964

• You can’t discriminate by color, race, religion, or sex
• This doesn't mean you can’t discriminate people at all because you can discriminate y personality, clothes, money, and materialistic things
• There is no more racial segregation in schools and every where else
• It really affected everything because everyone was altogether and people weren't used to it

Voting rights act of 1965

• No more jim crow laws
• No more literacy tests
• It justifies the 15th,14th, and 19th amendments
• This was a big step in the civil rights movement because before barley any African-Americans could vote

Rumford fair House act of 1963

• It further stopped racial segregation in neighborhoods
• everyone could get a house
• You would be considered “middle class”
• You could be closer to school but the civil rights act still hadn’t been passed so there was still segregation

The Montgomery bus boycott 1955

• The driver told her to move because of segregation
• She said no and got arrested
• This showed how segregation affected peoples lives
• African-Americans in Montgomery got an letter from the NAACP

It told them to boycott the buses

Photo Gallery Video