1960s. Historical texts (adapted)
1. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension (напряжение) between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies (союзники). The conflict where they didn't go into battle but fought each other indirectly through spying, backing opposite sides in other countries' wars and inventing better technologies. Historians do not fully agree on its starting and ending points, but the period is generally considered to span from the announcement of the Truman Doctrine in 1947 to the dissolution/end (распад) of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The phrase ‘iron curtain’, which was used to describe countries living within the Soviet sphere of influence (влияние), appeared after the Winston Churchill's speech in Fulton, Missouri.
The Cold War developed from its modest beginning in the late 1940s to a hot confrontation by the early 1960s. All major powers engaged in espionage, using a great variety of spies, double agents and new technologies. The most famous and active organizations were the American CIA, the Soviet KGB and the British MI6. Espionage took place all over the world, but Berlin was the most important battleground (поле боя) for spying activity.
Crisis and escalation Britain, France, the United States, Canada and other eight western European countries established (учредили) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). While Stalin's death in 1953 slightly relaxed tensions, the situation in Europe remained uneasy. The Russians established a formal alliance in Central and Eastern Europe, which was called the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. It stood opposed to NATO.
From 1957 through 1961, Khrushchev openly and repeatedly threatened the West with nuclear strikes. He claimed that Soviet missile capabilities (возможности) were far superior to those of the United States, capable of wiping out any American or European city. Nuclear weapons were much cheaper than maintaining (поддержание) a large army. From 1961 to 1964 the number of nuclear weapons in the US increased by 50 percent, as did the number of B-52 bombers to deliver them. This and the Cuban Missile Crisis (October–November 1962) brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before.
The unity of NATO was breached (пробить брешь) early in its history during Charles de Gaulle's presidency of France. De Gaulle protested at the strong role of the United States in the organization and in 1966 he withdrew (вывести) France from NATO's military structures and expelled NATO troops from French soil.
From confrontation to cooperation Nixon met with Soviet leaders, including Brezhnev in Moscow. The first limitation pacts signed by the two superpowers. These aimed to limit the development of costly anti-ballistic missiles and nuclear missiles. Nixon and Brezhnev proclaimed a new era of "peaceful coexistence" and established the groundbreaking (прорывной) new policy of cooperation between the two superpowers.
2. Space Exploration. After World War II both the United States and the Soviet Union realized how important rocket research would be to the military. They each recruited the top rocket scientists to help with their research. Soon both sides were making progress in rocket technology.
In 1955 when both countries announced that they would soon be launching satellites into orbit. Technology was not yet advanced enough to achieve this so they put huge amounts money and time into the project.
In 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. The success of Sputnik 1 has changed minds around the world regarding a shift in power to the Soviets.
Next year the U.S. launched its own satellite, Explorer I, made by the U.S. Army. That same year, President Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration.
The dogs Belka and Strelka were sent to space aboard Sputnik 5 and safely returned in 1960.
First humans in space On 12 April 1961 the Vostok 1 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Кедр, Siberian pine or cedar).
The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch:
Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right.
Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.
Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Поехали!, 'Off we go!') later became a popular expression.
Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space programme and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, compared only to the World War II Victory Parades.
April 12 was declared Cosmonautics Day in the USSR, and is celebrated today in Russia. In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight.
First humans on the Moon In 1969 the rocket with Neil Armstrong aboard took off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex in Florida. The trip to the Moon took just over three days. After achieving orbit, Armstrong transferred into the Lunar Module named Eagle. Armstrong left the Eagle to become the first human on the Moon. The first step was witnessed on live television by at least one-fifth of the population of Earth, or about 723 million people. His words "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." became worldwide famous. American astronauts left lunar orbit and returned to Earth, landing safely in the Pacific Ocean.
Legacy After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the assets of the USSR's space program passed mainly to Russia. Since then, the United States and Russia have cooperated in space with the Shuttle-Mir Program, and the International Space Station (ISS).
3. The Vietnam War was a 20 year conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The conflict was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist countries; South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist allies. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians.
The Vietnam War and active U.S. involvement in the war began in 1954, though ongoing conflict in the region had stretched back several decades.
Roots of the Vietnam War Both North and South Vietnam were called Indochina and had been a French colony since the 19th century. During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Vietnam. To fight off both Japanese occupiers and the French colonial administration, political leader Ho Chi Minh, inspired by Chinese and Soviet communism, formed the League for the Independence of Vietnam.
After World War II, Japan withdrew its forces from Vietnam, leaving the French-educated Emperor in control. It was an opportunity for Ho Chi Minh to come to power, so his forces immediately rose up, took over the northern city of Hanoi and declared a Democratic Republic of Vietnam with Ho as president.
End of the War U.S. soldiers killed more than 400 unarmed civilians in the village of My Lai in 1968. After the My Lai Massacre, anti-war protests continued to build as the conflict wore on. In 1968 and 1969, there were hundreds of marches and gatherings throughout the country. In the year 1969, the largest anti-war demonstration in American history took place in Washington, D.C., as over 250,000 Americans gathered peacefully, calling for withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
In 1973, the United States and North Vietnam concluded a final peace agreement, ending open hostilities between the two nations. War between North and South Vietnam continued, however, until 1975.
After years of warfare, an estimated 2 million Vietnamese were killed, while 3 million were wounded and another 12 million became refugees. Warfare had demolished the country’s infrastructure and economy, and reconstruction proceeded slowly.
10. Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an African American clergyman (священник) and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4,
1968. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died. He was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of non-violence (отказ от насилия) and civil disobedience (гражданское неповиновение).
His assassination led to an outpouring of anger among Black Americans, as well as a period of national mourning that helped speed the way for an equal housing bill.
11. The Tsar Bomba was a hydrogen (водородная) aerial bomb, and the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested. Tsar Bomba was developed in the Soviet Union (USSR) by a group of nuclear physicists under the leadership of Igor Kurchatov, an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.
Tested on 30 October 1961, the bomb was dropped by parachute from a Tu-95V aircraft, and detonated 4,000 metres above the Sukhoy Nos ("Dry Nose") cape of Severny Island, Novaya Zemlya, 15 km from Mityushikha Bay. The detonation was intended to be secret, but was detected by United States intelligence agencies. A secret U.S. reconnaissance (разведовательное) aircraft named "Speed Light Alpha" monitored the blast, coming close enough to have its antiradiation paint scorched (палить).
13. The sexual revolution in the 1960s United States was a social and cultural movement. In the 1960s, social norms were changing as sex became more widely discussed in society. Erotic media, such as films, magazines, and books, became more popular. These changes reveal that sex was entering the public domain, and sex rates, especially among young people, could no longer be ignored.
With the introduction of the pill and second-wave feminism, women gained more control over their bodies and sexuality during the 1960s. Women could engage in sex without the risk of pregnancy. At the same time, many women involved in the feminist movement questioned the traditional gender and sex roles ascribed to them. Women’s liberation movements sought to free women from social and moral confines.
Developments in the gay rights movement occurred during the same period, such as public demonstrations and protests to challenge discrimination against sexuality. Some activists began celebrating homosexuality, but the movement did not really take off until the Stonewall riots of 1969.
