Compare And Contrast The Cold War And The Space Race

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." This quote was made by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962, and it encompasses the dedication the US had to winning the Space Race, a space technology race between the United States and Soviet Russia. The Space Race would soon become a huge competition led by many big factors and decisions. Overall, The Space Race started with the USSR's launch of Sputnik, an event which fueled nationalism in both countries, and ended with the United States landing a man on the moon.

RQ: How and to what extent did the Space Race have a impact on United States’s defense technologies?

The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space. From 1955 until 1975, both sides battled it out to be the leader in the competition. Fueled by the Cold War and other causes of the beginning of the race, the Soviet Union and the United States fought for authority in a very public manner through the media. There were many achievements at this time and it led the way for many great things to come afterwards.

In 1941 the United States was not getting along with the Soviet Union. However, when Germany invaded them, the United States had to rethink which was a greater threat—Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler. The attitude of both countries was summed up in Truman's words "If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible" (Document A).

World War II was a devastating war that impacted the entire world. It is estimated that nearly 60 million people were killed, including civilians. The fight was between the Allies and Axis powers. While the United States tried to remain neutral in the war and not get involved. However, due to Japan’s military launching

• Although allies during World War II, the United States and Soviet Union entered into a period of distrust and competition after the War. Because the two never fought directly, this was known as the Cold War.

during the Cold War are very strained according to historians. There are a few documents that demonstrate their differences. In document D, Henry Luce states, “Americans were unable to accommodate themselves spiritually and practically to that fact. Hence they have failed to play their part as a world power-a failure which had had disastrous consequences for themselves and for all mankind.” Luce is saying that the USSR is unsure of the American’s ability to keep the power that they have. Luce is on the side of the USSR. In document F, Winston S. Churchill says, “Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies.” What Churchill was trying to say was that whatever the USSR is planning on doing in their future, which causes the U.S to distrust them. In document H, it states, “The Germans were able to carry out the invasion through these countries by reason of the fact that these countries had governments inimical to the Soviet Union.” This piece of evidence shows how the USSR got other countries to carry out their

For six agonizing years, the world was at a point of great strife. Considered a turning point of the century, World War II consisted of the Axis powers-Italy, Japan, and Germany-and the Allies-United States, Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union. The war initially started when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, but the United States did not declare war until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In order to put an end to any further bloodshed, the United States decided to drop the newly invented atomic bomb. The use of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified due to the numerous lives spared, ending the merciless Japanese soldiers terrorization of Chinese innocents and American prisoners of war, as well as

It was said that World War I would be the war to end all wars; unfortunately U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was wrong. In 1939 Germany invaded Poland and the global conflict, World War II, began. Fought from 1939 to 1945, World War II consisted of the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. The Axis Powers were led by Germany, Japan, and Italy. The Allied Powers were led by the United States, Britain, France, and several other countries. In total, over sixty million people were killed, making World War II the deadliest conflict in modern history. The intervention of the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought the end of the war 4 years later.

For my research paper I chose to do the impact that the Space Race had on the Cold War. I am choosing to do this topic because the Cold War is a huge part of this world’s history. This period of time has had a lot of impact on how we live today. In my paper I want to answer question of what the Space Race was and how it impacted the Cold War and also our World today. I also want to learn more about the lasting impacts it has had on the world.

During the Cold War, the United States and Russia had a severe space race between one another. Every time one country would be a step ahead of the other, and somehow one of the countries would catch up to the more advanced country at the time. During the early years of the space race, success was measured by what nation did what first: To the alarm of the United States, each of the early adventures were achieved by the Soviet Union. And all of those events triggered the United States to drive and catch up with to surpass the Soviet Union. This sort of see-saw method happen throughout the space race. Throughout this paper, there will be a discussion on the space race between the United Stated and

While public opinion during a national crisis often oversimplifies threats, NASA found that this oversimplification worked in its favor during the Cold War. Some viewed the launching of the Soviet Union’s rocket Sputnik as a declaration of power in space, even though the rocket orbited Earth for only two months. Additionally, many people believed that the launching of the satellite meant that the Soviet Union could “just as easily send a barrage of atomic weapons toward the United States” (“Creation of NASA” 259). A headline from the October 5, 1957 edition of the newspaper Cleveland Plain Dealer read “Satellite Fired by Russia; Circling Us 15 Times a Day,” underlining the fear that many Americans shared about the capabilities of a nuclear bomb attack by satellite (Pettinato). In addition to having this fear, the public also supported the space program because of the sense of

Ironically, the United States and Russia were working together as the Allied Powers during the war, united by a common enemy, the Axis powers. However, even during the war, the United States kept their guard up against the Russians. This

Did you know that the Soviet Union was the first to launch something outside of Earth’s orbit? In the 1960’s, the Soviet Union speed up the advancement of space science, faster than the United States ever could, during the Space Race. First of all, they were the first to start the Space Race and continually kept going onward to try new concepts and/or more concepts. On the other hand, the Soviet Union were more focused on witnessing who’s better. Finally, the Soviet Union were the ones who sent multiple of inventions into space, but still had a bunch of trial and error and learned what worked and what didn’t work.

World War II went on from September 1, 1939 to September 2, 1945 and took place in Europe, the Pacific, the Atlantic, South-East Asia, China, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa, briefly North and South America. During World War II, there were seven major powers, but many countries that were not major powers fought in this war, and many other countries were affected too. In WWII there was more than 24,000,000 soldiers found dead, more than 49,000,000 soldiers wounded, and more than 73,000,000 soldiers missing. By the end of this war, the Nazi party collapsed, the United Nations (U.N.) was created, the United States and Soviet Union were both seen as a super power by other countries after WWII, the allies won the war and not shortly after their victory, the Cold War began. The Vietnam War went on from November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975 and took place in South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. During the Vietnam War, there was more than thirty-one different countries that fought in this war. There was about