1960s Flashcards
Paris East/West talks Talks between Nikita Khrushchev and Dwight Eisenhower concerning the fate of Germany broke down when a USA U2 spy plane was shot down over Russian airspace.
1960
Space Race Russian cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyvich Gagarin became the first human being in space.
April 12th 1961
Bay of Pigs Invasion A force of Cuban exiles, trained by the CIA, aided by the US government attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow the Communist government of Fidel Castro. The attempt failed.
April 17th 1961
Berlin Wall Berlin wall built and borders sealed between East and West Germany.
August 13th 1961
Cuban Missile Crisis A US spy plane reported sighting the construction of a Soviet nuclear missile base in Cuba. President Kennedy set up a naval blockade and demanded the removal of the missiles. War was averted when the Russians agreed on 28th October to remove the weapons. The United States agreed not to invade Cuba.
October 14th 1962
JFK Assassination JF Kennedy was assassinated while on a visit to Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder but there has always been speculation that he was not a lone killer and that there may have been communist or CIA complicity.
November 22nd 1963
USSR Nikita Krushchev removed from office. He was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.
October 15th 1964
Vietnam War 150,000 US troops sent to Vietnam.
July 1965
Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia Warsaw Pact forces entered Czechoslovakia in a bid to stop the reforms known as ‘Prague Spring’ instigated by Alexander Dubcek. When he refused to halt his programme of reforms Dubcek was arrested.
August 20th 1968
Space Race US launched Apollo 8 – first manned orbit of the Moon.
December 21st 1968
Space Race US Apollo 11 landed on the Moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man on the Moon.
20th July 1969
