Yuri Andropov

Ronald Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate was delivered during a transformative time for both Soviet leadership and the American approach to foreign relations. Reagan’s initial presidential stance advocated for a firm, forceful presence meant to deter Soviet advances and aggression against American freedom. Weapons upsurge and military expenditure rose drastically during Reagan’s early years, in efforts to protect Americans in the event of a nuclear altercation with the Soviets. However, the nature of such an altercation was exposed to result in toxic, hostile environments unsuitable for all life and every nation. In addition to this discovered conclusion on nuclear conflict, the Soviets welcomed a novel leader, Gorbachev, into office in 1985. Gorbachev’s policies were innovative and centered on openness (glasnost), restructuring of the Soviet Union, and restoration of U.S. relations. Given the new foreign atmosphere and awareness of the expense of nuclear fallout, Reagan took a previously uncharacteristic diplomatic attitude toward the Soviets, proclaiming an invitation for Gorbachev to enter peace talks and a reciprocal pursuit of nuclear disarmament. His speech continued to align against communism and its threat to freedom; however, he altered his level of opposition to accommodate for the possibility of peace between nations and minimize the risk of mutually assured destruction, perhaps recognizing this as a greater threat to American safety. Reagan acknowledged…

Whether by choice or to circumstance, Soviet Russia’s Cold War generations were born to a nuclear bomb, raised under the constant threat of war, and seemed doomed to die of the stagnation caused by their own government, until they were emancipated by a life force that was as formidable as unlikely a savior. This paper discusses the role of the Beatles and their music in the cultural, political and social unification of successive generations of Cold War Russians, and how contemporary Russia has…

Worth-watching historical movie If anybody thinks historical films are all about boring and wasting time, this movie would change their mind. Bridge of Spy was based on a true story of U-2 incident in 1960. A Soviet spy, Rudoft Abel, was arrested, and James Donovan, an insurrance lawyer at that time, was chosen to be his defender. Francis Gary Power, a pilot of US army, was arrested by the Soviet Union after failing his misson. In the meantime, the young Frederic Pryor, an American college…

Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570 is centered around three Spaniards and their approach to Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula. Clendinnen weaves a tale of forced conversion, colonial power struggles, and mass torture, but she contextualized these horrors in a way that the rationales of the Spaniards do not get lost. However, the Maya side of the story gets lost with only one Maya figure, the resistance leader Nachi Cocom, emerges as an individual. The Catholic religion…

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first ever satellite into space called Sputnik 1. One month later on November 3, 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik II while also carrying a dog named Laika which was also the first animal to go up in space. At this point into the space race the Soviet Union were way ahead of the United States. Which also brought more competition and tension into the space race. The first man to travel to space was Yuri Gagarin. History was made on April 12,…

Luna 2 wasn’t just launched into space, it was launched to the moon, it was not only the first probe to reach the moon it was the first probe to also hit the moon. This milestone quickly debunked the myths of it being impossible to reach the moon. Soon after reaching the moon the Soviets stepped up their game and put a man in space. After a long few months of experimenting with monkeys in space they finally did what was thought to be the impossible. In April of 1961 the soviet cosmonaut Yuri…

Its purpose was to detect cosmic rays while in orbit; unfortunately the satellite failed to ignite on its fourth stage in its launch process and never made it to orbit. During the time of Explorer 2, the Soviets were also at work with Luna 2, this probe became the first to hit the moon but after 33.5 hours into flight the signals were dead. The US then created another satellite, the fourth satellite by America, and the first satellite to be solar-powered. They created the Vanguard 1, the first…

other accomplishments. “The road to the stars is open.” (Sergei Korolev, 1957) Matter in fact the USSR feared that if America learned of his identity he would be assassinated, so until his death very few knew his name, fewer knew his face; he was truly the “Invisible Man”. Though over the years he began to suffer from health problems from the years of stress. Before his death, he undertook his biggest challenge; developing the N1 rocket. Unfortunately he was pressured heavily to convert its…

news as well, chief engineer of the Soviet space program, Sergey Korolyov, had died in January of 1966. This was huge since it would mess with the morale of every other worker of the Soviet space program. Of course both sides faced a multiple number of difficulties and challenges and it would definitely effect with the outcome of this “competition”. The U.S.A against the USSR had worked its way to become a everyday and household debate between people all over the world, it was an event that…

Union launching Sputnik, the United States may have never feel threatened to "catch up" to the Russians and therefore there would have never been satellites or astronauts launched into space or to the moon. The United States decided to launch their own satellite, Explorer 1. It was launched on January 31st, 1958. Explorer 1 was developed by the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency under the direction of Dr. Wernher von Braun. The Soviets and the Americans would go back and forth between…