Member-only story
The Cold War: Space Race
During the mid-20th century, World War 2 had ended but a new conflict had begun. The Cold War. What is a cold war? It is where there is a major tension between two sides that has no war or fighting. This war was between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. There was a new place to look at in the mid-1950s when space had become a main area in the competition. Both sides were trying to show how powerful their technology was and how strong their military powers were.
What fear and motivation did each side have? The Americans feared that the USSR would control the whole of eastern europe after they claimed to control the area. They feared that they would then try to take over western europe. When they started to launch spacecraft and kept on getting achievements, they feared they might launch a nuke onto the USA. That’s when the US decided to join in and that is how the space race began. On the other side though the Soviets just wanted to control Eastern Europe to safeguard it from war. Western Europe was under American influence while Eastern Europe was under USSR influence. All these things motivated each side and made them determined to win the space race.
Propaganda played a major role in the space race as both sides used it. Government officials showed many forms of Space propaganda to the public. This was used to influence space policy. Since very few people…