African Independence

The biggest reason for Africa's change in the 20 year period between 1955 to 1975 was because most African countries had gained their independence in that time. In 1955, only 4 countries in Africa were independent. They were Libya, Ethiopia, the Union of South Africa, and Egypt. Ghana was one of the first countries to succesfully become free of England, they achieved freedom under the leader Kwame Nkrumah. After WWII was when a lot of African countries wanted their freedom, and under the guidance of Kwame, Ghana achieved freedom, and inspired other countries to do the same.

Film Lesson: "The Right Stuff"

In the film "The Right Stuff", both the USSR and US were competing against each other trying to make the technology to go into space. Russia was the first country to go into space, much to America's dismay. After that America tried to send many rockets into space, but most of them failed. After a while though, America felt confident, and wanted to send people into space. Because of the slight chance of something going wrong though, America sent a monkey into space. 2 weeks later Russia successfully sent the first man into space. This both made America look bad, and it made Russia look superior to America. The monkey going into space will definitely help me remember the Cold War.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

NATO stand for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO was an alliance between several European and North American countries, where each country promised to help the other countries when they were in need. This alliance was very helpful to some smaller countries in Europe that felt threatened by large Communist countries, such as Russia. The Warsaw Pact was the Communist response to NATO. It was an alliance formed by the USSR and several other Communist countries in Europe. It, like NATO, was an alliance where the countries promised to help each other out when they were in need. Unlike NATO though, the Warsaw Pact slowly disappeared, where NATO is still an active organization today.