#Buzz race into space helmet messages free

Fortunately for them the US was determined not to withdraw as it did in 1918. They hoped the US would take an active role but could not be sure. Western Europeans feared Soviet expansionism. Both began secretly contacting and recruiting German scientists and engineers long before the war ended. The US and the Soviet Union were eager to gain access to advanced German military programs such as the ME-262 (the worldвЂ™s first jet fighter) and the V-2 missile (the worldвЂ™s first ballistic missile). Germans with specialized skills began looking to strike deals to exchange their knowledge and expertise for the opportunity to escape a destroyed Germany and in some cases criminal prosecution for war crimes. In that year, the Normandy landing and Soviet advances to the eastern border of Germany demonstrated to Germans, Americans, and Russians alike that the outcome of the war was no longer in doubt. Though historians wrote that ChurchillвЂ™s speech marked the official beginning of the Cold War in 1946, it actually began in 1944. Both sides adapted the design for their own air forces, the US F-86 Sabre and Soviet MiG 15. The German ME-262, the worldвЂ™s first operational jet fighter. Less than a year after the end of World War II, Winston Churchill famously declared that вЂњan iron curtain has descended across the continent.вЂќ (see an excerpt of ChurchillвЂ™s Sinews of Peace speech at Westminster College below) Western observers quickly recognized StalinвЂ™s aggressive intentions. The Soviets imposed puppet governments across Eastern Europe and supported communist initiatives in western European countries as well. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin hoped to make the USSR into a world economic power as well while establishing a buffer zone in Eastern Europe to prevent a third catastrophic invasion from the West. Each country had very different cultures and different aspirations.В The Soviet Union had suffered tens of millions of casualties from two German invasions in the 20th century. With the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two great military powers in the world.

#Buzz race into space helmet messages free

As the war ended, America was anxious to establish friendly democracies, re-build the war-ravaged world while fostering free trade for the benefit of American industry. The US supplied billions of dollars in arms, clothing, food, ships, and every imaginable type of supplies necessary to fuel the war machines both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Roosevelt referred to as the вЂњarsenal of freedom,вЂќ the US came to the defense of Western Europe against Germany for a second time in less than 30 years. The story of the Space Race has its origins in World War II. Since we are not so far removed as students of history 2,000 years from now, I have tried to not only explain the events and technological achievement of the Apollo missions, but also place them in the historical context of the Cold War. The event heralded a new age in History, not just the beginnings of space exploration but a visible symbol of the technological development on an unprecedented scale and scope. Nothing like it had ever been done before. Like the monumental construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza and the Great Wall of China the Moonshot represents one of the truly unique and great accomplishments in world history. So back to the point, which Americans and what achievements will be remembered? We can debate historical figures and events, but one event seems impossible to ignore, the landing of men on the Moon.

Even in a short time, perspectives change. Today, World War I is almost completely blotted out by World War II. So, in 2,000 years, what will people know about the United States? In 1918, World War I, then The Great War, eclipsed all other conflicts as the вЂњwar to end all wars.вЂќ It was generally believed that the miseries of trench warfare, chemical weapons, loss of whole generations of men, and devastation would preclude another world war. Sound familiar? Out of the millions of citizens and slaves who built this great culture though, how many Romans can you name? How many events from Roman History can you recall? Whatever the number, it is only a fraction of what took place in the 800 years of Roman emergence and world dominance. At one time, Rome ruled over 25% of the worldвЂ™s population and was a great innovator of technology with commercial tentacles that reached most world cultures. From time to time, I have asked students to think about American History from the perspective of the great arc of human history.