In the 50’s and 60’s Space race rockets were dependent on nuclear missile technology.   The U.S. and U.S.S.R. were in the Cold War and were threatening to plunge the world into nuclear war. People were worried about the effects of nuclear testing and wanted to ban nuclear testing. The Nuclear Test Ban treaty directly caused the start of the space race.

Throughout the mid-20th century, we have been focused on missile technology. In WWII a lot of German scientists that worked on the V2 rockets came over to the United States. During the Cold War there was a nuclear arms race for the most weapons.

The Nuclear Test Ban treaty was entered into in 1963. The U.S.S.R. and the U.S. decided to stop nuclear testing after radiation was found in food stores. However, the U2 spy plane incident stopped negotiations. In 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis jump started negotiations. After eight years of difficult negotiations, American President John F. Kennedy and Russian Premier Khrushchev finally agreed to stop nuclear testing (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum).

After stopping nuclear missiles, the focus shifted to rocket technology. The U.S.S.R. and the U.S. entered into a race to be the first country in outer space. Inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) made rocket technology possible. In 1957, the first satellite, Sputnik, was launched by an modified ICBM. The Americans retaliated with the Explorer 1. It failed epically (History.com).

With Russia sending the first man in space, the U.S.’s ego needed to beat the U.S.S.R. President John F. Kennedy stated the U.S. was falling behind in science and technology so, he challenged the U.S.S.R. to get the first man on the moon (Kidport Referecne Library). The U.S.S.R. was only able to send probes to the moon.  However, On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men, also the first Americans, to walk on the moon.  American won the space race.

In 1960’s, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was crucial to the space race. Because of the Nuclear Test Ban treaty, missiles were turned into rockets. This affected the U.S. because technology would not be where it is today if it not for the Space Race.

Works Cited

History.com. “The Space Race”. Web.<http://www.history.com/topics/space-race>

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “Nuclear Test Ban Treaty”. Web. <http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty.aspx>

Kidport Reference Library. “The Moon Landing”. Web. <http://www.kidport.com/reflib/science/moonlanding/moonlanding.htm>

After WWI, a deadly virus struck, called influenza. This pandemic killed 100 million people worldwide. A reason was that people didn’t care about the deadliness of the flu. This was the deadly most disease in the world at its time.

The influenza was not always taken seriously. Scientists now believe that the influenza came from hogs in Kansas. This H1N1 virus, struck in India, Russia, and China, so it was a global threat. It was a particularly lethal in people between the ages of 20 and 40 years old. Cities were more affected because people were not spread out; they lived close together.The influenza lasted nine months. Continue reading →

Margarine. You know, the fake butter stuff. It is a Food substitute. Food substitutes called ersatz foods, were first supplied in World War I. These food supplies were started because there was not enough food during wartime due to blockades around both Britain and Germany. Germany could not receive imports and was unable to produce enough food to feed its people. Labor was off fighting the war and fertilizer materials were used to build bombs.  Since basic food was not available, ersatz foods were created.

At the beginning of World War I, the governments believed that food supplies would run out in six months.  Scientists from both sides began to create “fake” foods for the public. Thus the ersatz foods were born. But there was a lot work to be done to make some really good ersatz foods. The first was Kriegbrot (war bread). this war bread was very good, Kriegbrot was made of 55% rye, 25% wheat and 20% potato. It  would not rot for several weeks, so it was made for winter storage. The ersatz beverages were coffee, tea, and cocoa. The coffee was made from acorns, the tea was made from raspberry leaves, and the cocoa was made from coal-tar and roasted peas and oats. This helped raise the public health of the Allies and the Central Powers.

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The United States should enter World War I to stop Germany taking over Europe.  Thousands of lives and dollars are being lost because a petty duke was shot. The Lusitania sinking, an outrage! 1,198 American and English lives have been lost because of Germany’s ruthless fighting.

The U.S. should enter the Great War because innocent lives are being killed and resources and lives are being lost.  Too many people are getting killed.  An example of this is in the Battle of Gallipoli, where more than 250,000 people died.  A second example for the high loss of life is the use of unrestricted submarine warfare. The Germans are torpedoing boats along the waterfront of the English Channel.   Additionally, the generals along the Eastern and Western fronts cause the men in the trenches to charge at each other to relieve boredom.    This causes a high loss of life without any military advantage.   If America entered the war, we could bring the Allies a swift victory.

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