The United States of America was one of the two major players in the Cold War. This country took major damage from crises such as the Bay of Pigs and the Science Race with the Soviet Union, but eventually they came out first (Grolier, Cold War).
The Soviet Union was one of the two major players in the Cold War. This country took major damage from crises such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and Berlin Wall, and eventually their economy collapsed and they converted to a capitalistic economy (Grolier, Mikhail Gorbachev).
Germany was, in a way, a chessboard that the two powers played on. The US. was allied with West Germany, and the Soviet Union was allied with East Germany. When the Berlin Wall was built here, the Soviet Union took a major hit in their political opinions across the globe. Eventually, in 1990, the Berlin Wall was destroyed and the two sides of Germany were reunited (Grolier, Nikita Khrushchev).
Cuba was a minor player in the Cold War. When Fidel Castro took over, the United States authorized an invasion of this country. This invasion, known as the Bay of Pigs, was a hideous failure. When the United States failed on the invasion, the Soviet Union sent missiles to Cuba. The United States threatened a "quarantine" and the Soviet Union yielded (Davis, 355 - 360)(Grolier, Cuban Missile Crisis).
