This lesson is an inquiry into events that occurred during the Cold War era. It is a technology-based project on one event that occurred during the Cold War(1945-1991). The Cold War describes the tense and hostile relationship between the Soviet Union and the U.S. between 1945 and 1992. The communist government of the Soviet Union wanted to convert other countries to communism. The U.S. pledged to support free countries so they could resist communism. Both countries had nuclear weapons and were capable of launching a nuclear war. Other countries took sides in this international conflict. Many Western European countries sided with the U.S. to form NATO (National Atlantic Treaty Organization) in 1949. Eastern European countries signed the Warsaw Pact and formed an alliance with the Soviet Union.