At the end of Second World War, the United States, France and the Soviet Union divided the defeated Germany into four occupational zones, as outlined at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and formalised at Potsdam later that year. Berlin, though located within the Soviet-occupied zone, was divided as well, with the Western part of the city in Allied hands and the east under Soviet control.
Led by Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union wanted to punish Germany economically, forcing the country to pay war reparations and contribute its industrial technology to help post- war Soviet recovery. On the other hand, the Allies saw Germany’s economic recovery as crucial to preserving it as a democratic buffer (wall) against the spread of communism from Eastern Europe, over which Stalin had consolidated Soviet influence.
… In June, U.S. and British officials introduced the new currency, the Deutschmark, into Bazonia and West Berlin, without informing their Soviet counterparts. Viewing this as a violation of their post-war agreements, the Soviets immediately issued their own currency, the Ostmark, into Berlin and eastern Germany. That same day – 24 June 1948 – they blocked all road, railway and canal access to the Allied-occupied zones of Berlin, announcing that the four-way administration of the city had come to an end.

[From https:// www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-blockade. Accessed on 6 February 2021.] 

The Berlin Blockade was the first serious clash between the members of the former Grand Alliance, and from this point, it was very clear that the Cold War had begun. The Western Allies were not prepared to risk armed conflict with the Soviets to open the way to West Berlin. They decided that their sectors of Berlin (west) would be supplied by air. This became known as the Berlin Airlift and it lasted for eleven months until the Blockade was lifted in May 1949.
At the height of the Berlin Airlift, a plane from the Western powers landed at Berlin’s Templehof Airport every minute. Keeping West Berlin supplied in this way cost the USA $350 million and Britain £17 million.
Similarly, Stalin was not prepared to use force to keep the Western Allies from supplying West Berlin by air, because he did not want to risk a war. In May 1949, Stalin ended the blockade.
The allies were now determined to build up West Berlin as a showcase for capitalism. Many Germans from the Soviet zone crossed into West Berlin. Germany and Berlin would remain a source for tension in Europe for the duration of the Cold War.
In April 1949, the USA, Britain, and France officially announced the formation of the German Federal Republic (West Germany). By 1949 there was a worldwide awareness of a Cold War.

[From https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zgdnmsg/revision/4. Accessed on 6 February 2021.] 

Between 24 June 1948 and 30 September 1949 British and American soldiers made about 400 000 flights into Western Berlin, hauling (carrying) almost two million tons of food, coal,clothes and other necessities. During the busiest days, a plane landed every 45 seconds at one of the three airports in West Berlin. Pilots even used the rivers as runways to bring in their essential cargo. Berlin’s Havel River was a landing site for amphibious aircraft (planes which can land on water) participating in the airlift.
However, even with supplies donated by Western nations, blockaded Berliners did not have an easy year. Fuel was in such short supply that power plants could supply electricity for only a few hours each day. Food rations consisted mainly for dehydrated (dried) potatoes and fresh foods were not available at all. In the winter the sun set before four o’clock. The people of West Berlin huddled (gathered) in their cold, dark homes without heat, light or a warm meal to cheer them on.
Nevertheless, West Berliners were determined not to give in to Soviet pressure. They refused to accept food from the communist government of East Berlin.

[From A History of the United States, Volume II:1865 to the Present – American Voices by S. Foresman] 

Rich in diamonds and oil, Angola was one of the last African nations to receive independence from a European power. On 25 April 1974, a Portuguese military coup d’état protesting the country’s colonial practices successfully overthrew the regime. The combined forces of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Front for the liberation of Angola (FNLA), and the National Union for Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) created a transitional government with the Alvor Accord of 1974.
Within a year the government had disintegrated (collapsed), and with aid from the USSR and the Cuban military, the Marxist-oriented MPLA under Jose dos Santos had wrested (taken) control of most of Angola. The United States, Brazil and South Africa funded UNITA, providing ammunitions, intelligence reports and mercenaries.
Heavy fighting continued until 1991 when a temporal (non-permanent) agreement known as the Bicesse Accords was reached. Calling all for an immediate ceasefire and the removal of both South African troops, the agreement mandated a new national government and army, along with Angola’s first multi-party elections.

[From www.blackpast.org>angolan-civil-war1975-2002. Accessed on 7 February 2021.] 

The crisis in Angola developed into a Cold War battleground as the superpowers and their allies delivered military assistance to their preferred clients. The United States supplied aid and training for both the FNLA and UNITA, while troops from Zaire assisted Holden Roberto and his fighters. China, also, sent military instructors to train the FNLA. The Soviet Union provided military training and equipment for the MPLA. During the summer of 1975, the Soviet-supported MPLA was able to consolidate (establish) power in Luanda and oust (overthrow) the USA-supported FNLA from the capital, but the FNLA continued to attack. The remaining Portuguese troops failed to stem (stop) the violence. When MPLA leader Agostino Neto announced 11 November 1975 as the day of Angolan independence, Lisbon decided to withdraw its troops on that day.
The MPLA also had long-established relations with Fidel Castro’s Cuba. Before
1 November the MPLA had negotiated with Castro for Cuban assistance. At the same time, UNITA, which enjoyed US support, approached the apartheid government in South Africa for military reinforcement. Pretoria, with the aim to end the use of Angola as a base for rebels fighting for the independence of South Africa-occupied Namibia, contributed forces that entered Southern Angola in October and made rapid progress toward the capital. In response, Castro sent Cuban Special Forces to halt the South African advance and succeeded in drawing attention to the fact that the United States had provided support to a group that now accepted assistance from an apartheid government.

[From https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/angola. Accessed on 8 February 2021.] 

In the House of Assembly in January 1976 Vorster (South African Prime Minister) placed the blame for South Africa’s intervention in Angola squarely on the shoulders of the Russians and Cubans: ꞌOur involvement was the effect of Russian and Cuban intervention. If they did not enter Angola, if they did not take part in this affair, if they did not try to subvert (undermine) the whole of Angola and to suppress (contain) its people, South Africa would never have entered Angola at all … We went in to chase Cuba and the MPLA away from the dams (Ruacana and Calueque)’.
It can hardly be doubted that the support which the Russian and the Cubans gave to the MPLA in the form of arms and training contributed in some measure to motivating South Africa’s intervention, but it is unlikely that it was as crucial a reason as Vorster implied. It was SWAPO, not the Cubans and the MPLA, who threatened the two dams between Ruacana and Calueque. The main reason for South Africa’s intervention in Angola was not the presence of Russians and Cubans, but the desire (longing) to prevent a hostile MPLA government from taking control. When South African troops began to invade Angola early in October, there were hardly any Russians and very few Cubans in the country.
There is also evidence that President Kaunda of Zambia and President Mobutu of Zaire, neither of whom favoured the MPLA, welcomed South Africa’s support for the FNLA and UNITA.
… South Africa’s actions drew her progressively (more and more) deeper into the Angolan war … General Hendrik van den Bergh was sent to France to purchase weapons to the value of R20 million for the FNLA and UNITA … South African instructors began to train FNLA and UNITA soldiers in Southern Angola.

[From South Africa in the 20th Century by BJ Liebenberg and SB Spies] 

On 17 May 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in educational facilities was unconstitutional. Five days later, the Little Rock School Board issued a statement saying it would comply with the decision when the Supreme Court outlined the method and time frame in which desegregation should be implemented.
Arkansas was at the time among the more progressive Southern States in regard to racial issues. The University of Arkansas School of law was integrated in 1949 and the Little Rock Public Library in 1951. Even before the Supreme Court ordered integration to proceed “with all deliberate speed”, the Little Rock School Board in 1955 unanimously adopted a plan of integration to begin in 1957 at the high school level.
… In the spring of 1957, there were 517 Black students who lived in the Central High School district. Eighty expressed an interest in attending Central in autumn and they were interviewed by the Little Rock School Board, which narrowed down the number of candidates to 17. Eight of those students later decided to remain at the all-black Horace Mann High School, leaving the Little Rock Nine to forge their way into Little Rock’s premier high school.

[From www.history.com>central high. Accessed on 8 February 2021.] 

The first scene Eckford saw when she got off the bus a block from Central High School was a sea of angry faces. She tried to walk to school, but a jeering (taunting) mob blocked her path. All alone, her knees shaking, she pushed through the mob. She was trying hard not to show her fright. ‘It was the longest block I ever walked in my whole life’ she said later. Eckford was one of nine students who had volunteered to be among the first African Americans to attend Central High School. When she left for school that morning, Eckford thought there might be trouble. But she didn’t know that she would see hundreds of angry white people who had been waiting for her since early morning. Suddenly a shout went through the crowd. Elizabeth Eckford was attempting to enter the school.
Eckford turned back to the National Guards, but they did nothing. She walked back to the bus stop and sat down at the bench. Again, the mob surrounded her. ‘Get a rope. Drag her over to this tree! Let’s take care of the nigger’.’ A white woman fought her way through the mob,’ screaming, ‘Leave this child alone. Why are you tormenting (upsetting) her? Six months from now, you will hang your heads in shame.’ The woman, Grace Lorch, sat down with Eckford on the bench. She put her arm around the girl and stayed there until the bus arrived.
Mrs Lorch rode with Eckford until she got off at the school where her mother taught.

[From http://www.ahsd.org/ socialstudies/williamsm/The%20Mob%20at%20Central%20 High%20School.pdf. Accessed on 9 February 2016.] 

That evening, from the White House, the president delivered a nationally televised address in which he explained that he had taken the action to defend the rule of law and prevent ‘mob rule’ and ‘anarchy’. On 25 September 1957, the Little Rock Nine entered the school under heavily armed guard.
Troops remained at Central High School throughout the school year, but still the black students were subjected to verbal and physical assaults from a faction of white students. Melba Patillo, one of the nine, had acid thrown in her eyes, and Elizabeth Eckford was pushed down a flight of stairs. The three male students in the group were subjected to more conventional (usual) beatings. Minnijean Brown was suspended after dumping a bowl of chilli over the head of a taunting (insulting) white student. She was later suspended for the rest of the year after continuing to fight back.
The other eight students consistently turned the other cheek. On 27 May 1958, Ernest Green, became the first Black person to graduate from Central High School. Governor Faubus continued to fight the school’s boards integration plan, and in September 1958 he ordered Little Rocks three high schools closed rather than permit integration. Many Little Rock students lost a year of education as the legal fight over desegregation continued.

[From www.history.com>central-high... Accessed on 8 February 2021.]