Cold War

Conflict on the Korean Peninsula from 1950 to the 1953 armistice, involving North and South Korea and major international intervention, leaving the peninsula divided.

Competition and cooperation in space technology and human spaceflight, particularly between the United States and Soviet Union.

Prolonged war in Vietnam and the wider Indochina region involving North Vietnam and allied communist forces against South Vietnam and its allies, especially the United States, ending in 1975.

Global armed conflict from 1939 to 1945, including war in Europe, Asia and the Pacific, mass civilian suffering and major geopolitical change.

The first crewed lunar landing on 20 July 1969, when NASA Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin reached the Moon while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit.

An oxygen tank exploded aboard Apollo 13, forcing cancellation of the landing and a difficult crew rescue.

UN and Chinese troops fought around the Chosin Reservoir in a crucial Korean War engagement.

The catastrophic April 26, 1986 accident at Reactor No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, followed by radioactive releases, evacuation, emergency response, and an extensive containment effort.

The People's Liberation Army's advance into Tibet in 1950 ends the period of relative isolation represented in the film and prompts Harrer's departure.

U.S. and Soviet leaders confronted nuclear escalation after discovery of Soviet missile sites in Cuba.

The opening of the Berlin Wall marked the collapse of the physical division between East and West Berlin and initiated the end of the divided-city order.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, meets Harrer as a child and becomes his student and friend during the late 1940s.

Austrian mountaineer whose experiences in Tibet form the basis of the film.

The national setting for Rogers’s television career, public-education work, and cultural influence.

Country on the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Country in Southeast Asia.

Major port city in South Korea.

Nuclear power station near Pripyat, site of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Former state in Central Europe, 1918–1992.

The city where Harrer lives, works, and meets the young 14th Dalai Lama.

The metropolitan setting surrounding LaGuardia Airport, the flight path, rescue response, and media attention.

Country in East Asia.