cold war Archives - Page 3 of 4

Cold War episode 7 – After Stalin 1953-1956

History / 7 minutes of reading / April 24, 2023 / By HDclump

Cold War episode 7 – After Stalin 1953-1956: Following Stalin’s demise, it becomes possible for change to occur. Khrushchev outwits Malenkov in the struggle for power and embarks on a journey to the West. Citizens of Germany, Poland, and Hungary attempt to rebel against Soviet rule. In 1956, a Hungarian uprising is brutally suppressed by Soviet tanks. The US, committed to containing rather than overthrowing communism, takes no action. Subsequent to Stalin’s unexpected death, Nikita Khrushchev seizes control of the Soviet Union and reverses some of Stalin’s repressive policies. Khrushchev also rekindles relations with Yugoslavia and, […]

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Cold War episode 6 – Reds 1948-1953

History / 8 minutes of reading / April 20, 2023 / By HDclump

Cold War episode 6 – Reds 1948-1953: Following Stalin’s domination of Eastern Europe and the loss of China, American democracy falls victim to anti-communist hysteria, but survives it. Eisenhower is elected President. In the Soviet Union, Stalin reinforces the climate of terror on which his rule is based. When he dies, in 1953, the Soviet people mourn the end of an era. Fear of one another permeates the eastern and western leadership, trickling down to the citizenry. The House Committee on Un-American Activities in the United States begins investigating alleged communist infiltration in the entertainment industry

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Cold War episode 5 – Korea 1949-1953

History / 5 minutes of reading / April 19, 2023 / By HDclump

Cold War episode 5 – Korea 1949-1953: In June1950, North Korea invades the South, with Stalin’s blessing. The United States, backed by the United Nations, defends South Korea, and then is confronted by communist China. In mid-1951, the war grinds to a bloody stalemate but eventually an armistice is signed. Aggression has contained. Korea was split between the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two. The Soviets install Kim Il-sung as the leader of the north, while the Americans place Syngman Rhee at the head of the south. In 1950, with the help of

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Cold War episode 4 – Berlin 1948-1949

History / 5 minutes of reading / April 18, 2023 / By HDclump

Cold War episode 4 – Berlin 1948-1949: In Berlin, the American, British and French sectors form a Western enclave in the Soviet zone of divided Germany. In June 1948, the Soviets blockade the city, but the Western allies successfully airlift in supplies. In August 1949, Soviet scientists explode an atomic bomb, establishing nuclear parity between the two superpowers. Opposed by the USSR, the United States emphasizes the need to rebuild the German economy. With the introduction of the Deutsche Mark, the Soviets react by tightening checkpoints leading into the French, British, and American sectors of Berlin,

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Cold War episode 3 – Marshall Plan 1947-1952

History / 5 minutes of reading / April 17, 2023 / By HDclump

Cold War episode 3 – Marshall Plan 1947-1952: The U.S. adopts the Truman doctrine, pledging to defend freedom worldwide. Secretary of State George Marshall plans to bolster economic recovery in Europe. Seeing this as a threat, Stalin forbids his satellites to participate. The world effectively divides. For both selfless and selfish reasons, the United States institutes the Marshall Plan, giving massive amounts of aid to the war-ravaged countries of Europe. Suspicious of American intentions, Stalin prevents countries in the Soviet sphere from taking part in the plan. As a counter to the U.S. plan, Stalin established the Council for Mutual

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Cold War episode 2 – Iron Curtain 1945-1947

History / 5 minutes of reading / April 11, 2023 / By HDclump

Cold War episode 2 – Iron Curtain 1945-1947: The Soviet Union dominates Eastern Europe. Churchill warns of the consequences. Stalin insists that the governments of the Soviet Union’s clients states be pro-communist. Impoverished after the war, Great Britain opts out as a world power. The U.S. assumes the mantle of world leadership. As wartime turned to peacetime, a resurgent United States enjoys economic prosperity while Europe is left to recover from the ravages of war. In the Soviet Union, Stalin has resumed his feared purges and the country is gripped by famine. Germany is forced to cede some of its

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Cold War episode 1 – Comrades 1917-1945

History / 5 minutes of reading / April 10, 2023 / By HDclump

Cold War episode 1 – Comrades 1917-1945: Though ideological enemies, the Soviet Union and the U.S. are allies against Hitler during WWII. At the end of the war, Europe is divided, and the one-time allies now confront each other. The U.S. has the atomic bomb. The Russian Revolution of 1917, followed by the Russian Civil War caused a rift between the Soviet Union and the United States. But when President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries resumed. The relationship was strained yet again after the USSR annexed the Baltic States and signed

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The Silent War episode 2 – The Russians Are Coming!

History / 3 minutes of reading / March 1, 2022 / By HDclump

The Silent War episode 2 – The Russians Are Coming! – Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the front line of the Cold War was hidden beneath the ocean. Submariners from three navies – American, Soviet and British – played a deadly game of cat and mouse in a secret war of espionage and intimidation. The nuclear balance between East and West was constantly shifting. This was a constant struggle to gain technological advantage, and the Soviets developed submarines that were ever more sophisticated – bigger, faster and more luxurious – than any developed by the West. For over

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The Silent War episode 1 – Know Your Enemy

History / 3 minutes of reading / February 28, 2022 / By HDclump

The Silent War episode 1 – Know Your Enemy: For decades, Britain and America’s Cold War submarines waged a secret war of espionage against the Soviet navy. Deep in the ocean, crews were locked in a game of cat and mouse as each side battled to gain the tactical and technological advantage. After decades of silence, submariners from both the east and west are now allowed to talk more openly than ever before about how they plotted to win the war beneath the waves. The west’s superior technology allowed them to secretly shadow the Soviet fleet, at close

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War of Worlds 1963-1991 – The Abyss

History / 3 minutes of reading / January 14, 2022 / By HDclump

War of Worlds 1963-1991 – The Abyss: November 22, 1963. The entire world is in shock. President Kennedy has just been assassinated during a trip to Dallas. Even Khrushchev himself seems touched by the tragic news. In a surprising coincidence, South Vietnamese president Diem was assassinated twenty days earlier, in a coup organized by his generals… The players are changing, but the Vietnam war drags on. America’s new President Johnson sinks his country further into the quagmire of war. Close to three million young Americans discover Hell – the jungle, the unbearable heat, and the Viet Cong, with its tunnels

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War of Worlds 1956-1962 – The Wall

History / 3 minutes of reading / January 8, 2022 / By HDclump

War of Worlds 1956-1962 – The Wall: February 24, 1956. During the Soviet Communist Party’s twentieth Congress, Khrushchev stuns everyone by denouncing Stalin’s crimes. Without denying the ideology, the USSR’s new leader seeks to distance himself from his predecessor and open up to the outside world. “Mister K” is full of surprises. He drinks Pepsi with Nixon and insists on spending a day at Disneyland when he visits America… But behind this clown-like character, the “executioner of the Ukraine” hasn’t gone soft. In 1956, he didn’t hesitate to crush the uprising in Budapest in bloodshed. Now, he is

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War of Worlds 1953-1955 – The Conquest

History / 3 minutes of reading / January 7, 2022 / By HDclump

War of Worlds 1953-1955 – The Conquest: March 1953. Stalin is dead. Following many long hours of agony in his dacha, the Little Father of Peoples is now no more than an embalmed corpse. His potential successors eagerly flock to pay their respects. In East Berlin, a wave of hope swept through the German workers who rise up against the Party. This hope is swiftly crushed by Soviet tanks… In Asia, the hot conflicts are coming to an end. After the Panmunjom truce, the US ingloriously leaves Korea. The few remaining troops impatiently await a visit from Marilyn Monroe. In

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