In Thatcher & Reagan episode 1, journalist Charles Moore delves into one of the most compelling political alliances of the 20th century: the extraordinary partnership between British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
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Cold War episode 21 – Soldiers of God 1975-1988 – Afghanistan is a war that costs the lives of almost 15,000 Soviet conscripts and an estimated one million Afghans. The turbulent conflict in Afghanistan that unfolded during the closing decades of the 20th century can be characterized as a tragic, costly war of significant global consequence. This fierce clash resulted in the untimely demise of nearly 15,000 Soviet conscripts, while the Afghan populace suffered even more heavily with an estimated one million lives extinguished. This theatre of war became an unlikely meeting ground for an unusual alliance, as the United
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Cold War episode 18 – Good Guys, Bad Guys 1967-1978: The Cold War was not only a confrontation between two superpowers, but also a series of proxy conflicts that involved their allies and surrogates in different regions of the world. One of the main arenas of this surrogate warfare was the Middle East, where the United States and the Soviet Union competed for influence and resources. In 1967 and 1973, Israel, backed by the United States, defeated Egypt and Syria, supported by the Soviet Union, in the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. These wars reshaped
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Cold War episode 16 – China 1949-1972 – Chinese communists win the longest civil war in 20th century history. In the annals of 20th-century history, the Chinese Communist Party emerged victorious in the longest and most protracted civil war, profoundly shaping the nation’s future. Mao Zedong’s initial land reforms were met with widespread approval, but in 1958, he embarked on a sequence of disastrous policies that led to immense upheaval and catastrophe. As China’s relationship with the Soviet Union grew increasingly tense, the Sino-Soviet split in 1960 would ultimately pave the way for President Nixon’s groundbreaking visit to Beijing.
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Cold War episode 15 – Red Spring: The Sixties – In the Soviet bloc, communist rule stifles ambition and achievement. Soviet defense expenditure cripples economic growth. In the Soviet bloc, the grip of communist rule has long been a suppressive force, stifling ambition and achievement among its citizens. The immense burden of Soviet defense expenditure continues to hinder economic growth, creating an environment that breeds disillusionment. The younger generations, captivated by the alluring symbols of America’s youth culture, yearn for the freedom represented by blue jeans and rock ‘n roll. Within this context, Czechoslovakia witnesses a glimmer of hope under
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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: 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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KGB: The Sword and the Shield episode 3: Although the end of the Soviet Union also meant the end of the KGB, it did not mean the end of secret service activities. FSB and the foreign intelligence service SVR took over the tasks. Under the secret service officer Vladimir Putin, who has long been Russia’s president, the tasks of the secret service were redefined, and digital age with the Internet brought new possibilities for internal and external espionage and for the manipulation of public opinion. Coup d’etats, assassinations, sex scandals, radioactive poisoning….it’s the stuff of a Bond movie.
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KGB: The Sword and the Shield episode 2: By August 1949, at least five years earlier than expected, the USSR became the world’s second superpower, thanks to its spies who had stolen America’s atomic secrets. But by March 1953, Stalin is dead and KGB chief, Beria, is executed later the same year. Nikita Kruschev tries to reduce the power of the security service, splitting it into several sections…but it doesn’t last and, soon, the KGB is back. In 1954 the Soviet secret service got its own ministry. Domestic and foreign intelligence operated under the acronym KGB. It remains
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KGB: The Sword and the Shield episode 1: Cheka was the predecessor organization of the KGB, the notorious secret service of the Soviet Union. Founded in 1917, the Cheka’s employees were tasked with tracking down unreliable government officials and anarchist forces. Set up as a ‘temporary’ measure by Lenin, millions of Soviet citizens would die at the hands of the secret services as internal dissent, real or imaginary, was crushed. An inglorious chapter is the spying during the “Great Terror” phase, when millions of Soviet citizens were convicted and executed in mock trials under Stalin’s rule in the 1930s.
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Korea – The Never Ending War: between 1950 and 1953, more than 24 nations sent troops to Korea as the opposing ambitions and ideologies of the emerging Cold War superpowers – China, Russia and the USA – fought for supremacy on the peninsula. With first-hand testimony and new historical material, Korea: The Never Ending War retraces the history of a conflict that resulted in millions of deaths, brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, and continues to shape history to this day. The 1953 armistice brought a fragile peace to the Korean Peninsula, but the war
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The Winter War of Finland and Russia: In November 1939, when Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union, no one expected that this tiny nation could resist the largest military force in the world. And no one anticipated that 1939 would be one of the coldest winters in recorded history, what historians have called a frozen hell. Filmed on the old battlefields in Finland and Russia, Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia dramatically depicts the intensity of the warfront and the homefront. Outnumbered and outgunned, Finns knew this war was not about changing the
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