In November 1989 the Berlin Wall collapsed and the Cold War was finally over. A new era of freedom had begun. The shape that freedom was going to take would be defined by the victors – the West, and as this programme has shown, the idea of freedom that had now become dominant in the West was deeply rooted in the suspicion and paranoia of the Cold War. ibid.
In America the idea of individualism had become central to the politics of the Cold War. Because it was what defined the United States against the collective ideology of Russia … Out of these fears came a paranoia that was fuelled by groups on the extreme Right like the John Birch Society. They said that the American government had been taken over by hidden groups controlled by the communists. Adam Curtis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head I: Bloodshed on Wolf Mountain, BBCiplayer 2021
There are enough nuclear weapons on Earth to wipe out the human race. We have already stood on the very brink of Armageddon. The race for nuclear supremacy has fueled a world of conspiracy, deceit and espionage. It is a race in which spies risked their lives to betray their country, their friends and their family. And at its heart lies the world’s best-kept secrets. Nuclear Secrets I: The Spy from Moscow, BBC 2007
His [Penkovsky] offer to spy for the West reached Washington but the CIA failed to make contact. ibid.
Penkovsky made an astonishing claim that turned Cold-War perceptions on their head: the Soviets were way behind in the nuclear race, but Khrushchev was planning an all-out nuclear attack. ibid.
Penkovsky was going back behind the Iron Curtain as the Cold War intensified still further. ibid.
In May 1963 Penkovsky & Wynn were tried in Moscow. The KGB had arrested Wynn in Hungary – sentenced to eight years, he was released within eighteen months in a spy exchange. Oleg Penkovsky received the sentence of a common traitor. ibid.
1945: America prepares to unleash the most destructive weapon ever seen. It’s the dawn of the nuclear age … a weapon of mass murder created by men of genius – but one is a communist spy: Dr K Fuchs. Nuclear Secrets II: Superspy
Fuchs was against any country having a monopoly on the bomb. ibid.
The Soviets were progressing fast building four secret nuclear cities to service the bomb project. ibid.
In six London meetings Fuchs passed on ninety documents of nuclear secrets. ibid.
There are enough hydrogen bombs on Earth to destroy every human being. But sixty years ago there was no such thing. And one man was determined to keep it that way. Robert Oppenheimer claimed he was defending the human race. His enemies believed he should be crushed for betraying America. Was the world heading for Armageddon? Nuclear Secrets III: Superbomb
‘As of today we are living in the age of the superbomb.’ ibid. Oppenheimer
Sakhorov had seen all of Fuch’s information but he wanted to go his own way. ibid.
A three-mile wide fireball recreated every element the universe had ever seen. It was equivalent to a thousand Hiroshimas. Five thousand miles away Teller watched the birth of his bomb. ibid.
The Soviet H-bomb had arrived several years earlier than the CIA had predicted fuelling suspicions there were still spies at large in America. ibid.
[Lewis] Strauss ordered the FBI to seize all Oppenheimer’s classified files. ibid.
The Atomic Age has begun. For the next four decades two global superpowers remain poised for swift and terrible action. Annihilation just the push of a button away. It’s an arms race, propaganda battle and deadly game known as the Cold War. Cold War Armageddon s1e1, Discovery History 2017
An era of mutually assured destruction known simply as MAD. ibid.
One by one the nations of eastern Europe were falling into Soviet hands. ibid.
Wire and watchtowers seal off the East. ibid.
The 1950s: A decade of paranoia. The start of an unprecedented arms race between the superpowers. As the stalemate between communism and democracy threatens to send the world into chaos, every closer to the edge World War III, the propaganda battle and deadly game of the Cold War continues. Cold War Armageddon s1e2
By the end of 1950 the US has amassed over 350 atomic bombs. ibid.
The superpowers have taken their fight to the skies above Korea. ibid.
In the decade after World War II the USA and the USSR are locked in a battle for global supremacy. It’s a bitter fight between two rival ideologies: capitalism and communism that stretches from Berlin to Havana and beyond. Cold War Armageddon s1e3
By February Castro is sworn in as prime minister of Cuba … less than 90 miles from the USA. ibid.
Sputnik … strikes dread into the West … The space race between East and West has started. ibid.
The Cold War in Berlin is a story of families forced apart. ibid.
At the dawn of the 1960s the fight for supremacy between rival ideologies – communism and capitalism – sparks conflict around the globe. With the world being pushed to the brink new battlefields emerge for a proxy war. Cold War Armageddon s1e4
The Doomsday Clock had never been so close to midnight. ibid.
The Soviet Union remains a powerful force on the global stage. Technological advances along with a doctrine of mutually assured destruction have escalated the threat of nuclear annihilation. Cold War Armageddon s1e5
Salt II aims to put the nuclear war machine into reverse. ibid.
The US has committed itself to another proxy war. Angola’s massive wealth and mineral resources may have been its motive. ibid.
By the end of the ’70s the Cold War has lasted for over 30 years. As armed conflicts take hold in Angola and Afghanistan Cold War even affect the Olympics games. Cold War Armageddon s1e6
Salt II: The treaty sets limits on the use and proliferation of nuclear missiles. ibid.
As the 1980s begin the world is locked in a struggle between two superpowers. Soon the next battlefield emerges in a proxy war between communism and democracy. But it’s too close to home for America. Cold War Armageddon s1e7
Grenada has been a sovereign state since it was given independence by Britain in 1974 … The United States invades the nation of Grenada. ibid.
1987: A treaty is drawn up that will turn in the tide in the nuclear arms race. ibid.
In 1989 the Soviet Union pulls out of Afghanistan. Cold War Armageddon s1e8
Romania is not the only communist state hearing the revolutionist’s call … In one country after another people take to the streets. ibid.
The trickle of refugees through the fence dividing Hungary from Austria becomes a flow. Most of the refugees are from East Germany. More and more people from eastern block countries travel to freedom in the west. ibid.
Germans from east and west forms massive crowds on both sides of the Berlin Wall. ibid.
The communist old guard stages a coup. ibid.
The Soviet Union is gone. ibid.
In the shadows of the Cold War another war was being waged. This one between spies. It was a war of stealth, deception and betrayal. The weapons were wit, daring, courage. Master Spies s1e1: Spy vs Spy, Discovery History 2017
During the summer of 1962 Oleg Penkovsky stepped up his activity and had more than a dozen meetings with his … At their next meeting the KGB was watching. ibid.
During the Cold War the Berlin wall made it extremely difficult for STASI agents working in West Berlin to communicate with their controllers in East Berlin. ibid.
The STASI developed some of the best surveillance equipment in the world. ibid.
Scott for President. Seven Days in May 1964 starring Burt Lancaster & Kirk Douglas & Fredric March & Ava Gardner & Edmond O’Brien & Martin Malsam & Andrew Duggan & Hugh Marow & Whit Bissell & Helen Kleeb, director John Frankenheimer, opening scene protest banner
29% of people in the United States approve of what I’m doing. ibid. president