From Dailyhistory.org: At the end of the Second World War, the United States, British, and Soviet military forces divided and occupied Germany. Also divided into occupation zones, Berlin was located far inside Soviet-controlled eastern Germany. The United States, United Kingdom,… Read More ›
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. The crisis was unique… Read More ›
Joseph Stalin was one of bloodiest dictators in world history and one of the most significant people of the 20th Century. He was the absolute ruler of the Soviet Union and the Communist Bloc of Eastern Europe. He killed millions… Read More ›
Nikita Khrushchev assumed leadership of the Soviet Union during the period following the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Khrushchev served as a General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as a… Read More ›
From Politico Magazine by Grace Kennan Warnecke: My father, the diplomat George F. Kennan, disliked the telephone. So when he called me in March 1967, I knew it was something important. At the time, I was 36 years old and… Read More ›
From History New Network by Douglas Gilbert author of The Last Saturday of October: The Declassified Secrets of Black Saturday: “Vasili Arkhipov is arguably the most important person in modern history, thanks to whom October 27, 2017 isn’t the 55th… Read More ›
From Smithsonian.com by Alice George: With a pounding heart and rapid breath, Laika rode a rocket into Earth orbit, 2,000 miles above Moscow streets she knew. Overheated, cramped, frightened, and probably hungry, the space dog gave her life for her… Read More ›
From We’re History by Sarah Katherine Mergel: In April 1971, table tennis teams from around the globe traveled to Nagoya, Japan, for the World Table Tennis Championships. Amid the games and other events, American player Glenn Cowan somehow found himself… Read More ›
From Business Insider by Brad Howard: Since the United States entered World War II, the Department of Defense has engaged in the systematic surveillance of other nations by air to glean valuable intelligence on weapons capabilities and military movements. These… Read More ›
The Cold War (1945-1991) represented a series of localized conflicts and intense diplomatic rivalries between camps led by the capitalist United States and Communist Soviet Union. This era also saw a massive increase in civilian and military technology, including thousands… Read More ›
From History News Network by Bruce W. Dearstyne author of The Spirit of New York: Defining Events in the Empire State’s History: President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to discuss discontinuing its nuclear program… Read More ›
From the Process History Blog by Erin Redihan author of The Olympics and the Cold War, 1948-1968: Sport as Battleground in the U.S.-Soviet Rivalry: The relationship between politics and international sport is fraught with tension and drama: the same qualities that make for… Read More ›
From The Washington Post by Mark Kramer: The poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in southern England, most likely by Russian intelligence agents, highlights the role of espionage in Russia’s relations with the West. Skripal had… Read More ›
From The Washington Post by Alexander Poster: Imagine a covert plan to weaken the United States, not through military sabotage or stealing state secrets, but simply through the manipulation of the news media. The plan involves foreign agents who write… Read More ›
From Time Magazine by Billy Perrigo: Almost exactly 60 years ago, in the crisp, early spring of 1958, a young boy from California named Darius shuffled through the streets of Warsaw. He shivered; it still felt like winter, and snow… Read More ›