IMAGES OF THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES: Cold War

The Cold War dominated international relations for the latter half of the 20th century from its beginnings in the rubble of a defeated Germany to its end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a battle of ideology and power politics supported by military might and pitted the democratic capitalist West against the communist states of Eastern Europe and Asia, and resulted in a series of flashpoints that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The first chapter in this extraordinary photographic history examines international diplomacy, the creation of the United Nations, the consequences of the Marshall Plan on European Recovery, and the outbreak of the Korean War. Subsequent analysis focuses on the death of Stalin and the beginnings of peaceful co-existence. The dangers of the Cuban Missile Crisis and Britain's decision to purchase the Polaris missile systems are also discussed and the chapter concludes with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the uprisings in Eastern Europe, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Subsequent chapters cover Cold War military alliances, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the unmasking of atomic spies Alan Nunn May and Klaus Fuchs, the significance of the Cambridge and Portland spy rings, and the role played by Soviet double agents. The second half of the book concentrates on civil defence, the protest movement, proxy wars in Africa and the popular culture, governments? plans for fighting and surviving a nuclear war, CND, Greenham Common, and conflicts that took place in the Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Finally we look at films, books and pop songs and the fears and anxieties of growing up in the shadow of the bomb and now the new challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. The primary narrative of each chapter is told from a British viewpoint and is based on records held by The National Archives at Kew. It is based on previously secret government reports and papers and tells the compelling story of global conflict and superpower politics set against a backdrop of dramatic social and cultural change and written by a renowned historian in the field. 159pp in large softback, plentiful illustrations, maps and diagrams and letters reproduced, plus posters and propaganda.