History: The Cold War

For years West Berlin was an escape route for East Germans seeking to flee communism. But growing Cold War tensions forced the Soviet bloc to erect a deadly blockade across the city, a wall that divided Berlin for nearly three decades. Recorded from History Channel, broadcast 9 September 2003. Copy made 10 November 2009.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union drifted apart after the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War and the Paris Peace Conference. Diplomatic and extensive trading relationships were established under Roosevelt, but relations soured following the Soviet invasion and absorbion of the Baltic States and Poland. After Hitler broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact the Western powers worked closely with the Soviet Union during the Second World War. Distrust reemerged as Stalin's plans for placing Eastern Europe in the Soviet Union's sphere.

At the end of this survey of the Cold War, which came to a surprise juncture with the breakup of the Soviet Union, the program takes a thoughtful look at what can be learned from past events and what the future might hold for the global community.

The wartime allies demobilise - the United States enjoys its economic strength and resurgence while Britain and the rest of Europe is exhausted. A new series of purges takes place in the Soviet Union, and is ravaged by famine. Germans are expelled from territories now given to Poland by the Soviet Union, and differences emerge over Germany's post-war rehabilitation. Stalin increases his grasp on Eastern Europe, although does not intervene on the side of the Communists in the Greek Civil War. Britain's power influence goes into decline, weakened..

This collection of primary source documents discusses international relations during World War II and the years shortly after. It begins with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in 1939 and ends with documents from the 1950’s. The collection contains a wide variety of documents including agreements, memorandums, meeting minutes, cables, letters, diary entries, and military reports from WWII. The documents mainly come from Russian and Bulgarian archives

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953, this collection contain Stalin's own writings, conversations, and legacy. The documents come mostly from the 1950s, and from Russian archives. Topics discussed include Stalin's economic opinions and his views on the situation in East Germany. The final items discuss Stalin's death and the fate of some of his ministers.