Cold War Cast

Operation Barbarossa began on June 22, 1941 but it took Stalin almost two weeks to finally address the Soviet people.   Apparently (and maybe understandably) the stress of having the largest military operation in history thrown at you caused him to have a mental breakdown.   After a few days of solitude, Stalin was eventually …

In the last episode I used the term “realpolitik” and decided it needed a little further unpacking because of how important the concept is to the Cold War and specifically this upcoming block of history where we’ll see the US and the USSR as allies. Long story short, realpolitik is politics or diplomacy without regard …

We’ve covered a lot of ground so far, from the Communist Manifesto all the way up to Stalin going apeshit killing people and building stuff.  We’re ready to move on to the next segment of the podcast, the Second World War.   This is where the Cold War belligerents really assert themselves inthe world and …

Today we’re talking about the Soviet Union’s first and second five year plans, launched by Stalin in order to bring the USSR up to snuff with the rest of the world in short order.   The first five year plan focused on building up an industrial base and collectivizing agriculture, the second five year plan …

Today we introduce Joseph Stalin, one of the key figures of the Cold War.   We will briefly go into his background and touch on a few things that made him tick and then discuss his complex legacy.    Long story short, Stalin makes the short list of “most evil people to ever walk the …

One of the defining moments of the Russian Civil War and world history was the execution of the Romanovs, ultimately marking a turning point in history between old and new.   The implications of the execution were more psychological than anything, but it let Russia and the world know that the Bolsheviks did not plan on …

Immediately following the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks begin the dirty work of getting the rest of Russia in line.   Ever hear the phrase “you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet”?   That’s pretty much how they viewed their situation, as they unleashed a reign of terror on their political enemies – …

Things are really heating up in the years following World War I!   The Bolsheviks are taking over Russia and many Americans thought that we had a fifth column of Bolshevik sympathizers amongst our ranks. World War I helped to forge America’s national identity as an Anglo-Saxon Protestant democracy and many people believed that the …

October: Ten Days that Shook the world is a 1927 film by Sergei Eisenstein and Co. that depicts and commemorates the 1917 October Revolution.   While this film doesn’t exactly flow like most films, it’s a great snapshot of how the Bolsheviks viewed themselves and their “glorious” revolution with about a decade of hindsight. It …

Well, the October Revolution of 1917 nominally gave the Bolsheviks power in Russia, but they still had some work to do in order to get the country on the same page.    This led to a bloody civil war in Russia that we will discuss shortly. Coincidentally the 99th anniversary of the revolution will …