x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast recommended by The New York Times. Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more. These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human. This is Cold War history, told from the

history documentary

All Episodes

50:03

Eyewitness to the 1991 Soviet Coup with Brett Elliott...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/12/25

Today’s episode is different. Brett Elliott died earlier this year and I was contacted by his ex-wife Polly who offered me a cassette tape. Polly and Brett had met in college and got to know each other in Russian Club at Oklahoma State. In the summer of 1991, they went to Moscow to pursue Polly’s goal of being a reporter in Russia and Brett’s goal of further studying Russia. They both worked together covering the Bush Gorbachev summit, with Polly as a reporter and Brett as an interpreter. Polly

en

47:31

Working in the nuclear missile compartment of a Cold...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/12/18

John Andrews joined the Royal Navy in 1981 and went on to serve aboard the HMS Repulse, one of the UK’s Polaris nuclear missile submarines from 1982. His role was Missile Compartment Control Patrol which included security of the nuclear missile compartment as well as assisting in the maintenance of the missile tubes and the nuclear missiles themselves. John shares details of life aboard the ship including missile launch tests, alcohol, practical jokes, escape procedures from a submerged submarine

en

79:32

British Army "stay behinds" the Special OP Troop (212)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/12/11

I speak with Colin Ferguson a veteran from the British Army‘s covert Special Observation Post Troop which was founded in 1982. The "stay behind" Special OP Troop consisted of selected soldiers in 6 man patrols whose task was to dig in large underground hides known as "mexe" shelters along the inner German border. They would then allow the main Soviet forces to pass over them before deploying to two smaller observation posts (Ops) where they would engage the enemy with the long-range guns and rockets

en

61:16

A Cold War childhood in Albania (211)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/12/03

Lea Ypi grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth, a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion. Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe, was almost impossible to visit, almost impossible to leave. It was a place of queuing and scarcity, of political executions and secret police. To Lea, it was home. People were equal, neighbours helped each other, and children were expected to build a better world. There was community and hope. Then, in December 1990, a year

en

75:35

The Cold War handshake in the heavens - the...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/11/27

On 17 July 1975 the first manned international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union. Millions of people around the world watched on television as a United States Apollo module docked with a Soviet Union Soyuz capsule. The project, and its memorable handshake in the heavens, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers during the Cold War, and it is generally considered to mark the end of the Space Race. Unthinkable only years earlier the Apollo–Soyuz

en

59:42

Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev - aspiring actor and...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/11/14

Now, what do you think of when you hear the name Leonid Brezhnev who ruled the Soviet Union for 18 years from the 1960s to the 1980s? An old guy waving weakly from the Lenin mausoleum? Well, think again! We speak with Susanne Schattenberg, the author of a new biography that systematically dismantles the stereotypical and one-dimensional view of Brezhnev as the stagnating Stalinist by drawing on a wealth of archival research and documents not previously studied in English. The Brezhnev that

en

65:31

Born into a family of Canadian Communists (208)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/11/13

Fred Weir was a third-generation red diaper baby from Toronto and a long-time member of the Communist Party. His uncle, trained at the Lenin School in Moscow in the 1920s as an agent of the Communist International, the Comintern and spent many years in the USSR. Fred had visited a few times, had studied Russian history up to the graduate level, but never wanted to live there until Gorbachev came to power in 1985. The new general secretary, the party’s first to be born after the revolution, talked,

en

55:08

Berlin: Capital of Spies (207)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/11/06

For almost half a century, the hottest front in the Cold War was right across Berlin. From summer 1945 until 1990, spying was part of everyday life in both East and West Berlin. I speak with historian Bernd von Kostka of the Allied Museum in Berlin-Dahlem who has co-authored with Sven Felix Kellerhoff the book Capital of Spies: Intelligence agencies in Berlin during the Cold War recently published by Casemate. The book describes the spectacular successes and failures of the various secret services

en

61:41

How a Soviet conscript became a NATO General (206)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/10/29

In 1985, an eighteen-year-old named Riho Terras arrived at the Soviet armed forces’ large conscript assessment facility in Tallinn obeying his conscription orders. Little did he know that 26 years later he would be a NATO General. Riho shares his experiences in the Soviet Navy with us in some detail. We hear about his service on the Soviet frigate Zadornyy including trips to the Mediterranean and Cuba as well as monitoring NATO warships. Riho also shares his experiences of Estonian independence and

en

59:55

Terrorism in the Cold War (205)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/10/22

I talk with the writers and editors of Terrorism in the Cold War a new two volume book that uses a wide range of case studies including Polish Military Intelligence and Its Secret Relationship with the Abu Nidal Organization and Gladio – Myth and Reality: The Origins and Function of Stay Behind in the Case of Post-war Austria. The book sheds new light on the relations between state and terrorist actors, allowing for a fresh and much more insightful assessment of the contacts, dealings, agreements

en

63:43

Emanuela - a Cold War Romanian Childhood (204)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/10/15

Emanuela Grama was born in the mid-1970s’ in a small provincial town in Eastern Romania. She provides us with a great insight into life in the Romanian provinces during the 1980s. Emanuela lived in a small two-bedroom flat and tells of her parents working in a factory while her grandparents looked after her. Her father listened secretly to Radio Free Europe and collected stamps so he could legitimately write to people in the West. Her parents told her not to talk at school about what was said at

en

60:01

Pete - a BRIXMIS driver behind enemy lines in East...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/10/08

Pete Curran served with BRIXMIS, the British Military Liaison Mission in East Germany. Their operation was established by a post-WWII Allied occupation forces' agreement, where British, US and French missions had relative freedom to travel and collect intelligence throughout East Germany from 1947 until 1990. Pete’s story starts with details of his vetting interview, driver training, and his first tour in East Germany. We also hear of the intelligence scoops he was involved in and some of his close

en

61:59

MKUltra - the CIA’s mind control project & the...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/10/01

Frank Olson was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and employee of the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories. In 1953 at a meeting in rural Maryland, he was covertly dosed with LSD by his boss Sidney Gottlieb, who was the head of the CIA's MKUltra mind control program. Nine days later, Olson plunged to his death from the window of the Hotel Statler. The U.S. government first described his death as a suicide, and then as misadventure, while others allege

en

58:01

Flying into nuclear mushroom clouds (201)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/09/24

Squadron Leader John Robinson AFC (ret’d) was an RAF pilot who was tasked to fly into the mushroom clouds of nuclear bomb tests to capture samples at Operation Buffalo at Maralinga in 1956, and Operation Grapple, at Christmas Island in 1957. He tells of his recruitment into RAF, initial training and his cloud sampling missions as well his experiences of watching the tests from as little as five miles away. It is reckoned that over 22,000 British servicemen participated in the British and American

en

58:16

Life in the underground Soviet music scene Part 3 (200)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/09/17

We hear of Joanna's heartbreak when her visa is refused, preventing her from marrying Yuri. However, using an ingenious method she manages an emotional reunion and eventual marriage as the Soviet Union begins to dissolve. Details of the book giveaway are here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode200/ Part one is here and part 2 here Joanna’s book, Red Wave written with her singer/songwriter daughter, Madison, includes Stingray’s extensive collection of photographs, artworks, and interviews

en

58:31

Life in the underground Soviet music scene Part 2 (199)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/09/14

Joanna is questioned by the KGB and the FBI, falls in love with Yuri and starts to smuggle the bands' music out of the Soviet Union to produce the album. Details of the book giveaway are here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode199/ Part one is here and part 3 here Joanna’s book, Red Wave written with her singer/songwriter daughter, Madison, includes Stingray’s extensive collection of photographs, artworks, and interviews with the musicians. Buy the book and support the podcast here UK

en

51:46

Life in the underground Soviet music scene Part 1 (198)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/09/10

Joanna Stingray was only 23 years old when she first set foot in the USSR and started meeting now-legendary musicians and artists of the Soviet underground. By 1985, she was writing and recording with them, and smuggling their music to the West in order to produce the groundbreaking album Red Wave: 4 Underground Bands from the USSR. This is her testimony of youthful fortitude and rebellion, her love story, and proof of the power of music and youth culture over stagnancy and oppression. Details of

en

52:44

Popular Cold War culture of the 1980s (197)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/09/07

Over the past, nearly two decades, the Stuck in the 80s podcast has emerged as the go-to for all aspects of 1980s nostalgia from a North American point of view. And, much like Cold War Conversations, Stuck in the 80s is an award-winning podcast. Recognizing that decade’s popular culture was heavily influenced by the Cold War, co-host Peter Ryan organized a discussion with its curators, Steve Spears and Brad Williams. Key topics that are covered include some of the most important songs, films,

en

71:45

Soviet and U.S. Military Liaison Missions & US...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/09/03

I speak with Aden Magee who operated as the commander of a highly specialized Counterintelligence (CI) unit in West Germany during the last decade of the Cold War. We talk about his book The Cold War Wilderness of Mirrors - Counterintelligence and the U.S. and Soviet Military Liaison Missions 1947–1990. This is a rare book that details some never-before documented accounts of the Soviet Military Liaison Mission (SMLM) in West Germany and the U.S. Military Liaison Mission (USMLM) in East Germany and

en

55:32

Ron - a veteran of the Korean War & the Malayan...

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY... ·

2021/08/27

Ron Knight served in the Royal Marines on HMS Belfast during the Korean War of 1950-53. He was a gunner and describes the shore bombardments and how his gun was used in anti-aircraft defence. We also hear Ron describe life aboard the Belfast during this period Ron also served with the Royal Marine Commando during the Malayan Emergency which was a guerrilla war fought in the Federation of Malaya between Communist pro-independence fighters against the armed forces of the British Empire and

en

454 results

Similar Podcasts

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

جنود خلدهم التاريخ

ALSUMOOD PODCAST

Film History - Daily

Inception Point Ai

Madonna - Biography Flash

Inception Point Ai