Cold War: Set 2

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Contents 1 General Information 2 Cover 3 Information 3.1 Make Love, not War: The Sixties 3.2 Red Spring: The Sixties 3.3 China 1949-1972 3.4 Detente 1969-1975 3.5 Good Guys, Bad Guys 1967-1978 3.6 Backyard 1954-1990 3.7 Freeze 1977-1981 3.8 Soldiers of God 1975-1988 3.9 Spies 1944-1994 3.10 Star Wars 1981-1988 3.11 The Wall Comes Down 1989 3.12 Conclusions 1989-1991 3.13 Special Feature: Castro in his Own Words (1998) 3.14 Special Feature: The Hoaxters (1953) 4 Screenshots 5 Technical Specs 6 Links 6.1 Release Post 6.2 Related Documentaries 6.3 ed2k Links

[edit] General Information

History Documentary hosted by Kenneth Branagh, published by CNN in 1998 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Cold War is the story of the half-century since the end of the Second World War - the story of our lives. Its framework is the confrontation, military and ideological, between two great powers that dominated the world during these years. It is a story of crises and conflict on a global scale: from the Berlin Blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the tanks in the streets of Warsaw, Budapest and Prague, to spies, student riots and encounters in space. In Cold War, Jeremy Isaacs and Taylor Downing record epic history through the detail of individual human experience: the recollections not only of statesmen whose decisions led to these momentous events, but also of the ordinary men and women whose lives were bound up in these years of conflict. Cold War is the first comprehensive history for the general public to benefit from the recent opening of Soviet, East European and Chinese archives as well as formerly classified American documents. In a driving narrative that it both gripping and informative, the true story of the Cold War can at last be told. CNN's landmark Peabody and Television Critics Association Award-winning series examines nearly five decades of history and is the crystallization of a massive three-year effort spearheaded executive producer Jeremy Isaacs (The World at War). Its production team shot more than 1,000 hours of original footage and screened 1,500 hours of archival film material, including historically important -- and often emotionally stunning -- images, many not seen before by an international audience. The crew traveled to 31 countries and conducted more than 500 interviews, many with key players of the time who rarely go before the cameras. Conceived by CNN founder Ted Turner, this extraordinary 24-episode chronicle has emerged as the definitive audiovisual record of this tumultuous era of world history. Series Concept: Ted Turner ; Series Producer : Martin Smith ; A Jeremy Isaacs Production for Turner Original Productions

[edit] Make Love, not War: The Sixties

Western economies grow and prosper, fueled partly by armaments production. Rejecting their parents' affluence and the Cold War, many of the young protest and rebel. There is racial violence in U.S. inner cities. Rock music expresses the mood of a disenchanted generation.
The United States entered the 1960s with strength and self-confidence. Kennedy increased arms production, bringing an economic boom to California. Rising expectations led to the civil rights movement growing stronger, despite the rough response from authorities which regarded them as Communist inspired. More of America's youth became increasingly hostile to the Vietnam War, and embraced new counterculture and permissive definitions of the American ideals of freedom. Fractures in America's society became increasingly violent, and the latter half of the 1960s brought race riots, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy and the Chicago Convention protests. With the political left appearing divided and radicalised, Richard Nixon is voted into office. Interviewees include Irwin Allen Ginsberg, Bobby Seale and Eugene McCarthy.

[edit] Red Spring: The Sixties

In the Soviet bloc, communist rule stifles ambition and achievement. Soviet defense expenditure cripples economic growth. The young lust for totems of America's youth culture - blue jeans and rock 'n roll. In Czechoslovakia, Dubcek attempts limited reform, but in 1968, Soviet force crushes the Prague Spring.
Likewise the Soviet Union started the decade with growing openness and optimism. There was also an emerging cohort of youth with no memory of the privations and purges of the past, and who had a taste for Western music and fashion that alarmed the established order. Khrushchev sought, with limited success, to make the Soviet consumer economy more affluent, and he initiated housing construction and the poorly organised Virgin Lands Campaign. Khrushchev's erratic leadership style, his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis and a poor 1963 harvest eventually led to his removal from power. Czechoslovakia had an even more profound transformation under Alexander Dubcek, who introduced human rights and free market reforms. However the Prague Spring was opposed by Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, and was ended abruptly in 1968. Interviewees include Milos Forman, Vladimir Semichastny, Vasil Bilak and Yevgeny Yevtushenko.

[edit] China 1949-1972

Chinese communists win the longest civil war in 20th century history. Mao's land reforms are popular but in 1958, he embarks on a series of catastrophic changes. China maintains an increasingly uneasy relationship with the Soviet Union. In 1960, the Sino-Soviet split paves the way for President Nixon's historic visit to Beijing.
Following the Chinese Revolution Mao Zedong aligns China firmly with the Soviet Union. China becomes the recipient of Soviet aid, supports Communist movements worldwide and confronts the United States in Korea and in the Taiwan straits. Domestically China experienced upheaval and disaster with the post-revolution land reforms, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. A range of factors, including Khrushchev's apparent acceptance of coexistence with the capitalist West and his refusal to share Soviet nuclear technology with China, led to the Sino-Soviet split and eventual conflict. Both sides become deeply distrustful of the other, particularly after China develops nuclear weapons. Sensing an opportunity to contain the Soviet Union, in 1972 the United States suddenly and unexpectedly moves to reestablish ties with China. Interviewees include Wu Ningkun, Marshall Green, Liu Binyan, Stepan Chervonenko and Henry Kissinger.

[edit] Detente 1969-1975

North Vietnam launches a new offensive against the Sot. The U.S. steps up its bombing campaign but seeks peace through diplomacy. Nixon and Brezhnev sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). The U.S. finally withdraws from Vietnam. Detente culminates in the Helsinki Declaration of 1975.
Nixon builds closer relations with China and the USSR, hoping to leverage an honourable US exit from Indochina. The Soviet Union is fearful of a US-Chinese alliance, but summits between Nixon and Brezhnev lead to a relaxation of tensions and concrete arms control agreements. Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik strategy also normalises West German relations with East Germany, the USSR and Poland. Although deeply unpopular domestically, US bombing of Cambodia and Hanoi succeeds in bringing North Vietnam to the negotiating table, leading to the Paris Peace Accords in 1972. Deeply resented by South Vietnam, the Accords ultimately fail to prevent Saigon's fall three years later. In 1975 rapprochement continued with the Helsinki Accords, which enshrined human rights and territorial integrity, and the symbolic Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Interviewees include Melvin Laird, Valeri Kubasov, Winston Lord, John Ehrlichman and Gerald Ford.

[edit] Good Guys, Bad Guys 1967-1978

The superpowers use surrogates to wage ideological and often physical conflict. In 1967 and 1973, American-backed Israel triumphs over Soviet-backed Egypt and Syria. In Africa, the Soviets exploit nationalist, anti-colonial struggles. The U.S. supports South Africa in its battle against communism.
Under detente the superpowers continued their rivalry, but carefully avoided direct conflict by courting allies in the developing world. Israel moved closer to the United States after the Six Day War, while Egypt erratically maintained its ties with the USSR. During the subsequent Yom Kippur War the United States reluctantly supplied aid to Israel, but when it became apparent the Egyptian Army was on the verge of destruction the Soviet Union threatened to intervene. The United States held its ground, brought the two warring sides to the negotiating table, and demonstrated it was the preeminent power in the Middle East. In Angola the Cuban-backed People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) manages to retain power, staving off attacks from the Central Intelligence Agency-backed National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), the South African-backed National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and foreign mercenaries. Cuba also intervenes in the Ogaden War, defending Marxist Ethiopia from Somalia. Interviewees include Saad El Shazly, Abba Eban, Simcha Dinitz, Holden Roberto, Pik Botha and Jimmy Carter.

[edit] Backyard 1954-1990

The United States has always regarded Latin America as its own backyard. Fearing the spread of communism, it seeks to destabilize leftist governments. In 1973, the CIA helps overthrow the Chilean president Salvador Allende; in the 1980's it support right wing extremists in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
The United States saw the emergence of leftist movements in different Latin American countries as threatening to its commercial interests, and secretly plotted with military strongmen and middle class interests concerned with the land reforms and nationalisation policies of new governments. In Guatemala Jacobo Arbenz was ousted by a CIA-inspired coup in 1954. Similarly US meddling in Chile's economic and political spheres weakened Salvador Allende grip on power, and he was ultimately deposed by his own military in 1973. The United States sent troops to the Dominican Republic in 1965 and Grenada in 1983, and trained and supported various acquiescent juntas, including a brutal regime in El Salvador. In Nicaragua the United States secretly supported the Contras against the leftist Sandinista government; eventually military actions and economic sanctions push Nicaraguans into voting for anti-Sandinista politician Violeta Chamorro in 1990. Interviewees include Frank Wisner, Hortensia Bussi, Nikolai Leonov, Violeta Chamorro and Daniel Ortega.

[edit] Freeze 1977-1981

Concern for human rights in the East grows; détente ebbs. The Soviets arm Eastern Europe; the U.S. threaten to site missiles in Western Europe. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ends détente. Promising tougher measures against Moscow; Reagan defeats Carter for the presidency. In Poland, martial law is imposed.
Carter's ambitious proposals for total multilateral nuclear disarmament are rejected by Brezhnev; his championing of human rights does not win favour either. The Helsinki Accords encourage writers to establish Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia. The visit of Pope John Paul II revitalises Polish nationalism, while in the Soviet Union high profile dissidents and refuseniks gains popular attention. The Soviets continue a conventional arms race, draining resources from a demoralised consumer economy. SALT II is signed, to the consternation of many Europeans because of the Treaty's "double track" provisions concerning the deployment of new SS-20 and Pershing II missiles. Carter's failure to exercise American resolve and strength over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Iran hostage crisis and an oil shock ultimately costs him the 1980 elections, and the United States decisively swings to a more confrontational foreign policy under Ronald Reagan. Brezhnev successfully leans on Polish leader Wojciech Jaruzelski to crack down on the Solidarity movement. Interviewees include Jeane Kirkpatrick, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and Helmut Schmidt.

[edit] Soldiers of God 1975-1988

Afghanistan is a war that costs the lives of almost 15,000 Soviet conscripts and an estimated one million Afghans. The United States supplies billions of dollars of weapons to unlike allies-Islamic fundamentalists. The result is a Vietnam-style conflict which takes its toll on the Soviets and hastens the end of the Cold War.
Nur Mohammad Taraki comes to power in Afghanistan and attempts to modernise the country on Marxist-Leninist lines, provoking a rebellion from more traditional powerbrokers in the country. The Soviets are initially reluctant to intervene militarily, but respond after Taraki is violently replaced by Hafizullah Amin who is considered to be destabilising influence. The Soviets invade Afghanistan, and soon find themselves unprepared facing a hostile army of mujahideen insurgents, secretly armed by the Americans who see the war as an opportunity to wear down the Soviet Union. To achieve mobility in Afghanistan's rugged terrain the Soviet Union uses helicopters, but are thwarted by Stinger missiles. Atrocities are committed by Soviet and mujahideen forces. Eventually Soviet forces would leaves Afghanistan under the terms of the Geneva Accords, but bloodshed would continue with rival mujahideen forces fighting each other. Interviewees include Caspar Weinberger, Artyom Borovik and Zbigniew Brzezinski.

[edit] Spies 1944-1994

Early CIA attempts to penetrate the Iron Curtain are thwarted. The U.S. reacts with increasingly sophisticated technological intelligence - the U-2 spy-plane, satellite reconnaissance and electronic eavesdropping. Yet human spies remain important. Sometimes betrayers, sometimes betrayed, many spies pay with their lives.
Throughout the Cold War both sides sought intelligence about their opponents using spies, satellites and other means. For political reasons, scientists working on the Manhattan Project provided nuclear secrets to the Soviets. British agents George Blake and Kim Philby passed on to the Soviet Union the identities of Western intelligence assets, and the presence of the Berlin Tunnel. Conversely, Soviet Colonel Oleg Penkovsky gave the West vital details of Soviet nuclear vulnerabilities. Intelligence services are also used to silence dissent, in particular in East Germany. After the Cold War an investigation revealed the Soviet Union had been aware of a number of double agents operating in its midst from information provided by a CIA mole, Aldrich Ames. One such agent, Oleg Gordievsky, managed to flee the Soviet Union, but Adolf Tolkachev and Dmitri Polyakov were arrested, tried and executed. Interviewees include Markus Wolf, Ted Hall, Oleg Kalugin, George Blake, Yuri Modin and Aldrich Ames (who was serving a life sentence).

[edit] Star Wars 1981-1988

Reagan boosts U.S. defense spending and proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, an anti-missile system in space. New premier Gorbachev knows the Soviets can't match the U.S., and wants to liberalize and reconstruct the economy. After summits in Geneva, Reykjavik and Washington, the leaders agree to drastic arms cuts.
Reagan's 1983 "Evil Empire" speech sets the tone for a more aggressive US posture against the Soviet Union, and the costly arms race is renewed. He hopes that space-based anti-missile systems known as Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) could render nuclear weapons obsolete, but the Soviet Union is concerned of upsetting the MAD paradigm that had kept the world safe. Gorbachev assumes power in the Soviet Union, setting to reform the Soviet economy and encourage greater openness. He bonds well with both Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, charismatic to Soviet sensibilities, but the SDI issue prevents arms control agreements being made in Geneva Summit or Reykjavik. The weakness of the Soviet system is revealed by the Chernobyl disaster and Mathias Rust's Red Square stunt. Knowing the Soviet Union could not compete with SDI without the economic welfare of its people being severely curtailed, whose exposure to popular culture and foreign media has led to raised expectations, Gorbachev eventually agrees to a landmark agreement, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Disarmament commences, under the maxim of doveryai, no proveryai. Interviewees include Donald Regan, Sir Charles Powell, Roald Sagdeev and Mikhail Gorbachev.

[edit] The Wall Comes Down 1989

The dominoes fall: incredibly quickly, the Soviet bloc is breaking up, virtually without bloodshed. First Poland, then Hungary, the East Germany slip away from communist control. Gorbachev makes no effort to hold them back with force. Amid scenes of jubilation, the hated Berlin Wall comes down.
Gorbachev makes clear Eastern European countries were free to determine their own destinies. In Poland Solidarity enters into negotiations with the Government, and would end up winning a landslide election. In Hungary the Government chooses to symbolically reinter Imre Nagy, and open its frontier with Austria, which is then crossed by increasing numbers of holidaying East Germans. Erich Honecker refuses to implement reforms, despite subtle pressure from Gorbachev and growing protests across East Germany. The bloody end to dissent in China is never far from the minds of protesters. Just as protests reach a peak, Soviet forces in East Germany are stood down, and Honecker is replaced by an unimpressive Egon Krenz. As a concession travel restrictions are lifted but the new regulations are miscommunicated, and the Berlin Wall is suddenly and irrevocably breached by masses of East Germans. In the momentum, the fate of communism in East Germany is sealed. Interviewees include Miklos Nemeth, Egon Krenz and George H. W. Bush.

[edit] Conclusions 1989-1991

The U.S. proves the stronger, the Soviet Union implodes. Germany is reunified. Shorn of its empire and communist domination, Russia faces its future with its economy in chaos. The balance of terror that has kept the peace for more than 40 years vanishes. The Cold War has ended without the use of nuclear weapons.
Gorbachev and Bush meet at Malta in December 1989 to consider the recent dramatic events. Only the previous week the Communist government resigned in Czechoslovakia; and shortly Nicolae Ceau?escu would be deposed and executed in the bloody Romanian Revolution. Gorbachev permits German reunification and removes Soviet troops from Europe, but fails to secure financial support from the West. As the Soviet economy collapses, Gorbachev faces opposition from both reformers and hardliners. Sharing their abhorrence of Soviet disintegration, Gorbachev brings in hardliners to his government and cracks down on the Lithuanian independence movement. However they later turn on Gorbachev and stage a coup. Boris Yeltsin is instrumental in rallying the public and military to defeat the coup. Sidelining Gorbachev, Yeltsin sets the course for Russia to leave the Soviet Union by establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Soviet Union ends on 25 December 1991, and in his Christmas Day address Bush announces the Cold War is over. The cost of the Cold War is considered in retrospect. Interviewees include Mircea Dinescu, Alexander Rutskoy and Condoleezza Rice.

[edit] Special Feature: Castro in his Own Words (1998)

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 Soviet Union attempted to store nuclear weapons in Cuba, leading to a response by a CIA still recovering from the botched Bay of Pigs operation. Of all roughly 600 original interviews done for "The Cold War" Fidel Castro was the toughest to get. The CNN one-hour special, "Castro in His Own Words", is based largely on "Cold War" executive producer Pat Mitchell's 5 1/2-hour interview with the Cuban president taped in June 1998 in Havana, where he reveals his perspective on the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

[edit] Special Feature: The Hoaxters (1953)

The second bonus feature is "The Hoaxters", a 1952 American documentary film directed by Herman Hoffman about the threat posed by communism to the American way of life. Film is using so called snake oil salesmen at carnivals as the symbols of hoaxters, to show that there are many more globally sinister hoaxters in the form of world leaders of totalitarian regimes, demonstrating the parallels between Nazism and Communism. There are leaders such as Adolf Hitler, who promised of a bright new world in order to gather support. A hoax that Nazism is Communism, despite being on a different political spectrum, are compared for their ideological similarities, including being anti-religion, one party systems, advocating violence as a means to an end, and treating their general populace as slaves. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and won the Oscar for best documentary in 1953. The film compares Hitler and Mussolini to a carnival barker and a snake oil salesman, and connects their outrageous talk to that of the Bolsheviks, in particular Josef Stalin.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L3.1
Video Bitrate: 2 214 Kbps
Video Resolution: 720x400
Display Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frames Per Second: 29.970 fps
Audio Codec: AC3
Audio Bitrate: 448 kb/s CBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 6
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 46 min 31 s
Number Of Parts: 14
Part Size: 887 MB
Source: DVD
Encoded by: DocFreak08

[edit] Links

[edit] Release Post

• MVGroup.org (torrent)

[edit] Related Documentaries

• Cold War: Set 1
• Cold War Roadshow
• Cold Case Hammarskjold
• The Spy who Went into the Cold
• Secrets of War: The Cold War
• Mark Lawson Talks to John le Carre
• Suez Crisis Lecture
• Keep the Cold War Cold
• The Umbrella Assassin
• The Secret Life of the Berlin Wall

[edit] ed2k Links