A brief history of the Cold War : the hidden truth about how close we came to nuclear conflict / John Hughes-Wilson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hughes-Wilson, John.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cold War--History.

Cold War.

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 434 pages : illustrations, maps ; 20 cm

Edition:

First Carroll and Graf edition.

Other Title:

Cold War

Place of Publication:

New York : Carroll & Graf, 2006.

Summary:

For nearly half a century the Cold War scared the hell out of anyone who could read a newspaper or listen to the news. This long-running, undeclared war was fought silently-and carefully-between ideological opponents armed with the most fearsome weapons mankind has ever seen. It was potentially a nuclear war that threatened unimaginable destruction even as it created an uneasy global peace.

This book takes a cool look at the Cold War: from the ideological frosts following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 down to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the USSR. John Hughes-Wilson spent his life as a Cold War warrior in British and NATO intelligence. Here he reveals for the first time what was really going on: the secret-intelligence overflights; the bitter global intelligence war; the hidden truth about how close we came to nuclear war in 1983 (far worse than the Cuban Missile Crisis); and Ronald Reagan's final deadly strategy "to murder the Soviet Union" by sheer economic muscle.

This book examines the suspicion and paranoia of the greatest standoff in history, and one of the key periods to shape our world. Written by one of Britain's leading popular military historians, it's a true story more riveting than any thriller could ever be.

Contents:

Hot Wars, Rumours of War and Proxy Wars: Timeline 1945-91 xii

1 First Frosts: The Bolsheviks Declare War 4

2 The View from the Frozen Steppe: Mutual Loathing 17

3 Stalin's Spy Wars: The Undercover War 26

4 Warm New Friends?: Hitler and Stalin 36

5 Cool New Allies?: The Three-Sided War 48

6 Growlers: The Victors Fall Out 61

7 The European Iceberg: The Cold War Begins 70

8 New Bombs, New Wars: The Nuclear Dimension 84

9 Death of the Ice Bear: Exit Stalin 104

10 The People Speak: Ideology and Propaganda 112

11 New Leaders, New Chills: Khrushchev, the Peasant Czar 123

12 Northern Lights: Spying on the USSR 130

13 Icepack: Hungary and Suez 138

14 Moscow Heat: Ike and Khrushchev 148

15 Hot Point: Berlin 164

16 When Icebergs Collide: The Cuban Missile Crisis 176

17 Tropical Interlude: Vietnam 198

18 The Chills of Autumn: Problems in the USSR 230

19 Microwaving the Problem?: Detente 243

20 Frostbitten Crusader: The Carter Years 265

21 The Ice Man Cometh: Ronald Reagan's Great Plan 285

22 Hunting a Polar Bear: The Secret Attack on the USSR 303

23 The Icebound Reformer: Mikhail Gorbachev 319

24 The Melting of the Pack Ice: The Soviet Retreat 334

25 Thaw: The Soviet Union Unravels 352

26 Spring at Last?: The Collapse of Communism 362

Appendix How the Cold War was Fought 381.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0786717319

OCLC:

69934603

Publisher Number:

9780786717316