All Questions
Tagged with soviet-union cold-war
81 questions
3
votes
1
answer
634
views
Did Joseph Stalin ever attempt to assassinate or launch a coup against Josip Broz Tito?
Did Joseph Stalin ever attempt to assassinate or launch a coup against Josip Broz Tito? If so, which of these coup or assassination attempts almost succeeded? How did Tito respond to Stalin's ...
- 1,113
20
votes
1
answer
4k
views
When did the Soviets get the ability to drop a nuclear bomb on the United States?
I'm researching the history of the Cold War and I have the impression that the Soviets failed to develop a bomber capable of flying from Russia to the United States until 1956, when the Tu-95 bomber ...
user23839
3
votes
1
answer
4k
views
How much impact did US Policy of containment have?
This will border dangerously close to a discussion rather than question/answer, but I would like to know whether there exists any consensus regarding the effects of the United States' policy of ...
- 31
9
votes
1
answer
649
views
Is there evidence to suggest the CIA didn't want Reagan to end the Cold War?
Paul Craig Roberts writes:
The US military/security complex did not want Reagan to end the Cold War, as the Cold War was the foundation of profit and power for the complex. The CIA told Reagan that ...
- 2,209
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Did one or both sides of the cold war plan to strategically attack the others' food production?
I'm basically defining 'Cold War', for the purpose of this question as the whole stretch of time between 1947 and 1991. During this time did either side plan to attack the other's food production on a ...
- 4,764
4
votes
4
answers
946
views
How often were Soviet records faked?
In Viktor Suvorov's books, most notably The Liberators, Inside The Soviet Army, Inside Soviet Military Intelligence, a bleak picture is painted of a system where official figures were exaggerated or ...
user17846
8
votes
1
answer
720
views
Did US and Soviet nuclear war policies allow for a pause?
In the HBO made-for-tv movie "By Dawn's Early Light", the commander of the navy (codename "Harpoon") explains to the US President that USAF nuclear bombers are at their positive check points and await ...
- 183
16
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Was the population of Moscow wildly overstated during the Cold War?
The science fiction author Robert Heinlein was a socialist in his youth, but became a strident anticommunist during the Cold War. In 1960, he and his wife Virginia went as tourists to the USSR, and he ...
user2848
7
votes
3
answers
820
views
What happened to schizophrenics in the USSR?
I'm looking for information on people who were unable to work because of schizophrenia or other major mental illness. Does anyone know what happened to them in the USSR?
- 127
3
votes
3
answers
944
views
What was the dominant Soviet strategy for invading Germany in the 1980's?
Through archives and doctrinal publications, was there any bias towards attacking NATO through the North German Plain, the Fulda Gap, or something else?
- 7,312
28
votes
1
answer
11k
views
How was titanium transported from Soviet Union to Area 51 for Oxcart?
Oxcart was one of its kind, a sophisticated aircraft designed during the Cold-War era. Its body was made up of titanium. Titanium was only found in substantial quantities in the then Soviet Union. The ...
user5062
11
votes
2
answers
576
views
Did the U.S. actively encourage discord between the Soviets and Chinese?
According to historian Lorenz M. Lüthi, one of the defining events of the Cold War, the Sino-Soviet split (1960 to 1989) was principally fueled by Mao's interpretation of Communist ideology and his ...
- 5,238
37
votes
4
answers
18k
views
What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
The Soviet Union was a famously restrictive place when it came to news and ideological spin, and obviously their attitude toward the United States was less than supportive and warm. The Space Race ...
- 7,732
3
votes
1
answer
684
views
What did Kennedy know about Soviet missiles during the Cuban missile crisis?
After the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the US declassified reports showed that the USSR only had four operational ICBMs in October 1962, notwithstanding contrary rhetoric during the ...
- 5,238
14
votes
4
answers
4k
views
What are the main reasons historians give for the Soviet Union's collapse?
(I thought that How and Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? is a good question so would like to rephrase it a bit but the question was too far gone to edit)
The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 with ...
- 7,312
4
votes
2
answers
444
views
Was COMECON involved in economic imperialism and if so, to what extent?
Disclaimer: I am not 100% sure if it was COMECON, it might be another Soviet apparatus.
I recall reading about how the Soviet Union forced her Eastern European satellites into very lucrative and ...
- 7,312
36
votes
3
answers
21k
views
Why did the Soviet Union lift the Berlin Blockade?
Between 24th June 1948 and 12th May 1949 land routes into West Berlin were blocked by Soviet forces and West Berliners were supplied entirely by air (the famous Berlin Airlift).
No one connected with ...
- 11.8k
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How high was the morale of non-Soviet Warsaw Pact states' armies and governments in the '80s?
Does anyone with any relevant expertise know the general mood of the armies during the time? Is there documentation of any concerns from high ranking Soviet military officers, or of their Warsaw Pact ...
- 7,312
37
votes
7
answers
4k
views
Did Stalin believe Israel would go communist?
In Anne Applebaum's recent book Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956, she claims the USSR supported the new state of Israel and states
Stalin believed Israel would quickly join the ...
- 11.8k
14
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Why is Finland represented as a Soviet satellite in this 1947 cartoon?
The cartoon is a British one. I found it at http://lenta.ru/articles/2013/05/28/secretwar/ but without any specific attribution.
- 25.8k
3
votes
1
answer
292
views
How many non-partisan (independent) legislature members were in the USA compared to the USSR?
How many legislature members there were who were not members of any party in the USA compared to the USSR during the Cold War and now?
- 32.7k
17
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Were Soviet warships allowed to use the Panama canal?
During the Cold War, were Soviet naval vessels allowed to use the Panama canal?
I'm aware that no Soviet warships happened to use the canal during the Cold War. Was there a rule aganst them ...
- 10.4k
21
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Did the Soviet Union know when DEFCON levels changed?
The US military uses a scale of alert readiness called DEFCON, with DEFCON 5 being the lowest alert level and DEFCON 1 being the highest, preparing for imminent nuclear war. At least once during the ...
- 10.4k
15
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Austria and Iron Curtain during Cold War
Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech from 1946 contains the following famous passage:
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain
has descended across the Continent. ...
- 14.4k
7
votes
3
answers
4k
views
Did Ted Kennedy turn to the Soviet Union for help winning an election?
Reading an interesting article in Forbes, I was dumbfounded by the idea that Ted Kennedy might have sought out Yuri Andropov's help to run for president against Ronald Reagan in 1984. A relevant ...
- 10.4k
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What are some major military successes the Soviet Union achieved against the Western World?
What are some major military successes achieved by the former Soviet Union against the Western World that shook the US and its Cold War allies?
user806
12
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan one of the major reasons that led to the fall of Soviet Union?
Was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan one of the major reasons that led to the fall of Soviet Union?
That is what the world history teacher told me.
Please show your sources.
- 701
12
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What was the Soviet role in Syria during the Cold-War?
It is my understanding that the Soviet Union supported governments in Syria during the cold-war primarily as a counter-balance to American influence over regional powers particularly Saudi Arabia and ...
- 5,795
7
votes
2
answers
4k
views
Did Reagan really conspire to drop oil prices?
Wikipedia says that Ronald Reagan persuaded Saudi Arabia to rise oil production so to drop the prices and make pressure on the Soviet economy. I encountered such claim in many other sources as well.
...
- 32.7k
31
votes
5
answers
14k
views
Did the U.S. and Soviet Union have a submarine battle in 1968?
There are books and articles about the Soviet submarine K-129 and the USS Scorpion in 1968, with various stories of attempted nuclear attacks and reprisals. Is there a factual narrative about these ...
- 591
12
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Is the Cold War still going on? [closed]
Do any historians consider the Cold War, or Cold War II, to be going on?
I'm asking because some features of the Cold War still exist, such as an antagonism between Russia and the Western world, and ...
- 1,975