Cold War

Uncover the shocking truth behind Soviet Union war crimes in this gripping clip from Secrets Declassified.

A single miscommunicated announcement set history in motion. Discover how confusion at a press conference helped bring down the Berlin Wall.

Domino Theory, which governed much of U.S. foreign policy beginning in the early 1950s, held that a communist victory in one nation would quickly lead to a chain reaction of communist takeovers in neighboring states.

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the formation of key alliances that would endure throughout the Cold War.

Within the CIA, the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 was regarded as the "perfect failure."

Discover the history of the Suez Canal and how Egypt's President Nasser, with the support of the Soviet Union, seized the canal from the British in 1956, causing an international crisis. See how President Eisenhower intervened to help restore order.

During the 1950s space race, the U.S. Air Force proposed detonating a nuclear bomb on the Moon to warn the Soviets.

An inside look at the dark art of spycraft—from the Frankenkitty to the umbrella gun, we uncover the deadliest spy weapons ever deployed.

President Kennedy establishes his New Frontier with a challenge to venture into outer space.

The U.S. competition with the U.S.S.R. for technological dominance spurred the U.S. on to the first-ever landing on the moon.

During Fidel Castro's tenure as President of Cuba, he survived an estimated 638 attempts on his life - and that's just from the CIA.

The Cold War is over, but what it left behind may surprise you.

For 30 years, the Berlin Wall was the defining symbol of the Cold War, separating families and keeping the people from jobs and opportunity in the west.

Being exposed to radiation from the fallout of the Chernobyl disaster was like "getting a thousand chest X-rays at once."

The reactor at the center of the Chernobyl disaster was one of the most powerful machines ever built. But it contained a series of design flaws that made it uniquely vulnerable under the wrong conditions.

On April 26, 1986, a routine safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant spiraled into the worst nuclear disaster in history. But the explosion wasn't caused by a single mistake—it was a series of catastrophic mistakes.

Uncover the realities of life in East Germany, from daily struggles and state surveillance to the enduring spirit that shaped its unique cultural identity and history.

Historian Yohuru Williams explains how the fear of communist influences in America grew into a phenomenon known as "the Red Scare."

Joseph McCarthy and his role in stoking fears of communism and its sympathizers during the 1950s.

The Berlin Wall created two separate cities, two sides competing to be the best. And one of their biggest points of pride? Their zoos.

Historian Yohuru Williams discusses key facts about the Hollywood Ten, a group of film directors, screenwriters and producers blacklisted for Communist affiliations in 1947.

In 1957 West Germany, a covert plot unfolds as operatives develop a lethal mist designed to eliminate a target without leaving a trace, risking escalation during the Cold War.

Take a crash course on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a group that investigated the "loyalty" of those suspected of having Communist ties after World War II.