Recent Cold War News
| August 2011 |
| The Official Bay of Pigs (4 August 2011) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, has secured the declassification of the CIA in-house history of the fateful CIA-organized invasion of Cuba in April 1961. |
| July 2011 |
| Brazilian Nuclear Developments (19 July 2011) The Centro de Relações Internacionais da Fundação Getulio Vargas, based in Rio de Janeiro, presents four nuclear briefings on its website, dealing with different aspects of the Brazilian Nuclear Programme during the 1970s and 1980s. See here at 1, 2, 3, 4. |
| NATO and the Berlin Crisis (2 July 2011) The NATO Archives have published an online collection documenting the Western Alliance's strategy during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and its aftermath up to 1969. |
| June 2011 |
| Dealing with the Communists in United Germany (8 June 2011) Bernd Schäfer, a long-term PHP affiliate, has collaborated with the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED-Dictatorship in the writing of this new study on coping with the Communist past in Germany after 1990. |
| From “Fourth Country” to Strategic Partner (06 June 2011) The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project features a research update on US assistance to the French nuclear programme from 1969 to 1975, written and edited by William Burr of the National Security Archive. |
| May 2011 |
| The Osama bin Laden File (14 May 2011) Recently declassified U.S. documents released by the National Security Archive, a PHP partner, detail the career of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden since 1996. One of the documents describes US conversations with the Taliban regarding the possible extradition of bin Laden. |
| Pakistan Refuses to Help Apprehend Osama bin Laden before 9/11 (11 May 2011) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, has released newly declassified documents showing that as early as 1998 Pakistani officials repeatedly refused to act on the Bin Laden problem, despite mounting pressure from American authorities. |
| April 2011 |
| Review: Khrushchev in the Kremlin (27 April 2011) A new publication by Birmingham University's Centre for Russian and East European Studies discusses the Khrushchev years, with a focus on the political power structures and economic policy. See the book review writen by Andreas Hilger, a PHP associate and author of a recent collection, for Sehepunkte. |
| Wartime Statutes - Instruments of Soviet Control (27 April 2011) The CIA has realesed a new collection consisting of 22 documents, providing insight into how the Soviet Union codified its control over the armed forces of its Eastern European allies. |
| The French Nuclear Bomb (26 April 2011) This new edition of Revue historique des armées offers a historical perspective of the development and deployment of a nuclear deterrent by France. It contains historical reflections by seven specialists providing an overview of the nuclear debate in France. |
| March 2011 |
| Memories of the Cold War (10 March 2011) A new grant programme is looking to fund projects in 2012 that examine War, Post War, Cold War – Remembrances of World War II and the New Beginning of the Post-War Years (1945–1960) with an emphasis on the after effects of WW II on European societies in the first 15 post-war years. |
| Debate over secret service files in Hungary (2 March 2011) The Hungarian government has proposed new legislation which would allow citizens who were spied on during the communist period by the secret police, to remove and destroy the original documents. International historians and historical societies have responded with a petition asking for reconsideration. |
| January 2011 |
| The Euromissiles Crisis and the End of the Cold War: 1977-1987 (31 January
2011) The Nuclear Proliferation International History Project has published new document reader on the Euromissiles Crisis in the late Cold War. The project has been launched in cooperation with the Center for Security Studies, which is also the PHP's host institution. |
| JFK - Access to a Legacy (18 January 2011) The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, MA, announced the largest online digitized presidential archive in the US. At present, it features approximately 200,000 pages from the President's office files together with audio recordings, films, and photos. |
| Sadruddin Aga Khan and the 1971 East Pakistani Crisis (13 January 2011) This latest research paper published by The Graduate Institute, a PHP partner, examines the UN Refugee Agency's role in the crisis and the direct involvement in mediation of the then High Commissioner, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, based on untapped UNHCR records. See also the PHP documents on the 1971 war. |
| International History and Nuclear Proliferation (11 January 2011) The PHP's co-founder and host institution in Zurich, the Center for Security Studies, joined several other institutions around the globe in launching a global reesearch network for the study of international nuclear history, the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project. |
| December 2010 |
| Pakistan's Way to the Bomb (22 December 2010) In its latest online publication, the National Security Archive, a PHP partner, chronicles US efforts to roll back nuclearization efforts by Pakistan, based on recently declassfied documents. |
| International Terrorism During the Cold War (18 December 2010) Supported by the efforts of the PHP's long-standing affiliate Jordan Baev, this collection of documents of the former Bulgarian intelligence services offers new evidence on terrorism during the Cold War era. |
| Czechoslovakia and the Third World (8 December 2010) H-Soz-u-Kult reviews two new volumes by Czech historians Petr Zidek and Karel Sieber presenting extensive new archival evidence on the foreign policies of Socialist Czechoslovakia vis-a-vis sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East during the Cold War. |
| November 2010 |
| Remembering Kennedy's rhetorics
(6 November 2010) The Boston Globe recalls the ten greatest speeches by US President John F. Kennedy and also remembers his recently deceased counselor and main speech writer Theodore Sorensen. |
| Cold War Bunkers (27 October 2010) Based on a project by Czech Radio Leonardo and Czech Radio Online together with several archives, the website 'Secret Defence of the Iron Curtain' features the history of military border fortifications in former Czechoslovakia. Next to detailed maps, it contains lots of additional information on weaponry, tactics, war plans and much more. |
| October 2010 |
| India and the Soviet Union (12 October 2010 ) Building on our numerous document collections on the foreign relations of India, PHP project coordinator Vojtech Mastny analyses the Indo-Soviet relationship in the latest issue of the Journal of Cold War Studies. Reproduced with the permission of JCWS editor Mark Kramer. |
| The Catholic Church in the GDR (11 October 2010 ) Bernd Schäfer, a PHP associate, has authored the first comprehensive study of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the East German state. |
| Japan's Secret Nuclear Ambitions (7 October 2010 ) Japanese television has reported on new evidence purportedly proving Japanese intentions to build nuclear weapons in the late 1960s. |
| The Israeli Cabinet During the October 1973 War (4 October 2010 ) The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has published excerpts of the recently declassifed minutes of the Israel Cabinet meetings on the eve and during the October 1973 war against the UAR and Syria. |
| September 2010 |
| MI6 in the Early Cold War (26 September 2010 ) The new official history of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service by Keith Jeffery contains new information on the intelligence war against the Soviet Union, e.g. penetration operations in the Caucasus and the covert operation against Albania. |
| Recalling the South Korean Opening to the Soviet Union and China (26 September 2010 ) An article in Korea Times remembers the common history of South Korea, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China after World War Two up to the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1990 and 1992. |
| The East German Airforce in the Warsaw Pact (20 September 2010 ) Sehepunkte reviews a new book by Julian-André Finke on the role of the GDR's air force/air defense in the Eastern military alliance. |
| The Cold War in Southeast Asia (3 September 2010 ) H-DIPLO presents a roundtable on a new collection on the Cold War in Southeast Asia, edited by Christopher Goscha and Christian Ostermann. One of the reviewers is Ragna Boden, a recent contributor to the PHP website. |
| August 2010 |
| Propaganda in the Early Cold War (17 August 2010 ) Richard Cummings recalls the early attempts in 1951 to spread Western propaganda by using balloons to distribute over 11 million leaflets behind the Iron Curtain for Historytimes.com. |
| The Ongoing Quest for a Comprehensive Test-Ban (13 August 2010 ) William Burr has collected archival evidence documenting the continuing emphasis of US administrations from the 1950s to the 1970s about the need for a comprehensive test ban for nuclear testing. The collection is part of the Nuclear Vault, an ongoing project of The National Security Archive, a PHP partner. |
| July 2010 |
| The CIA and the Korean War (17 July 2010 ) Accompanying a recent conference co-hosted together with the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, the Central Intelligence Agency has declassified a large collection of documents covering the intelligence community's involvement in the Korean War. |
| History of the Warsaw Pact (15 July 2010 ) Michael Ploetz of the Institut für Zeitgeschichte reviews a new compilation on the history of the Warsaw Pact edited by Torsten Diedrich, Winfried Heinemann and Christian F. Ostermann for Sehepunkte. |
| The Washington Summit of 1990 (1 July 2010 ) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides new documents and a re-interpretation of this crucial summit of 1990 in ending the Cold War (see also the subsequent H-DIPLO debate here, here and here). The collection is based on a comprehensive assessment of the end of the Cold War including a large number of documents, edited by Svetlana Savranskaya, Thomas Blanton and Vladislav Zubok. |
| June 2010 |
| Cambridge History of the Cold War (29 June 2010 ) Jost Dülffer of the University of Cologne reviews the monumental three-volume Cambridge history of the Cold War edited by Melvyn Leffler and Odd Arne Westad for H-Soz-u-Kult. |
| The Fissile Material Cut-Off Idea (20 June 2010 ) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides new documentation and analysis on previous ideas to negotiate a treaty on a cutoff of fissile material production during the Cold War. |
| The Balkans in the Cold War (7 June 2010 ) Jordan Baev, long-time collaborator of the PHP has published a new monograph on the European security system and the Balkans during the Cold War. The book is based on exhaustive research in about 30 archives in 10 different countries. |
| U.S. Ouverture to Iran in 1999 (2 June 2010 ) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides the first documentary evidence on a U.S. diplomatic ouverture to Iran under President Clinton. |
| Israel and Apartheid-South Africa During the Cold War (1 June 2010 ) The Guardian has published a number of documents from South African archives illustrating close Israeli-South African military collaboration during the 1970s covering missile development and possibly nuclear sharing as well. The article is based on a new monograph by Sasha Polakow-Suransky. |
| May 2010 |
| Soviet Biological Weapons (20 May 2010 ) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides new documentation on the hidden germ warfare efforts by the Soviet Union. See also the recent book by David E. Hoffman on the Cold War Arms Race. |
| The Crisis of Détente (19 May 2010 ) In Sehepunkte, Jost Dülffer reviews a new book on the breakdown of détente between 1975 and 1985 edited by Leopoldo Nuti of CIMA, a PHP partner. |
| A Nuclear Attack on China? (13 May 2010 ) A recent story in the Daily Telegraph renews older claims that Moscow planned a preventive nuclear attack in the context of the Sino-Soviet border conflict in 1969. |
| The Western Alliance in the 1970s (6 May 2010 ) The latest H-Diplo roundtable discusses the recent publication by Thomas Schwartz and Matthias Schulz on transatlantic relations from Nixon and Carter. |
| Size of U.S. Nuclear Stockpile Declassfied (5 May 2010 ) Reversing a long-standing policy, the Obama administration has declassfied the size of of the U.S. atomic stockpile since 1962. |
| April 2010 |
| India under Nehru (30 April 2010 ) Ananya Vajpeyi reviews a new history of India under Nehru by Srinath Raghavan for The National which provides new perspectives on early Indian foreign policies in the Cold War era. |
| Mitterand and German Unification (26 April 2010 ) In this H-Diplo roundtable, leading scholars review Frédéric Bozo's recent revisionist account of French policy at the end of the Cold War and towards the reunification of the two Germanies. |
| No 10 Downing Street Bugged (18 April 2010 ) According to the Guardian, the British internal intelligence agency, MI5, had installed bugs in the Prime Minister's residence between 1963 and 1977. |
| The New START Treaty in Historical Perspective (8 April 2010 ) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides a comparison of the agreed arms reductions of the Prague treaty with a number of proposals during the Cold War period. |
| March 2010 |
| A Historical Perspective on Nuclear Alarmism (20 March 2010 ) Ohio State University's John Mueller reviews a recent article in International Security by Francis Gavin on the lessons to be drawn from the Cold War experience with nuclear proliferation for H-Diplo/ISSF. |
| Romania in the Warsaw Pact (19 March 2010 ) Petre Opriş, long-time PHP collaborator, together with Gavriil Preda has published a document collection on Romania and the Warsaw Pact. See also the PHP collection on the same subject. |
| Secret Cold War Pacts Confirmed (9 March 2010 ) A Japanese government panel has confirmed the existence of secret agreements with the U.S. on the visit of nuclear-armed ships to Japanese harbours. |
| Bonn's Foreign Policy during the Cold War (9 March 2010 ) Gerhard Wettig reviews a new publication on the foreign policies of the Federal Republic for H-Soz-u-Kult. |
| February 2010 |
| European and Global Responses to West German 'Ostpolitik' (23 February 2010 ) Sehepunkte.de reviews a new publication on the global reaction to West Germany's new 'Ostpolitik', edited by Carole Fink and PHP affiliate Bernd Schäfer. |
| Archival Opening in India? (8 February 2010 ) Ongoing discussions in India about excessive government secrecy raise hopes for a basic change in Indian declassification policies. See also our PHP collection on India. See also the leaked official histories of the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars and the Hamoodur Rahman report on the PHP site. |
| The Return of Arms Control? (7 February 2010 ) Russia and the United States are close to concluding a successor to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) of 1991. Recent steps towards nuclear disarmament, however, are called into question by continued reliance on nuclear weapons. |
| Human Rights and the Reagan Administration (2 February 2010 ) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides new documentation on the incoming Reagan Administration's handling of the state visit by South Korean strongman Chun Doo Hwan. |
| January 2010 |
| Cold War in the Aegean (27 January 2010 ) An H-Diplo roundtable review by James Edward Miller discusses some recent articles on the origin and development of the Cold War in the Eastern Mediterranean. |
| Thatcher Reluctant to Allow Boat People Entry
(18 January 2010 ) Documents released by the National Archives from the early days of Thatcher’s government reveal the prime minister’s reluctance to admit Britain’s share – as allocated by the UN – of Vietnamese refugees. |
| China-US Relations and the Transformation of the Cold War (14 January 2010 ) In a special H-Diplo forum, Mao Lin of the University of Georgia and Min Song of Texas A&M review articles exploring the evolution of China-US relations from 1969-1980. |
| Conference Report: Relations between the GDR and Czechoslovakia (11 January 2010 ) Hosted by the Technical University of Chemnitz, this conference explored diplomatic relations, scientific cooperation and dissident links between the GDR and Czechoslovakia. |
| December 2009 |
| 1989 in Review (29 December 2009) In a 1989 themed dossier, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung recounts the pivotal events of 1989, beginning with the Berlin Wall's last casualty and culminating with Romania's December revolution. |
| Coup d'etat or Revolution in Romania? (21 December 2009) The 21 December 1989 Association presses the Romanian government for the release of classified documentation from the critical days of the 1989 revolution. |
| Review: The Division of Germany (20 December 2009) PHP collaborator Matthias Uhl’s recent publication on the inception of Germany’s post-war division is reviewed by sehepunkte. |
| Twentieth Anniversary of the Malta Summit (7 December 2009) PHP partner the National Security Archive releases the most complete transcript of the Malta Summit to date. Published alongside are preparatory memos, which illustrate that the George H.W. Bush administration misjudged Gorbachev’s intentions regarding international security. |
| The Magic of Cold War Intelligence (3 December 2009) A top-secret 1950s training manual for CIA field agents, based on the knowledge of famous magician John Mulholland, has been made available to the public. |
| New Evidence on Martial Law in Poland (2 December 2009) A collection of documents on the planning and implementation of martial law in 1980/81 has been declassified, provided by the CIA's main source in the Polish Army General Staff at the time. |
| November 2009 |
| Soviet Origins of Helmut Kohl's Ten Points? (23 November 2009) A forthcoming publication by the National Security Archive, a PHP partner, includes new information on Soviet back-channel messages to the West German government. Signaling Soviet acceptance of confederation, the messages led to Chancellor Kohl's famous Ten-Point-Plan of November 1989. |
| The US Information Agency During the Cold War (16 November 2009) In an H-Diplo roundtable review, Cold War historians assess Nicholas Cull's recent publication on the US Information Agency. |
| Czechoslovak Communists Called for Opening of Borders (9 November 2009) Documents compiled by the National Security Archive chronicle negotiations between Czechs and East Germans during the 1989 refugee crisis at West Germany’s Prague embassy. |
| Second Fall of the Wall (9 November 2009) World leaders gathered in Germany to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A highlight was the toppling of 1,000 giant foam dominoes along a stretch of where the Wall once stood. |
| Documents Reveal Opposition to German Unification (7 November 2009) Records of conversation and other declassified documents published by the National Security Archive reveal apprehension from both Eastern and Western leaders to the accelerated pace of German reunification following the fall of the Berlin Wall. |
| The Enigma of the Missing Nuclear Agreements (3 November 2009) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides Soviet documents illustrating the parallels between today's war in Afghanistan and the conflict in the 1980s. |
| October 2009 |
| Fidel Castro's Sister and the CIA (27 October 2009) According to her recently published memoirs, Juanita Castro, the sister of Fidel and Raúl, worked as a spy for the the CIA in the aftermath of the Cuban revolution. |
| The Enigma of the Missing Nuclear Agreements (14 October 2009) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides historical background and documentation on the recurring question of the secret US-Japanese nuclear agreements of 1960 and 1969. |
| The Quest for Intercontinental Missiles (12 October 2009) A new book by Neil Sheehan narrates the story of the superpower nuclear arms race and the role of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles therein. See the review by the Washington Post. |
| Dismantling the Iron Curtain (9 October 2009) A series of new Electronic Briefing Books by the National Security Archive, a PHP partner, focuses on the end of the Cold War, starting with the Leipzig demonstration and subsequent changes in the leadership of the GDR. |
| Encyclopedia of the Cold War (5 October 2009) Bernd Greiner reviews the recently published two-volume Encyclopedia of the Cold War for H-Soz-u-Kult. |
| September 2009 |
| The Paris Peace Negotiations (30 September 2009) H-Diplo reviews Lorenz Lüthi's recent article on the negotations towards the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 in the Journal of Cold War Studies. |
| 'Stay Behind'-Network in Switzerland (29 September 2009) The Tages Anzeiger features an interview with the former leader of P 26, the clandestine Stay-Behind Army in Cold War Switzerland. See also the PHP collection on this subject. |
| Misperceptions in US Strategic Planning (15 September 2009) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, provides newly declassified excerpts of interviews with former Soviet officials, demonstrating numerous misconceptions of Soviet intentions by Western analysts. The new evidence complements an oral history roundtable co-organized by the PHP in 2006. |
| The Thule Air Base Crash (11 September 2009) The recently published research report on the 1968 crash of a B-52 in Greenland, written by Svend Aage Christensen of the Danish Institute for International Studies, and based on US documents, has triggered considerable media interest. |
| The Helsinki Process and the Cold War (10 September 2009) Wolfgang Schmidt reviews three new publications dealing with the effects of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) on the progress of the Cold War. All three books result from conferences held by the PHP or its partners in 2005 and 2006. |
| Finnish Intelligence During the Cold War (3 September 2009) A new study by Kimmo Rentola reveals the interactions of the Finnish Security Police (SUPO) with its Western and Eastern counterparts. Among the revelations are suspicions by the KGB in 1980 that later Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Martti Ahtisaari secretly helped Estonian refugee organizations. |
| August 2009 |
| The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (28 August 2009) Andreas Thüsing reviews for H-Soz-u-Kult a new handbook on the Soviet Military Administration in occupied Germany (1945-49). Resulting from a cooperation of German and Russian archives, it is the most comprehensive work on this subject to date. |
| The Role of Cold War Espionage (25 August 2009) Interviewing former officials of British and Soviet intelligence agencies, a BBC radio documentary narrates the role of intelligence during the Cold War. |
| Brazil and the Allende Overthrow (17 August 2009) A document collection by the National Security Archive, a PHP partner, details covert collaboration between the US and the Brazilian military government during the Nixon Administration. |
| The Thule Air Base Crash (11 August 2009) Svend Aage Christensen of the Danish Institute for International Studies, a PHP partner, has published a research report on the 1968 crash of a B-52 carrying four H-Bombs. |
| Intra-Bloc Conflicts in NATO and the Warsaw Pact (11 August 2009) Luke Nichter reviews a conference volume edited by Mary Ann Heiss and S. Victor Papacosma. It is based on a conference co-hosted by the PHP and its associate, the Lemnitzer Center for NATO and European Union Studies. |
| The Soviet Union and German Unity (10 August 2009) A review of Wilfried Loth's latest book on H-Diplo resurrects the controversy on Soviet intentions vis-à-vis the divided Germany during the early Cold War. |
| July 2009 |
| Détente and its Legacy (29 July 2009) H-Diplo article roundtable review on special issue of Cold War History 8:4 (November 2008). Including reviews by Keith L. Nelson, William B. Quandt, Andreas Wenger. |
| Records on 1980 Munich Attacks (29 July 2009) Based on newly accessible records at the Birthler office, Bundestag delegate Jerzy Montag comments on possible NATO links to the pipe bomb incident at the 1980 Oktoberfest in Munich. |
| Soviet Espionage during the Stalin Era
(17 July 2009) This H-Dipo roundtable review assesses the Journal of Cold War Studies special issue on Soviet Espionage in the United States during the Stalin Era. |
| Vietnam-Era US Defense Secretary Dies (7 July 2009) Robert McNamara, US defense secretary during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and architect of the Vietnam war, died 6 July at age 93. |
| Secret British "War Book" Released (1 July 2009) Historian Peter Hennessy speaks with the BBC on his efforts to publish a Cold War era war manual prepared for British civil servants in case of Soviet attack. |
| June 2009 |
| The Inner Workings of the National Security Agency (23 June 2009) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, posts 24 documents highlighting the role of Signals Intelligence in selected military conflicts and crises. |
| The NATO Double-Track Decision (15 June 2009) The German Historical Institute, Washington, and the Institute of Contemporary History, Munich-Berlin, hosted a conference on the NATO Double-Track Decision of 12 December 1979 in its intra-European and international dimensions. |
| Interpreting the Helsinki Final Act (11 June 2009) Sarah B. Snyder and Richard Davy argue on H-Diplo about the importance of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and West European hopes for peaceful revisionism at the time. |
| Intelligence Documents Declassified (5 June 2009) The National Security Archive, a PHP partner, has collected recently declassified documents on intelligence matters, amongst them CIA estimates on nuclear proliferation. |
| Khrushchev Ordered Construction of "Iron Ring" Around Berlin (2 June 2009) A record of conversation between the Soviet leader and East German leader Walter Ulbricht, in which Khrushchev green lights the building of the Berlin Wall, has been uncovered by Matthias Uhl, PHP contributor and researcher at the German Historical Institute Moscow. |
| May 2009 |
| Conference: Britain and the Cold War (26 May 2009) The Centre for Contemporary British History will host a four-day conference in June exploring how the Cold War impacted British society and informed its foreign policy. |
| Calls for New Inquiry into Ohnesorg Shooting (25 May 2009) Revelations that the West German police officer responsible in the 1967 shooting of student activist Benno Ohnesorg was a spy for the Stasi has prompted calls from German politicians to re-open the case. |
| Allied surveillance in West Germany Uncovered (19 May 2009) Spiegel's einestages revealed last week that widespread wiretapping and postal censorship took place in West Germany from 1949-1968 under the authority of the Allied powers. |
| Twenty Years of Gazeta Wyborcza (12 May 2009) An outcome of the Polish Round Table Agreement in early 1989, Gazeta, the first independent newspaper published in Communist Poland, celebrated its twentieth anniversary last week. |
| The US Navy and 'Finite Deterrence' (5 May 2009) A National Security Archive collection brings together military documents exploring concepts of deterrence and the arms race, with a focus on the Navy's Cold War era Polaris program. |
| The CIA and the Vietnam War (5 May 2009) A new collection of previously classified documents released by the Central Intelligence Agency reveals the search and rescue operations of Air America during the wars in Indochina. |
| Re-Examining the Cold War's Starting Point (4 May
2009) An H-Diplo roundtable review returns to "ground zero" of the Cold War, assessing Marc Trachtenberg's recent article on US policy toward Eastern Europe in 1945 vis-à-vis the Soviet Union. |
| April 2009 |
| Conference: The End of the Cold War and the Third World (29 April 2009) LSE-IDEAS will host a conference in September looking at how the transformation in the late 1980s affected regional conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America. |
| Transatlantic Security Conference Held in Geneva (28 April 2009) The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, a PHP partner, together with the Pierre du Bois Foundation for Current History, held a conference on transatlantic security issues last week. |
| How "Able" was Able Archer? (27 April 2009) University of Toronto's Beth Fischer reviews PHP coodinator Vojtech Mastny's recent article on the Able Archer exercise and the resulting war scare in 1983. |
| PHP holdsCcooperative Security Conference in Beijing (20 April 2009) Together with China Foreign Affairs University, the PHP hosted a successful international conference this past weekend in Beijing. Many long-time PHP affiliates and partners participated. |
| A West German Account of Ostpolitik (9 April 2009) PHP affiliate Bernd Schaefer reviews Julia von Dannenberg's publication on the evolution of West Germany's Ostpolitik between 1966 and 1970. |
| How Europe Would Have Been Destroyed (9 April 2009) An article in Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reviews military planning during the Cold War. The article draws on an interview with PHP affiliate Petr Luňák and PHP materials. |
| Why Did the US MJaintain Troops in West Germany? (6 April 2009) Wolfgang Krieger of Marburg University assesses Hubert Zimmermann's recent article in the Journal of Cold War Studies, exploring why the US retained a military presence in Germany throughout the Cold War. |
| Honecker Suspended Firing Order in April 1989 (3 April 2009) An article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung narrates how former East German leader Erich Honecker decided to rescind the Schiessbefehl (firing order) along the inner German border in April 1989. |
| March 2009 |
| Nicosia Conference Explores Neutrality in the Cold War (31 March 2009) A two-day conference, held 6-7 April, will look both at individual neutrals, as well as their interaction with the institutions of European security governance. |
| EspionageAallegations Against Former Mayor of Vienna (26 March 2009) One of the most prominent Austrian politicians, late Vienna mayor Helmut Zilk, has been accused of being an informant for the Czechoslovak secret service during the 1960s. |
| New Evidence on US-Sweden Cold War Relations (18 March 2009) Research conducted by Jerker Widén at the Swedish National Defence College reveals clandestine military collaboration between the US and Sweden during the Cold War. See also, PHP collection, Sweden's Secret Ties to the West. |
| New Kennan Materials Made Available (16 March 2009) The papers of eminent Cold War-era diplomat George F. Kennan, including correspondence and personal writings, have been compiled and made available for research use by the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library. |
| Review: Great Cold War (16 March 2009) The Financial Times reviews Gordon Barrass' publication, in which the former UK Chief of the Assessments Staff in the Cabinet Office provides an insiders' view of the Cold War. |
| The Euromissiles Crisis and the End of the Cold War - Conference (10 March 2009) Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of NATO's dual-track decision, the Machiavelli Center for Cold War Studies, a PHP partner institution, will host a conference in December on the Euromissiles crisis and its consequences. |
| Wall Street Journal Publishes Excerpt From New Reagan biography (9 March 2009) SAIS author-in-residence James Mann publishes The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: a History of the End of the Cold War. The excerpt reveals a discussion between Reagan and Gorbachev on religion. |
| Economics of the Cold War (9 March 2009) The Hamburg Institue for Social Research will hold an English language conference in September focusing on economic relations during the Cold War. PHP affiliate Bernd Greiner co-organizes. |
| Chen Jian Lecture to Mark the 60th Anniversary of the PRC (4 March 2009) Chinese Cold War historian Jian addresses the significance of 1949, reconsidering the revolution and its consequences for China and the world. Held at the LSE, 17 March; chair, Arne Westad. |
| African Activist Archive Launched (2 March 2009) The African Studies Center at Michigan State Univesity launches an online archive documenting how US activism informed policies toward African liberation movements during the Cold War. |
| February 2009 |
| Review: Cold War Island (24 February 2009) An H-Diplo roundtable review, with Chinese, American and British scholars, assesses Michael Szonyi's recent publication, which explores the impact of the Cold War on Quemoy. |
| 20th Anniversary of Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan (18 February 2009) Twenty years after the Soviets finally withdrew, the National Security Archive makes available previously secret material of Soviet plans and deliberations for ending the country's military involvement in Aghanistan. |
| How Able Was “Able Archer”? (11 February 2009) Vojtech Mastny reassesses the Able Archer exercises conducted by NATO in November 1983 in the latest issue of the Journal of Cold War Studies. |
| Exploring NATO’s Past Through Its Archives (6 February 2009) Celebrating NATO's forthcoming 60th birthday and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the NATO Archives, the NATO Archives Committee organizes a one-day commemorative event to be held in Brussels on 13 March. |
| The Iranian Revolution at Thirty (6 February 2009) The Middle East Institute marks the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution with a special issue of "Viewpoints". It combines articles by policymakers and scholars discussing the Revolution's long-term effects on Iran itself as well as its regional and global implications. |
| "Inside Stalin's Archives" Book Discussion (5 February 2009) Jonathan Brent, editorial director of Yale University Press, will lead a book discussion, 23 February at the CWIHP, on "Inside the Stalin Archives: Discovering the New Russia". Brent recently published a book on the subject. |
| Call for Papers: NATO Panel (2 February 2009) A special panel at the Transatlantic Studies Association annual conference will look at "30 years after the dual track decision" as part of a larger group of NATO panels. Those interested are invited to send a short abstract and brief CV to Oliver Bange, bange.preuss@t-online.de, Luca Ratti, ratti@uniroma3.it or Ralph Dietl r.dietl@qub.ac.uk. |
| January 2009 |
| Palach Week Heralded End of Communist Era (28 January 2009) A National Security Archive collection of documents from the Czech secret police, communist party and dissidents, shows that "Palach Week" in January, 1989 - the 20th anniversary of the dissident's suicide - marked the beginning of the end for Czechoslovak communism. |
| Russia-Ukraine Gas Crisis Evokes Memories of Comecon (27 January 2009) An article published in Austria's Die Presse draws parallels between the current Russia-Ukraine gas crisis and trade relations under Comecon - the Soviet bloc's multinational economic organization - which would have celebrated its 60th anniversary this year. |
| Relaunch of www.coldwar.hu (23 January 2009) The website of the Cold War History Research Center in Budapest has been relaunched. It includes information on scholarly activities of the Center's staff and its director, PHP associate Csaba Békés, and makes available selected Hungarian documents on in English translation. |
| Reporter Who Scooped Khrushchev's Secret Speech Dies (20 January 2009) John Rettie, the foreign correspondant who broke the news of Khrushchev's 1956 secret speech, has died at age 83. After being approached by a Soviet contact, Rettie, described as a "fiercly independent" reporter, left to Stockholm, where he filed the story with Reuters. |
| Declassified Documents Reveal Continuity in US-Iran Relations (15 January 2009) Documents obtained by the National Security Archive on talks between two US presidents - Ford and Carter - and the Shah of Iran reveal US concerns over nuclear proliferation and plutonium production. An essay on the history of US-Iran relations from William Burr, senior analyst at the Archive, accompanies the documents. |
| Strategic Intelligence and National Security (19 January 2009) In an H-Diplo review, Christopher Ball assesses Richard Immerman's article published in Diplomatic History. The article, in which the historian explores how intelligence influences defense policy, is based on his presidential address delivered to SHAFR in June, 2007. |
| NEST Documents Reveal US Capability, Vulnerability (13 January 2009) The National Security Archive has published documents from the CIA's Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST). Part of the Archives' Nuclear Vault, the previously classified documents explore the possibility of both the Chinese and Soviets smuggling nuclear weapons into the US, as well as potential US vulnerability toward chemical or biological attack. |
| PHP Affiliate Douglas Selvage Wins Prize (9 January 2009) PHP affiliate Douglas Selvage and David Geyer were recently awarded the Link-Kuehl Prize for Documentary Editing for their work on Soviet-American Relations: The Détente Years, 1969-1972. The prize is awarded biannually by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) to the editors of the best published documentary book. |
| Cuba Celebrates 50th Anniversary (2 January 2009) During his speech marking the 50th anniversary of communist victory against the Batista regime, Cuban leader Raúl Castro predicted a further 50 years of revolutionary struggle. |
| December 2008 |
| '1970s UK Defenceless Against Soviets' (30 December 2008) Newly released documents by the National Archives at Kew reveal that while civilians were being advised on how to prepare for a nuclear attack, the Labour government of then prime minister James Callaghan believed that both air and ground forces would be unable to successfully respond to a Soviet attack. |
| Ideology at the Core of Sino-Soviet split? (29 December 2008) A recent H-Diplo roundtable review assesses Lorenz Lüthi's recently published work exploring the reasons and conflicts behind the sometimes contentious relationship between Cold War China and the Soviet Union. Contributors include PHP coordinator Vojtech Mastny and PHP affiliate Douglas Selvage. |
| 'We Can Bomb the Bejesus Out of Them' (23 December 2008) Published by the National Security Archive, the comprehensive collection of newly-released Kissinger telcons reveal both the national security advisor and President Nixon's views on military tactics and policy regarding Vietnam. |
| Origins of the Thatcher-Gorbachev Relationship (22 December 2008) In an H-Diplo review, USC's Robert English assesses Archie Brown's article published in the Journal of Cold War Studies, in which the renowned Cold War historian explores how Thatcher's view toward Gorbachev and the Soviet Union was re-shaped. |
| Cold War Nuclear Strategist Dies (21 December 2008) An advisor to the defense secretaries of the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations, William Kaufmann died 14 December at the age of 90. Kaufmann is credited with shifting US focus away from mass nuclear retaliation against the Soviet Union. |
| CIA Releases Documents on Cold War Spy (15 December 2008) The Central Intelligence Agency has declassified a number of documents produced by Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski, a senior officer on the Polish General Staff, who had spied for the US from 1972 until 1981. The documents shed light on Warsaw Pact planning as well as on the 1980-1981 Polish crisis and the declaration of Martial Law . |
| Missed Opportunity for Nuclear Abolition? (9 December 2008) 20 years later, the National Security Archive publishes new documents on the last summit between Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush in December 1988, revealing Soviet readiness for substantive arms reductions and the reluctant US response. |
| Tenth Anniversary of the Cold War Research Group - Bulgaria (4 December 2008) The anniversary of the group, an active PHP associate that has authored a number of PHP document collections, was marked at the annual congress of the Bulgarian Historians Society in Sofia on 27 November. |
| Newly Released Tapes Show Nixon's Role in 1972 "Christmas Bombing" (4 December 2008) The Nixon Presidential Library releases some 200 hours of Nixon tapes recorded between November 1972 and January 1973. Topics discussed include Vietnam peace talks and plans for the 1973 "Year of Europe" policy. |
| November 2008 |
| 50th Anniversary of Khrushchev's Berlin Ultimatum (27 November 2008) An article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung remembers the anniversary of Khrushchev's demand that all occupation forces leave Berlin within six months, the beginning of the Second Berlin crisis. |
| Reagan, Bush, Gorbachev: Revisiting the end of the Cold War (24 November 2008) An H-Diplo roundtable review, including an author response, assesses a realist oriented analysis of the end of the Cold War from historians Norman Graebner, Richard Dean Burns and Joseph Siracusa. |
| Soviet Forces on High Alert Prior to Cuban Missile Crisis (17 November 2008) Newly declassified material from the National Security Agency (NSA) reveal that Soviet forces were on high alert a month prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Published by the National Security Archive, the internal history documents point to the NSA's significant intelligence failure in providing no warning of Soviet arms presence on the island. |
| Nuclear Bomb Buried Under Ice (11 November 2008) Forty years later, two US pilots recount the story of a plane crash at Thule Air Base in Greenland and the subsequent abandonment of a nuclear bomb. A newly desclassfied video obtained by the BBC reveals that during the clear-up from the accident only three of the weapons were accounted for, while one remained unretrieved. |
| Romania & the Warsaw Pact, 1955-1991 (4 November 2008) Petre Opris publishes an archival-based book documenting the sometimes contentious relationship between Romania and the Warsaw Pact. Published by Editura Militară in Bucharest. For more information, contact Petre Opris. |
| Ostpolitik and the Global Cold War (3 November 2008) PHP affiliate Bernd Schaefer has co-edited with Carole Fink a new volume looking at European and global responses to Ostpolitik. Taking advantage of new archival materials, the book explores how Brandt's policy had a far reaching impact on relations with the Middle East and Asia. |
| October 2008 |
| Berlin's Tempelhof Airport Closes (31 October 2008) The ceremony marking the closing of Berlin's smallest airport paid tribute to its importance in Cold War history with a vintage DC3 "candy bomber" - the plane used during 1948/49's Berlin airlift - leaving the runway for the airport's final flight. |
| Book Review: Spying on the Nuclear Bear (27 October 2008) The LSE's Sergey Radchenko reviews Michael Goodman's publication on American and British perceptions of Soviet atomic capability in the 1950s. In his book, Goodman explores atomic intelligence and how it was used by the British to forge a closer transatlantic tie. |
| Conference Report: German Studies Association (20 October 2008) PHP affiliate Bernd Schaefer reports from the GSA annual conference held earlier this month, on the panel "Cold War Politics and the German Question", which looked at the GDR's foreign policy, Ostpolitik and US-Polish relations. |
| Kundera Accused of Being an Informant (16 October 2008) A researcher at Prague's Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes has published an article in the Czech weekly Respekt accusing writer Milan Kundera of being an informant for the communist secret police. The renowned writer broke a long media silence to immediately deny the accusations. |
| Testimony from Rosenberg Trial Released (13 October 2008) Grand jury testimony from the infamous espionage trial has been made public by the National Security Archive, prompting Morton Sobell, one of those convicted, to admit in a New York Times interview that he and Julius Rosenberg had indeed been spying for the Soviet Union. |
| The Stasi in 1989 (8 October 2008) The Stasi Archives (BStU) has compiled a website providing a month-by-month account of the Stasi’s activities during the year 1989, concluding with the dissolution of the infamous intelligence agency. The site features archival documents, analysis and a reading list. |
| BBC Nuclear Bomb Transcript Released (7 October 2008) The National Archives at Kew has released the BBC's pre-recorded announcement that would have broadcast in the event of nuclear attack. Alongside are transcripts of discussions between the BBC and the government regarding the content of the announcement. |
| Warsaw Pact War Planning (1 October 2008) A recent article on Warsaw Pact plans for nuclear attack on Western Europe, published in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, incited letters to the editor a.o. by Gerhard Wettig and PHP coordinator Vojtech Mastny. |
| September 2008 |
| East Germany and the CSCE
(23 September 2008) In the latest CWIHP e-Dossier, researchers Oliver Bange and Stephan Kieninger outline East Germany's role in CSCE negotiations. Using documentation from the GDR's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archive, the paper examines Moscow's role in tempering East German policy towards its Western counterpart, the FRG. |
| Czechoslovak Intelligence: New Evidence (22 September 2008) Using newly declassified documents, Pavel Zacek of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes will present the latest research on Czechoslovak intelligence during the Cold War at a CWIHP event in October. Benjamin Fischer, former CIA chief historian, provides commentary. |
| Book Review: Stalin & the Cold War in Europe (17 September 2008) Claudia Weber of the Hamburg Institute for Social Research reviews (in German) Gerhard Wettig’s publication exploring the role of Stalin in the emergence and development of the Cold War, tracing back to 1939. |
| 'We Will Not Let Chile Go Down the Drain' (15 September 2008) Transcripts of telephone conversations between Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon, made public by the National Security Archive, reveal the role of the US in overthrowing Allende's Socialist government in Chile. |
| Sofia Keeps Investigations on Bulgarian Umbrella Murder Alive (11 September 2008) Thirty years after the so-called umbrella attack on Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London, authorities in Sofia have decided to keep the case open, while a new book sheds further light on this Cold War mystery. |
| A Cold War Containment Strategy for Dealing with Terror? (8 September 2008) Containment experts review Ian Shapiro's Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror (Princeton University Press, 2007) in a roundtable sponsored by H-Diplo. |
| August 2008 |
| Making the History of 1989 (28 August 2008) A new website, published by George Mason University, collects a variety of primary resources tracking the collapse of Communism in 1989. The site is aimed at students and teachers alike, providing case studies and teaching modules. |
| Crises in the Cold War (26 August 2008) An offspring of a 2006 conference by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research, this volume gathers essays exploring various Cold War related crisis points both in Europe and globally, including in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia. |
| Prague Spring, Crisis Year 1968 (20 August 2008) The Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Kriegsfolgen Forschung marks its 15th anniversary with a 3-day conference (20-22 August) on 1968 and the Prague Spring. Held in Vienna and Graz, the conference includes panelists from across Europe and the US. |
| Conference Report: Prague Spring (20 August 2008) Joint conference held in June, explored issues of East-West relations during the volatile spring/summer of 1968, as well as internal developments within the Eastern bloc. |
| H-Soz-Kult Book Reviews (13 August 2008) Jost Dülffer of Cologne University reviews two recent publications on the Cold War era, A Failed Empire and Khrushchev's Cold War. Both books make extensive use of archives and cover conflicts such as the Berlin and Cuban crises. |
| Plucky Little Georgia? (12 August 2008) In a Guardian op-ed piece, Mark Almond, Modern History professor at Oriel College Oxford, explores the fallacy of applying Cold War dichotomies to the current conflict between Georgia and Russia. His analysis takes in recent Georgian, NATO and post-Soviet history. |
| Fourteen Points on the Concept of Cold War (11 August 2008) In an H-Diplo essay, Columbia University's Anders Stephanson follows two debates on the Cold War, about periodization and conception. For his analysis, he employs classical philosophy and modern literature as well as political science. |
| Honecker Bunker Revealed (6 August 2008) Codenamed 17/5001, the bunker built to protect GDR leader Erich Honecker from nuclear fallout has been made open to the public through October 2008. Commissioned in the late 1970s, the bunker also serves as a time capsule of life during the Communist era. |
| Soviet Dissident, Exile, Nobel Prize Winner Dies (4 August 2008) The world renowned writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn died 3 August at the age of 89. Among other works, the prolific Solzhenitsyn penned The Gulag Archipelago, an historical documentation that revealed the terror of the now notorious Siberian labor camps. |
| What if...an Atomic War Comes to Pass (4 August 2008) In an interview with the NZZ Folio, PHP coordinator Vojtech Mastny, explores a world where atomic war has moved from the realm of possibility to reality. The interview forms a part of the monthly magazine's theme, "What if?" |
| July 2008 |
| Former US Information Agency Director Dies (29 July 2008) A leading Cold Warrior in the Reagan administration, Charles Wick died 20 July at the age of 90. Wick was credited with launching a propoganda war against the Soviet Union, including the blacklisting of political liberals. |
| Analysis Reveals Fissures in Transatlantic Alliance (28 July 2008) In an H-Diplo article review, the LSE’s Nigel Ashton assesses Geraint Hughes’ article, published in the Journal of Cold War Studies, in which Hughes explores the connections between the transatlantic alliance and the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. |
| Lizensierte Spionage - Licensed Espionage (25 July 2008) An in-depth study by German journalist Söhnke Streckel sheds light on some of the startling secrets of the Cold War - the Western military liaison missions in the GDR as observed by the Stasi, the East German Ministry for State Security. |
| Polish Politican, Solidarity Member Dies (20 July 2008) Bronislaw Geremek, who played an integral role in the fall of Communism in Poland, died 13 July at age 76. The former minister for foreign affairs was an adviser to Lech Walesa and an architect of the 1989 round table negotiations between Solidarity and the Communist Party. |
| H-Diplo Article Review: China & Vietnam (11 July 2008) University of Liverpool's Nicholas Khoo reviews Lorenz Lüthi's article on China defence planning in regards to Vietnam during the mid 1960s, published in the Journal of Cold War Studies. |
| Swiss Diplomacy During the Cold War (11 July 2008) At a Geneva symposion in commemoration of late Swiss diplomat Edouard Brunner, international diplomats and scholars reviewed opportunities and limitations of Swiss diplomacy during the Cold War. |
| 40th Anniversary of the NPT (2 July 2008) Forty years later, the National Security Archive publishes recently declassified documents that reveal heretofore unknown objections from countries such as Australia, Italy and Brazil to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The collection highlights the difficulties faced in negotiating the treaty. |
| Book Review: The Nuclear Taboo (1 July 2008) The LSE’s Kristina Spohr Readman critiques Nina Tannenwald’s publication exploring US global nuclear politics. In her book, Tannenwald, who is based at Brown University’s Watson Center, provides a thorough history of US behavior post Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
| June 2008 |
| Initiative for peace Historians (25 June 2008) PHP partner Machiavelli Center has added its support to the proposal for a foundation of a European Network of Peace Historians. The initiative is headed up by Dr. Benjamin Ziemann of University of Sheffield. |
| Albania and the Tito-Stalin split (24 June 2008) In his Neue Zürcher Zeitung article, former Center for Security Studies researcher Jeronim Perović presents a new analysis of the 1948 Tito-Stalin split, focusing on Albania’s role in the conflict. |
| Playing the China Card? (23 June 2008) In an H-Diplo article review, Helen Parr of Keele University asseses Garret Martin’s article, published in the Journal of Cold War Studies, in which Martin revisits France’s 1964 recognition of Communist China. |
| Romania & the Warsaw Pact (18 June 2008) Petre Opris and Gavriil Preda publish the first volume of an archival-based collection documenting the sometimes contentious relationship between Romania and the Warsaw Pact. Published by the National Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism in Bucharest, the collection focuses on the period 1954-1961. For more information, contact Petre Opris. |
| Conference Report: War Plans During the Cold War (11 June 2008) Comparative conference, co-organized in May by the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (MGFA) in Postdam and the German Historical Institute in Moscow, dicussed both NATO and the Warsaw Pact's military planning. |
| Soviet Missiles Armed with Hiroshima-Sized Nuclear Devices (10 June 2008) Using documents available at the National Security Archive, Michael Dobbs, Washington Post reporter, reveals Soviet nuclear capabilities during the Cuban Missile Crisis in his new book, One Minute to Midnight. |
| The Moscow Summit 20 Years Later (4 June 2008) Documents posted by the National Security Archive highlight the significance of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit. The records include US meeting transcripts and Soviet Politburo notes. |
| Survey of Chinese Cold War History (2 June 2008) An H-Diplo roundtable review assesses Yafeng Xia’s article in the Journal of Cold War Studies, in which Xia surveys Chinese approaches to Cold War history. Including analysis from Lorenz Lüthi. |
| May 2008 |
| Diary of Anatoly Chernayev (28 May 2008) Covering 1987-1988, the third installment of the glasnost proponent’s diaries, published by the National Security Archive, portrays his involvement with the Reykjavik conference, INF negotiations and school reform in the USSR. |
| Georgian Archival Bulletin (21 May 2008) The inaugural edition of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs' Archival Bulletin, presented in both Georgian and English, introduces the archival situation in Tbilisi and presents the first ever file within the archives. |
| Eisenhower Reluctant to Use Nuclear Weapons against China (7 May 2008) Previously classified material from the US Air Force released by the National Security Archive reveals Eisenhower's stance during the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1958. |
| Inside China's Cold War (5 May 2008) The spring bulletin from the Cold War International History Project explores China's relationship with Europe, the US and Asia during the Cold War based on new archival evidence. |
| April 2008 |
| Possible World War III in 1950? (15 April 2008) Follow the debate on Western intelligence estimates and Stalin's intentions in the early Cold War on the H-Diplo discussion platform.. |
| Sönke Kunkel on The Reagan Diaries (14 April 2008) Read the H-SOZ-U-KULT review of US President Reagan's journal, edited by Douglas Brinkley (New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 2007). |
| Gerhard Wettig on Hermann Wentker, Außenpolitik in engen Grenzen (8 April 2008) This review, published by H-Net, discusses the first comprehensive study on the foreign policies of the GDR in 1949-89 (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2007). |
| NATO: Tales of the Past, Lessons for the Future (1 April 2008) In the spring issue of NATO Review, PHP affiliate Petr Lunák reviews Lawrence Kaplan's latest book, NATO 1948: The Birth of the Transatlantic Alliance (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007). |
| March 2008 |
| Nuclear Weapons and the Escalation of Global Conflict since 1945 (31 March 2008) Lecture by Jeremi Suri at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs on Friday, 4 April 2008, 12:30 PM. The colloquium was webcast live. |
| www.nationaler-verteidigungsrat.de (25 March 2008) The Military History Research Institute (Potsdam), the German Federal Archives, and the Institute of Contemporary History (Munich/Berlin) make available the formerly secret minutes of the National Defense Council of the GDR, 1960-1989 |
| February 2008 |
| Release of FRUS 1969-76: European Security (25 February 2008) This FRUS volume, edited by PHP affiliate Douglas Selvage, documents US efforts to negotiate multilateral agreements with NATO allies and the Soviet Bloc towards greater European security during the Nixon and Ford administrations. |
| Release of AAPD 1977 (25 February 2008) This volume of the Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland for 1977 documents a.o. Bonn's position on European Integration, Cold War flash points in Africa, developments in the Middle East, the MBFR negotiations, and the CSCE follow-up conference in Belgrade. |
| From Helsinki to Belgrade: The First CSCE Follow-Up Meeting in Belgrade 1977/78 (20 February 2008) Focusing on human and minority rights issues at the first CSCE follow-up meeting after the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, this conference took place at the OSCE Mission to Belgrade on 8 -10 March 2008. |
| Release of FRUS 1969-76: China, 1973-1976 (15 February 2008) This FRUS volume documents fluctuations in Sino-American relations, ranging from the euphoria lingering from Nixon's visit to China in 1972, to the practical challenges of normalizing diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing. |
| Domination and Power Mechanisms of the Czechoslovak CP at Charles University in Prague, 1968-89 (12 February 2008) Report of a one-day seminar, held in Prague on 9 January 2008, focusing on the social history of communism at Charles University in Prague beyond the repression - resistance scheme. |
| January 2008 |
| US intelligence Assessments and the Reliability of Non-Soviet Warsaw Pact Armed Forces, 1946-89 Will-They-Fight (11 January 2008) In this article posted on the CIA website, James D. Marchio analyzes US intelligence efforts to investigate whether and how well Moscow's allies would fight alongside the Soviet Union during the Cold War. |
| Nuclear Weapons in the Drain (9 January 2008) During the Cold War, Bundeswehr units prepared 6,000 secret booby traps designed to demolish crucial West German infrastructure including bridges, streets, and tunnels in case of an attack by Warsaw Pact tank forces, according to Spiegel Online. |
| Book Review: Christian Nuenlist on Peter Veleff's Angriffsziel Schweiz? (7 January 2008) In his recent study, Peter Veleff discusses the operational-strategic thinking in the Warsaw Pact with a view to neutral Switzerland during the Cold War. Angriffsziel Schweiz? follows Veleff's Spionageziel Schweiz?, published in 2006. The book review appeared in the Aargauer Zeitung. |
| First FOIA Reform Bill in More Than a Decade Becomes Law (7 January 2008) According to the National Security Archive, the bill provides “common sense” solutions for openness problems: Penalties for delays, tracking systems for requests, ombuds-style office to mediate disputes, and better agency reporting. |
| December 2007 |
| The INF Treaty and the Washington Summit: 20 Years Later (10 December 2007) Previously secret Soviet Politburo records and declassified US transcripts of the Washington summit of 1987 between US President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev - posted by the National Security Archive - show that Gorbachev was willing to go much further than Washington expected or was able to reciprocate on arms cuts and resolving regional conflicts. |
| Insights Into the History of the Warsaw Pact (7 December 2007) See the articles by Dennis Deletant, "'Taunting the Bear': Romania and the Warsaw Pact, 1963-89", and Lorenz Lüthi, "The People's Republic of China and the Warsaw Pact Organization, 1955-63", both in the November 2007 issue of Cold War History. |
| November 2007 |
| First Substantive Release of US Nuclear War Plan Histories (23 November 2007) The National Security Archive introduces declassified histories of SIOP-62 and SIOP-63, which provide an acute sense of the way Washington planned to wage nuclear war in the early 1960s. |
| Kissinger Conspired with Soviet Ambassador to Keep Secretary of State in the Dark (8 November 2007) US State Department and Russian Foreign Ministry publish record of Dobrynin-Kissinger "Back Channel" meetings, based on first-time access to classified Soviet-era documents. |
| October 2007 |
| Charta 77: Documents 1979-1980
(29 October 2007) Prof. Vilém Prečan discussed Charta 77, the grass-roots group that had pressured the Czechoslovak government to grant its citizens human rights on 28 November 2007 at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. |
| Thousands of FRG Spies Infiltrated Soviet Military Presence in the GDR (17 October 2007) According to a recent study authored by historians Matthias Uhl and Armin Wagner, agents of the West German Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) were able to effectively spy out the Soviet military in East Germany. The study is based on previously classified BND sources. A book presentation took place in Berlin on 18 October 2007. |
| US-Soviet Relations in the Era of Détente, 1969-1976 (1 October 2007) This conference, organized by the US Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, and the Office of the Historian, takes place on 22-23 October 2007 in Washington D.C. |
| September 2007 |
| Kombinierter Workshop und Tagung „Alpenraum“ (24 September 2007) Workshop and symposium on the role of the Alpine region during the Cold War, which took place in Vienna and Reichenau on 24-28 September 2007. |
| The War on Terror: Lessons from the Cold War (16 September 2007) |
| Socialism in the Baltic area (7 September 2007) This conference focuses on the ideologic confrontations during the Cold War as a result of the so-called "international class struggle" and takes place in Esbjerg (Denmark) on 14-17 December 2007. |
| August 2007 |
| CWH Discussion Forum for the Special Issue on Southern Africa (29 August 2007) Electronic discussion forum on Southern Africa during the the Cold War. |
| Adversaries Meeting in Reitan (Norwegian) (27 August 2007) 30 years ago they were arch rivals. Yesterday the Cold War's central actors from East and West met in one of the most secretive places of the Norwegian armed forces. |
| 48. Internationale Tagung Militärgeschichte (14 August 2007) „Perspektiven der Militärgeschichte. Raum, Gewalt und Repräsentation in historischer Forschung und Bildung“ in Potsdam, 17-20 September 2007. |
| Introducing a New H-Diplo feature on international history (10 August 2007) |
| July 2007 |
| Horch und Guck. Zeitschrift zur kritischen Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur (25 July 2007) |
| A Moscou, ouverture limitée des archives staliniennes (Le Monde, 12 July 2007) L'annonce de l'ouverture des archives staliniennes aurait dû provoquer la satisfaction des familles humiliées par des années de répression soviétique. |
| Des archives fantasques et souvent tronquées (Le Monde, 11 July 2007) La décommunisation peut-elle aboutir à un travail de réconciliation dans les pays de l'ex-bloc de l'Est? |
| Des anciens de la Stasi à l'Institut gauck de Berlin (Le Monde, 11 July 2007) De bien curieuses pratiques ont accompagné la création de l'Institut Gauck, chargé depuis 1990 d'administrer les archives de l'ancienne police secrète est-allemande et d'effectuer un travail de mémoire sur la période communiste. |
| Europe de l'Est, un passé qui ne passe pas (Le Monde, 11 July 2007) Un passé qui ne passe pas Après la chute du mur de Berlin, le processus de « décommunisation » des pays de l'ancien bloc de l'Est a commencé en ordre dispersé, accompagné ou non d'un travail de mémoire. |
| June 2007 |
| General Hayden's Remarks at SHAFR Conference (21 June 2007) Remarks of Central Intelligence Agency Director Gen. Michael V. Hayden at the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations Conference |
| Agency Violated Charter for 25 years, Wiretapped Journalists and Dissidents (21 June 2007) CIA announces declassification of 1970s "Skeletons" file, archive posts Justice Department summary from 1975, with White House memcons on damage control. |
| The Nuclear Vault: Resources from the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project
(15 June 2007) This collection includes analyses on nuclear weapons policy and also provides newly declassified documents on nuclear crises, nuclear proliferation, and the role of nuclear weapons in US policy. |
| April 2007 |
| 40th Anniversary of Konrad Adenauer's Death (19 April 2007) New book on Germany's post-war Chancellor. Available in German. |
| New book review: Die Europapolitik der Großen Koalition 1966-1969 (10 April 2007) Read this book review on the European policy of Western Germany's Great Coalition in the late 1960s. |
| Call for papers: The Hague "Congress of Europe" (May 1948) (5 April 2007) Colloquium organized with the support of UMR-IRICE (Universities of Paris I, Paris IV and the CNRS) and the RICHIE European integration research network. Proposals should be submitted by the deadline of 7 May 2007. |
| Conference: Willy Brandt and Poland (5 April 2007) This conference focuses on the development of the Polish-German relations since the late 1960s. The conference will be held in Warsaw on 27-28 June. |
| Upcoming CWIHP Events (2 April 2007) Recent scholarship on the 1980-81 Polish Crisis, Stalin and the Cold War, and the Truman presidency under discussion at the Cold War International History Project in April. |
| March 2007 |
| Call for Papers: US-Soviet Relations in the Era of Détente, 1969–1976 (28 March 2007) The US Department of State will hold a scholarly conference on US relations with the Soviet Union in 1969–1976 on 22-23 October 2007. Read more  |
| Long-serving Ex-Foreign Minister Genscher Turns 80 (21 March 2007) Hans-Dietrich Genscher is best remembered for his central role as German foreign minister in bringing down the Iron Curtain that divided his country and Europe until 1989. |
| 50th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome (20 March 2007) Official EU website providing comprehensive online resources on the Treaties of Rome signed on 25 March 1957 by the six EU member states and bringing about the EEC and Euratom. See also the special file on ‘The European Revival and the Rome Treaties' on the European Navigator (ENA) knowledge base. |
| Rufer über die Mauer (18 March 2007) Read the Tagesspiegel article on former German foreign minister Egon Bahr, who decisively shaped Germany's Ostpolitik during the Cold War. |
| Historians Fight Bush on Access to Papers (8 March 2007) Read the NY Times article on President George W. Bush’s 2001 executive order restricting the release of presidential records. |
| New Publication on 1955 Czechoslovak Arms Deal (8 March 2007) Read the latest CWIHP Working Paper, which examines the origins of the 1955 Czech-Egyptian arms deal, drawing on newly declassified Soviet and Czech archival material. The documents reveal that Egyptian governments continually attempted to reach an arms deal with a major foreign power. After the West had refused to sell weapons to Egypt in the early 1950s, President Nasser appealed to the Soviet bloc. Rebuffed by Stalin, the documents show that only the rise of Khrushchev changed Soviet policy towards the Middle East. |
| Cambridge History of the Cold War - Endings, 1975-1991 (2 March 2007) This conference, which will take place on 14 March 2007, will discuss work-in-progress contributions to the third volume of the Cambridge History of the Cold War (CHCW), entitled Endings, 1975-1991. |
| Arthur M. Schlesinger Dies at 89 (1 March 2007) The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Kennedy insider who helped define mainstream liberalism during the Cold War has died at 89 (CBS News). Read also the Washington Post article "Author Shaped Lens for Viewing US History" by Adam Bernstein. |
| February 2007 |
| Article review: Piero Gleijeses. "Moscow's Proxy? Cuba and Africa, 1975-1988." Journal of Cold War Studies 8.4 (Fall 2006) (16 February 2007) Read comments |
| Tagungsbericht: Die ungarische Revolution 1956: Kontext - Wirkung - Mythos (12 February 2007) Proceedings of the conference organized by the Zentrum fuer Zeithistorische Forschung (ZZF) on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution. |
| Special panel: Oil and Foreign Policy (12 February 2007) This panel discussion, which was held at the Miller Center of Public Affairs (University of Virginia) on 16 February 2007, focused on how oil had shaped America's modern political economy and influenced its foreign policies. |
| International Conference on the History of the Communist Movement, 1944-1956 (9 February 2007) This conference, organized by the Institute of National Remembrance and the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science, will be held in Warsaw from 26 to 29 September 2007. Deadline for submitting papers was 28 February 2007. |
| January 2007 |
| Conference: Wirtschaftliche Integrationsprozesse in West- und Osteuropa nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg (30 January 2007) This conference will be held Potsdam on 29-31 March 2007 to commemorate the signing of the Treaties of Rome on 25 March 1957. |
| Entspannung und KSZE in Europa 1966-1975 (30 January 2007) Read the report of a workshop held in Sofia in November 2006 focusing on the CSCE process. |
| Call for papers: “Intelligence Clash: East vs West During the Cold War” (25 January 2007) |
| How to bury a secret: turn it into paperwork (16 January 2007) Millions of pages are declassified, but that doesn't necessarily mean divulged |
| When Britain and France nearly married (15 January 2007) Formerly secret documents unearthed from the National Archives have showed Britain and France considered a "union" in the 1950s. Read comments |
| New perspectives on the "Trente Glorieuses" and multilateralism in Europe from 1945 to 1975 (3 January 2007) This conference will be held at the University of Paris-IV Sorbonne on 26-27 January 2007. It focuses on the consequences of the economic miracle of the ‘Trente Glorieuses’ on multilateralism in Europe from 1945 to 1975. |
| December 2006 |
| Romania's dark past casts shadow on New Dawn (31 December 2006) Read The Guardian article on the declassification of nearly two million Communist-era files. The new expert report on Romania's Communist past leaves many questions unanswered. |
| 2007 International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War (27 December 2006) An International Conference to be held at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. on 20-21 April 2007. |
| Gerald Ford dies at 93 (27 December 2006) Read the The Guardian obituary on the former US president who entered the White House after the Watergate scandal without receiving a single electoral vote. |
| Warfare in the central sector, 1948-1968 (19 December 2006) An International Conference to be held in Münster from 22 to 23 March 2007. The conference is organized by the Netherlands Institute of Military History in The Hague, in cooperation with the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt in Potsdam. |
| Pinochet: A declassified documentary obit (12 December 2006) New National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book with a selection of declassified US documents that illuminate the former dictator's record of repression. |
| Pinochet defiant until the end (11 December 2006) Augusto Pinochet, the military strongman who dominated Chile for 17 years with brutal force, died on Sunday in Santiago after suffering a heart attack last week. |
| November 2006 |
| CD documentary: Bulgaria and the Middle East conflict during the Cold War years (9 November 2006) An edition of 255 documents declassified in 2004-6, including first-ever published top secret Bulgarian government resolutions. |
| Politics of fear in the Cold War (8 November 2006) Part IV of a Conference Series "Between "Total War" and "Small Wars": Studies in the Societal History of the Cold War (5-7 September 2007) |
| October 2006 |
| State security and mapping in the GDR
map falsification as a consequence of excessive secrecy? (13 October 2006) This new book illuminates both the Ministry for State Security's influence on mapping in the GDR and the motives behind its practices. It provides helpful information for evaluating and dealing with maps published in the former GDR. |
| September 2006 |
| Atlantic, Euratlantic or Europe-America? The Atlantic community and the European idea from Kennedy to Nixon (14 September 2006) International Conference, Middelburg, the Netherlands, 20-21 September 2007. |
| The outing of Romania's secret police (2 September 2006) Read the Washington Post article on Romania's opening of party files and those of the secret police force Securitate. |
| August 2006 |
| The Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Context – Impact – Legend (29 August 2006) An International Conference to be held in Berlin from 4 to 6 October 2006. The conference is organized by the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, Stiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur and the Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam. |
| How many and where were the nukes? (18 August 2006) What the US Government No Longer Wants You to Know about Nuclear Weapons During the Cold War |
| Book discussion - Failed illusions: Moscow, Washington, Budapest and the 1956 Hungarian Revolt (18 August 2006) At the Woodrow Wilson Center, with Dr Charles Gati, author and Senior Adjunct Professor of European Studies at Johns Hopkins University's SAIS, Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA), and Dr James G Hershberg , Associate Professor of History and International Affairs, George Washington University. |
| July 2006 |
| Nixon White House considered nuclear options against North Vietnam, declassified documents reveal (31 July 2006) Edited by William Burr and Jeffrey Kimball (National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 195). |
| Information and propaganda for a history of the techniques of consensus creation since 1939 (27 July 2006) International Conference, ULB, Brussels – End of March 2007 |
| Two Nations, One People? The German Cold-War experience (27 July 2006) An international interdisciplinary conference to be held at the University of Liverpool from 6 to 8 September 2006. The conference is supported by the British Academy. |
| Suez: End of empire (24 July 2006) By Paul Reynolds, World Affairs Correspondent, BBC News website |
| Book review: Heiße Kriege im Kalten Krieg, ed. by Greiner, Bernd; Müller, Christian Th.; and Walter, Dierk (Hamburg, 2006) (12 July 2006) |
| Willy Brandt und die europäische Einigung (11 July 2006) Read the conference proceedings of the conference „Willy Brandt et la construction de l'Europe,“ which took place in Metz (France) on 8-10 June 2006. |
| June 2006 |
| CIA claims the right to decide what is news (24 June 2006) The National Security Archive files suit against the CIA, challenging the Agency's recent practice of charging FOIA fees to journalists pursuing news. |
| May 2006 |
| In sieben Tagen am Rhein (9 May 2006) Die Welt article by Gerhard Gauck on Warsaw's recent efforts to declassify over 1,500 documents which cover war plans and the introduction of martial law in Poland. |
| Peter Braun, Von der Réduitstrategie zur Abwehr. Die militärische Landesverteidigung der Schweiz im Kalten Krieg 1945-1966 (2 vols., 1056 pp.). (8 May 2006) Recent in-depth study on Switzerland's strategy, doctrine, and weapons from the early Cold War through to the discussions on atomic weapons in the mid-1960s. |
| Denmark during the Cold War (8 May 2006) Read the substantial review of the major project and book publication on Denmark in the Cold War. The project (2000-2005) had been conducted by the DIIS, the Danish PHP partner. |
| April 2006 |
| International conference: “From Helsinki to Gorbachev, 1975-1985: The Globalization of the Bipolar Confrontation, Artimino, Italy (18 April 2006) Conference organized by the Machiavelli Center for Cold War Studies (CIMA) and co-sponsored by the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) , 27-29 April 2006). |
| Konrad Adenauer and the Cold War (4 April 2006) Results of the conference on Western integration, the German unification, and the Cold War with focus on the Adenauer Era that was co-organized by the PHP-associate Bernd Schäfer of the German Historical Institute. |
| March 2006 |
| Nachsicht für Rumäniens Folterknechte? Seilziehen um die Kontrolle über die Archive der Securitate
(31 March 2006) An in-depth NZZ article on the Romanian Securitate Archives, featuring PHP associate Marius Oprea. |
| Die Schweiz als Aktionsfeld für DDR Geheimdienste. Episoden aus der Zeit des Kalten Krieges (24 March 2006) A book review by Mauro Mantovani of Peter Veleff's recent volume on GDR espionage on Switzerland. |
| Ostpolitik, 1969-1974: The European and global response (10 March 2006) Conference sponsored by the Mershon Center, the Ohio State University and the German Historical Institute of Washington, DC, May 11-13, 2006. |
| February 2006 |
| The Impact of Khrushchev's 1956 Secret Speech on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (25 February 2006) |
| Secret again: The absurd scheme to reclassify documents (23 February 2006) Read Fred Kaplan's article on the US aims to reclassify many historical documents in Slate Magazine |
| Call for papers: Panel on "Unveiling What the Iron Curtain Hid: Sharing the Experiences(s) of the Cold War" (21 February 2006) Annual meeting of the Transatlantic Studies Association, Dundee, Scotland, 12-15 June 2006 |
| US reclassifies many documents in secret review (21 February 2006) At the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents. |
| Call for papers: The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the Soviet Bloc Countries: Reactions and Repercussions (3 February 2006) Twenty years of declassifying secret records: Happy birthday, National Security Archive! |
