Episode 1
COMRADES
September 27, 1998
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America, Russia and Britain have been united against Nazi Germany. Now
the ideological split between capitalism and communism is reasserted.
War-time allies confront each other.
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Episode 2
IRON CURTAIN
October 4, 1998
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The Soviet Union dominates Eastern Europe. Stalin insists that the
governments of its client states will be pro-Communist. The U.S. prepares
to assume world leadership. Churchill warns the world.
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Episode 3
MARSHALL PLAN
October 11, 1998
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The United States adopts the Truman Doctrine and plans to
bolster economic recovery in Europe. Stalin sees this as a threat and forbids
his satellites to participate.
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Episode 4
BERLIN
October 18, 1998
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Berlin is a western enclave in Eastern Europe. The Soviets
blockade in the city. The allies airlift supplies. Soviet scientists
explode an atom bomb. Now there is nuclear parity.
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Episode 5
KOREA
October 25, 1998
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June 1950, North Korea, with Stalin's blessing, invades the South. America,
with United Nations backing, defends South Korea and confronts China. There is
stalemate at Panmunjom. Eventually an armistice is signed.
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Episode 6
REDS
November 1, 1998
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The world is polarized across an ideological divide. American
democracy succumbs to a bout of anti-Communist hysteria. Stalin reinforces the
climate of terror on which his rule is based.
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Episode 7
AFTER STALIN
November 8, 1998
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East Germans, Poles, Hungarians riot against Soviet rule.
America, pledged to contain communism, not overthrow it, does nothing.
Khrushchev consolidates Soviet power.
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Episode 8
SPUTNIK
November 15, 1998
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October 1957, the first Russian satellite, Sputnik, orbits the
earth. America is dismayed. John F. Kennedy pledges America will be first again.
The Russians launch Yuri Gagarin into space.
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Episode 9
THE WALL
November 22, 1998
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Thousands of East Germans escape to the West through Berlin.
Khrushchev is determined to oust the West from Berlin. The East Germans
erect the Berlin Wall.
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Episode 10
CUBA
November 29, 1998
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Khrushchev decides to site short and medium range missiles in
Cuba. The sites are detected. The U.S. blockades the island. The two powers
confront each other in the most dangerous crisis of the Cold War.
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Episode 11
VIETNAM
December 6, 1998
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Vietnam is divided. The U.S. commits its armed forces in
defense of the "free" South. Protests mount. During the Tet offensive, the
Viet Cong briefly penetrate the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. This is not a war
America can win.
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Episode 12
MAD
December 13, 1998
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The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. confront each other, each armed with nuclear
weapons. Each side must deter the other. This is mutually assured destruction.
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Episode 13
MAKE LOVE NOT WAR
January 10, 1998
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Western economies prosper, young people reject affluence and the Cold War. There is protest and violence.
The music reflects this disenchanted generation.
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Episode 14
RED SPRING
January 17, 1998
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Eastern economics are crippled by defense spending. The young want blue jeans
and rock music. When Czechoslovakians try to liberalize, they are crushed by Soviet tanks.
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Episode 15
CHINA
January 24, 1998
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Chinese communists are victorious. Mao Zedong's reforms, at first popular, turn catastrophic. China splits
with the Soviets. President Nixon makes an historic visit to Beijing.
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Episode 16
DETENTE
February 7, 1998
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Nixon meets with the Soviet's Brezhnev and signs SALT. The U.S.
abandons Vietnam. A thaw occurs in the Cold War. Apollo and
Soyuz meet in space.
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Episode 17
GOOD GUYS, BAD GUYS
February 14, 1998
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Both sides of the Cold War use surrogates to wage ideological
and sometimes physical conflict. The Cold War becomes a shooting war in the
Third World.
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Episode 18
BACKYARD
February 21, 1998
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America seeks to destablize 'leftist' governments in Latin
America, providing aid to 'right-wing' governments, however unsavory.
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Episode 19
FREEZE
February 28, 1998
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President Carter calls for civil liberties in the U.S.S.R. Soviets arm Eastern Europe -
the U.S. plans to station missiles in Western Europe. Solidarity in Poland
pushes for reform. Reagan is elected President.
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Episode 20
SOLDIERS OF GOD
March 7, 1998
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The Shah, America's ally, falls in Iran. The Soviets invade
Afghanistan and become embroiled in a Vietnam-type of war. American perceives
the invasion as the action of an aggressive expansionsist power, and helps
arm the Mujahedin rebels.
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Episode 21
SPIES
March 14, 1998
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For the spies, the Cold War is always hot. Theirs is a story of deceit,
treachery, and a bullet in the back of the head. But while human intelligence
(KGB, FBI and the Stasi) always plays a role in the Cold War, increasingly, technical
intelligence grows in scope and sophistication.
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Episode 22
STAR WARS
March 21, 1998
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Reagan vows to defeat the "evil empire." SDI, an anti-missile
system in space, will shield in the U.S. Gorbachev knows the U.S.S.R.
cannot win the arms race.
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Episode 23
THE WALL COMES DOWN
March 28, 1998
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The Soviet bloc is breaking up. Hungary and Poland slip away
from communist control. In scenes of unrivalled jubilation, the hated Berlin
Wall comes down.
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Episode 24
CONCLUSIONS
April 4, 1998
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As the USA seeks to bring the Cold War to a close, Germany
reunites. But for Gorbachev, the cost of perestroika is the implosion of
the U.S.S.R.
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