Cold War Web Sites
Cold War: From Yalta to Malta (CNN)
This CNN Perspectives series explores the Cold War experience. Included are interactive maps, rare video footage, declassified documents, biographies, picture galleries, timelines, interactive activities, a search function, book excerpts, an educator’s guide and more. (Demands a 4.0 browser or higher) ***This site is no longer active and has been archived
- Episode One: Comrades 1917-1945
This presentation displays the U.S and Russia as allies through video interview with George Kennan, a tour of a Cold War prison, historical documents, and more. - Episode Two: The Iron Curtain 1945-1947
This presentation provides an overview of the Iron Curtain through a Cold War military museum, a Brinkmanship interactive game, a video interview with George Kennan, a spotlight on the Oder-Niesse Line, a look at post Cold War US-Russian relations, and more. - Episode Three: The Marshall Plan 1947-1952
Presents a brinkmanship simulation, a feature on the birth of the CIA, an analysis of the IMF, discussion of the Czech coup in 1948, and more. - Episode Four: Berlin 1948-1949
Features a West German radio report, reflections of a Berlin mayor, a look at propaganda, a brinkmanship simulation, and more - Episode Five: Korea 1949-1953
The special features of this program include spotlights on the Russian connection, the continuing divide between North and South Korea, a look at America’s Korean War memorial, a brinkmanship game, interviews, and more - Episode Six: Reds 1948-1949
Based on the Intensification of the Cold War, this presentation features a look at the Red Scare then and now, the United States Communist Party, and totalitarianism, and it has an excerpt from Daniel Moynihan’s “Secrecy”. - Episode Seven: After Stalin 1953-1956
This presentation features reflections by Krushchev’s son and sections on Kremlin power struggles, NATO’s importance, and a German radio report. - Episode Eight: After Sputnik 1949-1961
Explores the new arms race launched by the Soviet atomic bomb. There are features on espionage, Russia’s space exploits, and an interactive timeline. - Episode Nine: The Wall 1959-1963
Explores shootings at the Wall, U.S. unpreparedness, and offers some reflections on the wall. - Episode Ten: Cuba 1959-1968
Features the ExComm files, the hot line between Kennedy and Khrushchev, contemporary Cuba and an interview with Fidel Castro - Episode Eleven: Vietnam 1954-1968
Includes a Spotlight on Dien Bien Phu and sections on changing media-military rules and the “living room” war. - Episode Twelve: MAD 1960-1972
Examines “mutual world destruction” and the escalating arms race. - Episode Thirteen: Make Love, Not War :The Sixties
Spotlights the draft, music, the “silent majority” and protests. - Episode Fourteen: Red Spring The Sixties
Features the sexual revolution, the rehabilitation of communism, and a look at an ex-patriot Soviet artist. - Episode Fifteen: China 1949-1972
Spotlights Kissinger’s secret talks with Mao, the conflict between Beijing and Moscow, as well as “ping pong” diplomacy and US-China rapprochement. - Episode Sixteen: Detente 1969-1975
Features a Brezhnev confidant, critiques of detente, and space cooperation. - Episode Seventeen: Good Guys, Bad Guys 1967-1978
Examines the African Renaissance, mercenaries for hire, and the Arab-Israeli peace process. - Episode Eighteen: Backyard 1954-1990
This presentation talks about Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as battleground, examining the School of Americas, the plan to fund the Contras in Nicaragua, and conflicts in Mexico. - Episode Nineteen: Freeze 1977-1981
Features sections on the Carter-Brezhnev years, John Paul II toppling the communist domino, politics of European security, and missile diplomacy. - Episode Twenty: Soldiers of God 1975-1988
This presentation talks about the Afghan Civil War and the crumbling detente with sections on the Olympic games, Afghan legacy, and Russian pain. - Episode Twenty One: Spies 1945-1900
Stories of dead spies, finding good spies, counterintelligence, and continuing espionage. - Episode Twenty Two: Star Wars 1980–1988
Includes excerpts of interviews, a transcript of Reagan’s “Star Wars” Speech, and a section on “War Games”. - Episode Twenty Three: The Wall Comes Down 1989
Features a slide show of lifting the Iron Curtain in 1989 and sections on reformers in Hungary, the surprise of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the chaos in Russia during the last years of the Cold War. - Episode Twenty Four: Conclusions
Features a section on what the war cost, memories from the Cold War, and an excerpt from the book After The Cold War.
People’s Century (PBS)
The site is based on a 26-episode television series and features a teacher’s guide, a timeline, a thematic overview, and RealAudio excerpts. Selected programs:
- Young Blood: 1950-1975 (PBS)
Focus is on youth movement in America in 1960s - Brave New World: 1945-1961 (PBS)
Site probes the changing world order after WWII and emergence of Cold War - Freedom Now: 1947-1990 (PBS)
Covers the overthrow of colonial rule in Asia and Africa - Skin Deep: 1945-1994 (PBS)
Probes the challenge to racial oppression in the United States and South Africa - Fallout: 1945-1995 (PBS)
Examines the atomic age in the Cold War era - Picture Power: 1939-1997 (PBS)
Probes how television transformed society, culture, and politics - The Great Leap: 1943 to 1976 (PBS)
Focus is on Chairman Mao and the communist takeover in China - Guerrilla Wars: 1956-1989 (PBS)
Discusses guerrilla war movements in Vietnam, Afghanistan and elsewhere - God Fights Back: 1978-1992
Examines religious fundamentalism in the East and West - People Power: 1971-1991 (PBS)
Examines the fall of Communist rule in the Soviet Union - Fast Forward: 1980-1999 (PBS)
Probes the impact of communications technology and business globalization on the traditional world order
Soviet Archives Exhibit (Library of Congress)
Site contains declassified Soviet documents from 1917 to 1991
Cold War Policies 1945-1991
Written by a professor at the University of San Diego, this is part of a larger site from the History Department. The major topics are Negotiation, Demonstration, Containment, Coercion, Detent, Confrontation, Glasnost, and Revolution. While basically a time-line of policies and events, included are primary sources, detailed maps, and links to other sites, such as Reagan and Gorbachev’s pages.
1968: The Whole World Was Watching (BrownU.)
An oral history project that features recollections of a group of Rhode Islanders regarding pivotal events and issues in 1968.
The Wars for Vietnam
This site was produced by students out of Vassar college and provides an overview of the Vietnam war, primary documents and photos, and links to other related sites.
Vietnam, Stories Since the War (PBS)
Another well done PBS site; it contains background information on the Vietnam War, first-hand stories of veterans, an index, and a search function.
Cambodian Holocaust
This site relates personal stories from the Cambodian genocide of the Khmer Rouge years. There are photographs and suggested resources.
Vietnam: A Television History (PBS)
Part of PBS’s American Experience series, this informational site includes video clips of the war, background information, and much more.
The Face of Russia (PBS)
This informative PBS site attempts to answer the question: Who are the Russian People? There is a timeline, glossary, bibliography, media index, links, lesson plans, and a chat forum.
K-19
Inspired by National Geographic’s Widowmaker film, this online feature delves into the history of K-19, and the Cold War politics and mechanical malfunctions that led to a Russian nuclear submarine disaster in the summer of 1961. This interactive site offers a director’s commentary, K-19’s schematic, movie stills, selected profiles of U.S. and Russian subs, a sunken submarine map, an exploration of the evolution of submarine technology and much more.
Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides, Activities and more
The World in Uncertain Times, 1950 Present Practice Test
High School level quiz on Cold War America from Prentice Hall.
The World in Uncertain Times, 1950 Present Document Based Essay
This Prentice Hall DBQ is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents and is based on the accompanying documents (1-6).
Intervene or Interfere? Exploring Forty Years of United States Intervention in Foreign Affairs
In this lesson, students will research the motives, actions, and results of U.S. intervention in foreign affairs between the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and the 2003 invasion of Iraq; they then present their research to class for comparative analysis.(April 7, 2003)
For more resources to use in the classroom, go to the Cold War Era section under American History.