Life Behind the Iron Curtain
Explore this fascinating collection of over 10,000 files documenting every aspect of life in Eastern Europe throughout the Cold War.
Originally gathered by the UK Foreign Office and their embassies and consulates, and sourced entirely from The National Archives, U.K., these documents provide a uniquely comprehensive, English-language history of post-Stalinist Eastern Europe. Content covers nine regions with information on a huge range of topics and events.
The advanced search functionality has been built to facilitate both teaching and research, making this an ideal resource for those studying and researching a broad range of subjects, including politics, international relations, history and cultural studies.
"Cold War Eastern Europe is a truly indispensable resource for students and academics alike studying the history of Eastern Europe, Communism and the Cold War. Due to the high quality of British diplomatic reporting, the collection will immensely enhance comparative research of the Soviet Bloc countries' history"
Csaba Békés, Research Chair, Centre of Social Sciences, Institute for Political Science, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.
Module I: 1953-1960:
• Balkan Pact of 1953
• Death of Stalin
• East German Uprising of 1953
• Trial and Execution of Lavrentiy Beria
• Foundation of the Warsaw Pact
• Geneva Summit OF 1955
• Hungarian Revolution
• Polish October
• Imre Nagy's execution
• Berlin Crisis
• U2 spy-plane incident
Module II: 1961-1966
• Construction of the Berlin Wall
• Standoff at Checkpoint Charlie
• Soviet detonation of the Tsar Bomba
• Arrest of Oleg Pen'kovskii
• JFK's "ich bin ein Berliner" speech
• Signature of the Partial Test Ban Treaty
• Leonid Brezhnev replaces Nikita Khrushchev
• Vietnam War
• Sino-Soviet split
Module III: 1967-1975:
• Harold Wilson's visit to Moscow
• Prague Spring
• 1968 Polish Political Crisis
• Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia
• Sino-Soviet border conflict
• Four-power agreement on Berlin
• Western Recognition of East Germany
• Richard Nixon's visit to Moscow
• Helsinki Accords
• Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe
