The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance

Terrorism is no new threat, it troubled the Romans as much as it did the Russian monarchs. The Cold War, however, turned terrorism into a global televised drama personified by “the Bin Laden of the Cold War” and “enemy number one”- Carlos the Jackal. Who was this tall man in a black beret, thick glasses, and a smirk on his face? How was the Carlos myth created, was he really that prolific and ‘successful’ and how do you get rid of such a hothead, politely? In this episode we look at why the US was sure the East was runninga worldwide terrorism network and we explore whether all Eastern bloc countries were best friends with Carlos the Jackal. 

This is a story of guns, kidnappings and murders but also a story of a small Eastern bloc country pulling a daring trick on the Cold War’s most feared terrorist.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more!

One way to support us is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

During the Cold war, soldiers from emerging, newly independent, or struggling countries were often sent for military trainings in Europe. A popular destination for such trainings during the 1950’s and 1960’s was the former Czechoslovakia. In Episode 11 we take a rare look at these training facilities and unveil how they operated, what problems they faced, why signs had to be taken off doors and why, at times, military barracks resembled university dorms on steroids. Dr. Natalia Telepneva of the University of Strathclyde and Dr. Daniela Richterova of Brunel University also explain what the formerly secret files revealed about Czechoslovakia’s dilemma between profit and influence.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more!

One way to support us is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

Cuba’s world of intelligence and counterintelligence during the Cold War is very much a secret to this day, as researchers are not allowed to peek into the Cuban files. However, we know that Fidel Castro despised the USA and wowed to fight it to his last breath, that Cuba’s intelligence used very different techniques for recruiting agents than the US and that the CIA was struggling to operate in Cuba. How do we know this? In Episode 10 Dr. James Lockhart studies information from defectors to piece together the story of Cuba’s secret world.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more!

One way to support us is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

Why would a country risk a conflict and the death of its soldiers to help out “for free” a distant, seemingly unrelated country half a continent away? The story of Morocco and Congo during the Cold War era is very different from what we’ve heard on the podcast so far. Dr. Farid Boussaid from the University of Amsterdam draws the curtains on personal relationships among leaders and how much they affect national and international affairs and the course of history.

Episode 8 has it all: a dictator who loves luxury and good PR, secret clubs, relentless rebels and a lot of fighting with surprising victories and unlikely allies.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more!

One way to support us is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

Today, ‘fake news’ has become a buzzword, causally used by politicians, journalists and talk-show hosts. But the modern concept of ‘fake news’ is no novelty, it’s been around for at least a century. And the Soviets have always been good at it.

In this episode we head over to India and zoom in on ‘fake news’ of the 1960’s. As the country becomes an ideological Cold War battlefield, falsifications and forgeries are used as weapons to win over supporters and attack enemies. What did ‘fake news’ look like then? Who produced it? And was it just the Soviets or did the other camp use ‘black propaganda’ as well? Dr. Paul McGarr - Associate Professor in US Foreign Policy at the University of Nottingham - explains how ‘fake news’ was created, how effective it was in the Cold War battles, and uncovers the human stories behind these forgeries.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more!

One way to support us is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

“Are you a spy?” Martin Grossheim, a student from Western Germany was asked on the streets of Hanoi in 1987. Why was this a legitimate question in Vietnam and how does it all come back to the Cold War struggle for dominance? In Episode 6 we talk about the biggest armed conflict of the Cold war era, the Vietnam war. How did the socialist states help North Vietnam? What was the chain of assistance and how come the Soviet, East German and Vietnamese secret services operated identically? Dr. Martin Grossheim from Seoul National University explains how Vietnam went from nothing to a spy-manic country, why everyone who spoke a foreign language was suspicious and why the country kept their distance even from the brotherly Soviet bloc.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more! One way to do so is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

A wave of independence swept across Africa in the early 1960s - triggering not only freedom-induced euphoria, but also considerable instability. What happens when you reclaim power from a colonial power and find that there is little to no security and intelligence infrastructure in place? And how does a newly-independent state build its security apparatus almost from scratch? In Episode 5, Dr. Thomas Maguire looks at how the country known today as Tanzania manically shopped around for new allies, money and expertise shortly after gaining independence. And how its leaders soon discovered that 'aid' from countries such as Britain, Israel, China or Moscow was by no means provided for free.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more! One way to do so is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

A year is a long time. You can start a friendship, become BFFs and end it – all in a matter of one year. How? Listen to Episode 4 in which we dissect the very unlikely and until now undisclosed friendship between Cuba and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War.

Dr. Jan Koura – Assistant professor at the World History department at Charles University in Prague explains that there was the obvious conflict between the East and the West, but also a less visible and unexpected competition among countries from the same Cold War camp.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more! One way to do so is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

This podcast is produced independently by: Katarina Urban Richterova

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What do you imagine researching secret histories looks like? A Julia Roberts-like character hovering over old books and dusty documents in a beautiful, dim-lit library, when - just as they are about to close - she finds it ... that smoking gun, that file that makes sense of it all, that changes everything... ? Do all researchers really live such exciting lives? How does new, primary-source historical research come about? Dr. Daniela Richterova of Brunel University London shares her thoughts on this exciting, yet at sometimes also frustrating, process.

This is a snippet from The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance podcast – Episode 1.  Go back and listen to the full episode.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more! One way to do so is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

Production and hosting by: Katarina Urban Richterova

Photo by: Jorge Dubuc

Have comments or feedback for us?

One of the most powerful weapons of the Cold War was not made to shoot or explode behind enemy lines. It was quiet, hidden away from the public, yet capable of destroying whole communities. In Episode 3 we talk about the origins and the purpose of SIGINT - signals intelligence gathering – also known as electronic ‘surveillance’ or ‘eavesdropping’. 

What happens to an island in the middle of paradise when its location is just a little ‘too strategic’? How can a secret alliance between the US and the UK impact the fate of a population on the other side of the globe? Sarah Mainwaring and Professor Richard J. Aldrich take us for a tour of the mysterious world of SIGINT – revealing how and why these signals intelligence stations were set up, how they operated, and what life was and still is like on these remote ‘listening in’ stations. Come along - into the world of the best kept secret!

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more! One way to do so is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

Have comments or feedback for us?

What is a life of a spy like? Not the James Bond kind, but of a real-life spy? In episode 2 of the Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance podcast we unveil the secret lives of one man, whose identity of a spy has never been discovered, that is until now. In fact, this ‘man of no country’ by the name of Dennis Phombeah worked for multiple agencies across the Cold War divide. How did he manage to get hired by sworn enemies? And what did he get out of this exhausting clandestine career?

With historian Dr. James Brennan of the University of Illinois, who discovered this mystery man, we discuss how glamorous but also difficult the life of a busy spy can be. How one enters the espionage world and who has the upper-hand in the spy-agency relationship.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more! One way to do so is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

How do you get access to historical, top secret documents? Intelligence scholars and historians ask this question a lot. How do they conduct their research and acquire declassified, secret files? What questions do they need to ask themselves as they sit down to write up stories that have not been told before? And why are there so many newly-declassified documents pouring out of the former Soviet-bloc countries right now?

In the first episode of the Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance Dr. Daniela Richterova of Brunel University London explains how an ‘innocent’ chat with a colleague over a pint of cider turned into a two-year long research project. A project that would involve over a dozen experts and archives and eventually turn into a specialist academic publication and this podcast!

The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance podcast presents untold stories of the Cold War. We examine how the ‘East’ and the ‘West’ struggled for dominance across the globe, how the conflict played out in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and how superpowers as well as smaller states used their militaries, intelligence and security agencies to win this global conflict.

This podcast is for history fans, students and busy professionals - with a passion for untold histories which helped shape our world.

The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Education in Europe!

If you like our podcast and the work that we do – support us, so that we can do even more! One way to do so is through Patreon.com – under the name The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance. Thanks!

Photo for the episode artwork by: Jorge Dubuc