The Gouzenko Affair was the most shocking Soviet defection to the West
In 1968, a man speaking English with a thick Russian accent appeared on television screens across America. He was wearing a white mask to hide his identity because he was…
Russian tank crews have a history of using this insane tank battle tactic
The tank battles between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern Front of World War II are the stuff of legend. Some of the most pivotal battles…
Communist countries fought a proxy war against each other in Africa
There’s an old saying that says no two true democracies have ever gone to war with each other – and let’s not pretend Russia is a true democracy. One might…
Walking on the grass and 4 other things that almost made the US lose the Cold War
It is generally accepted that the Cold War began when the Allies sounded “ENDEX” in Europe after the defeat of the Nazis. The geopolitical tension between the United States and…
The battle that convinced German generals they lost World War II
In the minds of many German leaders, World War II was lost much sooner than May 1945. Much of the Third Reich knew its days were numbered almost as soon…
How anti-tank dogs helped advance Soviet forces
The intelligence of dogs has turned the tides for many wars, making way for significant advancements. However, we rarely think about animals as a wielder of weapons, let alone harnessing…
9 infamous KGB assassination attempts straight out of spy novels
It’s well known that the fearsome Soviet spy agency, the KGB, used brutal tactics to eliminate and intimidate rivals.
Legend has it that when Soviet diplomats were kidnapped by terrorists in Lebanon in the mid-1980s, KGB officers kidna…
A rogue Soviet submarine might have been destroyed trying to start World War III
In March 1968, one of the Soviet Union’s most powerful vessels, a diesel-electric ballistic missile submarine carrying one megaton nuclear weapons, suddenly sank in the Pacific Ocean. K-129 was on…
Today in military history: Captured U-2 pilot exchanged for Soviet spy
On Feb. 10, 1962, U.S. Spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for a Russian spy during one of a tense period in the Cold War. In the late…
How train cars kept missiles mobile in event of Soviet strike during the ’80s
With the Soviets seemingly on our tail, the U.S. put multiple safeguards into place throughout the Cold War. From missions that were based on information to those that put us…