The Secret Struggle for Cold War Dominance

The Secret Struggle podcast – is gearing up for Season Two. So much interesting material, research and secret files have surfaced over the past few years that we feel we NEED to tell you all the fascinating stories that came out of it. In order to make Season 2 happen – we are launching a fundraising campaign. If you heard Season 1 of the podcast, enjoyed its episodes and would like to hear more o...

What is the story behind the nickname “Carlos the Jackal”? 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!

How much thinking goes into a terrorist attack? And how accurately do you set the outcome for one of the biggest terrorist attacks of the Cold War? In this Bonus episode we learn more about “off the cuff” actions and shopping impulses. For the full story on “Carlos the Jackal” and new revelations about his relationship with some of the Eastern bloc countries, listen to Episode 2.1. The Secret Stru...

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 ‘suc...

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 wh...

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 C...

Trying to get a hold of weapons of “the other camp” was a standard procedure during the long Cold War conflict. In this bonus Dr. Przemysław Gasztold from War Studies University in Warsaw talks about behind the scenes East-West rivalry. For the full story of the Polish spying hub in Lebanon, listen to Episode 9. The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Scienc...

What infrastructure do you need to do business with paramilitary groups, rebels and terrorists? And what happens when your murky business associates decide you are no longer their friend? Listen to this bonus 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...

In Episode 9 we travel to “the Eldorado of spies”, “the Paris of the Middle East”, “the Vienna of the Cold War”. Where is that? Dr. Przemysław Gasztold from War Studies University in Warsaw shares surprising stories about Polish military officers and their spying abilities. How can guns help you make friends and how can one party at the Czechoslovak embassy help you turn a decade of failure into a...

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 af...

The Freeman telegram was a “fake news” story of the 1960’s. There were different ways to approach it, either let it quietly go away or protest and send a clear message of discontent. Which is better? How are such decisions made and what or who are the underestimated elements in such decisions? Listen to this Bonus episode. For the full story of the Freeman telegram and the "fake news" war in Cold...

There were times when the Soviets and the Western countries did not use “fake news” often. But there were also times when they attacked each other with "fake news" almost constantly. How did this work and who were they trying to “reach”? Listen to this Bonus 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 pod...

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 a...

Martin Grossheim was the second student from West Germany to ever study Vietnamese in Vietnam. It was in the year 1987. Back then roaming around in the country’s Cold war past was not possible. Although a lot has changed over the last 15 years, Vietnam is still not an all-access granting type of country. The Secret Struggle won a Lovie Award and we are officially the Best Podcast in Science and Ed...

“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 a...

In Episode 5 we spoke a lot about the newly independent Tanzania, one of the biggest “shoppers”  for assistance and allies making friends of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Israel, the GDR, China and even Canada. A strange mix that should have helped Tanzania (or in fact Tanganyika) preserve its non-aligned status in the Cold war era. In this bonus Dr. Thomas Maguire explains what...

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. Tho...

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 confli...

After a short academic break – we’re back!  A story of a very unlikely friendship and an even more unlikely Cold War conflict – coming to you on September 1st .

How are academics all over the world coping with the Covid 19 pandemic and the need to socially distance? Listen to this summer - bonus track.  We’ll be back with brand new episodes of the Secret Struggle podcast in September. (note: the following has been recorded over the past 4 months and might not reflect the current status of the pandemic) production/editing/hosting - by Katarina Urban Richte...

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 histori...

Why is it important to talk about Cold War history and why should we care about SIGINT - signals intelligence? Historians and intelligence scholars Sarah Mainwaring and Professor Richard J. Aldrich explain why the Cold War was not solely an East vs. West conflict and discuss how the CIA got involved in one of the most elaborate SIGINT operations (AG Crypto) recently brought to light.  For more fas...

How does one research intelligence agencies like the GCHQ or the NSA? Historians and intelligence scholars Sarah Mainwaring and Professor Richard J. Aldrich know their fare-share about the pitfalls of writing about signals intelligence (SIGINT) and are not afraid to admit they had to find ‘creative’ ways of acquiring secret information. In this bonus, they share their researcher’s tips and tricks...

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 paradi...

Dr. James Brennan from the University of Illinois on the importance of Africa during the Cold war and on the spy, Dennis Phombeah, he „discovered“. 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...