Featured collections

• Cold War Origins

  

  This collection of primary source documents discusses international relations during World War II and the years shortly after.

• Stalin and the Cold War

  

  Leader of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953, this collection contain Stalin's own writings, conversations, and legacy.

• Soviet Foreign Policy

  

  Documents on the international relations and foreign policy of the Soviet Union.

• United States-Soviet Relations

  

  Documents on the often adversarial relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

• Korean War, 1950-1953

  

  When North Korean troops invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, the inter-Korean conflict entered its most bloody phase: the Korean War

• Post-Stalin Succession Struggle

  

  Stalin's successors jockeyed for control of the Soviet Union following his death on 1 March 1953.

• East German Uprising

  

  In June 1953 a strike by East Berlin construction workers spread throughout East Germany and was violently suppressed by the Soviet Army.

• Geneva Conference of 1954

  

  At the Geneva Conference in 1954, the Great Powers sought to end the First Indochina war and restore peace in Vietnam and Korea.

• Indochinese War

  

  The First Indochina War began as a rebellion by Việt Minh forces against the French colonial government.

• Vietnam War

  

  This is a large collection of primary source documents all related to the the Vietnam War

• 1956 Polish and Hungarian Crises

  

  The uprising began in Hungary as a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies.

• Berlin Wall

  

  The history of the Berlin Wall from the post-WWII divided city, to the wall's construction in 1961, through to its destruction in 1989.

• Cuban Missile Crisis

  

  The thirteen day confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

• Cuban Foreign Relations

  

  Documents on Cuban's international relations, focusing on it's relationship with the Soviet Union, China and the United States.

• Sino-Soviet Relations

  

  Documents on the Soviet-Chinese relationship during the Cold War.

• Sino-Soviet Split, 1960-1984

  

  After 1960, the division between China and the Soviet Union developed into an open split, fracturing the unity of the communist bloc.

• Interkit, 1966-1987

  

  Interkit was an organization created by the Kremlin to coordinate Soviet-bloc analysis of and policy toward China from 1967 until the mid-1980s.

• Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia

  

  The Prague Spring represented a moment of liberalism and democratization in Czechoslovakia. It ended with the Soviet invasion in August 1968.

• Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe

  

  Origins of the international security group, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)

• Horn of Africa Crisis

  

  Documents on the 1977-1978 conflict between Somalia and Ethiopia, also known as the Ogaden War or Ethio-Somali War.

• 1980-81 Polish Crisis

  

  The crisis began with a wave of strikes across Poland and the formation of the first independent labor union in a Soviet bloc country–Solidarity.

• Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

  

  In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in response to a revolt against the Soviet-backed government.

• Euromissiles Crisis

  

  Documents on the period of confrontation and building tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States from 1979 to 1983.

• End of the Cold War

  

  Documents on the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.

• Intelligence Operations in the Cold War

  

  Documents on intelligence and state security during the Cold War, mainly focusing on security services in Soviet bloc countries.

• Mitrokhin Archive

  

  Notes taken in the KGB archives by Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin, a KGB officer who defected to the United Kingdom after the fall of the Soviet Union.

• Vassiliev Notebooks

  

  Notebooks and loose pages kept by Alexander Vassiliev while researching in the KGB archives in the mid-1990s.

• Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

  

  Declassified US government documents on Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty.

• Mass Media and Censorship

  

  Documents on propaganda and media control in the Soviet Union.

• Nikita Khrushchev Collection

  

  Documents containing the thoughts and opinions of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.

• Todor Zhivkov Collection

  

  Leader of Bulgaria from 1954 until the fall of the Soviet Union, this collection contains documents by and about Todor Zhivkov.

• Economic Cold War

  

  Documents on economic issues during the Cold War, such as economic growth and dearth, foreign aid, and international trade.

• Non-Aligned Movement

  

  This anti-colonial group of developing countries was spearheaded by several conferences and summits, the first held in Bandung in 1955

• Warsaw Pact

  

  Documents on the Eastern Bloc military and security organization dominated by the Soviet Union.

• Nuclear Proliferation

  

  Documents on the history of nuclear proliferation, the arms race, and disarmament efforts.

• Soviet Nuclear History

  

  Documents on the history of Soviet nuclear development.

• Austria and German Unification

  

  Documents on Austria’s role in the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and German Unification

• Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, 1986

  

  Soviet and Ukrainian records shed light on the lead-up to the Chernobyl disaster, the days of the accident, and the aftermath thereof.

• Cuba and Southern Africa

  

  Cuban documents about Havana's policy toward Southern Africa in the final fifteen years of the Cold War.