The Cold War – Great History

The 1991 Soviet Coup

Mikhail Gorbachev was a farmer and later member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He ascended to become secretary of the party Central Committee and was eventually appointed to the Politburo Executive Committee, the highest executive committee within the party and the de facto ruling body of the country. Following the death of Konstantin Chernenko, he was eventually elected President of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Committee by the Politburo in 1985.

Gorbachev, unlike his predecessors, realised where the issues of the Soviet Union had come from, as he was the only leader to have been born and grown up after the revolution. Much of government economic policy was centred around a command economy, in which many economic activities were planned centrally by the government, who prioritised machinery and large projects over consumer goods and quality. The inefficiency and bureaucracy of the Soviet economy also began to show. Many Soviet projects involved the government setting a goal and throwing as much money at it until it happened. This meant that less efficient, and thus longer, processes received more funding over the quicker ones, even if they both achieved the same goal.

They also spent far too much on weapons in order to compete with the United States as a superpower whilst also prioritising policies that were “communist” regardless of whether it worked or not. This disregard for pragmatism and solely prioritising ideological loyalty meant mass housing projects had extremely poor living standards, a free healthcare system was notoriously poor and cheaper food came at the cost of an unhealthy diet. Gorbachev was one of the only few to realise this, and began implementing mass reforms, constraining the power of the secret police, known as the KGB, bringing about freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and returning power to the people instead of the tight grip on power at the top. What was important to note was that Gorbachev was not opposed to communism, but instead believed that the Soviet system, established by Lenin, tightened by Stalin and enforced by Brezhnev, was a bastardisation of communism and had become nothing more than a bloated bureaucracy that did not serve the people like the initial ideology was founded upon.

There is plenty of everything: land, oil and gas, other natural riches, and God gave us lots of intelligence and talent, yet we lived much worse than developed countries and keep falling behind them more and more. The reason could already be seen: the society was suffocating in the vise of the command-bureaucratic system, doomed to serve ideology and bear the terrible burden of the arms race.
Gorbachev in his resignation speech

An image of the famous Soviet Apartment Blocs

One of the key steps in delivering his change was replacing the hardline Stalinists in government with those more open to change. One notable member of this group was Boris Yeltsin, the chair of the Communist Party in Moscow. He began improving diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, by opening up foreign investment, opening up trade opportunities and ceasing production of weaponry in order to bring an end to the Cold War, strongly contrasting with American policy of increasing military spending to combat the “evil empire.” He also transformed the Soviet economy from the command economy to a mixed economy, which incorporated more free market elements. Whilst businesses had to make a minimum amount set by the government to give to the state, they could also go above the minimum and sell that for profit.

The government stopped propping up failing businesses and introduced limited private ownership and reduced state control over enterprises. However, this shift from a far-left centralised economy to a left-wing or centre-left mixed economy faced hardships. Whilst many expected this stark change to create a temporary and small economic downturn, the downturn extended much longer than was anticipated. Firstly, Gorbachev overestimated how mismanaged the economy actually was, as when they withdrew funds from failing businesses, wide gaps in the market opened up, leading to rationing of resources and overcrowding of shops and infamous massive queues. In addition, tax breaks combined with increased spending in certain areas led to a massive government deficit. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the transition was faster, but, as Gorbachev stated in his resignation speech, the old system had collapsed too quickly and did not give enough time for the new system to build.

A queue outside a Soviet shop during Gorbachev’s Presidency

Meanwhile, social reforms were improving too. Many in the Soviet leadership believed that democracy should take a more important factor in communism, holding them to account when they were voted out by the people that communism claimed to serve. With the restriction of the secret police, the publishing of government documents and the permission to publish previously banned books an intellectual renaissance was created within the Soviet Union and its client states. However, this did not go the way the government intended. Instead of people seeing the transparency of the government and thinking of ways to fix the communist system, they instead decided to remove communism altogether.

In Poland, a trade union rebellion instigated the first democratic elections in Poland since the 1930s, in which the anti-Soviet liberal Solidarity Citizens’ Committee won a 99 out of 100 seat majority in the Polish Senate. The very notable thing that the Soviet Union did, however, was nothing. Unlike prior revolutions in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, the Soviet Union did not strike back against the trade unionists with military force. All of a sudden multiple protests occurred across Eastern Europe in 1989, all of which resulted in democratic elections and the end of communist rule for the first time in nearly 50 years. Most notably Hungary opened up its fenced off border with Austria, allowing the first citizens to cross the Iron Curtain.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, many other European nations began to reject communism. In Bulgaria, the Communist Party agreed to free elections after mass protests, while in Czechoslovakia the Velvet Revolution saw huge, peaceful demonstrations force the government to resign. In Romania, however, the collapse of communism was far more violent, as armed clashes in the streets led to the overthrow and execution of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, footage that was later broadcasted on TV. Together, these events showed that Soviet control over Eastern Europe had fatally weakened, feeding a wave of anti-communist sentiment that eventually reached Moscow.

By 1991, the reforms had fatally weakened the political foundations of the Soviet state. Mass protest movements across Eastern Europe and within the Union’s own republics had already dismantled Communist rule beyond Moscow’s control. These pressures converged with institutional decay within party leadership. Economic decline, declining faith in Marxist ideology and the erosion of censorship under Gorbachev deprived the Communist Party of its claim to political necessity. When Gorbachev permitted competitive elections in the Republics that made up the USSR in 1990, the Union’s authority was further fractured by creating a dual structure of power. Gorbachev had remained President of the Union, while the Russian Republic elected Yeltsin as its own president, challenging the supremacy of the Soviet state from within.

A photo of Yeltsin after winning the Presidency

This unresolved constitutional conflict culminated in August 1991. A group of senior Party officials, military commanders, and KGB leaders formed an emergency committee and placed Gorbachev under house arrest while he was on holiday in Crimea. Declaring that reforms had endangered socialism and national stability, they announced a state of emergency and attempted to restore central control through force. Tanks entered Moscow and surrounded the Russian parliament building, the “White House,” where Yeltsin and his supporters established a barricade to resist the oncoming army. The coup plotters proved incapable of securing loyalty from either the armed forces or the public. After three days of mass demonstrations, military defections, and administrative paralysis, the coup collapsed. Its failure discredited the Communist Party beyond recovery and destroyed what remained of Soviet authority.

In the weeks that followed, republics including Ukraine and Belarus declared full independence. The Communist Party was banned in Russia, its assets seized, and the Union reduced to a powerless committee. In December 1991, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus formally dissolved the Soviet Union. The Cold War ended not through military defeat, as many had expected, but through political implosion. A system built on ideological unity collapsed when it could no longer reconcile reform with authority, or central control with national self-determination. Unlike the Third Reich, the Soviet Union did not come crashing down in a burning wreck but merely fizzled out.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

For 26 long and arduous years, the Berlin Wall stayed up. Anywhere between 130-200 people attempted to cross the wall and died trying. Many Presidents and Soviet Leaders came and went, until two very divisive figures showed up.

One of them was Ronald Reagan, a film star turned Governor of California and later POTUS, who had a very tough stance on communism compared to his predecessor, Jimmy Carter. Whilst no-one wanted communism to spread, Reagan was harder on it than most. He advanced technology, especially in the space programme and computers. In order to stop the spread of communism in South America, he actively traded with Iran, who had an embargo due to their war with Iraq who was a US Ally, in order to fund anti-communist militia forces in Nicaragua, in the infamous Iran-Contra affair.

Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness—pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.
Ronald Reagan, National Association of Evangelicals, 1983

The USSR believed much of what Reagan was doing was an intentional prep for war. Whilst tensions rose, the unthinkable happened. Leonid Brezhnev died. He was replaced by Yuri Andropov, who also died. He was replaced by Konstantin Chernenko, who also died. He was replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev, who did not die. He believed that the reason the Soviet system was failing was because people were not satisfied with the outcome of their hard work, due to the lack of free speech in the country.

His changes were enacted quickly. People were allowed to criticise the government, they were allowed to enjoy Western pop-culture and food and the media were allowed to interview western politicians, most notably the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. He also began de-escalating the arms race with the West, most notably stopping the production of Intermediate Ballistic Missiles. Where many others in the Eastern Bloc saw reform, Reagan saw an opportunity.

Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. . . . Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. . . . As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. […] General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Ronald Reagan, Brandenburg Gate, 1987

Reagan making his famous “Tear down this wall” speech

With all these reforms, many began to question what would become of the Eastern Bloc, an idea that crossed the Prime Minister of Hungary’s mind. He visited Moscow, and asked Gorbachev about reforms he wanted to enact. Gorbachev said that he did not agree with them but would not stop them from happening either.

Many countries in the Eastern Bloc began carrying out free and fair elections, with Poland’s anti-Soviet party winning 99 out of 100 seats in the Senate. Barbed wire began to come down in Hungary and the Iron Curtain was crumbling. One country that did not enact such reforms was Germany, run by hardline Stalinist, Erich Honecker. The still destitute Germans realised that if transport was permitted out of Hungary, then they could get to Hungary and move to the West that way. Tens of thousands practiced this before Honecker stepped in and banned all transport to Hungary. However, the Freedom Fever kept going as the Czech Embassy for East Germany was opened to civilians and political unrest began occurring in East Germany. Honecker was ousted by the Politburo whilst the unrest continued. One target on their minds was the wall.

On November 9th, 1989, in order to quell the chaos, the East German Government held a press conference led by Günter Schabowski, where it was announced that the travel ban from East to West Germany would be lifted. Towards the end of this hectic conference, he was asked when this would take effect he said that “As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay”. This was a mistake. The ban was meant to be lifted the next day. But, the German people had heard what they wanted to hear and, later that day, thousands of Germans came to the wall. The guards, overwhelmed, allowed the people through, whereupon the Berlin Wall was torn down.

The tearing down of the Berlin Wall is considered to be one of the great stepping stones in Eastern European freedom and the downfall of the Soviet Union. Families and friends who had been separated for nearly 3 decades partied into the night. The next year, Germany reunified into one German State.

The Chernobyl Disaster

In 1932, in Cavendish University, J. D. Cockcroft and E. T. S. Walton bombarded lithium with protons from a particle accelerator. The protons caused the lithium atom to split. Many scientists realised that if they continued to split uranium and plutonium atoms, with the protons from one atom splitting another and the process repeating in a process called fission, they could make a new source of energy. Much of this energy was harnessed in Nuclear Power Plants. By 1986, there were 389 power plants, 37 of which resided inside the Soviet Union.

Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was constructed in 1983, with Viktor Bryukhanov, manager of construction of the plant, telling higher ups in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that a test had been conducted in order to ensure the safety of the reactor. However, this was false. Bryukhanov would later defend this saying that completing work ahead of schedule entitled party members to significant bonuses. Despite the lack of the safety check, the plant went into operation.

A photo of the plant before the explosion

Eventually, Nikolai Fomin, Chief Engineer, authorised the test to go ahead on April 25th, 1986 and the test would be performed by the workers of the afternoon shift. However, party officials from Kyiv requested that the test be delayed to late that night, as they did not want citizens to lose power in the middle of the day. Despite the workers of the afternoon shift being debriefed on what to do, the night shift workers were tasked with going ahead with the test instead.

Anatoly Dyatlov, deputy Chief Engineer, was monitoring the test, with the nightshift foreman, Alexander Akimov, and the Senior Reactor Control Engineer, Leonid Toptumov, who was only 25. Toptumov had only been operating the reactor for 2 months before the test, whilst neither Akimov or Toptumov had ever done the test before and weren’t properly briefed, with the test manual being heavily annotated and thus hard to follow. This meant that the two men were relying entirely on Dyatlov, as he was the most experienced in nuclear energy. In order to conduct the test, the reactors power levels had to be reduced to around 700 MW. However, an error was made by Toptumov.

Control rods help moderate the fission reactions, which heat up the water, which spins the turbines that generate the electricity. Toptumov’s mistake was that he had put these control rods in far too deep and the reactor practically went offline. Dyatlov was infuriated at the error but still insisted that the test go through anyway, despite the lack of power that was required to do so. He ordered that the control rods be raised, in an attempt to bring the power back up. The workers did what they were told and raised all but 8 control rods, whilst the minimum amount for safety is around about 30.

Many debate what happened next. Dyatlov claimed that everything was going as planned and part of the test was to press the emergency shut down button. However, many others testified that the power levels began to rise incredibly fast to dangerous levels. Whatever the case may be, what we know for certain is that Akimov pressed the AZ-5 emergency shut down button, which re-inserted every single control rod into the core.

Logically, this was supposed to immediately shut down all power. However, due to cutting cost, the rods were tipped with graphite, which got stuck at the heart of the core due to steam pressure. Graphite, when reacting with the radioactive elements, causes an increase in energy, before the control rods shut it down. The levels of energy rose higher and higher and, with the added steam pressure, the 1000 ton lid of the reactor was blown clean off. Then, once the core was exposed a second, undetermined, reaction occurred, causing and even larger explosion that blew the roof off the factory.

At 1:23 in the morning, the explosion echoed around the nearby city of Pripyat. Decimeters in the plant, that were only capable of detecting 3.6 roentgen per hour, broke due to the overload. The reactor was actually emitting over 15,000 roentgen per hour. Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene, many of whom succumbed to radiation sickness. Once they arrived at Pripyat Hospital, their highly radioactive clothes had to be taken off and we thrown into the basement, where they still rest to this day.

A photo of the firefighters clothes in the basement of Pripyat Hospital

Over 45,000 residents from Pripyat had to be evacuated. Eventually, a large sarcophagus was built over the reactor to contain the radiation, which was replaced by the Chernobyl New Safe Containment in 2016.

Dyatlov was sentenced to 10 years in prison for criminal negligence and failure to comply with the safety regulations of the test. He was released after serving only 4 years due to health concerns and died in 1995, aged 64 of bone marrow cancer, likely caused by his exposure to the plant’s radiation. Tomin, despite attempting to commit suicide multiple times, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was also released from prison early and, as far as we’re aware, he is still alive today, living with his family in Udomlya. Bryukhanov sentenced to 10 years also, for gross violation of safety regulations, creating conditions that led to an explosion, mismanagement by understating the radiation levels after the accident, administrative negligence and sending people into known contaminated areas. He was released for good behaviour in 1991 and died in 2021 from an undisclosed disease, although we know he had Parkinson’s later in life.

Bryukhanov (left), Dyatlov (centre) and Tomin (right), on trial for their negligence at Chernobyl

To this day, the Russian Government still claims that only 31 people died from the disaster, whilst UN estimates claimed that 50 deaths were caused as a direct result of the explosion, with a further 4,000 succumbing to radiation sickness or other illnesses related to exposure such as cancer. Many scientists cite the Chernobyl Disaster as the worst disaster in the history of nuclear energy.

The Soviet-Afghan War

In 1973, Mohammad Daoud Khan overthrew his own first cousin, the King of Afghanistan, establishing an autocratic one party nation. Despite his many economic reforms, similar to those of his cousins, Khan’s foreign policy strained tension with neighbours and factions within his own country. Eventually, Khan was overthrown and killed by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan lead by Hafizullah Amin in 1978, making Afghanistan a Communist nation.

Insurgent cars arriving at the Presidential Palace, 1978

Soon, the new Communist Afghanistan, with new President, Nur Muhammed Taraki, began facing struggles. They tried to reform women’s rights, mainly to education, make the state more secular and enacted some awful land reforms. Anyone who spoke out about these reforms would be arrested. Soon, uprisings from Islamic Rural areas began occurring and Taraki began losing control of his nation. During the violence, Taraki was killed by Amin, allowing Amin to ascend to power

Meanwhile, Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union, and the rest of the Kremlin did not trust Amin and decided that in order to secure their next door neighbour, not wanting yet another fundamentalist Islamic country on their doorstep like Iran before it, Amin had to die. On December 27th, 1979, Soviet forces raided the palace, killing Amin, putting a Soviet puppet in his place, Babrak Karmal. Whilst Soviet forces did manage to capture key military forts in cities and urban areas, they were unable to secure the insurgents in the mountainous countryside, who would use the mountainous terrain to wage brutal guerilla warfare. These insurgents were called the Mujahideen. And this was just the ticket, the US needed.

Outside of the Warsaw Pact, the international community strongly opposed the invasion, with many other Communist nations such as China, Muslim majority countries such as Pakistan and many more opposing the occupation. However, no-one was a stronger opponent than the United States, who imposed a trade embargo on Soviet products, boycotted the Olympic Games, which were being held in Moscow that year, and, most importantly funded the Mujahideen.

It was the height of the Cold War, and, after the Iran Hostage Crisis, Jimmy Carter had not won a second term. The new “tough on Communism” Ronald Reagan wanted to limit Soviet expansion as much as possible, whilst also wanting to give the Soviets their own Vietnam.

2/2/1983 President Reagan meeting with Afghan Freedom Fighters in the Oval Office to discuss Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan

We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives—on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua—to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth.
Reagan in his 1985 State of the Union address.

Over six years, in Operation Cyclone, the CIA would funnel $3.2 billion worth of weapons, economic help and military training towards the Mujahideen. Pakistan was also a large supporter of the Mujahideen’s efforts against the Soviets, serving as an operational base for the Mujahideen. The British were also a key supplier of finances and weapons, with MI6 assisting from their base in Islamabad.

During the war, atrocities were committed by both sides, with the Soviet Forces engaging in chemical warfare and airstrikes on civilian targets, whilst the Mujahideen brutally tortured captives. These acts forced 4 million citizens to seek asylum and did nothing to help either side.

Soon, the USSR, under the new leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, realised that there was no winning this conflict. It began to slowly withdraw whilst stabilising a Communist government under their new puppet, Mohammad Najibullah, who, despite his decent reforms, did not help the trust in the communist government. They also restricted direct involvement, only training and funding a new Communist Afghan Army, which ultimately resulted in failure.

The Soviet-Afghan War was an absolute catastrophe for the Soviets. It showed the weakness in the Belly of the Bear, and proved that, with time, the Soviet Union could be defeated. Many historians cite the war as laying the groundwork for the collapse of the Soviet Union, only 2 years after the end of the war. The Communist regime eventually collapsed, thrusting Afghanistan into civil war, with one of the factions of the Mujahideen, the Taliban, taking control of the country in 1996 and were not deposed until 2001 during the War in Afghanistan, starting a terrorist insurgency that would last 2 decades, eventually returning to power in 2021 after the American withdrawal from the country. By many scholars, the Taliban and the rule they imposed over Afghanistan, as well as their insurgency, is currently considered to be one of the greatest enemies to the United States and the world at large

A modern day photo of Taliban Insurgents in Afghanistan

The United States respects the people of Afghanistan […] but we condemn the Taliban regime. […] It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder.
George W. Bush addressing Congress

The Iranian Revolution

In 1952, Mohammed Mosaddegh was elected to the office of Prime Minister of Iran by the Iranian People. An openly socialist leader, he increased social security, mandated higher taxes and enacted mass land reforms. The most famous of his policies was to nationalise Iranian Oil. These oil fields were initially owned by the British in Persian land, through the private Anglo-Persian Oil Company. This meant that the fields were now under state ownership, posing a problem to British and American oil interests in the region. On August 19th, 1953, the MI6 and CIA backed a coup in Iran, overthrowing the democratically elected Mosaddegh and centralising power under the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been the Shah of Iran in a constitutional standing since the end of the Second World War.

The kings had been absolute rulers of Iran for millennia before a parliament was introduced in 1906. The rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the father of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was widespread with oppression and suppression of minority groups. He was forced to abdicate in 1941 and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took power. After the Second World War, Britain began to allow democracy to have more power in Iran. Once oil was nationalised under Mosaddegh, who was backed by an Iranian Communist party, the coup was orchestrated and democracy died.

Between 1963 and 1975, the Shah was considered to be quite a decent ruler. He reorganised the oil industry, which went from producing $555 million in 1964 to $20 billion by 1976. Much of this money was re-invested into infrastructure and education. The population grew, infant mortality fell and a professional middle class was beginning to develop. However, the problem was these reforms were coming fast and hard. Many universities pumped out graduates quicker than jobs could be made, especially prevalent in the capital city of Tehran, where this effect was most dire. After 1975, the Shah ruled with absolute autocratic power. Many political prisoners were tortured and arrested by a brutal secret police known as the SAVAK. He abolished all political parties, replacing them with the pro-Monarchy, Conservative Liberal Resurgence party.

Many of the positive reforms, however, were largely opposed by Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia Cleric from Qom. He mainly complained that the reforms would give women too many rights, including the right to vote, as well as saying that the government neglected the poor and was strongly opposed to the sale of Iranian Oil to Israel. Khomeini believed that a king was inherently un-Islamic and that he must be deposed. Due to his opposition, he was exiled to Türkiye in 1964. Iran was a powder keg of economic inequality and vast oppression. All it needed was a match.

On January 7th, 1978, an Iranian Newspaper published an article that was highly critical of Khomeini. Small demonstrations began to break out across the country. However, these grew once the army began to fire on protestors. Once more protestors arrived, the army would once again crack down and the cycle would continue. Many had also grown discontent with the West’s influence in Iranian life and society.

American lifestyles had come to be imposed as an ideal, the ultimate goal. Americanism was the model. American popular culture – books, magazines, film – had swept over our country like a flood…We found ourselves wondering ‘Is there any room for our own culture?
A woman interviewed by Michael Axworthy

A confused Shah had no idea why the people were protesting him, suspecting them to either be Communists or controlled by the British. Despite his attempts to appease the people, he was forced to flee to the United States on January 16th, leading to a break down of diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States from then on. Many say that these initial protests were not about fundamental Islam, however, but with a discontent with a decreased standard of living. In the second phase of the revolution, Khomeini moved to establish an Islamic Republic, which involved extreme anti-American fever and the taking of hostages inside the US Embassy in Iran.

Since the revolution, Iran has become a fundamentalist Islamist dictatorship, with the people’s vote in parliament and President ultimately being worthless, when all parliamentary legislation can be superseded by God, embodied by the Supreme Ruler, who, from 1979 until his death, was Khomeini. To ensure the support of an Islamic Republic in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary guards and Hezbollah were created in order to ensure there would be no counter coup. Sharia law was strictly enforced, with those who disobeyed receiving harsh punishments. By at least October of 1979, several hundred people had already been executed. Everything was owned by the state, including the media, who always bowed down to the Supreme Leader. Repression is still rife in Iran, perhaps even more than it was under the Shah, especially in relation to women’s rights, which have been highly supressed.

The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

John F Kennedy was a Democrat Party member, who represented Massachusetts in both houses of Congress. After a brief time in the Navy and Journalism, Kennedy got into politics. In 1960, he ran for President and won by only a hundred thousand votes to Eisenhower’s Vice President, Richard Nixon. Kennedy was and still is the youngest President Elect in history. Kennedy was well known for his stances on civil rights, foreign policy and lower taxes.

In the months leading up to November 1963, Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson had made plans to make trips to soothe over tensions between the Liberal and Republican candidates in Texas. The plan was to arrive in Fort Worth, spend the night at Hotel Texas, drive to an Airforce Base, take Air Force One down to Love Field Airport in Dallas, and drive down to the Trade Mart via Dealey Plaza for a banquet. The idea of driving to the Trade Mart was proposed by Republican Texas Governor John Connelly. The turns through Dealey Plaza would proceed as follows. The motorcade would turn right onto Houston off Main before making a sharp left onto Elm Street to disembark onto the freeway.

A very crude diagram made by yours truly of the turns made through Dealey Plaza

However, another option was considered for the banquet, the Women’s Building. Had this been the case, the car would have remained straight on Main Street facing the opposite way, only just grazing the plaza. This would’ve meant that Kennedy’s left shoulder would’ve faced the plaza with his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy in between him and the plaza. In addition, these odd turns through the plaza could’ve been avoided if they hadn’t chosen to go down the freeway. However, the freeway was considered more scenic by secret service agents over the route through the Design District so was chosen instead. The motorcade was finalised and publicised to the public by November the 16th.

A potential alternate route highlighted in yellow. The route taken is highlighted in red

Whilst inspecting the route, secret service agents discovered that there were over 20,000 windows overlooking the route. Instead of inspecting them, they decided to inspect none of the windows along the motorcade route due to a lack of manpower being able to monitor the route.

After having arrived at Love Field, the motorcade was 15 minutes late due to the President shaking hands with all his citizens. This was a common habit for Kennedy to do, departing from the secret service to be among his people.

Kennedy shaking hands with the public at Love Field

Eventually they got into the motorcade and sped off. Kennedy and Jacqueline were in the back seats which were slightly elevated, with Kennedy sitting on the right side of the car. John Connelly was directly in front of Kennedy with his wife, Nellie, sitting on his left. Two secret service agents sat in the front, William Greer driving and Roy Kellerman in the passenger seat. The limousine was open top, giving the public a very clear view of President Kennedy.

A diagram of the limo used on that day. It was specifically modified to be convertible

At Dealey Plaza, the streets were lined with masses of people. One such person was Arnold Rowland. He looked up, at around 12:15, and spotted something unusual.

Interrogator: While you were standing on Houston Street […], did you have occasion at any time to observe the Texas School Book Depository Building?
Rowland: Yes, […] We looked and at that time I noticed on the sixth floor of the building that there was a man back from the window, not hanging out the window. He was standing and holding a rifle. […] This was on the west corner of the building, the sixth floor […] and this was the only pair of windows where both windows were completely open and no one was hanging out the windows, or next to the window. […] We thought momentarily that maybe we should tell someone but then the thought came to us that it is a security agent. We had seen in the movies before where they have security men up in windows and places like that with rifles to watch the crowds, and we brushed it aside as that, at that time, and thought nothing else about it until after the event happened.

Rowland: Do you ever have reoccurring dreams, sir?
Interrogator: What?
Rowland: Do you ever have reoccurring dreams?
Interrogator: Yes.
Rowland: This is a reoccurring dream of mine, sir, all the time, what if I had told someone about it. I knew about it enough in advance and perhaps it could have been prevented. I mean this is something which shakes me up at times.
Arnold Rowland’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964

At around 12:20, a man named Howard Brennan also spotted a man on the sixth floor. He was described to be white and was pacing back and forth, this time on the most Eastern window that faced the plaza

At 12:29, Kennedy’s motorcade turned onto Houston. Around this time, Connelly’s wife turned to Kennedy and said “Mr. President, they can’t make you believe now that there are not some in Dallas who love you and appreciate you, can they?” Kennedy responded with “No, they sure can’t.” These would be the President’s final words. At 12:30, as Kennedy turned onto Houston, student Amos Euins looked up to the window as the car slowed down to around 9 mph.

Then I was standing here, and as the motorcade turned the corner, I was facing, looking dead at the building. And so I seen this pipe thing sticking out the window. I wasn’t paying too much attention to it
Amos Euins’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964

The first shot rang out. Only a few people realised what had happened. A car backfire, a firework. Some jested about being startled by such an insignificant little thing.

Another shot rang out. “Then I looked up at the window, and he shot again.” Amos describes. Kennedy is now clutching his neck, bleeding profusely. Jacqueline tends to her husband as Connelly also reacts to being hit from the same bullet. Clint Hill leaps towards the Limo in order to protect the President

Kennedy holding his neck after being shot

The final shot rings out as President Kennedy’s head explodes, a large flap of tissue still clinging onto the side of his head. His brain matter is sprayed all over the bonnet. Jacqueline screams and attempts to clear it up. As the limo sped up, Hill clambered onto the back of the bonnet.

A diagram of the second shot that struck Kennedy’s head

At 80mph, the Limo speeds away to Parkland Memorial Hospital and Kennedy is taken inside at around 12:36, 6 minutes after his lethal headshot. Somehow he was still alive, if only technically. After 20 minutes of operation, the word came out.

From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o’clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.
Walter Cronkite on CBS, 1963

Johnson, Jackie and the other officials drove back down to Love Field and took off on Airforce One. On the flight, Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Whilst also on the flight, the officials received some shocking news.

Lee Harvey Oswald was, at the time, 24 and was a worker at the school book depository, where Amos claimed that the shots were fired from. He was hired there in October of 1963. Oswald was rather open about his Marxist beliefs and had attempted to renounce his US citizenship and had visited Russia in the late 50s. In fact, his wife was a Russian Immigrant. He was a member of the US Marine Corps for 3 years and was a very talented marksman, specifically with the M1 rifle. He was also prone to violent tendencies, having chased his brother around with a knife when they were both children. He was under observation by the FBI agents, who failed to inform anyone about Oswald, despite his place of work overlooking the route. Oswald was also in possession of a 6.5 mm Carcano Italian made rifle. A fully intact bullet found in Connelly’s thigh matched a round that could’ve been fired from such a rifle.

Not long after the shooting, Oswald was spotted in the second floor lunchroom of the Texas School Book Depository by police officer Marrion Baker with the accompaniment of Roy Truly, superintendent of the Book Depository, who positively identified Oswald. He seemed calm. He is then believed to have left the building 3 minutes later to catch a bus.

At 1:15, Officer J D Tippit discovered Oswald, having been given the description of a slender white man in his early 30s at 5 foot 11 and weighing 165 lb or 75 kg. After walking around to the front of his car, he was, seemingly unprovoked, shot 5 times in the chest by Oswald with a handgun. Multiple witnesses reported the crime and could identify Oswald out of a line-up later. Oswald then strolled down to the Texas Theatre and took a seat without paying for a ticket. Police ran into the building. Oswald allegedly resisted arrest before being taken down to Dallas PD. However, two officers on the scene claimed Oswald acted very differently. After being interrogated for 12 hours, he denied all involvement in the assassination of Kennedy.

On the morning of November 24th, Oswald was scheduled for a transfer to the county jail. At 21 minutes past 11, on live TV, Oswald was shot and fatally wounded by local nightclub owner, Jack Ruby. Ruby claimed to be an admirer of Kennedy’s and was so distraught by the killing, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Ruby was sentenced to death before it was alleviated and died of cancer in 1967.

Almost immediately after the assassination, Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, formed the Warren commission, a group of higher ups inside the US government, whose purpose it was to investigate Kennedy’s death. They were adamant that Oswald acted alone and fired 3 shots from the South East corner of the School Book Depository, the first shot missing and hitting the ground, the second shot hitting President Kennedy and Governor Connelly and the final shot being the fatal head shot to Kennedy. The reason they were so fixated on this reasoning is that 3 shell casings were found by the window, around which boxes had been placed in order to form a sniper’s nest. A 6.5 mm Carcano Rifle was found in another corner of the building, with Oswald’s palm prints only being found on the rifle after his death. This was the official ruling, that Oswald acted alone after having explored no other avenues.

Over the next few years, many have drawn up conspiracy theories regarding the assassination. From Johnson to Russia, from the Mafia to the CIA, there are endless multitudes of possible conspiracy options, that draw from government documents, inconsistent testimonies and forensic analysis. This has led many to believe that Oswald did not act alone that fateful November morning. Whether or not this is the case is heavily debated, much like Kennedy’s legacy. Some have argued he was one of the greatest Presidents in American history, by launching the race to the Moon, his diplomacy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, advancing the Civil Rights cause in government, and establishing humanitarian aid programmes such as the Peace Corps and USAID. However, some have viewed his legacy as romanticised due to his assassination, and point to his poor handling of the Bay of Pigs invasion, his timidness regarding Congress passing Civil Rights and the Vienna Summit that almost directly enabled the Soviet Union to construct the Berlin Wall, as well as his personal health issues and alleged adultery.

Ultimately, the assassination has made it almost impossible to separate Kennedy the President from the myth that grew around him after his death. Whether he was a visionary leader cut down in his prime or a deeply flawed politician whose legacy was transformed by tragedy, his presidency remains one of the most debated in American history. More than sixty years later, the question of who killed Kennedy may remain disputed, but there is little doubt that his death permanently changed the way Americans viewed their government, their presidents and their own history.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

In 1959, the Cuban communist revolutionary, Fidel Castro with the help of Che Guevara toppled the US Backed military dictator, Fulgencio Batista. He immediately began mass land reforms, giving land taken by the Americans back to the Cuban people, before he aligned himself with Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

A photo of Castro (left) and Khrushchev (right)

Fearing the communism in his own backyard, President Dwight D. Eisenhower cut off all diplomatic relations with Cuba and issued a trade embargo. He also requested, on his way out, that some Jupiter Class Nuclear Missiles be place in Turkey and an invasion would go ahead against Cuba, using 1400 trained CIA Trained Cuban exiles. The next President, the young and charming John F. Kennedy was told that the US involvement could be covered up and that the invasion would cause an anti-Communist uprising in Cuba.

Unfortunately, the plan went awry very quickly, with poorly disguised bombers missing their targets and immediately being identified as American. The invasion was an absolute disaster, with hundreds of American lives being ended and thousands captured.

American Operatives being captured in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs

Sensing weakness from America, Khrushchev took this opportunity to erect the Berlin Wall in August of that same year. Kennedy spoke on the wall in his famous speech, where he said:

[D]emocracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.
Kennedy speaking in Berlin in 1963

Not long after that, Khrushchev was on his boat in the Black Sea, thinking about the Jupiter Missiles in Turkey. Whilst the missiles weren’t highly effective, Khrushchev still believed the missile’s presence to be an act of aggression. And slowly, an idea began to brew in Khrushchev’s head.

Day 1 – October 16th, 1963

At around 8 in the morning on October 16th, 1962, NSA, McGeorge Bundy arrived at the White House, informing President Kennedy of a photograph taken by a U2 Spy plane over Cuba. The photographs clearly showed Soviet Medium Range Ballistic missiles, with a range far enough to destroy most of the Eastern Seaboard.

Labeled photographs taken by the spy plane

Within minutes, Kennedy gathered his foreign policy team, including Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara, Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff, General Maxwell Taylor, Speech Writer, Ted Sorenson and ambassador Lewin Thompson. As the crisis developed, the committee would soon become known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, or ExComm for short.

They agreed to secrecy and not to let anyone else know about the crisis. However, the secrecy could not really be broken, as no-one really knew specifics. Would the missiles launch and, if so, when? Could there be more missiles? But, amidst the uncertainty and speculation, Kennedy was firm. He could not allow Soviet missiles in Cuba and they had to be removed immediately. There were 4 main options considered, either a limited airstrike on the missile bases, a wider strike which would include other Cuban military facilities, an even larger airstrike which would then be followed up with an invasion or a blockade of Cuba.

Day 2 – October 17th, 1962

They eventually ruled out just the airstrikes, insisting that if an airstrike were to be conducted it must be backed by an invasion, lest Khrushchev send more missiles. However, this was under the pretence that the missiles were not ready to fire, which they, in fact, were. More U2 Spy planes discovered even more sites, with the number now totalling 32 Soviet missiles in Cuba. However, Kennedy had to keep up appearances, having a dinner with the Libyan Crown Prince and supporting Democratic Congressional candidates in Connecticut.

Day 3 – October 18th, 1962

Kennedy decided to take action and had a meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, who denied that any Soviet offensive weapons were in Cuba.

As to Soviet assistance to Cuba, Mr. Gromyko stated that he was instructed to make it clear, as the Soviet Government had already done, that such assistance, pursued solely for the purpose of contributing to the defense capabilities of Cuba and to the development of Cuba, toward the development of its agriculture and land amelioration, and training by Soviet specialists of Cuba nationals in handling defensive armaments were by no means offensive. If it were otherwise, the Soviet Government would have never become involved in rendering such assistance.
An excerpt from a memorandum from the meeting with Gromyko

Kennedy was specific to not mention the missiles specifically, but did recall his public warning that he made on September 14th, that in response to any offensive weapons being put into Cuba by the Soviets, there would be the “gravest consequences”

Day 4 – October 19th, 1962

Still attempting to keep up appearances, Kennedy attended campaign events in Ohio and Illinois, whilst the rest of ExComm discussed plans to move forward. During this time, another spy plane managed to capture photos of an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Site. This would mean that if missiles were to fire from Cuba, the only safe major city in the United States would be Seattle.

A map with the range of the missiles highlighted in red

Day 5 – October 20th, 1962

Kennedy ended up having to lie to the American people so they would not panic, saying he had a cold, in order to return home to Washington instead of continuing his six state tour. After 5 hours of deliberation, ExComm came to the conclusion that a blockade must be enforced. However, they could not exactly call it a blockade, as that would be an act of war, so they very subtly decided to call it a “Quarantine”

Day 6 – October 21st, 1962

The military advisors, fearing their planned invasion would not go ahead, attempted to convince Kennedy one more time of an air strike. However, they could not guarantee that all the missiles would be hit. This was too much of a risk for Kennedy, who decided to go ahead with the quarantine.

Day 7 – October 22nd, 1962

Kennedy contacted Truman and Eisenhower, the two presidents before him, about the situation, before contacting British Prime Minister, Harold McMillan. He then wrote to Nikita Khrushchev before addressing the nation on national television.

Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.

[…]

Acting, therefore, in defence of our own security and of the entire Western Hemisphere, I have directed that a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba be initiated. All ships bound for Cuba carrying offensive weapons will be turned back.

[…]

It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

[…

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are – but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high – and Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission. Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right – not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.
President John F. Kennedy, televised address to the American people, 22 October 1962

Day 8 – October 23rd, 1962

Kennedy signing the authorisation for the quarantine

Kennedy once again wrote to Khrushchev, requesting the stop of all Soviet ships towards Cuba. However, this writing would often take an obscenely long amount of time, with them having to be shipped halfway around the planet, translated, having a response written up, sent back and translated again. Sometimes, messages were not given responses for 12 hours at a time.

Day 9 – October 24th, 1962

Khrushchev wrote back to Kennedy regarding his letter. Whilst he did not actively threaten Kennedy, he also did not say he wouldn’t back down either.

You, Mr. President, are not declaring a quarantine, but rather are setting forth an ultimatum and threatening that if we do not give in to your demands you will use force. Consider what you are saying! And you want to persuade me to agree to this! What would it mean to agree to these demands? It would mean guiding oneself in one’s relations with other countries not by reason, but by submitting to arbitrariness. You are no longer appealing to reason, but wish to intimidate us.
An excerpt of Khrushchev’s letter to Kennedy

The DEFCON level was moved to DEFCON 2, one step short of all out war.

Day 10 – October 25th, 1962

Photos from the missile sites being shown at the UN

Kennedy once again urged Khrushchev to back down, whilst at the UN, United States Ambassador, Adlai Stevenson, verbally attacked Valerian Zorin, Soviet Ambassador to the UN, presenting photos of the missiles.

Stevenson: Mr. Zorin, I remind you that you didn’t deny the existence of these weapons. Instead, we heard that they had suddenly become defensive weapons. But today — again, if I heard you correctly — you now say they don’t exist, or that we haven’t proved they exist. […] Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the U.S.S.R has placed and is placing medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no? Don’t wait for the translation: yes or no?

Zorin: I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and therefore I do not wish to answer a question that is put to me in the fashion in which a prosecutor does. In due course, sir, you will have your reply. […]

Stevenson: You are in the court of world opinion right now and you can answer yes or no. You have denied that they exist. I want to know […] if I’ve understood you correctly.

Day 11 – October 26th, 1962

A Soviet Freighter was stopped at the quarantine line and was searched for contraband. No such contraband was found and it was allowed to pass into Cuba. Castro sent a letter to Khrushchev, urging him to initiate a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States.

Day 12 – October 27th, 1962

A letter arrived from the Kremlin, requesting that in exchange for removing the missiles from Cuba, Kennedy had to withdraw the Jupiter Missiles from Turkey. Many in ExComm saw this as outrageous, with some even comparing it to Chamberlain’s appeasement before WW2, an appeasement which Kennedy’s father strongly supported. This option is opposed even more when Cuban Anti-Aircraft guns shoot down a U2 Spy Plane, killing the pilot. An American man had been killed because of this, and many military men in ExComm sought war. Kennedy resisted this pressure to invade strongly. Later that night, Bobby Kennedy met with a Soviet Ambassador to negotiate the terms of the missile withdrawal.

Day 13 – October 28th, 1962

The thirteen most tense days in human history were over, as both nations withdrew their missiles from Turkey and Cuba respectively as the world blew a massive sigh of relief. In addition, the United States pledged to never invade Cuba again.

Kennedy was eventually shot in a motorcade in Dallas in November of the next year. Some suspect that Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis undermined the CIA, who many believed ordered his assassination. Khrushchev was ousted from the communist party in 1964 and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Khrushchev then died of a heart attack in 1971. A hotline was set up between the two nations via a famous red phone in each of the leader’s offices, to ensure such delays in communication would never happen again. However, the United States and Cuba never sought diplomatic reconciliation until 2016, when Barack Obama became the first President to visit the country since 1928.

President Obama meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro

Many say, to this day, that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest humanity ever came to ending the world via nuclear annihilation. Whilst many, at the time, saw the two leaders of the two superpowers as traitors to their people for seeking a diplomatic solution, many today see them as brave men for doing such things and many in the West cite them as some of the greatest leaders of their respective countries.

The Construction of the Berlin Wall

After the end of World War 2, the 4 major powers that defeated the Nazis, the Americans, French, British and Soviets gathered together to discuss the matter of Germany. The powers feared that if Germany were to be reunited, at least immediately, the ideas of Nazism and Fascism could make a rise once more. An idea was proposed, that Germany be divided into West and East as a temporary measure, the West being occupied by the USA, UK and France and the East being controlled by the USSR.

However, soon the question of Berlin came up. Being around 200 miles into East Germany, logic dictated that Berlin fell into the hands of the Soviets. However, whoever controlled the capital practically controlled the country so a subdivision was set up, wherein France, Britain and America made the Western side of Berlin a part of West Germany, whilst the Eastern half was controlled by East Germany.

Soon, this temporary measure became somewhat permanent. The city of Berlin soon became divided into East Berliners and West Berliners. The West promoted the values of the countries occupying such as democracy and liberal market economies whilst the East promoted communism, not just in East Germany but other countries surrounding themselves. Trade from West to East was banned and a practically impenetrable border was made across East Germany and Czechoslovakia.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone — Greece with its immortal glories — is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation.
Winston Churchill speaking at a Midwestern College, 1946

Whilst East Germans weren’t strictly allowed to leave East Germany to West Germany, the East Berliners, could simply walk across the road to West Berlin and were allowed to move from there. By 1961, 3.5 million people had followed this practice. This open border posed a problem to the Soviets. The Soviets had been portraying the West as a continuation of Nazism and their citizens were soon finding that wasn’t the case.

Whilst the Western Allies were promoting the reconstruction of Germany after the war, Soviets were extracting resources as war reparations, making the economic situation dire. Many East Berliners sought jobs in the West due to the more stable currency, whilst West Berliners bought products for cheaper prices in the East. Whilst education and healthcare were free in the East, consumer goods, salaries and general freedoms were better in the West, in no small part to the Eastern Secret police, called the Stasi, who would report on and arrest anyone accused of Anti-Soviet behaviour. Eventually, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev had enough of the emigration.

On August 13th, 1961, Berliners woke up to a large fence surrounding West Berlin. With 43km (27 miles) across Berlin and a further 112km (69.5 miles) in East Germany, Berlin was permanently divided. Before further construction could continue, some chose to leap over the barbed wire into the West but, before long, the Berlin Wall was fully constructed.

By 1975, large concrete barricades, rising to 3.6m (11ft) in height replaced the fences, with a smooth pipe to prevent climbing on the West Side. 302 watchtowers were set up in a new area called the Death Strip, a 100m (328ft) wide area in between the main wall and a less developed wall on the Eastern side. This area was littered with landmines, guard dogs and spike traps. Families were divided, friends separated and the ultimate symbol of the Eastern Bloc had been built, an authoritarian impassible wall that represented everything the West believed about Communism.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum.” Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

[…]

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. […] While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

What is true of this city is true of Germany–real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. [This] generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people.

[…]

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
John F. Kennedy speaking at the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin, 1963

JFK making his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, 1963

The Cuban Revolution

By 1953, Cuba was politically unstable. When Spain first established control over the island in the early 16th century, it created a society structured around hierarchy and exploitation. At the top were Spanish-born elites, known as Peninsulares, while those of Spanish descent born on the island, Creoles, occupied a secondary position. Beneath them were enslaved Africans and their descendants, whose forced labour became central to Cuba’s plantation economy. Although the island’s indigenous population declined drastically following European arrival, Cuban society became increasingly diverse, shaped by a mixture of African, European, and mixed-race communities.

A photo of Christopher Columbus landing in Central America in 1492

By the 19th century, tensions within this system had begun to grow. Wealth and power remained concentrated in the hands of a small elite, while many Cubans, particularly in rural areas, lived in poverty. At the same time, a distinct Cuban identity was beginning to emerge, especially among Creole elites who resented both Spanish control and their exclusion from the highest levels of authority. These tensions would eventually give rise to a series of independence movements, the most significant of which was led by José Martí. Martí, a writer, political thinker, and revolutionary, envisioned an independent Cuba free not only from Spanish rule but also from foreign domination. In 1895, he helped launch a new war of independence against Spain. Although Martí was killed early in the conflict, the war continued, gradually weakening Spanish control over the island.

By the late 1890s, Spain was struggling to maintain its hold on Cuba, both militarily and economically. In 1898, the conflict took a decisive turn when the United States intervened following the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbour. The cause of the explosion remains disputed, but it was widely blamed on Spain in the American press, creating public pressure for war. Under President William McKinley, the United States declared war on Spain, quickly defeating Spanish forces in what became known as the Spanish-American War. Although Cuban rebels had fought for independence for years and done most of the effort, it was the American intervention that ultimately brought the war to a close.

A painting of Theodore Roosevelt, then assistant Secretary of the Navy, charging into battle in Cuba

In its aftermath, Spain relinquished control of Cuba, but full independence did not immediately follow. Instead, the United States established a military government on the island and retained significant influence over its future. This influence was formalised in 1901 through the Platt Amendment, which granted the United States the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and limited Cuba’s sovereignty in foreign policy. It also allowed the establishment of a permanent American naval base at Guantánamo Bay. While Cuba was formally independent by 1902, in practice it remained heavily dependent on and influenced by the United States.

Economic ties deepened this relationship. American businesses invested heavily in Cuba, particularly in the sugar industry, which became the backbone of the island’s economy. By the early 20th century, a significant portion of Cuba’s land, infrastructure and key industries were controlled by U.S. companies. While this brought periods of economic growth, it also created a system that was highly dependent on American markets and vulnerable to external shocks. These weaknesses became painfully clear during the Great Depression. As demand for Cuban sugar collapsed, unemployment soared and living standards declined sharply, especially in rural areas. Economic hardship quickly translated into political unrest.

A family of rural cane cutters during this period

By the early 1930s, opposition to the government of pro-American Gerardo Machado had reached a breaking point. Machado’s increasingly authoritarian rule, combined with the economic crisis, sparked widespread protests, strikes and violence across the island. In 1933, his government collapsed under mounting pressure from America, who were losing confidence in his leadership. What followed was not a stable transition, but a period of political turmoil, marked by rapidly changing governments and competing factions struggling for control. Out of this instability emerged a new and influential figure, Fulgencio Batista.

Initially rising through the ranks as a military officer during the so-called “Sergeants’ Revolt,” Batista became the dominant figure behind the scenes, exerting control over the Cuban government throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Although Cuba experimented with constitutional government during this period, political corruption, economic inequality and social unrest remained persistent problems. In 1952, Batista seized power directly in a military coup, cancelling elections and establishing a dictatorship. His regime maintained close ties with the United States and oversaw continued economic growth in some sectors, particularly in urban areas such as Havana. However, this growth was unevenly distributed. Large sections of the population, especially in rural regions, continued to live in poverty, while political repression increased.

The […] most disastrous of our failures, was the decision to give stature and support to one of the most bloody and repressive dictatorships in the long history of Latin American repression. Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years – a greater proportion of the Cuban population than the proportion of Americans who died in both World Wars, and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state – destroying every individual liberty. Yet, [the United States] publicly praised Batista – hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend – at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.
John F. Kennedy’s speech at a Democratic Party dinner, 1960

Batista’s regime radicalised many among the Cuban populace. Confidence in democratic institutions was severely undermined and they began to believe that American foreign policy regarding anti-Communism had been prioritised over the needs of the Cuban people. One of the radicalised individuals was a young lawyer by the name of Fidel Castro. Castro, who had previously ran for political office and legally challenged Batista, had largely given up on the rule of law and believed that only an armed revolution could stop him. Castro was not originally a communist or particularly anti-American by the beginnings of his political activity, having hired multiple anti-communists in his government when he rose to power. However, these people were eventually sidelined as his regime progressed.

Castro under arrest after the 1953 Moncada Attack

In July of 1953, Castro led over 160 people in an attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba, in an attempt to enact a mass popular uprising. However, this was an abject failure, with many of the rebels being captured, tortured and executed. Both Castro and his brother were arrested, but he managed to use the trial as a platform for his ideology and the platform that would build the foundations for the later revolution. The pair were released in May 1955 and founded the July 26th Movement, named after the date of the Moncada attacks, before retreating to Mexico to regroup and reorganise. Here, they met Che Guevara.

A former medical student, Ernesto “Che” Guevara de la Serna believed that much of the poverty, hunger and disease that he had witnessed was a product of a capitalist system of exploitation by the United States against Latin America, an ideology that was solidified after the CIA assisted overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz. The Castro brothers, Guevara and some 80 revolutionaries crowded onto a yacht and set sail to Cuba in 1956, where they were ambushed by Cuban forces. A handful of survivors retreated into the mountains. From here, the plan for the revolution was devised, where it would be split between guerilla fighting in the mountains and an insurgency in urban areas. Eventually, a combination of military defeats, loss of public support and the backing out of elites and the US led to Batista fleeing the country in early 1959. Castro and Guevara’s forces entered Havana largely unopposed due the collapse of the Cuban government.

Whilst there was a great demand for change within Cuba, the support for Castro’s movement in particular was not universal. It was undecided what was to come post-Batista amongst the Cuban populace, which Castro believed could become a breeding ground for a US-backed counter revolution, ideas which were reinforced by the CIA backed failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. As a result of this belief even prior to the invasion, he suppressed the vast majority of political opposition whilst pursuing closer diplomatic and economic ties with the Soviet Union, which led to economic sanctions by the US. Using their economic backing from the USSR, Castro advanced social reforms in education and healthcare, but many of these programmes became strained following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. Despite this, the US sanctions on Cuba have persisted, despite the near yearly declarations by the UN to lift the sanctions. Many have described the vast poverty in Cuba caused by the sanctions as a humanitarian crisis.

The Death of Stalin

By 1953, Joseph Stalin had dominated Soviet politics for almost three decades. Rising from a relatively obscure revolutionary in the years before the Russian Revolution, he gradually consolidated power after the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, outmanoeuvring rivals such as Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev until he emerged as the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union.

Under Stalin, the Soviet Union underwent a dramatic transformation. Through a series of ambitious Five-Year Plans, the country was rapidly industrialised, turning what had largely been an agrarian society into one of the world’s leading industrial powers. Massive factories, railways and infrastructure projects were constructed across the country, while collectivisation fundamentally reshaped Soviet agriculture. These policies helped lay the foundations for the Soviet Union’s emergence as a global superpower, but they came at an immense human cost. Millions died during famines, political repression and forced labour programmes, while entire communities were uprooted in the pursuit of economic and political objectives.

The Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War further elevated Stalin’s status. To many Soviet citizens, he was the leader who had guided the country through its darkest hour and emerged victorious. Across the Soviet bloc, portraits of Stalin hung in factories, schools and government buildings, while state propaganda cultivated an immense personality cult around him. Criticism of the leader was unthinkable.

A portrait of Stalin in the centre of Berlin

Yet beneath this image of strength lay a system increasingly shaped by fear. Stalin’s distrust of both real and imagined enemies had fuelled the Great Purges of the 1930s, during which hundreds of thousands were executed and millions more were imprisoned in the Gulag system. Senior party officials, military commanders, intellectuals and ordinary citizens all lived under the constant threat of denunciation and arrest. Even members of Stalin’s inner circle understood that a single mistake could end their careers, their freedom or their lives.

On the evening of 28 February 1953, Stalin invited several members of his inner circle to his dacha at Kuntsevo, west of Moscow. Among the guests were Lavrentiy Beria, Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Khrushchev and Nikolai Bulganin. Such gatherings were a regular feature of Stalin’s final years. The Soviet leader often kept his subordinates awake into the early hours of the morning, eating, drinking and discussing politics while they carefully navigated the dangers of displeasing one of the most feared men in the world. The meeting stretched late into the night. The guests eventually departed shortly after four o’clock in the morning on 1 March, leaving Stalin alone. Before retiring, he instructed his guards not to disturb him. This was not unusual. Stalin frequently worked irregular hours and expected complete obedience from those around him.

As the day progressed, however, something seemed wrong. Normally, Stalin would emerge from his rooms or summon staff at some point during the morning. This time there was only silence. The guards grew increasingly anxious but were reluctant to investigate. Years of Stalin’s rule had taught them that interrupting him without permission could have severe consequences. The hours passed. Afternoon became evening. Still there was no sign of movement from inside Stalin’s quarters. Shortly after 10 p.m., a member of staff noticed a light had come on in Stalin’s room. The guards took this as a sign that he was awake and hesitated to enter. When no further activity followed, concern finally overcame fear. One of the guards cautiously opened the door. The scene inside was alarming. Stalin was lying on the floor beside a table, partially paralysed and unable to speak.

The guards immediately informed senior Soviet officials. Beria, Malenkov, Khrushchev and others soon arrived at the dacha. Yet even then, precious time was lost. Some accounts suggest that Beria initially dismissed the situation, insisting that Stalin was merely asleep. Whether this was genuine misjudgement or political calculation remains one of the most debated questions surrounding Stalin’s final days. Doctors were eventually summoned, but they arrived many hours after Stalin had first collapsed. Their diagnosis was grim. The seventy-three-year-old Soviet leader had suffered a severe cerebral haemorrhage that had left much of his body paralysed. Over the following days, members of the leadership gathered around his bedside as millions of Soviet citizens remained unaware that the man who had ruled their country for a generation was dying. Ultimately, Stalin died on March 5th of 1953, leaving the Politburo without Stalin’s guidance, while Malenkov assumed the role of acting General Secretary. Whilst many were distraught by this, some saw an opportunity. Out of those, 3 members of the Politburo emerged from the power struggle, all vying for the top job.

Georgy Malenkov – Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union

A loyal Stalin lieutenant who had spent years climbing through the Communist Party bureaucracy, Malenkov had become one of the most influential men in the Soviet Union during the final years of Stalin’s rule. Calm, methodical and politically experienced, he initially appeared to have the strongest claim to leadership. In the days after Stalin’s death, he assumed several of Stalin’s government responsibilities and seemed destined to emerge as the new dominant figure.

Lavrentiy Beria – Former Head of the NKVD

If Malenkov possessed legitimacy, Beria possessed power. As the longtime chief of Stalin’s security apparatus, Beria had overseen some of the darkest chapters of Stalin’s rule. Millions had passed through institutions under his control, from prisons and labour camps to the secret police itself. Feared throughout the Soviet Union, Beria understood the inner workings of the Soviet state better than almost anyone alive. With Stalin gone, many of his colleagues feared that Beria could use his influence over the security services to seize power for himself.

Nikita Khrushchev – Moscow Party Head

Unlike Malenkov and Beria, Khrushchev was not initially seen as the frontrunner. A former miner who had risen through the Communist Party ranks, he had survived Stalin’s political purges through a mixture of loyalty, political skill and an ability to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Though often underestimated by his rivals, Khrushchev had spent years building relationships throughout the party. While others focused on titles and institutions, he quietly cultivated support among the officials whose votes would ultimately decide the future of the Soviet Union.

Rather than appoint a new supreme leader, the leading figures agreed to govern collectively. On paper, Georgy Malenkov emerged as the most powerful man in the Soviet Union. He became Chairman of the Council of Ministers, effectively the Soviet premier, while also briefly retaining a senior position within the Communist Party itself. Yet it was Lavrentiy Beria who appeared to hold the strongest hand. Within weeks of Stalin’s death, he had regained control over the Soviet security apparatus by merging the Ministries of Internal Affairs and State Security under his authority, in an organisation that eventually became the KGB. This gave him influence over the police, intelligence services and prison system. Many of his colleagues viewed this development with alarm. They had spent years watching Stalin use the security services to destroy rivals and now feared that Beria might do the same.

(Left to right) Stalin, Malenkov, Beria and Anastas Mikoyan at the Dynamo Stadium in Moscow

At first, Beria appeared surprisingly reform-minded. He oversaw a large amnesty that released over a million prisoners from Soviet camps and prisons, scaled back several ongoing political investigations and signalled support for a less confrontational foreign policy. He even suggested that East Germany might need a different political approach after growing unrest there. Whether these proposals reflected genuine reformist beliefs or an attempt to build political support remains a matter of debate among historians. Whatever his intentions, Beria’s actions frightened many members of the Soviet leadership. To some, he appeared to be positioning himself as a new Stalin: a man with control over the security services and the ability to remove opponents at will. Nikita Khrushchev in particular became convinced that Beria had to be stopped before he could consolidate power.

One man whose support Khrushchev desperately needed was Georgy Zhukov. Zhukov was one of the most celebrated military commanders in Soviet history, having played a central role in the defence of Moscow, the victory at Stalingrad and the capture of Berlin. Although Stalin had sidelined him after the war, his prestige within the armed forces remained immense. Khrushchev and his allies feared that Beria’s control of the security services made him too dangerous to confront without military backing. Zhukov agreed to support the conspiracy and organised loyal army officers to intervene when the moment came.

A photo of Khrushchev (left) and Zhukov (centre)

Unlike Beria, Khrushchev possessed neither a personal army nor direct control over the state bureaucracy. What he did have was influence within the Communist Party. Over the spring and summer of 1953, he quietly built support among senior party officials while working to convince Malenkov and others that Beria represented a threat to all of them. Even those who disliked Khrushchev often feared Beria more. The turning point came after the East German uprising of June 1953. As Soviet tanks restored order in East Berlin, concerns about Beria’s growing influence reached a breaking point. Khrushchev, Malenkov and several other senior leaders secretly agreed that he had to be removed. To ensure success, they enlisted the support of Marshal Georgy Zhukov and the Soviet military.

On 26 June 1953, Beria attended a Presidium meeting in the Kremlin believing it would be routine. Instead, Khrushchev and his allies launched a coordinated attack on him, accusing him of abusing his power and betraying the interests of the Soviet state. As the confrontation escalated, Zhukov’s military officers entered the room and placed Beria under arrest. The man who had spent years orchestrating arrests for others now found himself a prisoner. Beria was held in secret confinement while the new leadership consolidated its position. In December 1953, he was tried by a special tribunal on charges including treason, terrorism and counter-revolutionary activity. Found guilty, he was sentenced to death and executed shortly afterwards. His remains were cremated and buried in the woods.

Beria’s downfall fundamentally altered the balance of power. Although Malenkov remained premier, it was Khrushchev who emerged from the crisis in the strongest position. Over the next three years he steadily outmanoeuvred his remaining rivals, strengthened his influence within the Communist Party and ultimately established himself as the dominant figure in Soviet politics. By 1956, the struggle that began with Stalin’s death had effectively been decided.

With Beria gone, the struggle for power was far from over. Georgy Malenkov remained Chairman of the Council of Ministers and, on paper, appeared to be the most powerful man in the Soviet Union. Yet Khrushchev possessed something equally valuable: control over the Communist Party itself. As First Secretary, he spent the next two years carefully building support among regional party officials, promoting loyal allies and presenting himself as a practical reformer rather than an ambitious revolutionary. While Malenkov argued for greater investment in consumer goods and a reduction in military spending, Khrushchev gradually convinced many within the party that his rival lacked the strength and authority needed to lead the country.

Khrushchev and Malenkov at a meeting of the Radmin

By early 1955, Khrushchev had gathered enough support to force Malenkov from the premiership. Although Malenkov remained in government for a time, his political influence had been shattered. For the first time since Stalin’s death, it was becoming clear who was emerging victorious from the succession struggle. Unlike Beria, who had attempted to seize power through control of the security services, Khrushchev had won through party politics, alliances and patient manoeuvring behind the scenes. Having secured his position, Khrushchev turned his attention to Stalin’s legacy. Many Soviet citizens still viewed Stalin as the great leader who had industrialised the country and led it to victory in the Second World War.

Yet within the party leadership there was growing unease over the scale of the terror that had accompanied his rule. Khrushchev believed that if the Soviet Union was to survive and prosper, it could no longer be governed through constant fear, purges and mass repression. In February 1956, at the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party, Khrushchev delivered what became known as the Secret Speech. Speaking behind closed doors to party delegates, he launched a devastating attack on Stalin’s cult of personality, accusing the former dictator of abusing his power, ordering unlawful arrests and executions, and betraying the principles of Lenin. For many delegates, who had spent decades praising Stalin as an infallible leader, the speech came as a profound shock

A photo of Khrushchev at the Secret Speech

The consequences were enormous. Across the Soviet Union, statues of Stalin were removed, cities and institutions bearing his name were renamed, and countless political prisoners were released from labour camps. The secret police lost much of the unchecked power they had enjoyed under Stalin, while censorship and political repression were eased, though never abolished entirely. The process became known as De-Stalinisation, and it marked the most significant change in Soviet politics since Stalin himself had come to power. Yet Khrushchev’s reforms were not without limits. He never questioned the Communist Party’s monopoly on power and remained willing to use force when he believed Soviet control was threatened, as demonstrated by the crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. His vision was not to dismantle the Soviet system, but to reform it. He wanted a Soviet Union that remained communist, but one that was less dependent on terror and less dominated by the memory of a single man.

Stalin’s death marked the end of one of the most brutal chapters in Russian history. For nearly three decades he had dominated the Soviet Union through fear, transforming it into a global superpower while simultaneously overseeing purges, famines, labour camps and political repression on an immense scale. Yet his passing revealed a truth that dictators often try to conceal: no individual is indispensable. Within months, the men who had spent years obeying Stalin were fighting amongst themselves for control of the system he had built. Of all the contenders, Khrushchev emerged victorious. Through a combination of political skill, strategic alliances and careful timing, he defeated both Beria and Malenkov and established himself as the Soviet Union’s new leader. More importantly, he began the difficult process of dismantling the culture of fear that Stalin had created. The Soviet Union that emerged after 1953 was still an authoritarian one-party state, but it was no longer Stalin’s Soviet Union. The struggle that followed his death reshaped the Communist world, altered the course of the Cold War and demonstrated that even the most powerful dictatorship could change once the man at its centre was gone.