Cold War | War History

National Emergency Command Post Afloat: The ‘Floating White Houses’ for Times of Nuclear War

USS Wright (CC-2) at sea + Mushroom cloud rising into the sky

During the 1960s, America’s Continuity of Operations plans included the National Emergency Command Post Afloat (NECPA). It was one of three parts – airborne, ground…

Project Iceworm: The US Military’s Plan to House and Deploy ICBMs from Beneath Greenland’s Ice

US Army Polar Research and Development Center personnel installing ceiling support beams + Missile being launched

Project Iceworm was a top-secret operation planned by the US Army during the Cold War. It intended to build a massive military base, housing several…

Black Sea Bumping Incident: When the Soviet Navy ‘Bumped’ the US Out of Its Territorial Waters

USS Yorktown (CG-48) being bumped by Bezzavetnyy

In the 1980s, the Soviet Union took several measures to get American warships out of its territorial waters – this including playing an old-fashioned game…

M28/M29 Davy Crockett Weapon System: The Tripod-Mounted Recoilless Rifle That Fired a Nuclear Warhead

Soldier standing with an M28/M29 Davy Crockett Weapon System outside

Throughout the Cold War, the United States was concerned about the Soviet nuclear threat. As such, the US military constantly came up with weapons designed…

How Many Times Did the World Nearly End During the Cold War? Answer: A Lot

Samantha Franco
Mushroom cloud rising into the sky + John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev sitting together

There were numerous times throughout the Cold War where the world nearly ended. The Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, saw the United States and Soviet…

Two KGB and CIA Operatives Were Tasked With Corrupting Each Other – They Forged a Friendship Instead

Rosemary Giles
Soviet and American flags hanging over two empty chairs

The KGB and the CIA were notorious enemies during the Cold War. As national security agencies for two warring nations, their operatives were tasked with…

Viktor Belenko: The Soviet Pilot Whose Defection Gave the West Access to the MiG-25

Military portrait of Viktor Belenko

Viktor Belenko was a Soviet pilot who defected to the United States during the height of the Cold War. A number of things make his…

The Nuclear War Between Russia and China That Almost Happened

Mushroom cloud rising into the sky + Portrait of Leonid Brezhnev + Portrait of Mao Zedong

In the early stages of the Cold War, Americans saw Soviet Russia and China as working together as one Communist “monster,” threatening to destroy everything…

Mars Bluff Incident: The US Air Force Accidentally Dropped a Nuclear Bomb on South Carolina

Todd Neikirk
Boeing B-47 Stratojets parked on a runway

Starting in the late 1940s and running through to the end of the Cold War, an arms race occurred between the United States and the…

Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars Program Featured Space Lasers for Nuclear Defense

Rosemary Giles
Ronald Reagan sitting at a table with other men while holding a yellow bumper sticker that reads, "SDI could ruin a nuclear bomb's whole day"

By the 1980s, the threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union was a very real possibility. US President Ronald Reagan…

Lionel Crabb: The Mystery Behind the Missing British Frogman

Rosemary Giles
Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze at sea + Lionel Crabb wearing a suit

During the Second World War, there were a variety of special units created to deal with threats from enemies both at home and overseas. One…

The US Air Force Lost An Atomic Bomb Over the Canadian Wilderness

Rosemary Giles
Convair B-36 Peacemaker in flight

“Broken arrow” is the term used when a nuclear weapon is stolen, lost or unintentionally detonated. It was first used in 1950, when an American…