The Year America Praised Russia: The Great Game and Sale of Alaska, 1867
The Crimean War (1853-1856) pitting Imperial Russia against the combined forces of the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, and France, had devastating consequences. Emerging military technology combined with disease led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides of the conflict.
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Operation RYAN: The Man Without a Face in an Elusive Program
During the early 80s, the world was again on the brink. The diplomatic relations between the East and the West were very unstable. There were a few factors. The Soviets believed the United States was going to start a nuclear attack. A personal element was present, too. Yury Andropov was haunted by the events in Hungary in the 1950s and how the once powerful Communist state began to crumble. Therefore, he justified operation RYAN, or Raketno Yadernoe Napadenie (Nuclear Missile Attack). The whole purpose of the operation was to collect intelligence to prevent a possible attack. In other words, the project was a sort of intelligence operation among the countries of the Iron Curtain, primarily the (former) Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic as their close ally. The program was initiated in May 1981.
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He Knew People: A Private Citizen Was a Powerful Political Player
A man whose career success happened when he left an official diplomatic activity.
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1977’s Memorandum: Finding a Solution for the Arms Race
Italian memorandum from 1977 reveals three solutions for the problem of the arms race. The solutions proposed by the Soviet Union, Denmark and Warsaw Pact reflect the great tension that marked the geopolitical scene during the 1970s.
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