Expert of Eastern European and Russian affairs and Director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute Dr. Michael Kimmage joins WIRED to answer the internet’s questions about the “Cold War” contested by The Soviet Union and United States. Why was it named “the Cold War?” Was the threat of communism overblown by the United States? What is a proxy war? Why did the United States and USSR make so many nuclear warheads? Did the Soviets have technologies that surpassed those of NATO? Are we in a new Cold War today? Answers to these questions and many more await on Cold War Support.
0:00 Cold War Support
0:14 Cold War: Beginnings
1:33 What was “the height” of the Cold War?
3:16 Did we psych ourselves out?
4:28 Good morning! Vault-Tec calling!
5:21 Stalin: As evil as they say?
5:54 The Berlin Wall
7:42 The dowing of Gary Power’s U2
8:40 Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?
10:12 Things fall apart
11:04 The JFK Files
12:13 The Americans: Accurate?
13:15 Was Reagan’s presidency an important factor in ending the Cold War?
14:02 Gorbachev
15:21 Nice government you got there…
16:29 ☭
17:08 China and Russia: Best Frenemies
17:54 Kissinger
18:25 Russians in Afghanistan
19:28 Cold War Films
20:34 NATO
21:22 Are we in a new Cold War?
22:27 Did the Soviets have technologies that surpassed those of NATO?
23:28 Nukes-a-plenty
24:23 No way of knowing, impossible
24:56 What are we even fighting about
25:29 Proxy wars
26:43 Korea
27:19 The Hungarian Uprising of 1956
28:00 Why was the KGB more successful than the CIA?
28:45 Calling out in transit! Calling out in transit! Radio-Free Europe!
Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan
Editor: Richard Trammell
Expert: Michael Kimmage
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Casting Producer: Nick Sawyer
Talent Booker:
Camera Operator: Constantine Economides
Sound Mixer: Sean Paulsen
Production Assistant: Ryan Coppola
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Stella Shortino
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
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@chessthecat
April 29, 2025 at 8:21 pm
Russia is America’s enemy and always will be. Don’t be fooled by Trump.
@maliq4
April 29, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Talks about the Berlin Wall and somehow never mentions that it ENCLOSED west Berlin, as a free democratic island in communist East Germany.
@KeepAskingWhy
April 29, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Alternate opinion.
It didn’t really end, it just lulled.
Both sides did not remove nukes in full, and there’s zero incentive for any government to stop looking at or spying on the other side (which continued on anyway). Also, current global politics show a desire by the current Russian government (i.e., Putin) to reverse course back to a “Soviet” dictatorship.
So…no…technically never ended.
@EarlofCrawford
April 29, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Time constraints made this an obnoxious over simplification
@maliq4
April 29, 2025 at 8:24 pm
Talks about the false domino theory and somehow COMPLETELY ignores the persistent “revolution export” business going on in Central America through the 60s and 70’s. Yes there were fruit monopolies but there were also communist insurgencies in every country, and we’d be looking at a very different (failed) Central America today if they had succeeded.
@aaroncooper4237
April 29, 2025 at 8:25 pm
Once again the person writing the segment titles hits us with more amazing titles. These are seriously so funny, keep it comin!
@JackSmith-x8s
April 29, 2025 at 8:25 pm
This is pure U.S propaganda, thinly disguised as an innocent history lesson.
@bitronicc1887
April 29, 2025 at 8:31 pm
11:02 Thumbnail JFK question for those wondering
@dhruvsubramanain2117
April 29, 2025 at 8:38 pm
the cia scares me so much.
@garyExposMtl
April 29, 2025 at 8:39 pm
I thought the US has nuclear weapons in Turkey which explained part of the reason why the USSR had installed weapons in Cuba.
@chrisalex82
April 29, 2025 at 8:41 pm
Propaganda
@xys7536
April 29, 2025 at 8:42 pm
SO jews are commies
@duxnihilo
April 29, 2025 at 8:42 pm
27:18 RUBBER TOE CAR LOSS 😂
@BrightBlueJim
April 29, 2025 at 8:48 pm
So I grew up in Cold War I, and here we are in Cold War II.
@borisglevrk
April 29, 2025 at 8:51 pm
I think a lot of these questions would depend on who you ask.
For example when is the end of Cold War?
If you ask a German they would probably either answer fall of Berlin Wall or reunification of Germany.
If you ask a Russian or American they would probably say fall of Soviet Union.
If you ask a Korean then probably Panmunjom Declaration (2018)
If you ask a Taiwanese probably never.
@CaveSloth666
April 29, 2025 at 8:54 pm
WOLVERINES!
@BrightBlueJim
April 29, 2025 at 8:54 pm
I love these Wired videos, where somebody speaks for half an hour without once taking a breath.
@_peters6221
April 29, 2025 at 8:55 pm
Lots of people angry that this was a 29 minute video and not a 29 hour video
@GoBlueGirl78
April 29, 2025 at 8:55 pm
He didn’t even mention Able Archer… we came very close to nuclear war in ‘83.
@MasterDebator-l7u
April 29, 2025 at 8:57 pm
This was highly interesting, but no mention of “The Bay of Pigs” invasion?
@seasidescott
April 29, 2025 at 9:00 pm
The word ‘Soviet’ means local governments elected by workers. Churchill and American capitalists very much hated that idea and anything to do with unions. So much of the Red Scare and Cold War was anti-unionism. Hungary was promised help by the USA if it rose against the CCCP. I’ve known Hungarian officers who spent many years in prison camps that confirmed that. So they rose up and no help came. That’s why it’s famous.
@outpostcheerfuloyster
April 29, 2025 at 9:04 pm
21:30 Correction: We have the Moscow-Washington alliance on one side, and the EU-UK as the enemies.
China gets to pick a side.
@robinsoto2700
April 29, 2025 at 9:18 pm
Us war theory– Continuously create self fulfilling prophecies so that we can Continuously be at war
@RGJ-Journey
April 29, 2025 at 9:19 pm
Imagine how stupid of a generation it took to think the Domino Theory had any legitimacy.
@jahanas22
April 30, 2025 at 3:59 pm
I always thought it was called a cold war because an actual war is a hot war.
@kylievictoriasalvini3752
April 30, 2025 at 4:39 pm
Brilliant
@eg4355
April 30, 2025 at 5:02 pm
israel did it
@luschmiedt1071
April 30, 2025 at 5:09 pm
Ah yes an American just leaving out a quite important detail to the cuban missle crisis … who would have guessed
@Cupofgo
April 30, 2025 at 5:20 pm
WHY DOES THIS VIDEO HAVE 30 AD BREAKS?!?!!
@ooofuryooo296
April 30, 2025 at 5:21 pm
This guy has no clue what he’s talking about in regard to the fall of the USSR. It wasn’t mysterious at all. Clinton’s puppet Yeltsin was literally BOUGHT and he handed over control to Putin who was the USA’S CHOICE to become an oligarchic dictator.
@mindhackz
April 30, 2025 at 5:42 pm
Looks around at a completely indoctrinated US population that now arbitrarily supports Russia for many illogical reasons.
Yeah I think the US lost the cold war, my man.
@potato_gun_god
April 30, 2025 at 5:43 pm
Okay, sidebar, the Cuban Missile Crisis STARTED as a result of US placing nuclear weapons in Türkiye. While the idea behind this move is to ensure that their protectorates are able to competently fight off a full scale invasion, it’s a flawed line of thinking though. Russia responding with placing nuclear arms in Cuba, while a bit inflammatory it’s an equivalent response. I’m not rationalizing the situation, I just think that context is important.
@The-Great-Catsby-25
April 30, 2025 at 5:59 pm
Wait…Cambodia and Laos DID fall with Vietnam… doesn’t that make them dominoes?
@johnnykrauze
April 30, 2025 at 6:14 pm
This is a self proclaimed left wing publication.
@LuukvdHoogen
April 30, 2025 at 6:22 pm
I am just enjoying how succint correct and wel put put this guy describes the things i knew
@marchuvfulz
April 30, 2025 at 6:34 pm
A correction and a quibble. At about 13:08 Dr. Kimmage states Aldrich Ames worked for the FBI; actually, he worked for the CIA. After 25:30, the discussion of proxy wars characterizes Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Ukraine as proxy wars, despite the fact that U.S. or Russian forces were directly involved on at least one side in each, even if they did not fight directly against each other. A proxy war is one in which the rival powers leave most or all of the fighting to others, to the proxies, in order specifically to avoid direct involvement. If one of the powers intervenes directly (or invades directly) it’s really not a “proxy” war anymore, because the intervening power is now doing its own fighting.
@TheAndrew1987
April 30, 2025 at 6:47 pm
bringing up the cuban missile crisis as a “provocation” is bad history. the us had an illegal blockade of cuba and placed icbm’s in italy and turkey. the aggressor here is not the soviet union
@Tom-ev4rg
April 30, 2025 at 7:11 pm
Just a note because it wasn’t mentioned: Gorbachev said one of the final reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union was the Chernobyl disaster and its associated massive political and economic fallout.
@BreadMane
April 30, 2025 at 7:19 pm
Nothing.
Where are the Epstein files?
@joolsca
April 30, 2025 at 7:19 pm
trump is aligned with putin…this man, as interesting & knowledgable as he is, is in denial about his president and the evil of current america
@RBaron2000
April 30, 2025 at 7:40 pm
21:12 Ukraine doesn’t border hungary on the map, lol
@chucknowakowski6676
April 30, 2025 at 8:40 pm
6:21 ppl forget a lot that Berlin was an island surrounded by East Germany……..
@nestorpress2616
April 30, 2025 at 8:42 pm
Really….?
@waferty6027
April 30, 2025 at 8:47 pm
Nice to hear history about the Us and the soviet Onion
@chucknowakowski6676
April 30, 2025 at 8:49 pm
14:26 i believe,we never saw a true USSR, because of all the purges Stalin had, he basically killed or removed all non fanatics of Lenin
@LucasHaines
April 30, 2025 at 8:50 pm
I wonder how many secrets the current administration has handed over to Russia so far.
@yondie491
April 30, 2025 at 9:15 pm
That is far too short of a time period for the cold was
The latest I’d label a start is 54, not 60. 54 is when Molotov suggested that NATO invite the Soviet Union.
NATO declined.
The next year the Warsaw Pact was formed.
Many people would label ’48 the start with the Air Lift.
@misspiggyonrollerskates3744
April 30, 2025 at 9:15 pm
Describing the planned missle site in Cuba as “a pretty big provocation” is … a choice, given the US installations in Europe and Turkey. I’d call THAT a provocation.
@yondie491
April 30, 2025 at 9:16 pm
Domino is only a simplistic theory if you present it as a simplistic theory, the way you did here.
@mattshelton7423
May 1, 2025 at 1:03 pm
10:56 sounds a lot like the current state of the US, no? 😂
@itslexactually
May 1, 2025 at 1:31 pm
11:00 hmmm what other large nation state do we know is largely held together with violence?
@Ytho100
May 1, 2025 at 2:00 pm
Ah yes, JFK’s famous “I am a donut” speech (a “berliner” is a type of donut, he meant “ich bin Berliner”) 😂😂
@jasminvomwalde7497
May 1, 2025 at 2:01 pm
At 14:14 Lenin‘s name is wrongly captioned as Lennon 😂
@pibyte
May 1, 2025 at 2:13 pm
20:59 The map showing NATO states has mistakes. Austria for example is neutral and not in the NATO – but Sweden is (since 2024).
@rogerjerabek9574
May 1, 2025 at 2:35 pm
As Michael used to say, “The roots of education are bitter and fruits are sweet.” Salute!
@patrickhorton4596
May 1, 2025 at 2:41 pm
Saying that the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall is a bit off. They may have approved of its construction, but that completely ignores the role (and responsibility) of Ulbricht and the East German government. Everything I’ve read actually says that the Soviets initially opposed the wall because they thought it would be seen as too big of a provocation, and were only eventually convinced that East Germany would collapse if the border weren’t closed.
@AnUnseenRuler
May 1, 2025 at 3:40 pm
It was the head of McDonalds Canada that negotiated the deal to get the first McDonalds in the Soviet Union.
@thewatchdogs1109
May 1, 2025 at 3:45 pm
Let’s talk about the Epstein files. While it might be interesting to look at all the different possibilities of something that happened 60 odd years ago. The real and compelling truth about Epstein and his relationship with our current elites is a much better use of your and our time.
@paulmcgugan4994
May 1, 2025 at 3:50 pm
An absolutely brilliant whistle-stop tour of the Cold War!
@tjbellah349
May 1, 2025 at 3:55 pm
14:29 lol a lot of people who grow up under socialism can’t wait to betray it.
@BurktheClerk
May 1, 2025 at 3:56 pm
Why is this guy lying about the Cuban Missile Crisis? America put missiles in Turkey long before this. Pretty horrible “Historian” when any teenager online knows more.
@Cta2006
May 1, 2025 at 4:47 pm
20:33 NATO was attacked on 9/11 when the USA was attacked. It is the only time NATO article 5 was used
@doomsmith
May 1, 2025 at 4:54 pm
We have the utter joy to be experiencing the recirculation of the events that occurred in the cold war, the great depression/and recessions of 2004 and 2020 which were both worse than the great depression, And this year may be even worse… and then we have 1940s Germany political events… especially the rise to power of a specific kind of person and their ideology, and their complete takeover of all things in the name of a obsessively followed leader…….. All at the same time..
Except worse in many ways, and also better in some others… But not many.
@CertifiedForkLiftOperator69420
May 1, 2025 at 5:40 pm
Also the Soviet union did have very intelligent scientists who had working prototypes or figured out alot of things the US leads in now like space, stealth, jet engines and air dynamics. But either soviet union went with the cheaper methods or arrested the folks or just ignored. Alot of that tech would be given to the US through spies or the countries that broke free and shared this information with the US or UK.
@acdc4537
May 1, 2025 at 5:41 pm
My grandmother was CIA covert ops during the Gary powers incident, they actually had parts of the plane in their safe house at one point. She still believes to this day that there was another shooter at the Kennedy assassination, and that Gary Powers didn’t commit suicide because he was possibly looking to defect at the time.
@redbigapplefloppa302
May 1, 2025 at 5:41 pm
0:14 Summertime! 🖌️🖌️
@alexaales7937
May 1, 2025 at 5:46 pm
“one two three” is such a great movie, VERY funny, i highly recommend it!
@acdc4537
May 1, 2025 at 6:11 pm
Also: I think the real signifier of when the US starts to dominate the Soviets in tech is during the MiG 25 Foxbat incident in 1976, when Viktor Belenko defected to the US and brought a new model MiG 25 with him. The US quickly learned that not only was the Soviet Union falling behind, they were falling behind exponentially. When the F15 Eagle was put into service by the US the same year, it displayed so much more capability than its direct competitor that, to this day, the F15 Eagle is undefeated in air to air engagements, and (unconfirmed due to conflict in numbers between Iran and Iraq) 12 MiG 25s have been lost to US-made F14 Tomcats and F15 Eagles since the 1980s.
@Lionelltd
May 1, 2025 at 6:18 pm
I hope Radio Free Europe stays. Also I wish I knew more history
@GreedoShot
May 1, 2025 at 6:57 pm
kissinger? the war criminal kissinger?
@OstblockLatina
May 1, 2025 at 7:15 pm
18:22 – USSR, and now RF, meaning whoever leads it at the time, always starts a war with some other country when the public becomes critical of the domestic policies and of the leadership. It’s a distraction meant to consolidate the russian society against an imagined exterior enemy and in support of their leader again.
@OstblockLatina
May 1, 2025 at 7:25 pm
24:47 – USSR consisted of places like i.e. Ukraine and Georgia. Those in turn have regions that are very warm and which grow grapes and watermelons and their climate resembles the Mediterranean.
@zlee11
May 1, 2025 at 8:19 pm
Very articulate. Thank you
@MrRipper557
May 1, 2025 at 9:00 pm
I honestly belive.. like he wave world War 1 abd the after math of that lead to world War 2.. we are going to have cold War 1 and cold War 2 (least. Historians will look back at it like that
@pollyseip
May 2, 2025 at 10:51 am
0:35 Again … white men ruining millions upon millions of lives because they’re war obsessed and think they know how to rule the world.
Guys, this script is so phucking old. And here we are today still living it its aftermath.
@uwuphobia728
May 2, 2025 at 11:37 am
kissinger’s “diplomatic skill” like committing genocide in cambodia
@villegas24
May 2, 2025 at 11:45 am
Kissinger was one of the most vile pieces of sh1t in modern history
@SimplyTakuma
May 2, 2025 at 12:03 pm
We need more episodes!
@OlafavonGoeding
May 2, 2025 at 12:16 pm
I’ve been saying that we’re living through the Second Cold War for years now. It’s so validating (and worrisome) to finally hear it confirmed by someone much more educated on the topic.
@ExhaustedElox
May 2, 2025 at 12:57 pm
I think the Chernobyl disaster played a big role in the downfall of the USSR. They had to sink so much money and resources into containing it that they couldn’t maintain their military grip on the various nation-states that made up the USSR.
@Kannot2023
May 2, 2025 at 1:10 pm
Eisenhower and Nixon and many military planers agreed that a war in asia was a bad idea, by Lyndon Johnson by inexperience gave free hand to genral in Vietnam and got involved.
@AlJalandhari
May 2, 2025 at 1:18 pm
how can you talk about the cuban missile crisis’s causes and not talk about US missiles in Turkey. this guy is propagandist not an expert
@Kannot2023
May 2, 2025 at 1:20 pm
14:12 because Gorbachev lived under socialism he wanted to change it
@Kannot2023
May 2, 2025 at 1:24 pm
17:10 the hammer is the working class and the sickle is the peasants.
@g.j.2950
May 2, 2025 at 1:32 pm
Everyone is talking about this guy is biased for the west and against the USSR for not mentioning US nuclear missles in Italy and Turkey. Thats fair but I would like to also point out how he descibes Gary Powers being shot down as if Gary was minding his own business taking a stroll in the park when the mean Soviets attacked him. Not invading the USSRs soverign airspace to spy on them.
@executivedirector7467
May 2, 2025 at 2:05 pm
Pretty good video
@daniel_munoz_r
May 2, 2025 at 2:35 pm
Wildly biased in a pro-USA view.
@LokVale-123
May 2, 2025 at 3:40 pm
Israeli mossad killed JFK.
@kyosokutai
May 2, 2025 at 3:41 pm
The conspiracy theory cope in the comments is… something.
@extremelymemely9694
May 2, 2025 at 3:46 pm
It wasn’t just McCarthy
@jcollins3182
May 2, 2025 at 4:48 pm
Thank you, this is awesome! I was a kid at the end of it, but never really understood!
@idontknowname-rl8yb
May 2, 2025 at 5:22 pm
Jews did it
@Zamiroh
May 2, 2025 at 6:07 pm
Nato was not attacked? Nato has been attacked. On 9/11, we (the US) was attacked. It’s why nato countries participated in operations in Afghanistan.
@thenes006
May 2, 2025 at 6:18 pm
Wrong. Red Dawn is a great movie
@ohotnitza
May 2, 2025 at 7:58 pm
Except in this “cold war”, Putin and trump are on the same side this time.
@MeshkatSOI
May 2, 2025 at 8:04 pm
This historian is a biased person. He did not mention at all that Cuban missile crisis started because US put nuclear capable missiles in Turkey which was pointed directly at Russia and that’s why Russia retaliated putting missiles in Cuba.
@IRNoahBody
May 2, 2025 at 8:22 pm
america is russia now
@newgabe09
May 2, 2025 at 8:24 pm
There was nothing ‘cold’ about the US ‘secret’ carpet bombing of Laos with,-of all horrors- cluster bombs; that are still killing and maiming people. Plus Cambodia. More tonnage than in the whole of WW2 on these rural poor countries. That wasn’t about ‘image and narrative’ it was (along with Agent orane/napalm) about destroying people and their land.
@KylaFuller
May 2, 2025 at 8:34 pm
My question is why is the iron curtain still a thing? I know nothing about the Cold War but I watch a YouTuber who has talked about how her mom lives behind the iron curtain and is limited as a result. I didn’t know that was unresolved. Not even 100% what that even means.
@DeoMachina
May 3, 2025 at 9:51 am
The USA easily killed more people trying to destroy communism than Stalin did trying to build it, like I don’t even think it’s close
@oWarlock360o
May 3, 2025 at 12:38 pm
This is still going on today.
@Emanon...
May 3, 2025 at 1:05 pm
Israel killed JFK.
Jack Ruby’s real name was Rubinstein.
It’s the only country that has acted against US interests and had the US consistently go out of their way to defend or cover for Israeli acts of aggression, terror, espionage or murder.
@muic4880
May 3, 2025 at 1:57 pm
While the Domino Effect was slightly overblown, the fact was in the 1950s through 1970s there was a series of such effect going on in Asia. China in 1949, NK in 1950, Vietnam in 1975 follow immediately by Laos and Cambodia in the same year. Not to mention the Malaya and Thai communist insurgency that was going on as well. Not to mention Africa and Central and South America of the same time coming communist insurgency.
@LearnJSwithBrian
May 3, 2025 at 2:24 pm
Simplistic and cowardly. Bombs away Lamay.
@Smilley85
May 3, 2025 at 2:41 pm
21:10 Missing Hungary as a NATO country. The Hungarian government has done its darnest to minimize the country’s involvement in the conflict and to spread Russian talking points in both NATO and the EU, but they are technically still a member of both.
@slars22
May 3, 2025 at 2:43 pm
how do you always manage to fins the coolest people?!? never stop making these!!
@michalveltrusky9633
May 3, 2025 at 2:47 pm
don’t forget that KGB practically invented the nation of Palestine
@Javier.M.
May 3, 2025 at 3:15 pm
Do you know Russian and German historians ? Would they describe the Cold War in the same way ? or any period of conflict between 1910 and 1995. Can historians be consider a trusted source of history independently of their nationality ?.
@hanskrieger4299
May 3, 2025 at 3:44 pm
Socialism is misery, hunger and death ✊🏼✊🏿✊✊🏻
@IAmJamesTheFirst
May 3, 2025 at 4:32 pm
The Cold War is more thought of as beginning with the Igor Gouzenko Affair in September 1945 in Ottawa, Canada wherein the Soviet Union revealed themselves to be unequivocally an adversary of the Allies.
@m_0863
May 3, 2025 at 4:57 pm
Again. “Why?” Why does hypocrisy persist when every single modern European NATION, to include those that adopted some of the Romantic values (to include peripherally absorbed and transferred scientific disciplines amidst overt conflict and warfare), practices “Western Capitalistic Socialism” is it perceived as a benefit to society and the globe? However, when a “Russian” or “old satellite state” comprised mostly of slightly more tan-ly pigmented, curly haired, slavic people do the same, literally by exporting goods internationally as well as some of the MOST loving people I have ever met, does it become a threat to national security and the globe? Russian even went through a period where land ownership was GIVEN to citizens-much like it was here. So, what’s the difference? Where is your lack of analytical thinking?
@m_0863
May 3, 2025 at 4:59 pm
Bank of ENGLAND.
@m_0863
May 3, 2025 at 5:00 pm
…first the peoples of Europe revolted against the Romans for their oppressive style of capitalism, then they revolted against the English. Now…what? What and/or who comes next?
@artificialgravitas8954
May 3, 2025 at 5:03 pm
A suprisingly honest take, though leaving out the missles in turkey does rather shift the tone on the cuban missile crisis
Russia may be bullsh*tting about “western aggression” today but that back then was pretty ballsy
@WhydoIsuddenlyhaveahandle
May 3, 2025 at 5:15 pm
Cold War hasn’t ended. That was just a battle victory in 1991.
The communists just went underground. They have nearly total control over Europe, Canada and Australia. The US isn’t far behind. Communist control in the US has been held back by the US constitution but that is being eroded
@scottsmith9137
May 3, 2025 at 5:17 pm
so one weird quirk of soviet technology is that because it was all controlled by the government it became very lopsided for example, they had sputnik, but they didn’t have toilet paper.
@evanirvana500
May 3, 2025 at 5:35 pm
History is SO important. History is never over. If it did end we wouldn’t keep repeating the same crap. 1938 2.0 today because people forget or never learned. So, were on the roller coaster to go again.
@BadgerOfTheSea
May 3, 2025 at 6:14 pm
Classic American, completely ignoring that the US has put nukes all over Europe. Obviously the USSR was going to retaliate. American’s have such a victim complex where they see themselves as the victims of history when they are the bullies.
@UnicornClone
May 3, 2025 at 6:18 pm
The Cold War was called the cold war because it wasn’t a hot, shooting war. Instead of being direct, shooting conflict, it was a lot of indirect conflict like spying, stealing technology, instigating coups and proxy wars.
@David-fd9cr
May 3, 2025 at 6:45 pm
Project Gladio was a US backed false flag terror campaign across Europe to blame on communists during the Cold war
@chikkin.salad.sandwich
May 3, 2025 at 7:44 pm
Trash video, Turkish missiles not mentioned
@TheDajamster
May 3, 2025 at 8:06 pm
Looks to me that Putin played the long game and has won the cold war.
@prodigalsorcerer1415
May 3, 2025 at 8:08 pm
Thank you, Wired. This is by far the best show I have seen in, say 20-30 years. Factual, entertaining, well-paced, relevant, educational, etc. The range of topics and the quality of your experts makes this unparalleled at this point in time. BBC should be taking notes, PBS should get funding to do this kind of thing. It really should go on flow tv across the world.
@kizume9349
May 3, 2025 at 8:15 pm
actual dogshit explanation on why the soviet union collapsed
@Mortred99
May 3, 2025 at 8:32 pm
9:36 Communists in academia? Journalism? Hollywood? No way! McCarthy was totally wrong, no communists were there at all.
Red Scare is one of the most successful communist propaganda of all times. Convincing Americans that the communist infiltration that was happening wasn’t happening and anyone who said it was happening was on a Witch Hunt. The Western academia was full of self-avowed Marxists way before McCarthy. They may not have been working directly with Communist regimes, but they didn’t have to, they were doing their bidding on their own.
Take Noam Chomsky, who was doing his best to deny the atrocities that were happening in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime.
Journalists were writing puff pieces about Soviet Union since it’s inception. New York Times was happy to publish Walter Duranty’s denial of a genocide that was happening in Ukraine all the way to 1930’s.
Walt Disney himself testified about how many people in the entertainment industry were avowed communists or sympathizers.
McCarthy’s fault was that he was ineffective, not that the communist threat was overestimated.
21:11 I guess Hungary isn’t real.
@robertbejarano9747
May 3, 2025 at 9:25 pm
Probably nothing. But it gave Congress something to do. Congress and Senate are worthless. They just wait to follow trump’s instructions.
@EloyCatao
May 3, 2025 at 10:48 pm
let’s watch a propaganda piece with prejudice that its propaganda.
edit. watched it, it’s a propaganda piece
@somegamerdude3884
May 3, 2025 at 11:53 pm
I remember hearing that Bin Ladens goal for 911 was to drag the US into a costly conflict. They ended up invading Iraq again, then invading Afghanistan. It looks like it cost US 4 trillion dollars for the invasions. US has a debt of 36 trillion in 2025. So the Cold war effects are still ongoing.
@amartyaroy3754
May 4, 2025 at 12:25 am
What many people don’t know is that lot of east german military personnel killed themselves during or after the unification of Germany due to integration of the armed forces and loss of their east german identity.
@olegariosanchez3173
May 4, 2025 at 12:46 am
so i have to believe the magic bullet theory Mike? come on..
@ThatLad685
May 4, 2025 at 1:55 am
The economy DEFINITELY played a large part in the USSR’s demise… just saying..
@wor1dconquerer170
May 4, 2025 at 2:20 am
Cold war with Russia? At this point we are at a Cold Civil war between smart people and Trump cultists.
@kaval187
May 4, 2025 at 4:13 am
Was JFK the last present to publicly go against The Federal reserve or The Fed for short
( you think that with that name the U.S.government owns it NOPE )
@matrixinterface
May 4, 2025 at 6:54 am
Dear Wired: PLEASE stop constantly moving the camera around, zooming in and out, while these people are talking. As someone with ADHD it’s super distracting and annoying and I don’t know why you think it’s necessary to do in all your videos.
@cypher1419
May 4, 2025 at 7:01 am
Oh man, that went by so fast! I would’ve enjoyed a whole hour of that.
@Insalia
May 4, 2025 at 7:55 am
Oneside history…😢
@cm2973
May 4, 2025 at 8:14 am
Guy is an OBVIOUS socialist sympathizer
@natalieng11r99
May 4, 2025 at 9:48 am
15 hours before my IB exam.. thank you Dr Kimmage !
@alexanders562
May 4, 2025 at 12:30 pm
I was a kid when Red Dawn came out and it was what Americans were fearing: the Russians are coming to invade..the Mid West. It was feeding a very clear monster. But I happened to be in grade school and my government teacher laughed, “Do you know how many guns there are in this country? The Russians would be met with an armed citizenry the world has never known. It is a silly movie.” But America was terrified.
@brightonduder
May 4, 2025 at 2:04 pm
‘Domino theory is wrong’
Then goes on to prove the opposite by mentioning Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia 😂
@brightonduder
May 4, 2025 at 2:07 pm
Joe McCarthy rooted out communists in government and he was a hero
The speaker here forgot to mention RFK was also highly active in the HUAC
In my opinion Joe McCarthy didn’t go far enough
The idea of comparing it to a witch hunt is absurd – there were no witches. But there were plenty of subversive communists
@markdietrichcochran2274
May 4, 2025 at 2:10 pm
My Dad was an engineering officer on board the Newport News during the Cuba Missile Crisis. He always told me that this the closest to a nuclear war that he ever experienced during his career.
@largol33t1
May 4, 2025 at 2:50 pm
Fun fact: Switzerland converted some of its underground bank vaults into fallout shelters. Finland also has massive shelters for the public to use as well. I guess Finland built them after the constant border clashes with the USSR during WW2. You can look up the Winter War and the Continuation War for information on that conflict.
@BeatonRidesAgain
May 4, 2025 at 5:05 pm
No mention of the American nuclear weapons based in Turkey, which were the reason the Soviets planned to place missiles in Cuba.
@justmyway508
May 4, 2025 at 5:13 pm
Wired has the most ads out of any Youtube channel ever. Can we get an Advertisement tech support explaining why every 2 minutes on each 30 min video there is two ads with one always being un-skippable?
@AnimNero
May 4, 2025 at 5:35 pm
McCarthyism is the original Cancel Culture
@JosipFilipovic85
May 4, 2025 at 5:41 pm
Short answer: Nothing. Thank me later.
@canuckinsk
May 4, 2025 at 8:07 pm
The JFK files showed Israel and US intel were deeply involved.
Ignoring=Credibility ruined.
@SafetySpooon
May 4, 2025 at 8:15 pm
ETHEL Rosenberg was innocent.
@SafetySpooon
May 4, 2025 at 8:23 pm
Putin is showing us how important NATO *still is*.
@pycoo
May 4, 2025 at 9:17 pm
the hand movement lol
@oatlord
May 4, 2025 at 10:00 pm
Cold war seems more paused than over to me.
@Nemanja_P.
May 4, 2025 at 11:32 pm
The “Domino” effect was real. Just look at countries today that were under US influence, rich and prosperous democracies. And the USSR? – Totalitarian dictatorships. And the funny thing is, those dictatorships will never be free. Not for another 1000 years. Russia is becoming more like a feudal state every day, total crackdown on any modern freedoms people in the west have. Just like China, North Korea, Serbia and Britain.
@vegan-cannibal714
May 4, 2025 at 11:43 pm
I worked at the power company is Saltlake City Utah. we had a fallout shelter under our weight room. The crackers were horrible
@jefftitterington7600
May 4, 2025 at 11:53 pm
So why is the U.S. government still so paranoid about Cuba?
@Hollywood113807
May 5, 2025 at 12:16 am
3:06 Once again, no mention of the fact that the US started it by putting missiles in Turkey, on Russias doorstep.
@connorboring1888
May 5, 2025 at 1:16 am
What we learned: the CIA along with Mossad colluded to kill the sitting president of the United States.
@DuraLexSedLex
May 5, 2025 at 2:24 am
I don’t believe Stalin was as bad as people say or think. I believe he’s worse than people give him credit for.
@aresnir2725
May 5, 2025 at 5:40 am
Cold War began with Churchill speech about Iron Curtain in 1946
@sir_arsen
May 5, 2025 at 5:43 am
Dude missed the whole part that before Cuba it was US that put nuclear bases in turkey, which pretty much very close to USSR
@aresnir2725
May 5, 2025 at 5:59 am
Hammer and Sickle represented factory workers and agriculture workers. People, not industries.
@aresnir2725
May 5, 2025 at 6:08 am
26:25 Not Russian soldiers, but mercenaries. And its fake news.
@dinoballz
May 5, 2025 at 6:43 am
21:01 The US government did invoke NATO article 5 after 9/11. So NATO was attacked once. The downing of MH17 could also easily have led to this.
@orangekayak78
May 5, 2025 at 9:40 am
My favorite cold war movie is 123 too. 😃
@m0redread
May 5, 2025 at 10:43 am
Not mentioning the US forward positioning nukes in Turkey as a pretext for the Cuban missile crisis demonstrates this guy is trying to spin history
@derekfarione8729
May 5, 2025 at 1:36 pm
Although the CIA had more handcuffs than the KGB, USAid did not.
@giorgikharchilava7258
May 5, 2025 at 1:38 pm
The basement of my school is a nuclear fallout shelter. Super cool piece of history
@CatoAleksanderNyquist
May 5, 2025 at 2:42 pm
Stalins atrocities can be likened to the whitehouse. The US just change out the person in the front while comitting the same level of atrocities.
@jamesd.mccormick9892
May 5, 2025 at 3:47 pm
This gentleman is absolutely great! Very suscient commentary!
@Forik_Today
May 5, 2025 at 5:45 pm
What can u say about this ?
@mrcharlyie5393
May 5, 2025 at 6:12 pm
Excellent video, praise to professor Kimmage
@ach_ja
May 5, 2025 at 7:28 pm
We should finally stop equating Moscow with the US. Moscow is not the Soviet Union. Moscow is as big as Germany and Italy. Without the West, Moscow would not have survived World War II.
@Ratzo123ify
May 5, 2025 at 8:00 pm
I reject the notion that the Soviet Union collapsed simply because “violence and coercion stopped”. The primary reason that caused the Soviet Union’s collapse was the economy stagnating and disillusion with the Soviet system as a result. In an opposite scenario wherein the western economies falter while the east flourishes, would the other member states be so keen to leave? I personally don’t believe so.
@tobygreen4257
May 5, 2025 at 8:22 pm
Alleged assassin
@williamnother8066
May 5, 2025 at 10:29 pm
How is the Cuban missile crisis considered a “win” for America and a “loss” for the Soviet Union when it was literally the Soviets making a threat so intense and provocative that the U.S. felt it had to respond with either diplomatic talks or turning the “cold” war “hot”?
@MrMilkBR
May 5, 2025 at 10:36 pm
Try taking a nonamerican historian next time you try to talk about Cold War
@codyjames1568
May 6, 2025 at 1:49 am
This is crazy pro capitalist propaganda
@jameshusband3302
May 6, 2025 at 4:23 am
Stalin murdered more russians than Hitler.
@drPiotrMNapierala
May 6, 2025 at 4:26 am
first the USA installed rockets in Turkey than USSR retaliated with Cuba, my dear fellow
@chrisstott3508
May 6, 2025 at 6:13 am
The Duck and Cover campaign made perfect sense when it was released (before the Soviets had the H-bomb).
@skoidat
May 6, 2025 at 11:21 am
Honestly the officially sanctioned view of Stalin is wrong. You can read any essay he’s ever written, he is constantly trying to fight the bureaucracy in favor of more direct democratic control. You can be scared of democracy and consider that “evil” but that makes you a bad person.
@wombatsgalore
May 6, 2025 at 1:31 pm
So, McCarthy was wrong, but there WERE a lot of sleeper cells… Which is it?
Also, there was not a single Afghani taking part in the 9/11 attack. WTF?
@lordraydens
May 6, 2025 at 2:06 pm
belarus and transnistria didn’t get the memo about the soviet union falling lol
@suutari13
May 6, 2025 at 2:42 pm
that chosenites murdered JFK
@GrPTkach
May 6, 2025 at 4:08 pm
Серьёзно, а то что в результате кубинского кризиса были вывезены боеголовки из Турции, никого не смущает?
@PoshPom
May 6, 2025 at 4:59 pm
Can’t believe a historian would say kissinger is anything worth note. Michael Kimmage you are a disgusting apologist to human suffering
@Tituspulloxiii
May 6, 2025 at 6:57 pm
Yeah to be fair why would we expect they would allow some big shot to tell the truth on one of the most popular platforms.
We all know the real answer who murdered JFK and why.
@mattphoenix4702
May 6, 2025 at 7:35 pm
It’s always tickled me a little that there was a period of time right after JFK was assassinated that Kruschev was genuinely unsure if the KGB had just started WW3. He had to call in the head of the KGB to make sure it wasn’t a Soviet plot that he hadn’t been aware of.
So his first firm denials of involvement were actually more hopeful denials of involvement
@jerseyjunior
May 6, 2025 at 7:43 pm
this dude is smart
@Hed_Vase
May 6, 2025 at 7:45 pm
5:14 an interesting note I found was that civil servants would have taken on certain roles in the event of a global nuclear catastrophe, mail carriers would have been tasked with taking census of survivors, which I find slightly morbid, but interesting
@116Bears
May 6, 2025 at 8:18 pm
How you gonna disrespect my man Patrice Lumumba of the DRC? CIA 100% assassinated him (the only direct assassination they ever carried out iirc) because they feared he was going towards communism.
@SheriSmiles22
May 7, 2025 at 12:07 am
Wow! Great video. Very informative.
@Zereniti77
May 7, 2025 at 3:23 am
Related to efforts by Radio Free Europe: One of the thorns on Soviets backside was Finland and their television broadcasts. Finland, for some strange reasons, build a tv-tower near the southern coast, and those signals could reach Soviet Estonia. Estonians could, with some effort, watch Finnish television. They saw ads for grocery-stores filled with food, they could watch western tv-shows (“Dallas” was particularly popular) and they could watch western news-broadcasts. Soviets tried to block those broadcasts, but they were never completely successful.
@kkon5ti
May 7, 2025 at 6:15 am
0:32 at this time, Britain still also is to be considered a big superpower. Of course its economy was in ruins, but the colonial empire and rule over a about billion people still existed.
@gribblefunk
May 7, 2025 at 6:36 am
shout out to the closed-captioner who correctly transcribed “@Cre8evLee” but also wrote “Vladimir Lennon” lmfao
@gribblefunk
May 7, 2025 at 6:52 am
i’d really like to hear him speak more on what defines “direct involvement” in a conflict. am i directly involved by cyberbullying russian diplomats? the line has to be drawn somewhere and i think it’s more than a little disingenuous to suggest the US is “directly involved” in ukraine without at least setting terms. are you trying to illustrate a difference between materiel support and kinetic engagement? because you didn’t do that; or at least, it didn’t come out in the edit.
@kkon5ti
May 7, 2025 at 7:52 am
22:11 huh? What about the Korea war? Or is that too early to be considered? And what about the differences in ideology, then and now? The „west“ largely kept the same, but the „east“ changed much of their ideology and this still culminates in a „cold war“, when one could argue that ideology was the reason for the original.
@thomasblennerhassett7223
May 7, 2025 at 9:33 am
Criminal lack of context about the Missile Crisis. The crisis was precipitated by the US putting missiles in Italy and Turkey – essentially the inversion of missiles in Cuba for the USSR. In addition Khrushchev was notoriously reluctant to put missiles in Cuba, Castro essentially forced his hand. The way this is characterized is as USSR aggression, which it simply was not.
@Tr1ckypants
May 7, 2025 at 1:06 pm
We must not allow a mineshaft gap!
@evestr7125
May 7, 2025 at 4:34 pm
Great video, but I feel like this is a very western centric perspective. It would have been interesting to have a historian that has a connect to both the eastern and the western side.
@DeathXSpotXElite
May 7, 2025 at 6:02 pm
such a biased historian, glossing over negative details toward the usa and just dogpiles the “other” side
@pepe_sasia
May 7, 2025 at 6:09 pm
CIA also played a role in the brutal military dictatorships in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay in the 70s to early 80s. This caused quite an anti-american sentiment south of South America.
@hydreamc853
May 7, 2025 at 8:01 pm
Good goy don’t mention the jews
@ChantingInTheDark
May 7, 2025 at 9:58 pm
20:21 – Hmmmmmm 🤔
@LVang152
May 7, 2025 at 11:07 pm
The Cold War = Super Power domination war
@CTengr6
May 8, 2025 at 3:39 am
Which minute is the Berlin Airlift? Thx
@jankykerle9256
May 8, 2025 at 7:51 am
20:35 how can you say it no longer exists when russians are trying to retake lost territory, flying soviet flags? For europeans, the threat remains the same
@bensmart4259
May 8, 2025 at 10:39 am
This is the most wildly American self-absorbed interpretation of cold war history I’ve ever seen.
Not keen on mentioning Bay of Pigs?
Nah, let’s just have a crack at Trump for things that happened 30 YEARS before he had any real executive power.
@ezbakeovendeath
May 8, 2025 at 11:03 am
Um, Moon LAUNCH? Not landing?? o_O
@rzvl333
May 8, 2025 at 2:54 pm
хороший показатель, если гражданин эксперт или пропагандист, если он использует словосочетание типа “сидеть в гулаге”.
@whatever8282828
May 8, 2025 at 5:01 pm
Somebody really misunderstood the meaning of “Radio Free Europe”! (although based on the subreddit, likely a facetious joke)
@sasorioftheredsand97
May 8, 2025 at 6:15 pm
He said “If the US would have invaded Cuba” we did though right? Wasn’t that the Bay of Pigs?
@resipsaloquitur13
May 8, 2025 at 6:20 pm
“Bro, communism is awesome!”
~Nobody Ever
@Ajl5353_
May 8, 2025 at 7:51 pm
Omitting turkey’s involvement in the cuban missile crisis and kissinger’s role in cambodia are two very conveniently missing pieces of information.