Introduction

This chapter examines the United States-Soviet rivalry as part of a global contest that began with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and ended seventy-four years later when the world’s first communist state collapsed. The Cold War was transformed from the dynamic reality of everyday life into a closed episode with a seemingly definitive outcome. Once both sides possessed weapons capable of not only destroying the other’s territory and population but also contaminating large parts of the earth, the Cold War developed into a rigid struggle driven by fear and a costly arms race. Historical memories played an important role in shaping Cold War decision-making. Cold War history also teaches the importance of unanticipated events. In the case of the Cold War, people challenge is to sift a welter of testimonies and analyses in complete awareness that this effort will reap only preliminary conclusions but may nonetheless bring a measure of clarity.