Cold war. Vol. 1. Episodes 1-4: Iron curtain

This 24 episode television series presents an excellent biographical history of the Cold War, from the Russian Revolution in 1917 through to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The battle between super powers America and the Soviet Union is told in great detail through over 600 exclusive interviews and personal narratives, newsreels and archival film footage which attempt to convey to the viewer some of the tensions and conflicts that threatened global peace during those years. Many major historical moments have been captured and provide an insight to the reasons as to how and why the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, East and West, and nuclear weapons became a part of our everyday life, particularly in the 1950s-1960s. Volume one features the first four episodes, covering the period from the Russian Revolution to the breaking of the Berlin blockade in 1949. Once allies against Hitler during World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States became divided over their political and economical ideologies post Nazi Germany with the US pushing for democracy and capitalism and the Soviet favouring expansionism and communism. As Central and Eastern Europe came under the control of Stalin and his puppet governments and the “Iron Curtain” was created, Germany and in particular, Berlin (divided into four occupied zones - US, British, Russian and French) became the focus of attention in the battle for ideological control. Berlin was blockaded and threatened with starvation by Stalin - the West’s response was the Berlin airlift. Meanwhile, to keep up with America’s nuclear capabilities the Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb on 29 August 1949. The American monopoly was over and so began the rise of the Super Powers and decades of confrontation. Narrated by Kenneth Branagh. (For more information see www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war)