COLD WAR

Recently Declassified Soviet Video Shows the Biggest Nuclear Explosion in History

Tsar Bomba—the biggest hydrogen bomb ever—detonated in October 1961, and the Soviet Union caught it on tape.

Recently Declassified Soviet Video Shows the Biggest Nuclear Explosion in History

Tsar Bomba—the biggest hydrogen bomb ever—detonated in October 1961, and the Soviet Union caught it on tape.

10 Fascinating Illustrations of Soviet Space Exploration From the 20th Century

From liaising with Martians to living on the moon, here’s where Soviet magazines thought the Cold War’s space race would take us.

13 Surprising Facts About George Orwell

George Orwell is best known for penning the dystopian novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'—regarded as one of the greatest classics of all time—but writing novels was only one small facet of his life and career.

The Time the U.S. Government Planned to Nuke Alaska

In 1958, the Atomic Energy Commission decided to boost fishing commerce in Alaska by detonating a 1-megaton nuclear bomb to create a deep-water harbor. Residents were not amused.

Kurt Hutton, Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The Disturbing Reason Schools Tattooed Their Students in the 1950s

In 1952, at the height of the Cold War, elementary schools in Lake County, Indiana asked hundreds of students to line up, raise their arms, and get ready for the stabbing pain of a tattoo gun, all in the service of post-apocalyptic blood transfusions.

Why 1 Million People Live in Cold War-Era Bunkers Under the Streets of Beijing

For many, living dozens of feet underground in a windowless bunker is the only way to scale the social ladder.

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