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history of the cold war (in one take) - history bombs lyrics

[radio operator]
sir, that’s the fifth one today! the same identical message:
“to history bombs, do the cold war (in one take)”
but what does it mean?

[commander]
history bombs, huh? it’s gotta be the russians, their spy network. maybe something to do with the manhattan project. i gotta take this to the president!

[moderator]
hey, guys! i’ve got this!

[radio operator]
who’s that guy?

[moderator]
p-ss me the mic, i’m coming through
so you thought there would be peace after world war ii?
how could you be so naive to believe
that we’d seen the worst of the 20th century?
on one side: the communist ussr v capitalist usa

[us military]
oo-rah!

[moderator]
the tension’s about to blow sky high
at the potsdam conference, 1945!

[president truman]
we did it, stalin, chalked up a win
and we’ve each got a nice little piece of berlin

[stalin]
my victory, truman, your troops arrived late
but at least i’ve seized the baltic states

[president truman]
so you’re gonna pull back?
time to take stock?

[stalin]
what? are you jealous of my eastern bloc?
so you want russian help to defeat j-pan?

[president truman]
well, actually, i’ve got an explosive plan

[moderator]
the potsdam agreement split germany and austria into four occupied zones as an “iron curtain” fell across europe
this was the only time truman and stalin met face-to-face
just one week after the conference truman unleashed america’s top secret nuclear weapons on j-pan, without informing stalin, fuelling mistrust between the former allies

[george kennan]
this is george kennan reporting from moscow, ma’am
eyes only for truman, a long telegram
it must be america’s firm intention
to contain soviet global aggression

[nikolai vasilevich novikov]
this is novikov reporting from united states
tell stalin we must spend whatever it takes
the us are clearly laying foundations
for total global domination!

[moderator]
kennan’s long telegram influenced the truman doctrine and marshall plan which provided aid to countries threatened by soviet communism
the us sent aid to turkey and greece, but when they tried to introduce the deutsche mark in germany stalin blockaded supplies to west berlin
cue the berlin airlift!

[raf pilot]
look up, stalin, you can block the roads
but the brits are flying in with peaceful payloads!

[royal australian air force pilot]
ha, good on ya, mate! how about some credit for the us, aussie, kiwi, and canadian effort?

[raf pilot]
we be dropping 9,000 tonnes of supplies a day
mostly coal and potatoes, hardly gourmet
now find me a runway, i need to hit the ground

[royal australian air force pilot]
you can head home, mate, stalin’s just backed down!

[raf pilot]
what, what!

[moderator]
the allies flew in vital supplies to west berlin until stalin backed down in may 1949
in the same year the western allies formed nato to counterweight russia
but that winter the balance of power was about to shift dramatically east

[stalin]
comrade, welcome to the soviet union. and kudos on your communist revolution!

[mao zedong]
and so a new era for china begins
i need good news to take back to beijing

[stalin]
an alliance together, if i may say so, would surely put it right up nato!

[mao zedong]
let’s renew the sino-soviet alliance

[stalin]
agreed! now, you like rocket science?

[moderator]
stalin and mao renewed the sino-soviet alliance, presenting a seismic shift in geopolitics
what’s more, the ussr secretly tested their first nuclear weapon
both superpowers began spreading their influence abroad backing a complex web of competing governments and rebel groups, until tensions crystallised on the korean peninsula!

[us air marshal]
okay, boys, it’s good to see ya
the commies are backing north korea
so we’ll be supporting our troops on the ground

[usaf pilot 1]
gettin’ up close to the speed of sound!

[us air marshal]
alright, now remember it’s a un mission
we’re part of a western coalition
protecting the south. you got that, briggs?

[usaf pilot briggs]
yes, sir! time to bag me a mig!

[moderator]
the korean war hit a stalemate until an armistice began in 1953. north and south korea were split along the 38th parallel – a line that still divides the country today. over the next decade, tensions escalated further and the conflict became truly global
are you paying attention? let’s go!

stalin died and truman lost power
in come khrushchev and eisenhower
the warsaw pact binds the eastern bloc
but the russian and chinese bond is rocked
in ’56 the hungarian uprising
is smashed by the russians, the world’s realising
that these superpowers crush those who oppose
as the cia ruthlessly hunts in the shadows
the sp-ce race makes for a dazzling sideshow
as khrushchev cranks up the pressure from moscow
in the berlin crisis, you’ve probably guessed
they put up a wall to split east and west
and just before you begin to relax
an island off florida has just unpacked
a lethal -rs-nal of soviet nukes
the world holds its breath and i’m gonna puke!

[president kennedy]
my fellow americans, there’s a soviet move-a
to a put a boat load of nukes on the island of cuba
it would appear that moscow has fed us lies
and i will not stand idly by
now i know what you’re thinking, last year wasn’t great
the bay of pigs was a big mistake
but after careful thought, the decision’s been made
we’ll stop moscow’s ships with a naval blockade

[moderator]
for thirteen days the world held its breath as washington and moscow communicated via unreliable backchannels
despite some close calls, khrushchev agreed to remove the weapons if kennedy removed his own missiles from turkey
meanwhile, on the other side of the world, an ill-advised proxy war was growing out of control

[us marine]
well, good morning, vietnam
lit by a furious fire of napalm
scarred by a million brutal sh-lls
a jungle paradise turned to h-ll
and is that battle really ours?
where’s the “just” within this cause?
america, an elephant scared by a mouse
drawing lines in the sand when the tide is out!

[moderator]
for two decades the us fought a futile war against communist-backed north vietnam until the us withdrawl
in 1972, president nixon travelled to beijing and moscow holding talks to limit the arms race during a period known as détante
however, in 1979, cold war tensiofs would ratchet up once more

[cia operator]
sir, we just got word from afghanistan
a communist coup!

[cia commander]
sounds like a soviet plan

[cia operator]
yes, sir, the russians are sending advisors
clearly, they’re trying to undermine us

[cia commander]
so let’s support the other side

[cia operator]
the islamist fighters?

[cia commander]
yeah, that sounds fine
encourage them to fight a holy war v the soviet union

[cia operator]
well, if you’re sure

[moderator]
the soviet union sent thousands of troops to support the communist party in afghanistan, but they failed to defeat local mujahideen fighters backed by the usa
in 1987 gorbachev and reagan signed a treaty to limit nuclear weapons as the soviet economy began to fail
and in 1989 the eyes of the world turned to berlin!

[male berliner]
we’re sick of silence, we will not rest
berlin as one, not east and west
if there’s one thing of which i’m certain
it’s time to end this “iron curtain”!

[female berliner]
we must destroy this brutal vision
this ugly symbol of division
east and west, join the call
hey, gorbachev?

[berliners]
tear down this wall!

[moderator]
in ’89 the wall came down
and eastern europe stood its ground
with a sweeping wave of revolutions
against their soviet inst-tutions
finally, after 50 years
of proxy wars and nuclear fears
the world began to heal the scars
of countless battles, near and far
and present day? fast forward the clock
we’re still living with the aftershock
this global war for domination
affected almost every nation
so don’t -ssume this war was “cold”
that it didn’t take a human toll
for the millions who died for their nation states
let us learn from their fate

- history bombs lyrics

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