The Cold War: Secrets, Espionage, and Power Struggles!

#63 Week 13

Author

Sigrun Sørumgård
March 28, 2025

Can you answer questions about the tensions, conflicts, and key events that shaped the Cold War?

  1. When did the Cold War begin?

  2. What was the name of the military alliance that the Soviet Union formed with other countries (the Eastern Bloc), and which the Soviet Union is considered to have led?

  3. In what year was the Berlin Wall built, and in what year did it fall?

  4. Which British Prime Minister popularized the term "Iron Curtain"?

  5. Which war was fought from 1950 to 1953, with the North and South supported by the Soviet Union and the United States, respectively?

  6. Which American president handled the Cuban Missile Crisis?

  7. What was the name of the Soviet Union's intelligence service, and its equivalent in the United States?

  8. Who was the last leader of the Soviet Union?

  9. What did "glasnost" mean?

  10. Which author was the first to come up with the term Cold War, this was towards the end of World War II, the author used it as a general term in his essay "You and the Atomic Bomb".

The Wonder Wall

  • Space was an important arena for the Cold War and even led to the creation of NASA.

  • In the 1960s, the USA had the brilliant idea that cats could be used to spy on the Soviets. Well, they didn't just have the idea—they tried putting it into practice. They implanted a microphone in a cat's ear canal, a small radio transmitter at the base of its skull, and a thin wire into its fur. However, on its first mission, the cat was hit by a taxi. Although the hit-by-taxi thing is disputed, the project never went any further. To quote the closing memorandum on the project: "The environmental and security factors in using this technique in a real foreign situation force us to conclude that for our (intelligence) purposes, it would not be practical". The program cost $20 million before it was shut down.

  • During the Cold War, the Soviets took note of a heavily-trafficked building in the centre of the Pentagon courtyard. Thinking it was a top secret building, the entrance to a secret underground bunker, or some such thing, the USSR had the building targeted. That is, until they found out it was just a hot dog stand.

Yesterday´s Questions & Answers

  1. Who sang: Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again?

    Simon & Garfunkel: The Sound of Silence (originaltittel The Sounds of Silence). Written by Paul Simon. It was released on October 19, 1964.

  2. Who sang: Sitting in the morning sun, I'll be sitting when the evening comes?

    Otis Redding: (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay. Co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. Redding recorded it twice in 1967, including just three days before his death in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.

  3. Who sang: I work all night, I work all day to pay the bills I have to pay Ain't it sad?

    ABBA: Money, Money, Money. Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus with Anni-Frid Lyngstad singing lead vocals. It was released on 1 November 1976

  4. Who sang: You left your typewriter at my apartment. Straight from the tortured poets department?

    Tayler Swift: The Tortured Poets Department. Written by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff. It´s the title track of her eleventh studio album, released April 19, 2024.

  5. Who sang: Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees?

    Eric Clapton: Tears in Heaven. Written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings, is about the death of Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor. It appeared on the 1991 Rush film soundtrack, released December 1991.

  6. Who sang: I was wondering if after all these years you'd like to meet?

    Adele: Hello. Written by Adele and the producer of the album 25, Greg Kurstin. It was released on October 23, 2015.

  7. Who sang: Life is a mystery. Everyone must stand alone?

    Madonna: Like a Prayer. Written by Madonna and Patrick Leonard. Released March 3, 1989.

  8. Who sang: And if I only could. I'd make a deal with God. And I'd get Him to swap our places?

    Kate Bush: Running Up That Hill (also titled Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)). Written by Kate Bush. It was released on August 5, 1985. In 1985, "Running Up That Hill" reached number three on the UK singles chart, Bush's highest position since her number-one 1978 single "Wuthering Heights". Then in 2012, a remix used in that year's Summer Olympics closing ceremony reached number six in the charts. In 2022, after it was featured in the fourth season of the Netflix series Stranger Things, "Running Up That Hill" reached number one on the charts in eight countries.

  9. Who sang: And for my nineteenth birthday. I got a union card and a wedding coat?

    Bruce Springsteen: The River. Written by Bruce Springsteen, accompanied by the E Street Band, recorded August 26 & 29, 1979 and released April 1981.

  10. Who sang: Tastes like strawberries on a summer evenin'. And it sounds just like a song?

    Harry Styles: Watermelon Sugar. Styles wrote the song with Mitch Rowland and the song's producers, Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon. Released 18 May, 2020.