EPISODE 2: WAR GAMES https://nuclear-shadow.org/2018/08/03/episode-4-bunker-fever/ From 1949 onwards, Germany became ever more divided: it was now divided into two states, West and East Germany. As products of the Cold War, both German states were firmly cemented into their own respective power blocs: the East received support from the Soviet Union and adhered to the communist ideology. The West considered itself part of the ‘Free World’ and was backed by the United States and NATO. In the eyes of NATO, the new military union between America and Europe, a dark shadow loomed over the West: The Soviet Union, a secretive, repressive state with an enormous army. Both blocs now possessed nuclear weapons, making any full-scale attack extremely costly. Still, along the ever-tighter border between East and West Germany, NATO soldiers were on the lookout for a possible attack from the East. Generals drew up battle plans which would have turned Germany into a pile of irradiated rubble. Slowly but surely, the Germans came to realise that if a nuclear war were to break out, they would be right in the middle of it.
Please visit this site for a 17 minute video that was utilized as a final project for the Public History MA at Royal Holloway, University of London.