 A "generation gap" divides America as a civil rights battle at home and an unpopular
war in Vietnam consume the nation.  |
|
 As America absorbs the hike in OPEC oil prices and concern
over human rights in the East grows, the spirit of detente
ebbs.  | |
 Reformers in Czechoslavakia challenge Soviet authority. But their "Prague Spring" is crushed by Kremlin hard liners. | |
 The Soviet Union is mired in its own Vietnam when Afghanistan
becomes a focus for superpower rivalry. | |
 Chinese manages to maintain diplomatic relations with both the United States and Russia without sacrificing its Communist ideology. | |

The atmosphere of the Cold War is saturated with mutual fear and apprehension. Governments increase the size of espionage establishments and increase domestic surveillance. | |
 The late '60s and early '70s bring a new era of detente as the aging Soviet leadership reaches out to an increasingly friendly West. | |
 Ronald Reagan abhors the idea of nuclear war and is prepared to vastly increase arms expenditure to protect America. His solution: the Strategic Defense Initiative. | |

The late '60s and early '70s bring a new era of detente as the aging Soviet leadership reaches out to an increasingly friendly West. | |
 The Cold War ends in a moment of Shakespearean spectacle,
and the whole world is watching. | |
 Covert action and economic intimidation power the United States' quest to keep communism out of Latin America. | |

Perestroika and democratization succeed where politicians
from Hitler to Reagan had failed: To break up the Soviet
Union. | |