Cold War Conversations Podcast podcast

Cold War Conversations Podcast

Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast recommended by The New York Times. Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more. These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human. This is Cold War history, told from the inside out. We cover subjects such as spies, spying, the Iron Curtain, nuclear weapons, warfare, tanks, jet aircraft, fighters, bombers, transport aircraft, aviation, culture, and politics. We also cover personalities such as Fidel Castro, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Mikhail Gorbachev, Konstantin Chernenko, Margaret Thatcher, John F. Kennedy, Josef Stalin, Richard Nixon, Lech Walesa, General Jaruzelski, Nicolae Ceaușescu. Other subjects include Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, West Berlin, East Berlin, Cuban missile Crisis, Berlin Airlift, Bay of Pigs, SALT, Perestroika, Space Race, superpower, USSR, Soviet Union, DDR, GDR, East Germany, SDI, Vietnam War, Korean War, Solidarność, Fall of the Wall, Berliner Mauer, Trabant, Communist, Capitalist, Able Archer, KGB, Stasi, STB, SB, Securitate, CIA, NSA, MI5, MI6, Berlin Wall, escape, defection, Cuba, Albania, football, sport, Bulgaria, Soviet Union, Poland, China, Taiwan, Austria, West Germany, Solidarity, espionage, HUMINT, SIGINT, OSINT, IMINT, GEOINT, RAF, USAF, British Army, US Army, Red Army, Soviet Army, Afghanistan, NVA, East German Army, KAL007, T-72, T-64, Chieftain, M60 The podcast is for military veterans, school teachers, university lecturers, students and those interested in Cold War history, museums, bunkers, weapons, AFVs, wargamers, planes, A Level, GCSE students studying Superpower Relations and the Cold War.

Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast recommended by The New York Times. Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more. These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human. This is Cold War history, told from the inside out. We cover subjects such as spies, spying, the Iron Curtain, nuclear weapons, warfare, tanks, jet aircraft, fighters, bombers, transport aircraft, aviation, culture, and politics. We also cover personalities such as Fidel Castro, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Mikhail Gorbachev, Konstantin Chernenko, Margaret Thatcher, John F. Kennedy, Josef Stalin, Richard Nixon, Lech Walesa, General Jaruzelski, Nicolae Ceaușescu. Other subjects include Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, West Berlin, East Berlin, Cuban missile Crisis, Berlin Airlift, Bay of Pigs, SALT, Perestroika, Space Race, superpower, USSR, Soviet Union, DDR, GDR, East Germany, SDI, Vietnam War, Korean War, Solidarność, Fall of the Wall, Berliner Mauer, Trabant, Communist, Capitalist, Able Archer, KGB, Stasi, STB, SB, Securitate, CIA, NSA, MI5, MI6, Berlin Wall, escape, defection, Cuba, Albania, football, sport, Bulgaria, Soviet Union, Poland, China, Taiwan, Austria, West Germany, Solidarity, espionage, HUMINT, SIGINT, OSINT, IMINT, GEOINT, RAF, USAF, British Army, US Army, Red Army, Soviet Army, Afghanistan, NVA, East German Army, KAL007, T-72, T-64, Chieftain, M60 The podcast is for military veterans, school teachers, university lecturers, students and those interested in Cold War history, museums, bunkers, weapons, AFVs, wargamers, planes, A Level, GCSE students studying Superpower Relations and the Cold War.

 

#434

Eyes at the Edge of the Iron Curtain - Life in a 1960s British Reconnaissance Regiment (434)

This is the 2nd part of the story of Miles, a British National Service conscript during hi... more

13 Dec 2025

1 HR 03 MINS

1:03:01

13 Dec 2025


#433

What was Cold War British Army Conscription really like? (433)

We hear the fascinating story of Miles, a British National Service conscript during his mi... more

06 Dec 2025

59 MINS

59:22

06 Dec 2025


#432

The Berlin Airlift - Victories, Myths, and the Berlin Blockade (432)

The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War when t... more

27 Nov 2025

1 HR 08 MINS

1:08:35

27 Nov 2025


#431

Surrounded and outnumbered 8-1 : A forgotten story of the Korean War (431)

This is the largely untold story of Task Force Faith, the U.S. Army soldiers who although ... more

22 Nov 2025

59 MINS

59:43

22 Nov 2025


#430

Shaking Hands with China’s Second Most Powerful Man (430)

Bill Hodes was an American school child in 1950s Revolutionary China and this is the secon... more

15 Nov 2025

54 MINS

54:25

15 Nov 2025


#429

An American Childhood in 1950s Revolutionary China (429)

Bill Hodes was a red diaper baby, a baby born to Communist parents. Bill shares stories ab... more

08 Nov 2025

57 MINS

57:21

08 Nov 2025


#428

The German Democratic Republic The Rise and Fall of a Cold War State (428)

Ned Richardson- Little has written a new book titled [The German Democratic Republic: The ... more

01 Nov 2025

1 HR 11 MINS

1:11:47

01 Nov 2025


#427

Trust but Verify: When the Soviets Came to South Dakota (427)

I continue chatting with Dennis Greene about his incredible journey from a challenging chi... more

24 Oct 2025

1 HR 03 MINS

1:03:12

24 Oct 2025


#426

Help Cold War Conversations win an award

I am trying to win an award for Cold War Conversations in the [Discover Pods Awards for be... more

22 Oct 2025

01 MINS

01:01

22 Oct 2025


#425

From Racially Segregated Savannah to Nuclear Missile Crew Commander (426)

Dennis Greene, is a former Air Force officer, who shares his incredible journey from a cha... more

17 Oct 2025

56 MINS

56:53

17 Oct 2025


#424

The KGB defector who saved MI5 and changed the Cold War (425)

Oleg Lyalin, was a KGB officer whose actions would provide British intelligence with pivot... more

10 Oct 2025

1 HR 03 MINS

1:03:15

10 Oct 2025


#423

Cold War Kids: The Unique Life of US Military BRATs (424)

Author Tom Hapgood is a US military BRAT  aka the child of a parent or parents serving ful... more

03 Oct 2025

1 HR 07 MINS

1:07:13

03 Oct 2025


#422

The Cambridge Five Cold War Spy Ring: Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Blunt & Cairncross (423)

The incredible story of the five most damaging spies in British history, from their recrui... more

26 Sep 2025

1 HR 06 MINS

1:06:53

26 Sep 2025


#421

Cold War Britain: Fifty years in the shadow of the bomb (422)

Fraser McCallum is the author of a new book [Cold War Britain: Fifty years in the shadow o... more

19 Sep 2025

59 MINS

59:57

19 Sep 2025