Friday, January 21, 2022

Cold War

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo that the theme for the first of February is Power. 

The Cold War section of the War Museum opens with quotes. The wisdom is found in the first two quotes; Omar Bradley and Louis Mountbatten both saw service in the Second World War, and both understood the dangers of a nuclear age.


Despite working together as allies in the Second World War, the West and the Soviets descended into the mutual tensions of the Cold War period, a time of nuclear stand off, huge military alliances, proxy wars, and the so called Iron Curtain. Eastern Europe was sealed off.


One of the triggers of the Cold War happened in Ottawa. Igor Gouzenko was a cipher clerk at the Soviet embassy here, and took documents proving the Soviets were spying on the West, defecting with his family.


The Gouzenkos would live out their lives in Canada under protection. Gouzenko would take to writing, both his own story and fiction, and when he appeared in public he would always be masked. Today the apartment building where he lived before the defection still stands, and plaques stand in the park across from it explaining the significance of the place in starting the Cold War.


Some of the documents are reproduced; I did not photograph them this time out.


Tensions built between both sides in the wake of the Gouzenko Affair.


The Berlin Airlift was one such example.


The formation of NATO dates to this period, as does the former Warsaw Pact. Lester Pearson was the foreign minister at the time, and worked with his counterparts to organize NATO.


The Cold War would go hot in a far off part of the world, the Korean Peninsula.

39 comments:

  1. I remember very well this time and the fear of my mother that we would get a WWIII ! I don't need to go in a museum I lived all what you write life ! These are bad memories or have you ever played in ruins which were my playground and my friends lived the the basemeent of their houses because it was completely bombed out ? I could never forget ! My son has seen enough pictures and heard family stories he hates everything which has to do with war. This is part of your answer to my previous comment.

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  2. One can legitmately wonder if the Cold War ever ended.

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  3. More power, war will it ever end.
    Take care, enjoy your weekend!

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  4. ...I grew up during the Cold War, at least then we knew who the enemy was!

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  5. The tensions between the Russia and the west are surfacing again and we are in danger of returning to a Cold War. It really makes you wonder how Trump would have reacted to Putin under these conditions.

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  6. I am not sure if the present upset with Russia and Ukraine is cold or simmering.

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  7. Gouzenko would have an easy time with the masking these days. He’s blend right in…

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  8. @Gattina: I was old enough in the last stage of the Cold War to remember the anxiety.

    @Revrunner: it did, but now it feels like it's back all over again.

    @Sandi: unfortunately true.

    @Eileen: thank you.

    @Tom: lots of enemies now.

    @David: Trump would have handed all of Europe over to his master at this point.

    @anvilcloud: a bit of both.

    @Marie: he would.

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  9. Well documented by the historians but will we ever learn.

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  10. the cold war was a very stressful time.

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  11. And in the meantime, the thread of the Cold War seems to have picked up again where it was left: in eastern Europe.

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  12. It feels like the cold war is starting all over again.

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  13. The cold war could be returning with new players.

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  14. the Neverending story of power seeking ~

    Wishing you lots of loving moments, Great photos


    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  15. That's quite a time. It's important to understand history. The situation with Ukraine is awful.

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  16. I have to agree with some of the comments that the cold war could be starting all over again.

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  17. An era I remember well. I wonder if we aren't entering into another.

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  18. @magiceye: who knows?

    @RedPat: so it seems.

    @Red: definitely.

    @Jan: all thanks to a sociopathic kleptocrat with a grudge against the universe.

    @Sharon: yes it does.

    @Bill: that's how it appears.

    @Carol: thank you.

    @Jennifer: it is.

    @Michelle: me too.

    @Jeanie: that's how it feels.

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  19. Miedo me da una nueva confrontación, sería mucho más cruenta que todas las anteriores guerras.

    Feliz fin de semana.

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  20. Fascinating, thank you for another great share!

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  21. I agree, fascinating. Thankyou William.

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  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Sorry about that, incomplete comment posted by accident.

      Again...

      Thank you, William
      I didn't know about how the cold war started. What is going on today, feels like despots bullying the World.

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  23. ... and it seems that the cold war could be starting all over again.

    All the best Jan

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  24. And we´re back to it with Russia threatening the Ukraine so much it´s in the German news.

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    1. Vladimir Putin is a vile, horrible excuse for a human being.

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  25. I actually remember growing up in the duck and cover Cold war days, and actually it gives me hope for the future. Things have been bad before but they never go the way you fear they're going to go. Thank God!

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  26. playing catch up and checking out a few of your posts. hope your days are going great. been so chilly around here and it is hard to get finished what i really wanna 'cause not a thing will melt. we need some good sunshine. take care. enjoyed the visit. ( ;

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