How the Cold War made the modern world

Vladislav Zubok debunks many of the popular beliefs about the Cold War, instead presenting an era of relentless change

Published: September 17, 2025 at 8:00 AM

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For most of the latter half of the 20th century, the world was frozen in a standoff. The Cold War era was defined by the ideological fissure between capitalism, led by the United States, and communism, espoused by the Soviet Union. But in a new book, Vladislav Zubok challenges much of the accepted wisdom that has shaped popular perspectives about this standoff since 1991. Speaking to Danny Bird, Zubok discusses why Americans were far more ideological than their Soviet contemporaries; why decolonisation and the Global South became the ‘nuclear fuel’ that sustained the Cold War; and how the conflict’s conclusion in the 1990s continues to reverberate in global affairs to this day.

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Vladislav Zubok is the author of The World of the Cold War: 1945-1991 (Pelican).

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Authors

Danny BirdContent producer

Danny Bird is a content producer at HistoryExtra

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