Publication

This publication features the transcript of an oral history conference from 2006 on military planning in Central Europe during the Cold War. The transcript focuses on the late 1970s and early 1980s, when Détente came to an end and the Cold War reached a renewed peak with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, martial law in Poland, NATO’s announcement of its deployment of medium-range missiles in Europe and then-US president Ronald Reagan taking office, coupled with his announcement of the Strategic Defense Initiative. The conference was unique because it was the first time that high-ranking officers from countries of the former Warsaw Pact and of NATO held organized discussions of their military planning, the role of nuclear weapons in that planning, and their perception of each other’s intentions and capabilities.