The Cold War: When nuclear weapons kept the entire world on the edge of M.A.D. – Mutually Assured Destruction. As Russia, China and the USA flex their military muscles on the global stage today, ‘M.A.D. World’ takes a close look at the last time we were threatened by the might of world superpowers: The Cold War.

In this episode:

- Military bases spring up along both sides of the iron curtain. Many are supplied with bombers and highly trained pilots on constant alert to drop a nuclear bomb on the enemy.

- The Hungarian people rise up against their soviet occupiers and win a few days of freedom before Russian troops arrive to brutally suppress the uprising. Thousands of Hungarians try to flee across the border to Austria.

- The corrupt Batista regime is ousted by Fidel Castro and Cuba becomes a Marxist state on the doorstep of the USA. American attempts at destroying the Castro regime culminate in the humiliation of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

- The world listens in fear to the rhythmic beep of Sputnik, the first man-made object in space. This Russian triumph is a chilling statement on the advanced technology of the Soviet Union. Then the USSR wins again by putting the first man in space.

- Overnight, the Soviet Union uses barbed wire and troops to seal off West Berlin. The leak in the Iron Curtain is sealed and refugees now have no means of getting from East to West. The barbed wire soon becomes a huge concrete wall which is the scene of dramatic escape
attempts.

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