As a historian, I only know the Cold War from stories and studying files. I am part of a generation that was born just before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many events we have lived through since our teenage years felt like they could be viewed as significant turning points in historical retrospect: the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Iraq war and the mass protests against the war, the financial and economic crisis, the Brexit, Trump’s election, the pandemic. The attack on Ukraine has a new quality. Even if war in Europe is new only from a privileged Western European perspective, there is good reason to view this war as a fundamental historical change, ending until recently cherished hopes that arose after the end of the Cold War.
Historian Roman Birke on a return of Cold War culture
