00:00 [Music]
00:11 1989. The world looks ahead to a brighter future, but history could have easily taken a different course.
00:19 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the new General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
00:25 His attempts at revitalizing an ailing USSR bring him into direct conflict with hardline party members and the military.
00:32 It doesn't take much to envision a Cold War turned decisively hot.
00:37 1987. A surprise coup removes Gorbachev and his allies, squashing any prospect of change in the USSR.
00:45 An old guard troika, representing the party, KGB, and military, takes over.
00:51 The Stalinist-inspired leadership wants to reclaim USSR's former glory.
00:56 Its power is militarily enforced, its dictate absolute.
01:00 Budding unrest in Armenia and the Baltic countries is crushed without remorse.
01:05 The West remains silent. Emboldened, the troika looks to tighten control over its territories and neighboring states.
01:12 Neutral Finland, in an audacious KGB-orchestrated political takeover, is forced to embrace a pro-Soviet government.
01:19 The Helsinki coup of 1987 is a watershed moment between West and East. Tensions skyrocket.
01:26 An outraged US President, Ronald Reagan, refuses to stand by idle.
01:30 He initiates a second phase of the so-called "New Cold War."
01:34 Covert ops and counterinsurgencies surge across the globe.
01:38 A flurry of armament deals tighten bonds with new and old allies alike.
01:43 Western sanctions and rising military expenditure press the Soviet Union into ever-worsening trade agreements, inflating crippling debts.
01:51 With oil reserves running low, food shortages in the USSR turn commonplace. Discontent grows.
01:59 Popular demonstrations in Poland and East Germany are violently dispersed.
02:03 Warsaw Pact's hold on power slips with each passing day.
02:08 1989. NATO plans a larger-than-ever reforger exercise for September 1989.
02:15 A paranoid troika believes conflict in Western Europe is imminent. They plan to strike first.
02:21 Moscow sees conventional war as the only recourse.
02:24 Under cover of the massive ZPAD-89 exercise in East Germany, the Warsaw Pact prepares in secret.
02:31 Full combat readiness is achieved. Political guile and maskirovka try to deceive an uneasy NATO.
02:38 Late on June 19, 1989, the sudden withdrawal of Warsaw Pact border guards puts NATO on high alert.
02:45 The warning order is issued.
02:48 [Beeping]
02:53 [MUSIC]
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