Andrew Long, from Great Britain, is a military historian and author. His fascination with the Cold War began with a trip to West Berlin in 1986, travelling through Checkpoint CHARLIE to visit the East. Andrew’s writing comes from a desire to make sense of an extremely complex period in modern history, weaving together inter-relating stories involving politics, ideologies, personalities, technological advances and geography. There is still much to be told on this fascinating subject. After a successful career in marketing, Andrew relocated to Cornwall and took up writing full time.

 

Andrew is writing a series of books on Cold War Berlin for Helion’s ‘EUROPE@War’ series. He is also writing books on Cold War Espionage, Intelligence Collection in East Germany, and Cold War Civil Defence for Pen & Sword.

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Why the Cold War?

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As a genre of military history, the Cold War is particularly underrepresented, which may be attributed to the fact it didn’t follow the ‘normal’ rules of war as typified by the two world wars of the twentieth century. There were no formal declarations of war, no famous pitched battles and no victory parades, so to speak. However, for most of today’s audience, it is the most relevant ‘conflict’ of their lifetimes – the first and second world wars belonged to their father’s and grandfather’s generation.

 

There are also numerous uncomfortable parallels in today’s news, with commentators talking about a ‘new’ Cold War. Readers will be keen to learn more about how we managed to avoid blowing each other off the map the first time around. 

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Why Berlin?

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The German city of Berlin found itself at the centre of Cold War intrigue and became a metaphor for the political and social upheaval that Europe and the world encountered after the Second World War. It became special because of its unique status on the front line of the emerging Cold War and the parallel existences of East and West Germany – sharing the same language and history, but travelling down very different military, political and social paths.

 

Berlin’s story is one of high drama, global gamesmanship, political manoeuvring as well as the daily struggle of everyday Berliners who were forced to live in extraordinary circumstances. It also the tale of the monstrous decision to cut a city in half, trap a whole country behind a wall and build a brutal and repressive regime that reached every corner of society. It is also the story of how people power ultimately triumphed and how the wall and all it stood for came tumbling down.