Decoding History · Digital Product
1945–Present — The Definitive Chronological Record
From the iron curtain to the new great power competition — the complete record of the Cold War and the world it created, designed for serious self-study, not casual reading.
80 yrs
Scope
20–30M
Proxy War Deaths
9
Nuclear States
$16.99
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Built for three kinds of readers
Students
Aligned to AP World History, AP US History, IB History, and A-Level curricula. Chronology, key figures, glossary, and study apparatus designed for exam preparation.
General Readers
Follow the year-by-year narrative or jump to the “7 Turning Points” and “Cold War in One Page” sections for a faster overview. Properly cited throughout.
Educators
Essay prompts and test-your-knowledge sections designed for direct classroom assignment use. Suitable for handouts or as a supplementary reference document.
See inside
Title page
Scope & contents
Narrative section
Reference section
Authoritative sources
Why this isn’t a generic PDF
- Every fact verified against authoritative sources — the Wilson Center Cold War International History Project, the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Relations of the United States series, the National Security Archive, and peer-reviewed works by Gaddis, Westad, Zubok, Plokhy, Sarotte, and Applebaum.
- Aligned to standard curricula — AP World History, AP US History, IB History, A-Level. Built around the chronology, figures, and themes students are actually tested on.
- Goes beyond 1991 — full sections on the post-Cold War order, NATO expansion, Russia’s resurgence, the Ukraine war, and the new U.S.–China great power competition, current through 2026.
- Designed for active study — glossary, study questions, essay prompts, and a test-your-knowledge quiz with answer key.