Ice and Snow in the Cold War: Histories of Extreme Climatic Environments

The history of the Cold War has focused overwhelmingly on statecraft and military power, an approach that has naturally placed Moscow and Washington center stage. Meanwhile, regions such as Alaska, the polar landscapes, and the cold areas of the Soviet periphery have received little attention. However, such environments were of no small importance during the Cold War: in addition to their symbolic significance, they also had direct implications for everything from military strategy to natural resource management. Through histories of these extremely cold environments, this volume makes a novel intervention in Cold War historiography, one whose global and transnational approach undermines the simple opposition of “East” and “West.”

Julia Herzberg is Professor for the Cultural History of Eastern Europe at the University of Leipzig and Deputy Director of the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO).

Christian Kehrt is professor of history of science and technology at the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany. His research interests lie in the cultural history of science, technology and the environment.

Franziska Torma works on the history of marine biology at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, Munich (project funded by the German Research Foundation, DFG). Her research interests include the history of science and the cultural and environmental history of the nineteenth and twentieth century.