Materialising the Cold War | National Museums Scotland

The Cold War was a global conflict that began in the late 1940s and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although the Cold War remained ‘cold’ in Europe and North America, the major powers fought ‘hot’ wars elsewhere in the world, including Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

At root the Cold War was a battle of ideas between capitalism and communism, however, some ‘Cold Warriors’ were motivated by other ideologies and national interest. Although the Cold War was a military confrontation in which nuclear weapons played a central part, the conflict took other forms, including through competitive sport and the arts.

Our collections contain a rich variety of Cold War-related material from Scotland, the UK and many other countries around the world. These range from large three-dimensional objects, such as aircraft and missiles, to small two-dimensional photographs and ephemera. From weapons of war in our military and aviation collections to Chinese communist art in our world cultures collections, the Cold War is represented in diverse ways across our museums.

Now that the Cold War has passed into history, many objects have different meanings for people today. Some were once secret and hidden from view; others were part of our daily lives. Our Cold War objects speak not only of a time when the world stood on the brink of nuclear war, but also tell stories of global encounters and cultural exchanges between peoples from distant places.

Materialising the Cold War in the NMS Research Repository