Scotland’s role as a frontline country in the Cold War highlighted in new exhibition

A new exhibition is exploring how the nuclear arms race between the West and Soviet Union changed Scottish communities and the UK’s military.

Cold War Scotland tells the story of how the Armed Forces operated during the conflict and how communities adapted to a new type of conflict as well as looking at the demonstration against nuclear weapons.

Around 190 items are being exhibited at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Exhibits include secret intelligence training documents and material from those who were opposed to nuclear weapons in Scotland.

Dr Meredith Greiling, principal curator of technology at National Museums Scotland, said: “I think people are always surprised when we talk about Scotland as being frontline in the Cold War.

“I think people think of Berlin and places like that but, actually, what we want people to understand from the exhibition is that Scotland’s geographic location as one part of the Greenland Iceland UK gap made it very strategically important for Nato.

“If you think of where Scotland is, anything that’s coming from the Soviet bloc from the east heading west – Scotland’s going to be the first to know about it so it’s very important for listening and watching, monitoring what the Soviets for up to.

“Then, of course, from 1961 when the US Navy brought the Polaris-carrying submarines to the Clyde in Scotland is suddenly very much at the heart of the Nato nuclear deterrents.”

As well as covering the military impact, the exhibition also highlights how the conflict impacted everyday life in Scotland.

Kim Foden, who served in the Royal Observer Corps, said: “I was always interested in communications. We used to listen to the Russian trawlers with all the rustling aerials around Orkney.

“I knew that in any event of nuclear attacks, communications would be important, and the information would need to be clear that we have to move quickly – it would have to be passed to the people who knew what to do with information.

“I was just part of a team, and we practised setting up instruments to monitor nuclear fallout and communications equipment and we had fun doing that.

“It was serious, but we did make the most of it.”

Cold War Scotland will be available to view at the National Museum of Scotland until January.