Third of a four-part documentary series investigating what drove the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
In the 1960s, the old colonial empires were collapsing. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev saw the chance of new triumphs for socialism. This documentary explores the Soviets' real intentions at two flash points - Cuba and Vietnam. Including interviews with leading Soviet spies and diplomats, and challenging myths, it traces the Cuban story from Moscow's first attempts to make contact with Fidel Castro, through the missile crisis, to Khrushchev's fall from power. His successor, Leonid Brezhnev, came to office in the wake of Khrushchev's humiliation to face escalating conflict in Vietnam. Brezhnev's support for the North was to lead him to the brink of war, not just with the US but with China.