American Prestige E240 - Espionage and Empire in the Cold War w/ Alfred McCoy
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Mar 10, 2026 Alfred McCoy, Harrington Professor of History and author of Cold War on Five Continents, maps the Cold War through decolonization and covert action. He discusses how individual intelligence operatives shaped conflicts across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He links imperial decline, chokepoints like Suez and Hormuz, and energy geopolitics to broader shifts in global power.
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Peripheral Wars Were the Real Cold War Violence
- From a Washington-Moscow view, the Cold War reads as a thermonuclear war that never happened, but peripheral wars caused roughly 20 million deaths.
- McCoy reframes the Cold War by centering periphery conflicts that produced most violence.
Suez Crisis Sank British Global Position
- McCoy recounts the 1956 Suez crisis: Britain, France, Israel struck Egypt, but Nasser scuttled ships and cut the canal, forcing British retreat.
- The crisis triggered a sterling collapse and accelerated British imperial decline.
Chokepoints Can Expose Hegemonic Decline
- McCoy draws a parallel: a weakened hegemon intervening in a chokepoint risks strategic humiliation and accelerated decline.
- He maps Suez to a hypothetical U.S. campaign against Iran that could close Hormuz and spike energy prices.
