Scotland Cold War exhibition

The Scotsman

Scotland Cold War Scotland's role in the frontline of the Cold War is to be explored in a major exhibition which will open at the National Museum, in Edinburgh, on 13 July.

Transcript

00:00 The nuclear arms race made the Cold War different from previous conflicts.

00:05 The breakthrough in splitting the atom fuelled designs for electricity power stations

00:10 and even bigger, more effective nuclear missiles.

00:13 It was during this time that Scotland became a key place in locating these Cold War developments.

00:19 Nuclear power and nuclear weapons dominated the Scottish landscape and people's minds.

00:26 After the Second World War, politicians and scientists were keen to use nuclear science for energy production.

00:32 However, in government and military circles, the focus remained on building nuclear reactors

00:37 which could provide fuel for nuclear weapons, called weapons-grade plutonium.

00:42 Nuclear energy was seen as a secondary outcome.

00:45 The reactor at Chapel Cross is a good example of this dual-purpose manufacture.

00:49 It was launched in 1959.

00:52 The same technology that was used during the Second World War to develop the atom bomb

00:57 was used after the war to develop nuclear power.

01:01 The first full-sized nuclear power plant in the world was at Calder Hall in Cumbria

01:08 and that was soon followed by a power plant at Chapel Cross in Annan in south-west Scotland.

01:15 They were Magnox reactors and the 11 original Magnox reactors included the power plant at Hunterston on the coast near Glasgow.

01:26 At the time it opened, the Hunterston nuclear power plant was the largest in the world.

01:31 The nuclear reactor at Doon Ray was a breeder reactor

01:36 but for the most part, Doon Ray was a site of experimental nuclear power plant development.

01:43 The Doon Ray facility needed to be as far as possible from large settlements

01:49 because of the risk of nuclear explosion.

01:52 As such, the very northern tip of Scotland, near Thurzo, was chosen.

01:58 Scottish politicians and for the most part Scottish people were pleased to have nuclear power stations in Scotland

02:06 because they represented a new technological future and a great many jobs with economic benefit.

02:15 We may not view them as such now, but nuclear power reactors were a source of excitement in the early Cold War period.

02:22 They symbolised economic recovery, military strength and a futuristic source of energy.

02:28 Nuclear science became the topic of films, comics, literature and design.

02:32 In 1956, a sci-fi film set in Scotland depicted a group of soldiers grappling with a radioactive life form

02:39 released after an explosion on the moors.

02:42 And this edition of famous comic Eagle is based on a story about Doon Ray.

02:48 But Scotland is most well known for its nuclear-propelled, nuclear-missile-loaded crew of submarines.

02:55 During the Cold War, the Royal Navy based many of its submarine operations on Scotland's coasts.

03:01 In 1961, a US Navy base was established at Holy Lock on the Clyde.

03:06 From the mid-1950s until the late 1960s, Britain's independent nuclear deterrent was the responsibility of the RAF

03:15 and its V-bomber aircraft, who carried nuclear bombs.

03:20 That responsibility passed to the Royal Navy, equipped with missiles like this,

03:26 the Polaris nuclear missile designed and built in the United States.

03:31 The Royal Navy's submarines were based at Fas Lane on the Clyde,

03:35 but could operate from anywhere in the world's oceans.

03:39 The shift from nuclear weapons or missiles delivered by bombers

03:43 towards submarine-based nuclear weapons in the early 1960s occurred for three reasons.

03:49 Technological, strategic and political.

03:53 Technological developments meant that nuclear bombs had become obsolescent.

03:58 Bombers could now be easily detected and be shot down.

04:02 At the same time, scientists had developed missiles that could carry nuclear payloads.

04:07 Both the US and the Soviet Unions had acquired the capacity to hit each other with nuclear long-range missiles.

04:15 These technological developments had strategic consequences.

04:20 Given the range of the weapons the UK owned, it was important to be relatively close to the enemy.

04:26 Bombers and bases were now deemed too vulnerable.

04:30 Submarines offered the best protection for the UK.

04:34 This shift of emphasis from the Air Force to the Navy put Scotland

04:38 and its submarine bases on the front lines of the Cold War.

04:43 Nuclear weapons and power stations were not cited in Scotland without criticism.

04:47 The anti-nuclear movement became a popular way to protest these developments.

04:51 Anti-nuclear campaigners targeted various locations with marches, sit-ins, leafleting and camps,

04:58 from City Square in Glasgow to the banks of Holy Loch.

05:01 The tactics of anti-nuclear campaigners, derived from civil disobedience and non-violent action,

05:08 provided many opportunities for creativity,

05:11 examples of which are housed in the National Museum's Scotland collection.

05:15 The Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was an offshoot of the National CND organisation.

05:21 Anti-nuclear campaigners come from all walks of life.

05:24 A lot of working class and middle class people were involved, old and young,

05:28 particularly older people who had lived through both the First and Second World Wars,

05:32 who had seen the devastation that dropping the atomic bombs on Japan had had.

05:36 Parents and mothers particularly, there were people who supported Labour, Communists, SMP and even trade unions.

05:43 Kristen Barrett is a lifelong CND campaigner.

05:47 She began campaigning aged about 17 in the early 1960s.

05:51 She was really concerned about the future and what it meant for these nuclear weapons being based in Scotland.

05:57 One of the things she did do was create a pram stall,

06:01 where she would sell these badges from a pram that her daughter used to use.

06:05 So one of the largest matches that Kristen was involved in was the Peace March Scotland in 1982.

06:11 And this was a month-long march that started up in Inverness

06:14 and travelled all the way down through major Scottish cities until ending in Glasgow.

06:18 On one of these stops, Kristen was invited to stay with a minister in the local manse for the evening.

06:24 And in the morning, the minister had created this rattle bottle for her.

06:28 The bottle has been adorned with some really interesting stickers.

06:32 So the first one here is the CND logo.

06:35 On the other side of the bottle, we have a 'Stop Trident' sticker.

06:39 So this is in reference to the Trident missiles that were in submarines that were based in Scotland.

06:46 This collection is very personal to Kristen Barrett,

06:49 because these are the objects that she created, the leaflets that she spread,

06:53 and the things that she collected to represent her experiences during the Cold War

06:58 and her passion for the anti-nuclear campaign.

07:01 But these are also representative of a shared experience

07:04 and shows the real concern that Scottish people had about nuclear weapons being based in Scotland.

07:11 Scottish folk musicians made an impact on protest culture with songs like 'Ding Dong Dollar' by the Glasgow Song Guild.

07:18 Often the lyrics of these songs referenced Cold War sites in Scotland.

07:22 And, in the late 1970s, the construction of Turner's nuclear power station became the focus of a campaign

07:29 led by a group called 'The Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace' - SCRAM.

07:36 Scotland became a key battlefield for Cold War planning, symbolised by the nuclear deterrent.

07:42 As the country's Cold War role became increasingly visible,

07:45 Scottish communities responded in creative ways to show their awareness of

07:49 and engagement with nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.

07:53 [Music]

08:10 [Music]

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