Cold War course: Why did two superpowers that could destroy each other never actually fight?
Work it out in conversation with your own AI tutor in the Epivo app.
Free · No card · Android app
Start learning freeFree · No card · Opens Google Play (Android)
Get an email when the iPhone app is ready.
- 30 minutes a day with your tutor, on the free plan
- Remembers where you left off and what you've told your tutor about yourself
- Certificate included anyone can check it online
Why Epivo
Learn through engaging dialogue. Not through lectures.
Gain deeper understanding and stay capable in a changing world.
Free · No card · Android app
Start learning freeHow it works
- Your tutor tells the story, a piece at a time, then hands you one small puzzle about why it happened.
- You think it through, out loud or by typing. You don't need to know the answer: your tutor helps you along and tells you when you're close.
- Step by step, it adds up. Your tutor remembers your past sessions and picks up where you left off.
What you'll understand
- 1945–1949How three wartime allies became rivals, and how Europe split in two
- 1950–1963Why the bomb made both sides afraid to fight, and how close they came over Berlin and Cuba
- The hot warsWhere the fighting really happened: Korea, Vietnam, and from Angola's civil war to Chile's coup
- Behind the Iron CurtainWhat everyday life was like in the East, and how people from Prague to Gdańsk pushed back
- 1985–1991Why it ended without a shot between them: the Wall falls and the Soviet Union breaks apart
You don't need to know anything first. The course begins in 1945. See the full course →
Hear a sample of how a lesson starts
Let's start in February 1945. Three leaders sit together at Yalta, still allies, about to win a war. Within a few years, their countries will be bitter rivals. So here's my first question for you. What could turn friends into rivals that fast? Tell me your guess, and we'll see where it leads.
What it costs
Free
- 30 minutes a day with your tutor
- No card needed.
- Your first hour uses the Premium voice (once, not every day). After that your tutor speaks with the free voice, which runs on your phone. The lessons, the questions and your progress stay exactly the same.
- Certificates included.
- Want more time? Paid plans add more tutoring time and more Premium voice time. See plans and prices →
Finish with a certificate
Finish all the Cold War courses and earn a certificate anyone can check online. See a sample →
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Thirty minutes a day with your tutor, and no card. Paid plans add more time if you ever want it.
Is my tutor a real person?
No. Your tutor is an AI that talks with you, follows a planned course and remembers your past sessions.
How do I know the lessons are accurate?
Before written lesson material reaches you, an AI checks its key facts against independent published sources, and a second AI re-checks anything flagged. Your tutor is instructed to teach from that material and to tell you when unsure: an instruction, not a guarantee. And you can check for yourself: tap Sources in the lesson menu and pick a session to see what it drew on, including links to the original sources.
How is this different from asking ChatGPT?
ChatGPT answers what you ask. Your tutor leads the way: a planned route through the whole Cold War, one question at a time, picking up where you left off.
Do I need to know World War 2 first?
No. The course starts in 1945, as the war ends, and your tutor explains what you need as you go.
Does it cover the bomb and the space race?
Yes. You follow the nuclear arms race from the first Soviet bomb to the hydrogen bomb and "mutually assured destruction", and the space race from Sputnik to Apollo.
Is it on iPhone?
Not yet. Epivo runs on Android today. Open this page on an iPhone and you can leave your email; we'll tell you when the iPhone app is ready.
Step into 1945. Uncover the rest together.
Your first lesson opens at Yalta, where three leaders bargained over post-war Europe.
Free · No card · Android app
Start learning freeFree · No card
Photo credits (all via Wikimedia Commons). Crowds on the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate, November 1989: Sue Ream, CC BY 3.0. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta, 1945: US Army Signal Corps, US National Archives (public domain, cropped). Building the Berlin Wall, 1961: Central Intelligence Agency (public domain). US helicopters in Vietnam, 1966: James K. F. Dung, US Army (public domain, cropped). Prague, August 1968: Central Intelligence Agency (public domain). President Kennedy and his advisers, 29 October 1962: Cecil Stoughton, White House (public domain, cropped).
