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Our American Stories

When Pepsi Traded Soda for Soviet Submarines

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6817 Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, a soda company with submarines? In a bizarre twist of Cold War diplomacy, Pepsi brokered a trade deal with the Soviet Union that landed it an actual naval fleet, briefly making it the world’s sixth-largest navy by ship count. The History Guy shares the unbelievable true story of how American capitalism, Soviet politics, and global tensions collided in one of the weirdest moments in international trade history.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:02.5

Guaranteed Human.

0:14.1

This is our American stories, and our next story comes to us from a man who's simply

0:19.4

known as the History Guy.

0:21.6

His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of all ages on YouTube.

0:26.9

The History Guy is also heard right here on Our American Stories.

0:31.1

Today, the History Guy remembers rubles, cola, and a kitchen that changed history.

0:37.0

It is a forgotten moment during the Cold War that deserves to be remembered.

0:42.0

Here's the history guy.

0:44.2

Soft drinks are hard business.

0:46.8

The total worldwide beverage market value in 2018 was estimated at $2.2 trillion.

0:53.3

The Coca-Cola company's net operating revenues in 2016 were over $40 billion.

0:59.5

The industry is so lucrative that it represents one of the longest-lasting wars in modern history.

1:04.9

The Cola Wars.

1:06.5

While beverage industry giants Pepsi and Coke have been competing since their creation in the 19th century, the Kola Wars referred to particularly aggressive advertising against each

1:15.0

other since the 1980s.

1:17.3

That war took an odd turn in 1990 when Pepsico purchased a fleet of war ships.

1:23.9

Yes, actual warships that gave them at the time the sixth largest submarine navy in the world.

1:31.4

That odd event had to do with the peculiarities of the world's second oldest national currency,

1:36.4

the most significant world conflict of the post-World War II era, and a visionary businessman.

1:41.8

It is a story that deserves to be remembered.

1:46.0

The rubble offered a unique challenge for the Bolsheviks following the Russian Revolution.

...

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