When Pepsi Traded Soda for Soviet Submarines

Update: 2026-01-01

Description

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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When Pepsi Traded Soda for Soviet Submarines

#box-pro-ellipsis-176778813367287{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}When Pepsi Traded Soda for Soviet Submarines

When Pepsi Traded Soda for Soviet Submarines

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When Pepsi Traded Soda for Soviet Submarines