Linking Arms: Central Europe´s Weapons Sector, 1954 - 1994

Despite the divisions of the Cold War, Austrian- and Czechoslovak-made weapons never circulated neatly in separate spheres of East and West: instead, both belong to a joint history of two interlinked arms sectors that operated in connected ways. Focusing on the Czechoslovak and Austrian arms industries—in particular between 1954 and 1994— "Linking Arms" compares both states’ production and distribution strategies and maps actor networks and infrastructural interconnections common to both. Our working hypothesis is that similarities (and continued connections) rather than differences characterized the experiences of those involved in the arms sector in Central Europe on both sides of the Iron Curtain, despite the political realignments of the era.