Cola Wars in USSR
The Soviets first got acquainted with Coca-Cola in the 1930s, when an official delegation visited America. Colonizing the USSR with the iconic U.S. brand was deemed too expensive at the time, but there was an idea to set up production lines with completely different ingredients. Instead of coca leaves Georgian tea was proposed. However, the new drink - Ruscola as it was dubbed - would never see the light of day. After World War II, Coca-Cola had a chance to get inside the Soviet bloc thanks to a famous personality. Marshal Georgy Zhukov, one the war's most famous Soviet generals, had developed a taste for Coke, after being introduced to the fizzy concoction by Allied forces commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Zhukov, however, couldn’t openly drink an American branded drink. He asked the company to create a special Cola, colorless like vodka, and not in such a “funny-looking bottle.” Soon he got dozens of bottles of White Coke, topped with a red star on the crown cap. Zhu