Did you know a special type of Coca Cola was developed just for one Soviet general?

During both World War II and the Cold War, Coca Cola was a symbol of freedom and democracy all around the world. Both the U.S. military and the Coca Cola Company went to great lengths to ensure that American soldiers could get a cheap bottle of ice-cold Coke and a taste of home wherever they were posted around the world. But did you know that the Coke went even further than that and developed a special version of the drink just for one single man – and a Soviet commander, for that matter?
 
That commander was Marshal Georgy Zhukov, one of the most idolized Soviet generals, who was one of the main planners of the Battle of Kursk (Read our earlier article) and oversaw the Battle of Berlin. As commander of the Soviet occupation zone in Germany after the war, he was in contact and made good friends with several of his American counterparts, including Eisenhower (Read our earlier article), Bradley and Mark Clark (Read our earlier article). He also developed a taste for Coke.

The latter was a problem, since the product was seen by the Soviets as a symbol of immoral capitalism and American imperialism, and being seen with his beloved beverage would have hurt Zhukov's career. He reached out to his friends and inquired if it would be possible to make Coke look like vodka. The request eventually landed on President Truman's desk, who contacted the Coca Cola Corporation. The corporation was happy to oblige, and found a chemist who figured out how to remove the caramel, and the soda's distinctive color, during bottling. In order to further the deception, this new "White Coca Cola" came in a straight bottle with a white cap adorned with a red star, truly giving it a vodka-like appearance.

The initial shipment to Zhukov was 50 crates of the stuff. We don't know how many more he was sent later, but it's certain that the ancestor of Coca Cola Clear (and Crystal Pepsi) was established in 1946.

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