HIS 112
Unit 11: Cold War

Livadia Palace on the Crimean coast where the Yalta Conference took place in February 1945. Many scholars have cited the decisions reached at the conference as marking the start of the Cold War. Photo courtesy Thomas T. Hammond.

• Read the section "Superpower Confrontation" in chapter 29 and the sections "The Climax of the Cold War" and "Transforming the West" in chapter 30 in the textbook.
  
• Read my notes for HIS 135 on the Cold War, and I also have remarks on Russia and the Cold War and Gorbachev in my HIS 242 course.
• Watch the short video on the Cold War by Professor Evans
• Check out Professor Campbell's video, Was The Cold War B.S.?
• Study the Questions to Consider and the Key Terms for the unit.
• Read the book by Bao Ninh, The Sorrow of War in its entirety.
• Submit the Bao Ninh paper (100 points).

• Read about Mao Zedong and the Little Red Book.
• You can also read my old paper on Soviet efforts in the 1970 to promote communism in Ethiopia.
• Check out the excellent timeline of the Berlin Wall (created using Tiki-Toki) by Cameron Peters, former student.
• See the excellent timeline, Significant Events of the Korean War, created by Kelton Adams-Elkins, Alex English, and Christopher Belcher, former students.
  

• USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War: Crash Course World History #39
• The Cold WR - Part 1: From World War to Cold War
• Berlin Airlift
• Propaganda: Your Job in Germany Professor Campion adds: "The clip is from a US military training film produced to prepare American soldiers for their occupation of Germany. The film provides insight into the occupation which helped solidify the Cold War dynamic on the international stage."
• Korean War Overview
• JFK and Nixon debate on the Cold War
• Secret Cold War Bombers of the Americans and Russians
• Duck and Cover - Nuclear Safety & the Cold War
• Korean War 1950 to 1953 - Part 1 of 3
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• China: The Roots of Madness (1967)
• Vietnam War
• Biography of Ho Chi Minh
• Communists, Nationalists, and China's Revolutions: Crash Course World History #37
• For extra credit please suggest to your instructor a relevant video for this unit of the course. Send the title of the video, the URL and a brief explanation of why you find the video interesting and applicable to the material that is being studied in this unit.

• For up to 25 points of extra credit, read George Kennan's "The Sources of Soviet Conduct".  In a one-page paper, given the benefit of hindsight, assess the accuracy of Kennan's remarks almost fifty years later.
• For up to 25 points of extra credit, watch the movie Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, directed by Stanley Kubrick), released at the very hight of the Cold War.  In a one-page paper, explain why or why not a similar-type of movie poking fun at the current international situation could be released in 2006.
• For up to 25 points of extra credit, read the The Tonkin Bay Resolution (1964), and then write a one-page paper, How did the Gulf of Tonkin Incident provide an excuse for United States military involvement in Vietnam?
• For up to 25 points of extra credit, read excerpts from Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech (1946) and then Joseph Stalin's Reply to Churchill (1946) and write a one-page paper comparing the rhetoric on both sides.
• For up to 25 points of extra credit (maybe more), read President Sukarno of Indonesia: Speech at The Opening of The Bandung Conference (April 18, 1955) and Prime Minister Nehru: Speech to Bandung Conference Political Committee (1955) and Anwar el Sadat: Afro-Asian Solidarity and the World Mission of the Peoples of Africa and Asia (1957)  and write a one-page paper (maybe longer) in which you assess the rationale for the Non-Aligned Movement.
• For up to 10 points of extra credit, compare and contrast the NATO and Warsaw pact treaties in a short paragraph.
• For up to 10 points of extra credit, read The Helsinki Final Act (1975) and write a short paragraph explaining the purpose of the Accords.
• For up to 10 points of extra credit, read the U.S. and USSR Exchange of Notes on the Berlin Wall (1961) and write a paragraph on the politics involved in the creation of the Berlin Wall.
• For extra credit, please suggest a relevant website for this unit of the course.  Send your instructor the title of the site, the URL and a brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to the material being studied this unit.

• Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to (1) review the causes and events of the Cold War and (2) assess the worldwide impact of the Cold War.