Introduction to course requirements; Introductory quiz to determine existing state of knowledge. Reading: Mazower, Mark. Dark Continent: Europe’s Twentieth Century. London: Penguin Books, 1998: 215-252. Assignments/deadlines: None.

We look at the world crisis of the 1930s and 40s, which brought the United States, Great Britain and the USSR together in an unlikely alliance. We examine tensions in this wartime alliance; the relative contributions made by each ally to the victory against Nazi Germany, social revolutions in World War II Europe on the left and right, and the wartime treaties. In the second part of the class, there will be a non-presentation discussion seminar on the controversies surrounding the Yalta Conference of February 1945. Students will be assigned readings and will be expected to come to class prepared to summarise and discuss their readings and to defend their perspectives on the Yalta Conference in a class debate. There will be a graded, follow-up discussion on NEO forums. Reading: Reynolds, David. From World War to Cold War: Churchill, Roosevelt and the International History of the 1940s. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006: 235-87. Assignments/deadlines: NEO Forum and in-class discussion: Yalta: Did Roosevelt and Churchill Betray the Peoples of Eastern Europe? Your follow up 1-2 paragraph response to my NEO Forum prompt, in which you will briefly outline what you have learned both from your assigned reading and from the classroom discussion, is due Sunday, February 26th by 23.59/11.59pm CET, if you decide to take this option.

The lecture looks at the period from the Yalta Conference, the defeat of Nazi Germany and Potsdam. Early tensions between the United States, Great Britain and the USSR – over Eastern Europe, Manchuria and Iran – are analysed. We examine the “three declarations of Cold War” from February-March 1946: Stalin’s Electoral Speech; Kennan’s “Long Telegram” and Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech. The second session will look at one of the most heated controversies in American history: was it necessary to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945? Was this action the “opening shot of the Cold War,” as some historians have alleged? Students will watch and discuss an interview with historian Ward Wilson – The Myth of Hiroshima. There will be a graded, follow-up discussion on NEO forums. Reading: Peter J. Kuznik, “The Decision to Risk the Future: Harry Truman, the Atomic Bomb and the Apocalyptic Narrative.” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 5, Issue 7 (July, 2007): 1-22; Samuel J. Walker, Prompt and Utter Destruction: President Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005), pp. 1-6, 75-110. Assignments/deadlines: NEO Forum and in-class discussion: The Atomic Bombings of Japan: First Shot of the Cold War? Your follow up 1-2 paragraph response to my NEO Forum prompt, in which you will briefly outline what you have learned both from your assigned reading and from the classroom discussion, is due Sunday, February 26th by 23.59/11.59pm CET, if you decide to take this option.

The lecture focuses on the escalation of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States throughout 1946-47: the Turkish Straits and Trieste Crises of 1946; the Clifford-Elsey Memorandum and the Truman Doctrine. Students will watch a section of the documentary CNN The Cold War – Episode 3 – Marshall Plan. The first formal class debate will contest the following proposition: “This house affirms that Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union bear the primary responsibility for starting the Cold War.” Reading: Gaddis, John Lewis. We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997: 1-53; Leffler, Melvyn P. “The Cold War: What Do 'We Now Know'?” The American Historical Review, Vol. 104 (1999): 501–524. Assignments/deadlines: The first formal class debate: “This house affirms that Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union bear the primary responsibility for starting the Cold War.” One third of the class will debate the question in two teams of three students each, with those not speaking acting in an advisory capacity. Each team will be given time to present their arguments and for rebuttal. The non-debating members of the class will then quiz the participants with their own questions. Intense reading and preparation will be required from both debating and non-debating students.

The session focuses on the division of Germany into East and West; the Berlin Airlift and its consequences for both Soviet foreign policy and the long-term division of Europe. General factors leading to consolidation of Communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe between 1944-45 are explored. Students will watch and discuss the documentary CNN The Cold War – Episode 4 – Berlin. Reading: Tony Judt, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. London: Penguin Books, 2005: 63-99; Mazower, Dark Continent: 215-289. Assignments/deadlines: Seminar Presentation 1 – Victorious February: The 1948 Czechoslovak Coup.

This session shifts the course’s focus briefly to Asia and looks at the Chinese Revolution and its geo-strategic consequences, the Korean War and the early stages of the Vietnam conflict. Students will watch a documentary on the Korean War – CNN The Cold War – Episode 5: Korea. The class discussion that follows will look at the dual impact of National Security Council Document 68 (April 7th, 1950) and the Korean emergency which followed closely on its heels in July that year. Was the Soviet threat outlined in NSC 68 real – or a product of the McCarthyite hysteria? How did NSC 68 and the Korean War change the relationship between the American people, their government, their military and their allies? Reading: Leffler, Melvyn P. The Specter of Communism: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1917-1953. New York: Hill & Wang, 1994: 97-130. Assignments/deadlines: All students will complete readings for the class discussion and will come to class prepared to summarise their readings and debate issues related to NSC 68 and the Korean War in a class discussion.

The lecture for the first half of this session begins with the death of Stalin in February 1953, possibly the pivotal moment of the early Cold War. Soviet armies withdrew from Austria, and Soviet diplomacy helped resolve crises in Korea and Vietnam. For a moment, a lasting peace settlement seemed within reach. But by 1956, the Iron Curtain was back in place. The lecture looks at the reasons why this happened. Students will watch CNN Cold War – Episode 7: After Stalin on the rise of Khrushchev, the near revolution in Poland and the crushing of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. A class discussion on the events of 1956 will follow. Students will come to class prepared to talk about the readings assigned for this informal discussion. Reading: Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. London: Allen Lane, 2005: 129-65. Assignments/deadlines: None – save for the reading above.

The lecture looks at Khrushchev’s blustering “nuclear diplomacy”; Sputnik and the space race; the increasing Soviet and US involvement in the 3rd World; the growing Sino-Soviet split; the Quemoy and Matsu Crises; Eisenhower’s warnings on the military industrial complex; Kennedy’s electoral victory in 1960; the Vienna Summit and the Berlin Wall Crisis of 1961. The lead up to the Cuban Missile Crisis is examined – the Bay of Pigs and the early assassination attempts directed at Fidel Castro. The seminar presentation and class discussion look at the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 – the most dangerous crisis of the Cold War. Reading: Hershberg, James G. “The Cuban Missile Crisis.” In Leffler & Westad, CHCW II: 65-85; Gleijeses, Piero. “Cuba and the Cold War,” CHCW II: 327-48. Assignments/deadlines: Seminar Presentation 2 – The Missiles of October: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Midterm essays are to be uploaded to Turnitin Assignment “Midterm Essay” on NEO LMS by 23.59/11.59 pm CET Sunday, March 24th.

This session will examine the Cold War in the 1960s. The lecture will look at the broader picture of world events, especially United States and Cuban involvement in the Third World and the escalating conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Students will watch CNN Cold War – Episode 14 – Red Spring. Following the documentary, there will be a class discussion of the events in Prague in 1968. Students will come to class prepared to discuss the readings assigned to supplement the documentary. Reading: Judt, Tony. Postwar: 278-323; Brown, Archie. The Rise and Fall of Communism: 368-397. Assignments/deadlines: All students will complete the set readings to supplement the documentaries and facilitate our class discussion on the overthrow of Nikita Khrushchev and the rise and fall of the 1968 Prague Spring.

In the first half of the class, we will look at America’s involvement in Vietnam via the CNN Cold War – Episode 11: Vietnam documentary. Reading: Logevall, Fredrik. “The Indo-China Wars and the Cold War, 1945-1975.” In Leffler & Westad, eds. CHCW II: 281-304; Dumbrell, John. Rethinking the Vietnam War. London & New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012: 1-49. Assignments/deadlines: The second formal class debate: “This house affirms that America’s war in Vietnam was a necessary and just one.” One third of the class will debate the question in two teams of three students each, with those not speaking acting in an advisory capacity. Each team will be given time to present their arguments and for rebuttal. The non-debating two-thirds of the class will then quiz the participants with their own questions. Intense reading and preparation will be required from both debating and non-debating students.

The lecture looks at the origins of Détente in the late 1960s and early 1970s, especially in relation to Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik and the Sino-Soviet split. European arms control agreements are a particular focus. By 1979, Détente was collapsing under the weight of European suspicions regarding the Soviet modernisation of their intermediate missile capabilities; Third World crises, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the American domestic rebellion against the post-war liberal consensus. The seminar presentation and discussion in the second part of the class focuses on the critical period between 1977-1980, with the collapse of Détente and the development of the so-called “Second Cold War” of the 1980s. Reading: Westad, Odd Arne. The Cold War: A World History (New York: Basic Books, 2017): 365-422; 449-501. Assignments/deadlines: Seminar Presentation 3 - The End of Détente and the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.

The lecture dissects some of the inaccurate and unfair mythology regarding the Détente period, and President Carter’s role in the late Cold War in particular. We examine the Camp David Accords, the Chinese Alliance and the rise of Solidarity and the Eastern European dissident movement. Reagan’s foreign policy in Central America, the Caribbean and the Middle East is held up to critical scrutiny. In the third of our three formal classroom debates, two teams will debate the role of Ronald Reagan and the Reagan Administration in the end of the Cold War. Reading: Mitchell, Nancy. “The Cold War and Jimmy Carter.” In Leffler & Westad, CHCW III: 66-88; Fischer, Beth A. “United States Foreign Policy in the Era of Reagan and Bush.” In Leffler & Westad, CHCW III: 267-288; Troy, Gil. The Reagan Revolution: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009): 86-103. Assignments/deadlines: The third formal classroom debate – “This house affirms that the policies of the Reagan Administration (1981-1989) played the decisive role in ending the Cold War.” One third of the class will debate the question in two teams of three students each, with those not speaking acting in an advisory capacity. Each team will be given time to present their arguments and for rebuttal. The non-debating two-thirds of the class will then quiz the participants with their own questions. Intense reading and preparation will be required from both debating and non-debating students.

The final lecture will examine the causes of the collapse of the Soviet empire in Eastern and Central Europe from the 1980s to the early 90s. The final discussion seminar of the course will examine the revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe in 1989: their causes, course and consequences. Students will watch and discuss CNN Cold War – Episode 23 – The Wall Comes Down. Reading: Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945: 559-663. Assignments/deadlines: Students will read set readings and come to class prepared to participate in our final class discussion, Mr Gorbachev’s Revolution.

Students will sit an online, open book take home exam, which must be completed within 24 hours of commencement. Students will write two papers of c. 800-1000 words each on topics covered in the second half of this course – i.e., the Cold War from 1962 to 1991. The exam will be “open book.” Students may consult their notes and the internet. However, any plagiarism will be punished by an absolute failure for the entire course. Reading: None for this class. Assignments/deadlines: The final exam will be announced on NEO at 11.30 am CET, Wednesday May 22nd. Both final exam papers must be uploaded to the NEO Turnitin assignment “Final Exam” by the following day - 11.30 am CET Thursday, May 23rd.