This course assesses some of the main flashpoints of the Cold War and considers why they occurred, how serious they were and how they shaped our understanding of post-war global history. It starts with an examination of the historiographical debates that surround the origins of the hostilities between East and West, assessing the schools of thought concerning the question of who was to blame for the emergence of this conflict. It then examines early flashpoints of the Cold War, including the Berlin Blockade and the formation of NATO, the Korean War and the invasion of Hungary.
These last events occurred in a decade where ‘peaceful co-existence’ between the superpowers supposedly governed, and thus this definition of international relations will be considered. Two of the defining events of the Cold War – the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War – are then discussed, as the focus moves to the crucial decade of the 1960s. The course will then turn to détente in the 1970s and the changing nature of international politics in the 1980s with the emergence of a ‘second Cold War’. The revolutions in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Berlin Wall will be the focus of the last part of the course, as we question why the Cold War ended.
Learning outcomes
- An understanding of the origins of the Cold War;
- An ability to assess critically the historiographical debates in Cold War history;
- An appreciation of the course and consequences of Cold War events;
- An understanding of how the key themes of the Cold War shaped global history.
