Cold War Paper 2

Leaders Impact on course and development of the Cold War. Pit Falls Loses focus on the leaders. Fix: Stick with specific policies and decisions. Use leaders name instead of country. Analysis doesn’t go beyond capitalism vs. communism = increased tension. Fix: Pick up on shifts in relationships or policies that create change in course of Cold war. Ex: Khrushchev’s Peaceful Coexistence shifted the relationship between the USSR and China leading to the Sino-Soviet split. Ex: The Marshall Plan and subsequent European Recovery Program under Truman reinforced the division between East and West and established points of confrontation for ideological influence. Timeline Fix: Be careful with Truman and Stalin—keep focus primarily post WWII.

Leaders: recommendations Eisenhower Khrushchev Mao 1953-1961 1953-1964 1949-1976 Rollback Peaceful Coexistence Support for Revolutionary movements New Look De-Stalinization Rapprochement with US Korean War Resolution Summit Meetings Korean War Guatemala Hungarian Revolution Suez Crisis Taiwan Strait Berlin Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis Sino-Soviet Split

Leader Recommendations Truman Stalin 1945-1953 1929-1953 Containment Security in Europe through satellite states Truman Doctrine Expansion of communist ideology Marshall Plan/ERP NSC 68 Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam Comecon/Cominform Potsdam Berlin Blockade Atom Bomb Czechoslovak coup Berlin Airlift Soviet-Yugoslav split NATO Soviet atom bomb Korean War

Impact on two leaders on the course and development of the Cold War Evaluate Discuss Compare and contrast Analyze Examine To what extent

Crises Examination and comparison of causes, impact and significance Crisis: the turning point in a series of events that leads to a dangerous situation in need of resolution. Events that had the potential to escalate tensions or even lead to general war between the superpowers. General Pitfalls Losing the details of the crisis/over generalizing I think this is the root of some inaccuracies showing up with specific crises EX: The Soviet Union put nuclear weapons in Cuba because of US weapons in Turkey EX: Role of Soviet Union in Korea and use of “US” in Korea Too basic in comparisons—sticking strictly to what happened and not why it happened.

How to choose Consider short and long term causes How do the causes reflect superpower relationships or policies? OR . .. Does the impact set up a shift in superpower relationships or policies? YOU NEED SOMETHING MORE THAN BOTH CREATE/SHOW TENSION

Specific Crises Berlin Blockade Invasion of South Korea by North Korea First and Second Taiwan Strait Crises Hungarian Revolution Berlin Crisis Cuban Missile Crisis Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan Able Archer Crisis

What Gregory likes Hungarian Revolution and Cuban Missile Crisis Why? Shift in leadership/Kennedy and Khrushchev Hungarian Revolution and Taiwan Strait Crisis Why? Khrushchev and Mao foreign policy Berlin Crisis and Cuban Missile Crisis Why? Khrushchev diverging from Peaceful Coexistence/Détente

Rivalry, mistrust, and accord

Origins of the Cold War: Perspectives Orthodox: Focused on Europe/ignores conflict in Asia. Ethnocentric Immediate historiographical perspective/reflective on mindset at the time. Revisionist: Considers historical trends like imperialism, providing insight in to motives continuity in policy. Focused on the west—places less importance on role of leaders like Mao. Doesn’t assess Soviet influence Post Revisionist: Benefit of hindsight Accounts for clear differences in ideology Broad/open to interpretation

To what extent did economic interests rather than ideology lead to the breakdown of the grand alliance between 1943 and 1949? Compare and contrast the roles of the US and USSR in the origins of the Cold War. Examine the effect of the US policy of containment on relations with the USSR and the PRC from 1949 to 1962. To what extent was Khrushchev’s policy of peaceful-coexistence responsible for the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960’s? Discuss the impact of the Brezhnev Doctrine on the course of the Cold War. Evaluate the impact of Gorbachev’s policies on two countries between 1985 and 1989. To what extent did the war in Afghanistan contribute to the decline of the Soviet Union.

Understand what the command term/question is asking and what it allows for scope. BTSs should be argument points not topic sentences. Needs to set up an argument. Dig in to the how/why to support critical analysis Connect everything back to prompt/thesis Must address differing perspectives and one additional historical concept. Use the language/terminology

Be explicit about how you are answering the prompt—use language from the prompt. Avoid the narrative Big Facts vs. Specific Details Define your terms Set up the timeline When in doubt work in chronological order. Read prompts carefully for appropriate timeline.