IB History Cold War Historiography (event/perspective)

Origins of the Cold War (Schlesinger)

An analysis of the origins of the Cold War which leaves out these factors - the intransigence of Leninist ideology, the sinister dynamics of totalitarian society, and the madness of Stalin - is obviously incomplete.

Origins of the Cold War (Williams)

it was [...] assumed in Eastern Europe in 1945 that [...] free access for American economic power would in turn help to create and sustain political predominance

Origins of the Cold War (Pollock)

The Cold War was as much about competing economic systems as it was about geopolitics and military conflict

Origins of the Cold War (Gaddis - external)

Circumstances beyond the control of either power left Americans and Russians facing one another across prostrated Europe at the end of WW2

Origins of the Cold War (Gaddis - internal)

Internal influences in the USSR - the search for security, the role of ideology, massive post-war reconstruction needs, the personality of Stalin - together with those of the US - the need for self-determination, fear of Communism, the illusion of omnipotence fostered by American economic strength and the atomic bomb - made the resulting confrontation a hostile one

Origins of the Cold War (Parish)

Stalin and his comrades in the Soviet leadership viewed themselves as relatively vulnerable, well aware that their country was much weaker in industrial and military capability than the US

Origins of the Cold War (Gaddis - bomb)

Stalin saw the bomb as a means by which the US would seek to extract post-war concessions from the USSR: 'a-bomb diplomacy is American policy'. There was something in this. Truman had used the bomb chiefly to end the war, but he and his advisers did indeed expect their new weapon to induce a more conciliatory attitude on the part of the USSR. They devised no strategy to produce this result, however, while Stalin quickly devised a strategy to deny it to them

End of the Cold War [inevitable] (Gaddis)

At the beginning of 1989, was that the Soviet Union, its empire, its ideology - and therefore the Cold War itself - was a sand pile ready to slide

End of the Cold War [people of EE] (Gaddis)

Ordinary people with simple priorities saw, seized, and sometimes stumbled into opportunities. In doing so they caused a collapse that no one could stop

End of the Cold War (Reynolds)

Gorbachev's insistence that the values of humanity took precedence over those of class and nation persuaded him that the Eastern Europeans must be allowed to go their own way peacefully

End of the Cold War (Herring)

More than anything else, it was the basic weakness of the Soviet system and the dramatic steps taken by the remarkable Gorbachev that produced these striking changes

Cuban Missile crisis (Walker)

Khrushchev had two clear motives. The first was to defend Cuba against the constant possibility of either an American-inspired or openly American invasion. [...] Khrushchev's second motive was to create a nuclear balance. [...] If Kennedy was seriously considering the possibility of a first strike, then parity through Cuba might be the way to save the Soviet Union

Truman Doctrine (LaFeber)

The doctrine became an ideological shield behind which the US marched to rebuild the Western political and economic system and counter the radical left

Marshall Plan (LaFeber)

The plan's approach... soon evolved into military alliances

Breakdown of the Grand Alliance (LaFeber)

The two powers did not initially come into conflict because one was communist and the other capitalist. Rather, they first confronted each other on the plains of Asia in the late nineteenth century

Vietnam (Rohwer)

The broader aims of American's effort in Vietnam were to keep the capitalist semi-democracy of South East Asia from falling to communism

Vietnam (Lee Kuan Yew)

By 1975 [non-communist South East Asian countries] were in better shape to stand up to communism. Had there been no US intervention, the will of these countries to resist them would have melted and South East Asia would most likely have gone communist

Berlin Wall (Willy Brandt)

The Berlin Senate publicly condemns the illegal and inhuman measures being taken by those who are dividing Germany

Berlin Wall (Walker)

The Berlin crisis had been a dreadful moment, but this was followed in Europe by a prolonged period of stability [...] a problem had been solved

Berlin Wall (Painter)

The Berlin Wall was an ideological defeat of colossal proportions for the Soviet Union and world communism

Berlin Wall (Lightbody)

As the wall was raised, peaceful coexistence collapsed

Cuban Missile Crisis (Judt)

A simple American misunderstanding that can stand as a metaphor for much of the early Cold War [...] The outcome of the Cuban Missile crisis would not have been very different if the Americans had realized sooner which game they were in; but the risks encountered along the way would have been much reduced

SALT I (Mason)

began a process of institutionalized arms control, confirmed the Soviet Union's parity with the US, and reduced the tension between the two nuclear powers

Détente (Gaddis)

[intended to turn] a dangerous situation into a predictable system

Détente (Pipes)

A trick

Space Race (Khrushchev)

Economy, science, culture, and creative genius of people in all areas of life develop better and faster under communism

Gorbachev (Mason)

He called for a new thinking in international affairs, and he said there could be 'no winners' in nuclear war