IBHL Historians Civil War, Great Depression, Rights and Protests, Authoritarian States, and Cold War

A.J.P. Taylor

believes the U.S.S.R. had to ally with Germany because the Soviet Union had no other choice because of their political differences with Western nations.

Gar Alperovitz

believes the use of atomic weapons against Japan was to display American military power to the Soviet Union.

John Lewis Gaddis

believes the USA did not follow a consistent policy after 1945 because the USA had to adjust to a rapidly changing European scene.

Martin McCauley

believes, 'The Cold War came to an end because it was impossible for two powers to divide and rule the world. The will power had drained away.'

Stephen Ambrose

Blames Truman for wanting to increase US involvement in Asia

Felicity Allen

Jefferson Davis wanted to secede without war, he was harmonious and peace-loving, the North forced it upon him.

David Herbert Donald

lack of military knowledge by Lincoln hindered Resotoration of the Union; ex: did not reinforce McCellan when he was outside Richmond

Gordon S. Wood

Revolution represented power to the original people and a Republic devoted to the "pursuit of Happiness."

Gary W. Gallagher

General Lee entering Gettysburg was audacious and the "apogee of his grand strategy of offensive" Losses will be heavy

Mary Dudziak

Fears of communism stopped civil rights legislation

Jonathan Rieder

Black churches were the source of motivation for many leaders including MLK

Harvard Sitkoff

MLK had little success desegregating the North nor ending poverty

Robert Ross

Some apartheid policies were the result of fear of communism

Giliomee and Mbenga

Mandela's speech at Rivonia cemented his iconic status in South Africa

Andrews

Cold War all caused by Soviet Union. As long as they existed, their fault

Nigel Worden

Africanism was the result of impatience, and failure of the Freedom chart.

Will Williams

Cold War US's fault because they desired to expand their free markets

Whitaker

The security council was just made for the two super powers, the United States and the USSR, to fight each other.

Stevenson

The arms race was a self reinforcing cycle of heightened military preparedness. War preparation.

Thorpe

Empires were gone but instead countries built spheres of influence, which were basically the same thing.

AJP Taylor

Hitler's rise to power was inevitable in many ways. He was a product of Germany's authoritarian history which favoured a strong state led by a powerful individual.

Ian Kershaw

Hitler was not inevitable. He was propelled to power by historical 'crisis' conditions in which Germans were looking for a savior.

Alan Bullock

Hitler knowingly manipulated the masses and the elite to establish a dictatorship. He was an 'evil genius' who took advantage of good luck.

Alec Nove

Economic policies failed which caused upheaval for peasants

Simon Montefiore

Stalin was a product of Russian history- "Red Tsar"

Roy Mendelev

Great Terror was a deliberate action designed to strengthen the regime and Stalin's position

Richard Overy

Believed his policies towards minorities were political and strategic rather than racial- this helped with patriotism for war.

E H Carr

Stalin was phenomenally successful, but didn't last long and was soon a huge failure.

M. McCauley

Thought that Stalin strengthened Soviet Russia through his campaigns of industrialisation, collectivisation and social transformation

Edgar Snow

Mao was a hero who liberated China from Japan

Stuart Schram

Many of his decisions were logical responses in the circumstances of the time.

Chang

Mao was worse than Hitler, because he persecuted individuals for their thoughts.

Kennedy

Leadership - Roosevelt and the other New Dealers were followers as much as leaders. Their most far-reaching and durable accomplishments - the Wagner Act, Social Security, agricultural subsidies - were enacted in response to grass-roots movements that threatened to implode the Democratic coalition, then a fragile and self-doubting creature.

Timothy Taylor

Leadership - (the Great Depression was not Hoover's fault) It would be hard to find an economic historian to argue that fiscal [budgetary] tightness was a significant factor in worsening the Great Depression.

Irving Fisher

Causes of GD - Debt then Deflation - Too much indebtedness, then there was deflation.

Keynes

Causes of GD - Insufficient effective demand - Pump priming is needed through government spending

Friedman and Schwartz

Causes of GD - failing to rescue the banking system

Linda Gordon

Was the New Deal Successful - Kind of, but no - the Works Progress Administration, created in 1935, also had a positive impact by employing more than 8 million Americans in building projects ranging from bridges and airports to parks and schools. Such programs certainly helped end the Great Depression, "but were insufficient [because] the amount of government funds for stimulus wasn't large enough," she notes. "Only World War II, with its demands for massive war production, which created lots of jobs, ended the Depression.