|
THE COLD WAR |
|
| GENERAL BACKGROUND |
REF 909.82 Enc Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World
War II, 1999. 4 volumes. Definitions of key concepts leading to the Cold War
Capitalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism CNN Cold War series site: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/ BBC website for a British view: http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/coldwar/default.htm
Cold War Chapter from Howard Zinn’s book
on US History; includes useful links: Databases for articles on topics
ProQuest
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=306&TS=1054581030
|
| ASIA |
REF 950 Enc Encyclopedia of Asian History.
1988. 4 volumes Current news items from Asian countries, many articles concerning issues relevant to Cold War history, site has links to other resources http://www.asianlabour.org
U.S. – China relations during the Nixon
administration
U.S. – China policy towards Taiwan, New
York Times article PBS site on Vietnam, good primary sources http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/index.html Vassar College site on Vietnam http://vietnam.vassar.edu/
|
|
LATIN AMERICA
|
REF 980.003 Lat Latin America: History and Culture, 1999. 4 vols. North American Committee on Latin America, search back issues/archive http://www.nacla.org/
Robert E. White, former U.S. Ambassador
to El Salvador, statement in Congressional Record regarding peace measures,
1989
Documents on Guatemala released by CIA in
response to Freedom of Information requests. Includes information on
assassination strategies of the CIA.
|
|
MIDDLE EAST
|
REF 956 His History in Dispute: The Middle East Since 1945, 2004. 2 volumes Middle East Research and Information Project http://www.merip.org/
Israeli journalist describes lives of
Palestinians and Israelis
New York Times report on the CIA in
Iran; includes CIA’s own report.
|
|
Online sources to explore
|
100 Milestone Documents from the Library of Congress arranged chronologically, from 1776 to 1965, a few related to the Cold War era http://ourdocuments.gov/content.php?page=milestone
Center for History and New Media, George
Mason University
Center for the Study of the Pacific
Northwest, University of Washington,
Congressional Record, 101st
(1989-1990) Congress to present Hiroshima: was it necessary? Website with primary source materials regarding many aspects of the atomic bomb, including its role in the Cold War http://www.doug-long.com
International Relations Program, Mount
Holyoke College, National Security Archive, George Washington University http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ New Internationalist, magazine http://www.newint.org/
Reading list from MIT course entitled
“Cold War Science” Timeline of U.S. Diplomatic History, U.S. State Department http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/
|
|
QUESTION
|
Historians have known for several years that the Cold War developed long before the end of World War II, and was rooted in differences regarding economic systems and also in the development of the atom bomb. The description of the beginning of the Cold War below, from World Book Encyclopedia, is representative of the explanation given by many reference books. Though the Cold War did not begin until the end of World War II, in 1945, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union had been strained since 1917. In that year, a revolution in Russia established a Communist dictatorship there. During the 1920’s and the 1930’s, the Soviets called for world revolution and the destruction of capitalism, which was the economic system of the United States. The United States did not grant diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union until 1933. In 1941, during World War II, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union then joined the Western Allies in fighting Germany. For a time early in 1945, it seemed possible that a lasting friendship might develop between the United States and the Soviet Union based on their wartime cooperation. However, major differences continued to exist between the two, particularly with regard to Eastern Europe. As a result of these differences, the United States adopted a “get tough” policy toward the Soviet Union after the war ended. The Soviets responded by accusing the United States and the other capitalist allies of the West of seeking to encircle the Soviet Union so they could eventually overthrow its Communist form of government. Excerpt from Kaufman, Burton I. “Cold War,” World Book Encyclopedia, Chicago: World Book Inc.1998. vol.4, page762 Why do you think the author of this encyclopedia omits any mention of the role the development of the atomic bomb played in the beginning of the Cold War?
|
|
Mount Si High
School Library webpage |