Topic Outline
The Cold War dominated global affairs from the end of the Second World War to the early 1990s. This Paper 2 topic focuses on how superpower rivalries did not remain static but changed according to styles of leadership, strength of ideological beliefs, economic factors and crises involving client states. The topic aims to promote an international perspective on the Cold War by requiring the study of Cold War leaders, countries and crises from more than one region of the world.
1. Causes of the Cold War
|
The first unit of this topic examines how two ideological rivals became allies during the Second World War, and how this alliance collapsed, resulting in the division of Europe and Asia. A key debate for this unit revolves around who was to blame for the breakdown.
|
2. Conflict & Confrontation
|
Whilst the Cold War may have begun in Europe, it soon spread to other regions in the world. This unit examines the global nature of the Cold War, exploring how competition escalated tensions across regions and across time, as seen in its key conflicts.
|
|
3. Detente and Coexistence
|
Despite the persistence of competition, the Cold War was punctuated by periods of cooperation as both superpowers sought to manage tensions. To what extent were these attempts at 'detente' successful, or did they lead to the continuation of the war?
|
4. China and the Cold War
|
The persistence of the CPC in China poses a fundamental question for students of the Cold War. Why did communism fail in the USSR whilst continuing to thrive in China? What does this tell us about the nature of the Cold War? Was it just a bipolar conflict or more?
|
|
5. End of the Cold War
|
The end of the Cold War was both unexpected and sudden, leaving historians and political scientists struggling to explain it. This makes it a perfect topic for practicing our causal reasoning as historians. So who, or what, ended the Cold War? Or did it not even end?
|
6. Leaders, Crises and Nations
|
This unit takes a comparative look at the Cold War by examining the role that leaders, nations and crises had on the nature and direction of the Cold War. This helps us to understand how the conflict went beyond the simple view of bipolar power dynamics.
|
|