The Cold War Era (Fall 2009)
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 08:59AM HIST 4575, Fall 2009 Dr. Günter Bischof
T Th 3:30 – 4:45
Room:
Office Hours: T Th 2 – 3 pm
Tel: 280-3223
e-mail: gjbhi@mobiletel.com or gjbischo@uno.edu
>> Download this syllabus as .pdf
The Cold War Era
Class Readings
- Melvyn P. Leffler. For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union and the Cold War. New York: Hill & Wang 2008 Pb
- Jussi Hanhimäki and Odd Arne Westad, eds., The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. New YorL Oxford UP Pb 2004
- Graham Greene, The Quiet American: Text and Criticism. Ed. John Clark Pratt New York: Penguin 1996.
- Richard Pells, Not Like US: How Europeans have loved, hated, and transformed American culture since World War II New York: Basic Books, 1997 Pb
- Robert Dallek. Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power. New York” Harper Perennial 2007 Pb
- Douglas Little, American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 2002 Pb
- Jack Matlock, Jr. Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended. New York 2005 Pb
For excellent Internet Websites offering recent documents on the Cold War from archives of former Communist countries see:
1) The Cold War International History Project, Wilson Center, Washington, D.C.: http://www.cwihp.si.edu
2) The Parallel History Project (Web Site at Swiss Institute of Technology):
Informative Personal Cold War Homepages
3) Mark Trachtenberg’s Website: http://www.polisci.ucla/faculty/trachtenberg
4) Reinhold Wagnleitner’s “Cold War” links in his personal website (with many links to Cold War sites and a bibliography – in German):
http://www.sbg.ac.at/ges/people/wagnleitner/kalterkrieg2005/home.htm
Important Journals: Journal of Cold War Studies, Cold War History, Diplomatic History, Diplomacy & Statecraft
Required Class Work and Grading Policy
Midterm 1/3
Final Exam 1/3
Papers & Presentation, Class Participation 1/3
Graduate Credit
Graduate Student who enroll in this class have to a 15-page paper and do additional research!
Attendance Policy:
Students have to attend ALL of Dr. Bischof’s class lectures; unexcused absences will result in one grade drop per unexcused absence
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is fundamental to the process of learning and evaluating academic performance. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, the following: cheating, plagiarism, tempering with academic records and examinations, falsifying identity, and being accessory to acts of academic dishonesty. Refer to the UNO Judicial Code for further information. The Code is available online at http://www.uno.edu/~stlf/policy%20Manual/judicial_code_pts.htm.
Students with Disabilities
Students who qualify for services will receive the academic modifications for which they are legally entitled. It is the responsibility of the student to register with the Office of Disability Services (UC 260) each semester and follow their procedures for obtaining assistance.
Class Learning Objectives
- Know the basic political geography of the U.S.’s global presence after 1945
- Know the basic chronology of major Cold War events and the key turning points
- Understand the political culture of the major Cold War players
- Have a sense of the “Americanization” of the world during the Cold War
- Critically examine the issue of “American empire-building” in the Cold War
- Comprehend the nature of Cold War diplomacy (postwar peace-making, arms control etc.)
- Assess the changing Cold War international system vis-à-vis the pre- & post-Cold War international arena
Weekly Class and Reading Schedule
I. T Aug 25 Introduction: Themes, Historiography, and Periodization of the
Cold War: Why do we study the Cold War?
Th Aug 27 Origins of the Cold War I: World War II
Read: Leffler, For the Soul of Mankind, ch. I
Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 1
II. T Sept 1 Origins of the Cold War II: 1945-47
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, chs. 2-3
Th Sept 3 The Dawning of the Nuclear Era & Militarization of the Cold War
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 4
III. T Sept 8 The Cold War in Asia I – Japan, Korea
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 6
Th Sept 10 Eisenhower’s New Look
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 9
IV. T Sept 15 Cold War Battle Ground: Near East I
Read: Little, American Orientalism, pp. 1-75, 117-56, 193-66
Th Sept 17 Between East and West: The Neutral Option
Read: Leffler, For the Soul of Mankind, ch. II
V. T Sept 22 No Class!
Americanization: Coca-Colonization
Read: Pells, Not Like US (entire)
Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 13
Book Review (2-3 pp – due Sept 29): Review of Pells’ Not Like US -- How significant is cultural diplomacy in US Cold War strategy? How significant were the intellectual Cold Wars against communism?
Th Sept 24 Film viewing: Dr. Strangelove
VI. T Sept. 29 The Cold War in Asia II – China
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 10
Th Oct 1 Decolonization & the Cold War on the Periphery: Vietnam
Read novel: Greene, The Quiet American (entire)
Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 11
VII. T Oct 6 The Cold War on the Periphery: Latin America and Cuba
Read: Read: Leffler, For the Soul of Mankind, ch. III
Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 12
Th Oct 8 MIDSEMESTER BREAK
VIII. Oct 13 MIDTERM EXAM
Th Oct 15 JFK & The Cold War in Europe: The Gaullist Challenge and Berlin Crisis
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 10
IX. Oct 20 Cold War Battleground: American Interventionism & the War in Vietnam
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 14
Th Oct 22 Détente – Europe
Read: Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, pp. 3-282
Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 15
X. T Oct 27 EXHIBIT VISIT NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM
“1989 – Year of Miracles: Austria and the End of the Cold War”
Th Oct 29 Détente – Soviet Union & China
Read: Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger, pp. 285-623
XI. T Nov 3 Cold War & Israel: Near East II
Read: Little, American Orientalism, 77-116, 267-318
Th Nov 5 Carter and the Foreign Policy of Human Rights
Read: Little, American Orientalism, Pp. 229-66
Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 16
XII. T Nov 10 Reagan and the Second Cold War
Read: Leffler, For the Soul of Mankind, ch. V
Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 17
Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, pp. 3-173
Th Nov 12 Gorbachev, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the End of the Cold War
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 18
Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev, pp. 174-331
XIII. T Nov 17 The “New World Order” and the Post-Cold War World
Read: Hanhimäki/Westad, eds., The Cold War, ch. 19
Th Nov 19 No class – work on research papers
XIV T Nov 24 No class – work on research papers
Th Nov 26 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
XV. T Dec 1 Class presentation of research papers I
Paper Due (10-12 pp; graduate students 15 pp): Write a research paper of your choice on the theme of East-West conflict during the Cold War. Any case study of American or Soviet regional, cultural, political, economic influence in the world is acceptable. Address the theme of superpower hegemony and empire building during the Cold War
Th Dec 3 Class presentation of research papers II
Tuesday December 8 3:00 – 5:00 FINAL EXAM
