SPRING BREAK ASSIGNMENTS

Stearns: Chapters 36-39 or WWI to 1990. I'm going to basically have you finish the textbook over the break. A couple things to keep in mind.


Papers: What you're currently working on will be due first day back (so you have a little extra time).

Meanwhile, I have a fun paper for you (no, really, I think it will be fun!!). One thing I love about teaching the Cold War at my international high school is that it's still very recent history, which means you know people that remember the conflict. This is what I'd like you to do: talk to two or three people over the break and ask them what they remember about the Cold War. Then write a paper 1200-1500 words long summarizing these memories. This will be due the first week back.




Finally:

On the fly, I decided to write up the summary below.


A brief narrative of the highlights less you get lost in the details. After WWI, Europe begins to rebuild, America withdraws into isolation, the world economy booms through the 1920s. It's the jazz age. It's the age of forgetting the horrors that civilized nations unleashed on the world. And then will come the Great Depression. If you think it's bad in America (and it is), it's worse around the world. The economic disaster will put a great deal of pressure on existing political, economic, and social orders. In particular, people begin to question democracy and free markets. Soon they are turning to alternatives: fascism and communism. The rise of Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Stalin's Soviet Union, and Imperial Japan must be seen in this context: people want the return of prosperity, national pride, national independence, and national strength. There is ugliness here. Genocide becomes par for the course. The lesser folk must be annihilated for the greater folk. Lebensraum and resources must be obtained. War ensues. The Western democracy's, once again, survive. But not without difficulties. They must ally with the Soviet Union, long hated and distrusted, and America must awkwardly tolerate her European allies' colonies around the world.

A new era of peace and prosperity begins—they only wish.

It doesn't take long for the Americans (by far the most powerful country in the world after WWII devastated everyone else) to realize that Stalin and the Soviet Union are not interested in spreading democracy, freedom, and free markets across the world to ensure global tranquility. A Cold War ensues. It's cold in large part because everyone is terrified of a real war breaking out: Nuclear weapons have changed everything. But this does not negate the need for more traditional elements of statecraft: alliances, conventional armies, espionage, diplomacy. The American's goal: Containment. There will be no decisive war like with Germany and Japan—too risky. Instead they will wait for the Soviet Union to die from it's own internal contradictions: the suppression of human rights and a backwards economy cannot go on forever.  

Occasional conflicts break out (Korean War, Cuban Missile Crises, Vietnam War), but everyone is careful not to rock the boat too much. Ideology is trumpeted by both sides: Communism vs. Democracy and Capitalism. But under it all is something very old fashioned: power politics driven by national interest—how to defend one's country, how to advance one's interests, and how contain your opponent. That isn't to say both sides ideals weren't genuine. They were. It is to say that a more basic need, security, ultimately drove policy: a much as the Americans wished to liberate Eastern Europe from the Soviet's clutches, it wasn't worth starting a nuclear war over.

As the Americans and Soviets faceoff, the European colonial system begins to melt away. Unable (financial reasons) and unwilling (moral reasons) to rule people against their consent, the Europeans begin to withdraw as their colonies increasingly agitate for independence in the name of nationalism, self-determination, and economic independence. Some will become strong, independent states, others will descend into bloodshed, all will be courted, threatened, and bribed by the USA and Soviet Union. Indeed, the ex-colonies become targets of both major power's influence: the Americans fear communists infiltrating these newly released territories and tipping the balance of powers against them even as the Soviets seek opportunities to spread their influence abroad by reminding the ex-colonies of the exploitations of the Europeans and their friend the United States. But these states have a will of their own much of the time and refuse to choose a side and become involved in the conflict between the USA and Soviet Union. Indeed, the savvy states play one against the other, collecting favors and support from both sides.

The emergence of Communist China as a world power in the 1960s underscores how the bipolar world was giving way to a multipolar world: no longer would the USA and USSR loom as the soul superpowers in world affairs (although we ought to remember that America certainly maintained the upper hand). Slowly but surely the world was recovering from the savagery of the Second World War and rebuilding their economic, political, military, and diplomatic power. Europe was revived, Japan and India booming, the Middle East becoming increasingly influential with their black gold, and then, of course, China.

In 1972 the unthinkable happens: Richard Nixon, the President of the USA, flies to China and signs an agreement acknowledging their shared interest in containing the Soviet Union. The Cold War will never be the same again. It's a sharp blow to the Soviets. They appear impervious to everyone, nonetheless. Surely America's crises of confidence during the 1970s helps: after ripping apart Vietnam in an attempt to save it, and then getting beaten, she questions her own motives: was the savagery for freedom or was it for defense contracts? The economy takes two hits because of Middle East oil embargoes. Nixon resigns in shame. The Soviet's invade Afghanistan. The enemy is on the move.

In 1980 Ronald Reagan is elected. He restores confidence: he talks about freedom and democracy and the courage of the American people to overcome all odds both at home and abroad. A fierce anti-communist, he is equally adamant about reducing nuclear stockpiles, he is both carrot and stick in his dealings with the Soviets. In 1985 Mikhail Gorbchev becomes premier of the Soviet Union. He declares, "We can't go on living like this." Despite the Soviet Union's frightful exterior, bristling with missiles and large armies, the core is rotten economically and politically. Gorbachev seeks reform, he reaches out to Reagan, he tries to save his country from collapse. His political reforms allow for elections and freedom of the press. His economic reforms promote aspects of the free market. He informs the communist regimes in Eastern Europe that he is significantly reducing the size of the Soviet army. He will not help them if their people rebel.

People rebel. Their victory is as swift as it is decisive.

In 1989 the Soviet military and political dominance of Eastern Europe ("liberated" in 1945 from the Germans) comes to an end; the Berlin Wall, built to keep East Germans from escaping to the West, is destroyed. Tired of political oppression, human rights violations, and economic destitution, the people of he Soviet Union and Eastern Europe look to a new future. In 1990 Adam Petersen is born; in 1991 the Soviet Union disbands. Coincidence, I think not. Almost overnight, or so it seemed, a vast, powerful, and frightening empire dissolves. My father wonders who will be the villain in the next James Bond movie.

What to make of all of this?