| Key Questions |
Activities |
Resources |
| Did the Cold War really start in the
period 1919-39?
Case studies of the Russian Civil War, Zinoviev Letter and The
Munich Agreement. |
Group work activity based on the National
Archive website.
Students to make PowerPoint presentations of their findings. |
|
| How Strong Was the Wartime
Alliance?
Case studies of what the public did and did not see and the Yalta
and Potsdam conferences. |
Group work activity based on the National
Archive website.
Students to make PowerPoint presentations of their findings. |
|
| What were the origins of the Cold War?
Was the Cold War inevitable?
Who was to blame for the start of the Cold War? Case studies of
Soviet Policy 1945-8, Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech and The Truman
Doctrine and Marshall Aid. |
Read the 'Overview' in Edwards (1-10)
Read and note the Chapter 2 of Edwards (12-26 and 33-35).
Read and note the essay in Lightbody 'Was the Cold War
inevitable?' (4-8)
See the Iron
Curtain speech Group work activity based on the National
Archive website. |
Edwards - The USA and Cold War (Chapter
1&2) Lightbody - The Cold War (Chapter 1)
Video - Cold War
 |
(Episode 1and 2) also see the website
which accompanies the series. |
|
|
| Who was to blame for the start of the Cold War?
Conclusion |
Student documentary group work production
|
All the above.
|
| How successful was the policy of
containment 1947-49? |
Read and make brief notes from
Edwards on: The Truman Doctrine, National Security, Marshall Plan,
West-Germany, NATO and Asia. The evaluation (56-8) should be
carefully noted.
|
Edwards - The USA and Cold War (Chapter
3)
Lightbody - The Cold War (Chapter 2) On the origins of the
Truman Doctrine and the impact of NSC-68 see pp.23-9. Download
an essay planning sheet.
|
| Why did the Korean War mark a turning
point in the Cold War? |
There are two approaches to this
question: (i) Korea as a turning point in the nature of warfare (ii)
Korea as a turning point in the Cold War. |
For (i) see these notes
on why April 1951 is a turning point in the history of 20th century
warfare. For (ii) see Edwards - The USA and Cold War Chapter
4 (esp. 71-5) The diagram on p.75 is particularly useful.
|
| How successful was US foreign policy
under Eisenhower? |
From Edwards make some brief notes on the
Eisenhower period (78-81 and 96-102) and on the domestic impact of
the Cold War in the USA. (esp. 130-138 Red Scare and
McCarthyism) |
Edwards - The USA and Cold War Lightbody
- The Cold War
|
| Berlin and Cuba: How successful was J. F.
Kennedy's foreign policy? |
We do these important topics through a
mixture of video and note making from the references opposite. |
Edwards - The USA and Cold War (114-125)
Lightbody
- The Cold War
(56-60)
Try a quiz on the Cold War in the 1950s.
Back to Cold War
|
