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A2 - Cold War to Detente (1945-90)

mrdanger2002

snob_uk

Hmm i'm actually not using any books. i dont think we need to know many historians' views. although i did use mac-cauley and another one, cant recall the name. :smile:

i made notes, so i'm just gonna memorise the notes and then learn how to link issues in together.

are you doing this exam with edexcel exam board - with sources etc?

You dont really need historians, just schools of thought - orthodox, revisionist, post revisionist, new right.

Reply 21

cullmac

I think only learning half the cold war is like reading half the book then stopping. It also pritty much ends at the start of our life time which has influenced today’s political events. I dont know about the rest of you but i would find it unbearable to end with the Cuban missile crisis thinking "so how did the soviet union collapse?"

Reply 22

Booj

WokSz

Yes, but the idea of the Rotton Apple was used for Eastern Europe in principle.

The Rotten Apple Theory was used by Acheson when he was meeting with Congressional leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House so that Congress would approve what I think was about $700 million to Greece and Turkey.
His theory was that once Greece and Turkey fell then South East Europe would be under threat, as would the rest of Eastern Europe. It was to do with Eastern Europe but it was indirectly.

Reply 23

wilkinson42

2

Hey!
Just started my personal assignment - EDEXCEL and have chosen the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia (good job I can spell it) in 1968. This is in the time period of your course - anybody know any good ideas for discussion on this topic - ie. What changed to encourage Soviet to invade?

Reply 24

WokSz

17

Booj

The Rotten Apple Theory was used by Acheson when he was meeting with Congressional leadership in the Roosevelt Room of the White House so that Congress would approve what I think was about $700 million to Greece and Turkey.
His theory was that once Greece and Turkey fell then South East Europe would be under threat, as would the rest of Eastern Europe. It was to do with Eastern Europe but it was indirectly.

Yep, was part of the Truman Doctrine. There was the fear of communism spreading into these two countries, threatening the Middle East oilfields and providing communism a possibility to enter Western Europe.

Reply 25

Jasundie

1

chriswilky

Hey!
Just started my personal assignment - EDEXCEL and have chosen the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia (good job I can spell it) in 1968. This is in the time period of your course - anybody know any good ideas for discussion on this topic - ie. What changed to encourage Soviet to invade?

The fear of reform. Dubcek's radical reforms were putting pressure on other communist regimes to move into the same direction. It can be aruged from this that the Soviet's invaded to keep a ideologically friendly satellite system. This can be seen with the ensuing Brezhnev doctrine.

Reply 26

cullmac

Its also very simular with the Hungarian uprising of '56, potential liberal reforms forced the Soviet Union to send in the troops and replace the government with a more pro soviet government. Perhaps you can contrast the two events.

Reply 27

Jasundie

1

cullmac

Its also very simular with the Hungarian uprising of '56, potential liberal reforms forced the Soviet Union to send in the troops and replace the government with a more pro soviet government. Perhaps you can contrast the two events.

Yeah. Really the underlying issue was whether the Soviet Union was being aggressive, trying to spread world revolution, like the Orthodox school, or were merely being defensive, invading these countries to be create a defensive barrier (Revisionist school). It can, and has indeed been argued by historians, in both ways.

Reply 28

Booj

Its good to contrast the '56 Hungarian and '68 Czech uprisings because they provide for a comparison to changes in the USSR, In '56 rising Imre Nagy was executed in '58. But in '68 Dubcek was thrown out of party, it shows a move to a more 'humane' USSR.
The main reason why the USSR invaded in August was because it appeared the Czech gvt was breaking away from the Warsaw Pact by signing non-aggression treaties with Romania's gvt under Caucescu and I think the Polish at a Summit in Karlovy Vary.
The USSR allowed Caucescu to allign himself with Albania and the Chinese but Dubcek went a bit too far.

Reply 29

Achilles13

I think it is good to be able to appreciate the defensive desires of the USSR.
During WWII they lost more men then UK and USA put together, because Germany were able to walk from Germany straight to Russia as all states in between were in German control.
USA has never been invaded, so they cant really appreciate the importance of this for the USSR, which comes down to lack of understanding, a key issue in the cold war.
As well as this, from the US' intervention in the Russian Civil war in 1919, they know the US is hostile to communism, and they know they want Germany to be strong again. With the prospect of a hostile US and a strong Germany, it is no wonder Stalin wanted to have a buffer zone so that the west could not simply march back into Russia.
Thus the lack of compromise over East Germany.

My teacher always says that it is safest to resort to a post revisionist viewpoint and not blame either.

Reply 30

Jasundie

1

In structuring their questions, will anyone firectly refer to the different schools of thought, or maybe just a quick reference? Any hellp much appreciated.

Reply 31

cullmac

I might possibly if it is relevent, for example if a source is writen in 1947 by an American journalist condeming Stalin's seemingly expansionist foreign policy i would say he was a believer of the Orthadox school which blamed the start of the cold war on the USSR which would diminish the historical value of the source because he was biased.

Reply 32

Cessie

2

I tend not to even refer to the different schools of thought by name...

Too many dates!

Hi can someone give me some expamples of questions that have come up in the past please?!

Also, what topics do you think will come up this year?

Reply 35

ThornsnRoses

11

some one mentioned the new right. What was their interpretation, exaclty i knew they had a more aggressive stance towards the Sov Un. Would you say Carter and his admin could be incoorperated in it, or is just Ronnie and Maggie (god, i hatethem)

Reply 36

Datura

1

Carter was a Democrat. The new right was Republicans who took the reforming zeal of the left and tried to shape the world according to their value, which they didn't have an interest in before.

Reply 37

emj56

Datura

Hi can someone give me some expamples of questions that have come up in the past please?!

Also, what topics do you think will come up this year?

A few past papers which I have done are on:

•

Was the building of empires the main feature of Cold War rivalry between the USSR and the USA )1945-62)

•

Was the existence of nucleur weapons primarily responsible for the continuation of the Cold War for so long after 1962?

•

What were the aims of the USA's involvement in Europe in the years 1945-47?

•

How far do you agree that ideological rivalry between the superpowers was primarily responsible both for the origin of the Cold War and for its continuance to 1962?

•

Something to do with USSR's reasoning behind their involvement in East Europe ..

Those are the only ones I can find atm, but I have never done a question on the end of the Cold War or maybe something to do with the Detente so I am thinking the paper tomorrow might be on that.

Hope that is a help.

Reply 38

Datura

1

Cool thanks for that, should make revision a bit more focused.

Reply 39

ThornsnRoses

11

You mean more focussed on avoiding those questions? Or on them, because i doubt theyre going to come up.

Are we uninamous in thinking its going to be on detente and the end of the Cold War? Also, when did they declare they were shortening the syllabus, more than 6 months ago?

I just dont know what to do today to revise? Its so annoying, i know so much on the first half, and nothing on the second half, and i know the thing is going to focus on the second half!

Also, lets discuss the 3rd world, how was it important in the cold war conflict. Me thinks it lead to its revival, growing suspicion etc..

Do you think Vietnam and the Arab Israeli conflict is important...

You know what i bet its going to be on Gorby!

A2 - Cold War to Detente (1945-90)

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