The ussrs only real chance at winning was to get nukes to a deterrent level, then invade and pray it didnt turn into a nuclear war. The cold war and the economic decline of the ussr bartleby. The decadeslong cold war was more than a bipolar conflict between two superpowersit had implications for the entire world. Ten histories of the cold war worth reading council on. The cold war era was characterized by ideological differences between capitalist nations with social state. Evidence of this conflict can be seen in events such as world war two wwii, and the yalta and potsdam conferences.
Perspectives on eastern and western european societies. An international history is a must read for all history enthusiasts. Their competition for worldwide supremacy formed a phenomenon referred to as the cold war. In order to understand the cold war from the soviet perspective, one must understand the importance of. The footage, much of it produced as government propaganda, follows the story of the bomb through the two atomic attacks on japan that ended world war ii to the bombs central role in the cold war. In particular, historians have sharply disagreed as to who was responsible for the breakdown of soviet unionunited states. Cold war goes beyond usussr relations to explore the cold war from an international perspective, including key events and developments in africa, asia, and latin america. Of primary interest were the issues of uranium availability. This was an absolutely fascinating book, which gives the history of the cold war from the soviet perspective. The cold war originated in two processes that took place around the turn of the twentieth century. Top 10 books about the cold war books the guardian. In the chapter, there is described the background of the soviet perspectives on the cold war and american foreign policy. Cold war goes beyond usussr relations to explore the cold war from an international perspective, including developments in africa, asia, and latin america.
The footage, much of it produced as government propaganda, follows the story of the bomb through the two atomic attacks on japan that ended world war. In this accessible, comprehensive retelling, carole k. After world war ii, joseph stalin saw the world as divided into two camps. This 24episode series, narrated by kenneth branagh, is a comprehensive history that examines the key events of the arc of the soviet union, from its birth to its fall, and provides a thorough analysis of what was going on behind closed doors. I hope readers who lived through the cold war will also find the volume useful, because as marx once said groucho, not karl, outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. From the russian perspective the cold war atomic intelligence game, 194570 oleg a.
Cold war that was experienced in the early 90s was a result of anxiety between the west and their communist counter parts. Project muse the ussr, asia, and the end of the cold war. Within the context of a debate format that presents parallel u. I hope readers who lived through the cold war will also find the volume useful, because as marx once said groucho, not karl, outside of a dog, a book.
Bukharin since its inception in the early 1940s and through much of the cold war, the soviet atomic project was the focus of a massive intelligence effort by the united states and its allies. Educational articles for teachers, students, and schools including the leaders of the cold war, battles and proxy wars, communism, major events, bay of pigs, cuban missile crisis, berlin wall, and countries involved in this nuclear stalemate. The present book is a useful summary of the development of the cold war between its roots in the 1920s and its end in the early 1990s. Stalins confrontation method, xenophobia and archcontrol, khrushchevs akwardness and nuclear brinkmanship, brezhnev peacemaking detente and gorbachev new thinking. The main focus is made on the discovering of the soviet interpretations of. Fink also offers a broader time line of the cold war than any other text, charting the leadup to the conflict with the russian revolution and world war ii and discussing the. The term cold is used because there was no largescale fighting directly between the two. Pdf soviet perspective on the cold war and american. A compilation of archival film clips beginning with the first atomic bomb detonation in the new mexico desert. This reader brings together both soviet and us contributions to investigate the range of issues that these two countries must face as the cold war ends.
Through her clear prose and many years of research and expertise on the subject, carole fink brings refreshing new perspectives to the cold war, going beyond the conflict between the us and the ussr to include meaningful discussions of key events in africa, asia. Cold war project reflection humanities 10 after world war ii, the cold war was another significant event that occurred in the 20th century, which had an dominant effect on many aspects in the american society. The cold war is still recent history, and its results have considerably shaped the world as it is today. Fink provides new insights and perspectives on key events with an emphasis on people, power, and ideas, along with cultural coverage from the beetle to the beatles. Debating the origins of the cold war examines the coming of the cold war through americans and russians contrasting perspectives and actions. Meaning, this book doesnt take you step by step, event by event, through the cold war. With president yeltsins recognition of independence for the other republics of the former ussr and his launching of a full scale. Its a fascinating series on showtime, although it does stretch the truth at times, its still a good starting point. I learned a number of interesting tidbits brezhnev. It relates the cold war from the soviet perspective, from stalin to gorbachev.
Since that time ukraine started its own policy, with the ukrainian point of view on history, international relations, and politics differing greatly from the russian perspective. Fink provides new insights and perspectives on key events with an emphasis on people, power, and ideas. From the early 1600s to world war i the united states and russia pursued their national interests in amity. Soviet perspective on the cold war and american foreign. The cold war was a much more direct rivalry that spanned continents, saw the clash of ideologies, caused millions of deaths in proxy wars, and involved a nuclear arms race.
But during the cold war period ukraine was also a part of the ussr, which is why we can talk about ukrainian perspectives of that time as the soviet one. The second world war also aided to fasten the pace of nationalism or selfrule in the earlier colonies, in europe. This book is constructed around key soviet leaders. The united states and the ussr in a changing world. If there is an account of how the conflict felt to an ordinary citizen of the ussr who. The cold war was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after world war ii 19391945, primarily between the soviet union and its satellite states, and the powers of the western world, particularly the united states.
The cold war between the union of soviet socialist republics ussr and the united states us was caused by conflict of ideologies between the two world powers, opposed to the berlin blockade crisis of 1948 in isolation. Cold war from the soviet perspective in history the term cold war describes the american and its western allies had with russia and the socialist states in the late 1940s to 1990s. This essay presents an overview of the dominant trends in the western historiography on the soviet union along the cold war inquiring how they affected the perspectives on the history of soviet. Perspectives on the cold war, decolonization, and the. The end of the cold war gave birth to a number of works that offered basically uncritical vindication of the mainstream perceptions of american security policies and their official justifications. Here are a few illustrative passages from westads book revealing the orientation of his interpretation around interest and ideology. Fursenko and naftali plumbed previously secret soviet archives to pull together the story of nikita khrushchevs foreign policy. Soviet perspective on the cold war and american foreign policy. More than a bipolar conflict between two superpowers, the decadeslong cold war had implications for the entire world. In two engaging essays, the authors demonstrate that a huge gap existed between the democratic, capitalist, and global vision of the postworld war ii peace that most americans believed in and the dictatorial, xenophobic, and regional approach that. This book contains a huge amount of useful and insightful information on the events prior, during, and after the cold war. A new history is meant chiefly, therefore, for a new generation of readers for whom the cold war was never current events.
The better way to understand the specific features of the soviet interpretations of the cold war era is first of all to describe some basic facts about the soviet union. Not surprisingly, presidents eisenhower and kennedy figure. It reverberates in current affairs and will probably do so for some time. Revelations from the russian archives the library of. The cold war ended in europe in 1989 but continued to shape soviet ties with china, japan, north korea, india, and other countries. This changed after the russian revolution of 1917, which gave rise to the soviet union ussr, or union of soviet socialist republics.
However, this book s structure does not follow an actual timeline and instead discusses themes throughout the cold war. The cold war and western perspectives on soviet science. Oliver stones untold history of the united states, essentially talks about the cold war from the soviet perspective. Revelations from the russian archives the soviet union and the united states. Three perspectives on the cold war laurakate seitsinger.
The cold war 1947 1991 introduction the grand alliance formed by the u. In 1947, president harry truman also spoke of two diametrically opposed systems. Fink also provides a broader timeline of the cold war than any other text, charting the leadup to the conflict like the russian revolution and world war ii, and discussing. An international history offers instructors, students, and the general public a wellorganized and highly readable survey of recent history in all its implications.
As the cold war draws to a close, new issues inevitably have begun to surface in u. Yet his is the most useful of the three books, because he says a. Project muse perspectives on the soviet union and the. Cold war goes beyond usussr relations to explore the cold war from an international perspective, including developments in. First, zubok is a russian, born and educated in moscow, so the book is clearly written, both by his acknowledged design, and his perspective, from that point of. The cold war was a period of geopolitical tension between the soviet union and the united states and their respective allies, the eastern bloc and the western bloc, after world war ii. Pdf soviet perspective on the cold war and american foreign.
To understand why gorbachevs efforts in asia proved of no avail, we asked two prominent experts on the cold war in asia to offer their appraisals of radchenkos book. This book features the cold war from the soviet side. The relationship between the us and russia may be bad today, but it is far from a new cold war, asserts stephen m. The period is generally considered to span the 1947 truman doctrine to the 1991 dissolution of the soviet union. The ussr lost because it had less resources and a worse position.
Heinrichs perspectives on the cold war 429 place a quartercentury ago, now seems quaint and visionary. As soon as the term cold war was popularized to refer to postwar tensions between the united states and the soviet union, interpreting the course and origins of the conflict became a source of heated controversy among historians, political scientists and journalists. David taylor, historian examines the twentiethcentury standoff between the united states and the soviet union, discussing origins, nuclear strategies, and the breakup of the ussr. Perspectives on the soviet union and the horn of africa during the cold war. I realise that the list leaves out the soviet point of view. The west was led by united nations, while east was led by soviet union. Download file to see previous pages and the ussr entered the postwar age as adversaries. The us and ussr anatomy of a cold war a debate the. Rostow is most depressing of all because he is complacent in the face of the vietnam tragedy.
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