HIST327

This course will explore the Cold War between the US and Russia from its origins in the mid 1940’s to its dramatic end in recent years. It will analyze how relations between these nations and their leaders affected perceptions of the other and consequent actions during the 45 years that the Cold War dominated American foreign policy. In the context of the Cold War, the Korean War and the First and Second Indochina Wars are some of the most significant events of the twentieth century. This course will examine these wars as case studies for exploring the relationship between ideas and war. The belligerents, native peoples, and foreign powers that participated in each of these wars had conflicting assumptions, motivations, and paradigms that changed over time. Issues of post-colonialism, modernism, nationalism, Orientalism, industrialization, communism, and capitalism will be major themes of this course. In addition to standard secondary sources, students will be expected to work with primary sources, declassified government documents in particular, throughout the semester as well as in preparing the final research paper.