Cold War
This playlist pulls together content relating to the the superpower struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991.
What this playlist includes:
43 lectures across 7 courses.
All resources designed and delivered by university academics and researchers.
Courses and Lectures
1. Cold War – Overview, 1945-1991
Dr Thomas Tunstall Allcock
Manchester University
Manchester University
1.1. Introduction – 05:49
1.2. Origins: From World War II to the Cold War – 11:00
1.3. Origins: The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and... – 10:40
1.4. The Korean War, 1950-53 – 11:07
1.5. Domestic Impacts of the Cold War: The Red Scare... – 11:43
1.6. Globalisation of the Cold War: Decolonisation, ... – 10:25
1.7. The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 – 09:29
1.8. The Vietnam War, 1955-75 – 11:05
1.9. Détente – 11:48
1.10. The End of Détente and the Second Cold War – 10:27
1.11. Reagan and the End of the Cold War – 10:44
2. Cold War - Origins, 1945-50
Prof. Andrew Preston
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
2.1. Cold War Historiography – 06:13
2.2. Post World War Tension, 1945-46 – 10:08
2.3. The US Declarations of Cold War, 1946-47 – 09:16
2.4. Early Cold War Tensions, 1948-49 – 10:55
2.5. The Globalisation and Militarisation of the Col... – 02:35
2.6. Who was to blame for the Cold War? – 07:40
3. Cold War – The Cold War in Asia, 1945-75
Prof. Kevin Ruane
Canterbury Christ Church University
Canterbury Christ Church University
3.1. The Role of the Atomic Bomb – 09:01
3.2. US Containment Strategy – 08:57
3.3. JFK and the Vietnam War – 07:52
3.4. Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War – 08:48
3.5. Western Policies – 09:22
3.6. The French War in Vietnam in Fact and Fiction – 08:49
4. Cold War – The Cold War in Europe, 1941-55
Dr Mathias Haeussler
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
4.1. Introduction – 05:23
4.2. The Historiographical Debate – 07:25
4.3. The Long Term Origins – 07:28
4.4. The Breakdown of the Wartime Alliance – 12:41
4.5. The Division of Germany – 08:52
5. Cold War – The Berlin Crisis, 1958-61
Prof. Sir Lawrence Freedman
King's College London
King's College London
5.1. Background to the Crisis – 04:17
5.2. Early Tension, 1958-60 – 05:43
5.3. Khrushchev's Ultimatum – 05:44
5.4. Kennedy's Response and the Construction of the ... – 07:47
5.5. Aftermath – 13:21
6. Cold War – The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
Prof. Mark White
QMUL
QMUL
6.1. Background: The Bay of Pigs and Operation Mongoose – 08:27
6.2. Nikita Khrushchev’s Decision to Send Missiles t... – 08:39
6.3. Autumn 1962: Soviet Action and US Reaction – 08:07
6.4. The First Week of the Crisis (14-22 October) – 12:32
6.5. The Second Week of the Crisis (22-28 October) – 10:41
7. Cold War – Reagan, Gorbachev and the End of the Cold War, 1979-1991
Prof. Andrew Preston
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
7.1. Introduction – 03:15
7.2. Renewed Escalation, 1979-85 – 16:20
7.3. Genuine Détente, 1985-89 – 08:41
7.4. Why Did the Cold War End? – 10:08
7.5. The Post-Cold War World – 07:04
What Next?
Read around the topic
– John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment (1982)– John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know (1997)
– Lawrence Freedman, Kennedy's Wars (2000)
– Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History (2017)
– Frederik Logevall, Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam (1999)
Think about these questions
– To what extent was the Cold War caused by differences in ideology between the US and USSR?– What factors contributed to US involvement in Vietnam?
– Why did to US and USSR both seek to ease Cold War tensions from 1963-79?
– What factors contributed to the end of the Cold War?
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