Module HIST2471: The United States and the Cold War

Department: History

HIST2471: The United States and the Cold War

Prerequisites

• A pass mark in at least ONE level one module in History.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To introduce students to an understanding of American foreign policy during the mid to late twentieth century and offer insights into how and why the United States sought to maintain its role as the preeminent global power against the backdrop of the Cold War.

Content

• The module will enable students to gain an understanding of major themes in the history of US foreign policy over the duration of the Cold War.
• The emphasis will be on international relations and military affairs. The period covered embraces the breakdown of the wartime alliance between the US, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, the origins of the Cold War, and how the conflict evolved through a series of crises, limited wars, and diplomatic initiatives thereafter. These will include: (1) the Berlin Blockade and Airlift; (2) the Korean War; (3) American deployment of covert warfare in the Sino-Soviet bloc and the third world; (4) the Indochinese and Vietnam Wars; (5) the second Berlin crisis; (6) the Cuban Revolution and Missile Crisis; (7) detente with the Soviet Union and China, and the factors that led to its decline and abandonment; (8) the so-called "New Cold War"; and (9) the end of the Cold War-proper.
• The course will go beyond a mere surface study of international events. Rather, we will encounter, and seek to explain, the evolving dynamics of the Cold War and broader international relations, and the changing ways in which American policymakers responded to real and perceived threats to US interests and security. A crucial dimension of the module will be the examination of key primary source material as well as the pertinent historiography.

Learning Outcomes

• To understand the assumptions and objectives that informed successive American administrations in their pursuit of power, influence and security in a changing global environment dominated by the Cold War.
• Ability to engage critically with some relevant primary source material and to assess the way other historians have used evidence.
• Ability to identify relevant secondary literature from the vast and rapidly expanding scholarship on the subject.

• Integrating primary and secondary sources in a skilled and sustained manner
• Engaging in deep, careful analysis of primary sources, while confronting methodological and conceptual challenges associated with advanced research.
• Evaluating historical interpretations and encouraging students to position themselves within existing debates
• In addition students will acquire subject-specific research skills including archival work and exploiting web resources such as Early English Books Online and State Papers Online.

• The ability to employ sophisticated reading skills to gather, sift, process, synthesise and critically evaluate information from a variety of sources (print, digital, material, aural, visual, audio-visual etc.)
• The ability to communicate ideas and information orally and in writing, devise and sustain coherent and cogent arguments
• The ability to write and think under pressure, manage time and work to deadlines
• The ability to make effective use of information and communications technology.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Student learning is facilitated by a combination of the following teaching methods:
• Lectures to set the foundations for further study and to provide the basis for the acquisition of subject specific knowledge. Lectures provide a broad framework which defines individual module content, introducing students to themes, debates and interpretations. In this environment, students are given the opportunity to develop skills in listening, selective note-taking and reflection.
• Seminars to allow students to present and critically reflect upon the acquired subject-specific knowledge, methodologies and theories, and to identify and debate a range of issues and differing opinions. The seminar is the forum in which students are given the opportunity to communicate ideas, jointly exploring themes and arguments. Seminars are structured to develop understanding and designed to maximise student participation related to prior independent preparation. Seminars give students the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, encourage critical and tolerant approaches to reasoned argument and historical discussion, build the students' ability to marshal historical evidence, and facilitate the development of the ability to summarise historical arguments, think in a rapidly changing environment and communicate in a persuasive and articulate manner, whilst recognising the value of working with others and, occasionally, towards shared goals.
• Assessment:
• Summative coursework will test students ability to communicate ideas in writing, present clear and cogent arguments succinctly and show appropriate critical skills as relevant to the particular module. Summative essays remain a central component of assessment in history, due to the integrative high-order skills they develop. Essays allow students the opportunity to recognise, represent and critically reflect upon ideas, concepts and problems; students can demonstrate awareness of, and the ability to use and evaluate, a diverse range of resources and identify, represent and debate a range of subject-specific issues and opinions. Through the essay, students can synthesise information, adopt critical appraisals and develop reasoned argument based on individual research; they should be able to communicate ideas in writing, with clarity and coherence; and to show the ability to integrate and critically assess material from a wide range of sources. The additional summative assignments will test knowledge and skills specific to the module, such as analysis of relevant primary sources, or critical engagement with the historiography as demonstrated through book reviews and article abstracts.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative benefits from the 1,000 word summative assignment and from work done during and in preparation for seminars.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University