| S7 4hr History |
Last
update -
17 May 2023 |
Official European
School History S6 Syllabus:
English,
French,
German |
 |
|
Compulsory Theme - 7.4A
- Cold War and international relations
since 1945 -
syllabus |
|
Key Questions and syllabus references. |
Lessons |
Additional materials and external links |
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Key Question - Why did the Cold War Start?
What were the earliest origins of the Cold War?
What was the outcome of World War II? |
Syllabus
outline for S7
7.4A
- Cold War and international relations
since 1945 -
syllabus
Worksheet
1 and
diagram to complete - the origins of the Cold War. Extract
from
Steve Phillips,
The Cold War.
|
| The importance of the
Cold War in 20th century history.
Jeffrey Sachs on BBC website. The UK National Archive has an excellent
website that includes a fascinating look at documents from
the period
before 1939 and during
WWII.
See the wonderful
John D Clare for clear, link-rich explanations of all
features of the early Cold War.
 |
People's Century
video
which examines the Cold War 1945-61. A good introductory
overview. |
|
|
Key Question - Why did the Cold War Start?
What were the short-term causes of the Cold War?
Who was involved in the start of the Cold War?
Key words:
United Nations, Iron Curtain, Satellite States, Truman Doctrine,
Two Camp Theory, Containment, Marshall Plan
Possible Reference Points: San
Francisco Conference (1945), Yalta (1945) Potsdam (1945) |
Worksheet 2.
Cold War 1945-47
PowerPoint.
Edited extract from Geoffrey Roberts on why the Cold war began
between 1945-47.
Important
information sheet
summary of Yalta and Potsdam. For the
details on the European dimension of the Cold war from 1945-49
see
Europe 4: Post War Europe.
|
Walsh
GCSE Modern World History
318-323 United Nations
website page on
the importance of the San Francisco Conference of 1945 and short
newsreel
film from 1945.
Text of Zhdanov's
speech establishing Cominform - 'Two Camp Theory' (Zhdanov
Doctrine). BBC Schools - History
File
documentary series on the Cold War. |
|
Who was responsible for the start of the Cold
War? |
PowerPoint from lesson.
Worksheet 3 from
Steve Philips Cold war on the historiography of the Cold
War.
Lecture and
additional materials on the historiography and an essay by
Bradley Lightbody. Documentary film
making
activity.
What are the key documentary film-making
techniques?
The exposition
worksheet for
group completion.
|
John D Clare on the historiographical debate.
See my student's
documentary films on the origins of the Cold War on the
University of East Anglia website.
Student
Documentaries from 2011
Student
Documentaries from 2012
Student Documentaries from 2013
Student Documentaries from 2014
Student Documentaries from 2015
Student Documentaries from 2016
 |
See my
article
explaining why history students should be making documentary
films. |
|
Key Question -
What was the Cold War?What were the
levels of conflict?
How and why did the Cold War change between
phases of crisis and relaxation?
Key words:
Peaceful Co-existence, Domino
Theory
|
How
did the Cold War develop in the 1950s?
Lecture and
Worksheet 4
Wikipedia on
Peaceful Co-existence
and Domino
Theory. |
 |
Three part
BBC documentary from 2013 examines the Cold War from a
British cultural perspective. |
1950s American public information
films about the threat of the USSR and communism.
McCarthyism - Short edited video extract from Cold War |
|
Possible Reference Points:
Korean War (1950-53) What
influence did the logic of the Cold War have on regional
conflicts? South-east Asia. Can the UN
resolve international conflicts? |
Worksheet
5 on the
Korean War.
Short BBC schools
video on the Korean
War.
|
Outstanding BBC
website on North Korea today -
North Korea Secretive State.
|
|
Key words:
Warsaw Pact, The Arms Race, MAD, Disarmament What were the
levels of conflict? |
The
arms race and space race
worksheet 6. Short
video
extract from Cold War series on Space Race and U2 crisis. |
Four
part BBC documentary on the
Space Race.
BBC Schools - History File
documentary series on the Cold War - episode on the
Arms Race
BBC illustrated
article on the
history of the U2 spy plane.
|
|
Why did superpower relations deteriorate in the
early 1960s? |
U2
spy plane and Berlin wall
worksheet
7 activity based on James Mason
Modern World history to GCSE
10 minute
video extract
from Cold War episode 9 on the building of the Berlin Wall.
Walsh 342-46
GCSE Modern World History
Background
content on Germany 1949-61 from the Europe 5 section of the
syllabus.
|
Video
Days that Shook the World on
U2 Spy Plane and
Cold War spies.
|
|
People's Century
video
which examines the Cold War 1945-61. A good revision
overview. |
John D Clare on
U2 and
Berlin Wall.
This recent (2014) article considers the
spy novel culture
of the Cold War.
 |
Video - Cold War
episode 9
Wall
and accompanying
website. |
|
| What influence did the logic of the Cold
War have on regional conflicts?- Latin America What were the
levels of conflict? |
Worksheet
8 on the USA
in Guatemala and Cuba
Video extract about
Edward Bernays' role in the US propaganda campaign about the
Guatemalan coup from the Century of Self.
Compare the media manipulation in the Guatemala and the Congo -
short
video.
People's
Century video on Cuba and Vietnam. |
Wikipedia on the Guatemalan coup and the CIA's
website's mea culpa of the 'shameful' actions in
Guatemala and 'unfortunate legacies of the Guatemalan
"success"'.
Cold War Museum's
account of the 1997 declassified CIA documents revealing the
USA's role in 1954.
Video - Mark Steel lecture on
Che Guevara.
Videos -
Castro: Hero
or Villain?,
|
|
Full People's Century
video
which examines the role of guerilla war in post 1945
liberation movements. Also good for decolonisation
topic. |
Eric Hobsbawm extract on the Cuban Revolution
|
How and
why did the Cold War change between phases of crisis and
relaxation?
Key words: Détente,
Disarmament
Possible Reference Points:
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) |
PowerPoint from the lesson.
Cuba
Worksheet
9a on
the decisions to be made by Kennedy.
Cuba
Worksheet
9b an
overview of the causes and consequences of the crisis.
Textbook accounts by Bradley
Lightbody, Oliver
Edwards and Mike
Sewell
Walsh 347-52
GCSE Modern World History
|
BBC Schools - History
File
documentary series on the Cold War.
Episode on Cuba. John D Clare on
Cuba.
Video -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Declassified
PBS documentary from 2012, a dramatic reconstruction about
the nuclear submarine that nearly started World War III.
 |
Thirteen Days is a
2000 docudrama directed by Roger Donaldson about the Cuban
Missile Crisis of 1962, seen from the perspective of the US
political leadership. Kevin Costner stars |
How accurate is 13 days? See Alex von Tunzelmann's
review.
 |
Fog of
War is a 2003 American documentary film about the life and
times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S.
McNamara The film was directed by Errol Morris. |
|
| What influence did the logic of the Cold
War have on regional conflicts?- Indo-China How and
why did the Cold War change between phases of crisis and
relaxation?
Possible Reference Points:
Indochina/Vietnam War (1946-75) |
Worksheet 10 on the Vietnam War.
Video on the photography of the Vietnam War: The
Camera at War and (optional) questions to
be answered.
PowerPoints on
how the war was fought and why the USA lost.
Walsh 355-359.GCSE
Modern World History
Scene from Apocalypse
Now
|
 |
An outstanding illustrated multimedia
essay on the
photography of the Vietnam War. |
BBC Exhibit marks
the 40th anniversary of the death of photographer Henri Huet -
11 May 2011. Daily
Mail illustrated
article in 2013 on Larry Burrows and this Time
Life exhibition
American experience video and
website on the My Lai massacre.
Videos on Ho
Chi Minh (also useful for decolonisation)
Extract from Vivienne Sanders 'Fighting
and Living in Vietnam'.
Video - The
BBC in Vietnam.
Video Fog
of War
Hollywood on war: an analysis by John
Pilger
|
|
Three part
BBC documentary from 2013 examines the Cold War from
a British cultural perspective. |
| |
|
Steve
Phillips on why
the USA failed to
win. Edited extract from Kevin
Jackson's 2002 article for the Independent
on Sunday about the attraction of war movies.
|
How and
why did the Cold War change between phases of crisis and
relaxation?
What influence did the logic of the Cold War
have on regional conflicts?- Middle East and Portuguese Africa
Key words: Détente,
Disarmament
Possible Reference Points:
Helsinki Accords (1975), |
Worksheet 11 on
Détente Walsh
410.GCSE Modern World History
|
Short edited extract from Cold War series
about events in
Chile 1973 and
Nicaragua and El Salvador at the end of the 1970s.
|
|
Video - Cold War
episode 17
Good Guys, Bad Guys
and accompanying
website. This includes a
transcript of the episode.
The first part deals with the Middle east, the second with Lusophone
Africa. |
|
Key Question -
Why did the Cold War end?What
influence did the logic of the Cold War have on regional
conflicts?-
Afghanistan
How and why did the Cold War change between
phases of crisis and relaxation?
Key words: Brezhnev
Doctrine, Reagan, Gorbachev, Glasnost, Perestroika, Revolutions
in Eastern Europe
Possible Reference Points:
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan (1979),
The Iranian Revolution (1979), Moscow Olympics (1980) Fall of
the Berlin Wall (1989) How close
did the world come to nuclear catastrophe in 1983?
|
Worksheet 12 on the Second Cold War
 |
Prezi presentation
Second Cold War. |
On Afghanistan watch this short
video extract from People's Century.
Cold
War culture
information sheet
and
video. See the original
www.atomica.co.uk/culture.htm
Able Archer
information sheet.
Excellent documentary
about the nuclear crisis
1983: The Brink Of Apocalypse |
BBC
Schools - History File
documentary series on the Cold War.
Episode on The Second Cold War.
Short edited extract from Cold War series about events in
Central America during the Reagan years.
Short videos set of
videos examining key moments in the end of the Cold War.
Essay by Bradley Lightbody - Why and how did President
Reagan challenge the USSR from 1981 to 1985? from his
Cold War book.
See the two big
Nuclear Holocaust movies of the 1980s:
The Day After and
Threads and
the excellent Raymond Briggs animation
When the Wind Blows.
See the extract from the bomb episode of the
Young Ones. Play
the
1980s
arcade games and
watch the
Cold War music of the 1980s. Includes rare performance
of Cardiff's finest Along The Lines (i.e. me) doing my Cold War classic
'Futile Dreams'! |
| What caused the fall of the USSR?
Key words: Brezhnev
Doctrine, Reagan, Gorbachev, Glasnost, Perestroika, Revolutions
in Eastern Europe
Possible Reference Points:
Dissolution of the USSR |
Worksheet 13 on
the collapse of the USSR.
Videos of
Gorbachev and Reagan shown in the lesson.
Cartoons about
Reagan as seen in the lesson
|
News
report
video collection from
1990 that shows how events were reported in the USA at the time.
Video - Gorbachev: hero or villain?
For a very readable account of the
relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev and a conservative
view of the importance of Reagan see this extract from JL Gaddis
Cold War.
Print or
web.
Additional notes about
Gorbachev and the opposing
blog interpretations about Reagan.
Essay by Bradley Lightbody on the role of Gorbachev in the
end of the Cold War.
|
|
What were the consequences of the end of the Cold
War for the political world order?
Key Question -
What was the Cold War?
Key words: Religious
Fundamentalism, Nationalism.
Possible Reference Points: Dayton Accords (1995), 9/11
(2001), The Second Gulf War (2003-11)
|
What
was the Cold War? How has international relations developed
since 1991?
 |
Adam Curtis's
2015 film about how we got to where we are today |
Video - BBC Newsnight discusses with historians in 2014
about the 25 years since the end of the Cold War.
How are the events of the Cold war connected? An
essay planning and revision
sheet. |
|
|
Video -
Full People's Century
looks to the future of the post-Cold War world. |
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