HIS-262 The Cold War: To the Brink of Armageddon
An examination and analysis of the causes, conduct, and impact of the U.S.-Soviet struggle for global supremacy between 1945 and 1991, popularly termed the "Cold War." Particular emphasis will be focused on the "Forgotten War" in Korea (1950-53); the Cuban Missile Crisis (when the world tottered on the brink of nuclear holocaust), and the Vietnam War, the longest and most divisive conflict in American history.
Course Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate knowledge of the basic narrative of the military, political, economic, diplomatic, social, and technological history of the Cold War, and the decisive role this conflict played in shaping American, western and world history
- Demonstrate an understanding of the ideological, political, economic, military and strategic causes and consequences of the Cold War
- Demonstrate an understanding of the global scope and implications of the Cold War
- Demonstrate an understanding of the manifold ways rapidly-changing technologies conditioned wartime objectives and modes of conflict during the Cold War
- Demonstrate the ability to comprehend, interpret, analyze and evaluate college-level primary and secondary source readings in the field of Cold War history
- Identify, analyze and evaluate arguments made by some of the major authors in the field of Cold War history, and, in their own writing, demonstrate well-reasoned and evidence-supported arguments when interpreting historical subject matter
- Demonstrate the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, use and share information from a range of published/printed and electronic historical resources