This volume examines the origins and early years of the Cold War in the first comprehensive historical reexamination of the period. A team of leading scholars shows how the conflict evolved from the geopolitical, ideological, economic and sociopolitical environments of the two world wars and interwar period.
The Cold War dominated international relations in the second half of the 20th century in an all-embracing ideological and military conflict between communism and democracy. This survey shows the Cold War as the consequence of the breakdown of the existing international system during the two world wars and a new great power alignment which emerged to fill the vcuum created in both Europe and Asia as existing states and imperial powers lost their former predominance. The text draws on recent scholarship on the Cold War, based not only upon materials from US, British, Canadian, Australian and European sources, but also upon those from Soviet, Eastern European and Asian sources that only became available in the 1990s. The author aims to shed new light on familiar events such as the Berlin crisis, the Sino-Soviet split, detente, the Sino-American rapprochement of the 1970s and 80s, and the ultimate collapse of communism and the Soviet empire in Europe. The book also compares the Cold War's domestic impact on the various countries involved, and assesses the degree to which, even today, the Cold War's influence on the international scene remains pervasive.
This Historical Dictionary of U.S. Diplomacy during the Cold War offers readers a comprehensive, accessible survey of the principal actors and events involved in the making of United States foreign policy during a crucial period in the nation’s history. The Cold War saw the United States acquire superpower status, and to be closely involved in events around the globe. Foreign policy became a central issue in domestic politics. The confrontations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and its allies and satellites, and with the forces of international communism dominated U.S. interactions with the world throughout this period. This book covers this turbulent period through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 900 cross-referenced entries on key persons, policies, events, institutions, and organizations, along with issues such as the division of Germany after World War II, the creation of the People’s Republic of China, European economic recovery, communist movements in the third worlds, decolonization, the Vietnam War, and the nuclear arms race. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about U.S. diplomacy during the cold war.
Focuses on Soviet politics in the period between the end of World War II and the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), known as the Cold War.
Illustrated with detailed artworks of combat aircraft and their markings, Aircraft of the Cold War: 1945-91 is a comprehensive study of the planes in service with NATO and the Warsaw Pact and their respective units from the end of World War II until the reunification of Germany. For over 40 years NATO and Warsaw Pact aircraft faced each other across the Iron Curtain or fought in proxy wars around the world. Arranged chronologically by theater, this book gives a complete organizational breakdown of the units of both sides, including the units and aircraft used in the proxy wars fought in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East, and elsewhere, as well as the frontline in Germany. Packed with 250 color profiles of every major type of combat aircraft from the era, Aircraft of the Cold War: 1945-91 is an essential reference guide for modelers, military historians, and aircraft enthusiasts.
One of the most significant industrial states in the country, with a powerful radical tradition, Pennsylvania was, by the early 1950s, the scene of some of the fiercest anti-Communist activism in the United States. Philip Jenkins examines the political an
The last decade of the Cold War witnessed the transformation of world politics with the collapse of one-party Communist rule in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. This book explains how it happened and why.
“Cold war” was a term coined in 1945 by left-leaning British writer George Orwell to predict how powers made unconquerable by having nuclear weapons would conduct future relations. It was popularized in 1947 by American journalist Walter Lippmann amid mounting tensions between the erstwhile World War II Allies - the capitalist democracies - the United States of America and Britain - versus the Soviet Union, a communist dictatorship. As the grand alliance of the “Big Three” they had defeated Nazi Germany, its satellites and Japan in World War II but became rivals who split the world into an American-led Western “bloc” and Soviet-led Eastern “bloc.” Both were secured from direct attack by arraying ever-greater nuclear and conventional forces against the other while seeking global supremacy by other means. The 45-year Cold War lasted until the Soviet Union collapsed between 1989 and 1991. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Cold War contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, crucial countries and peripheral conflicts, the increasingly lethal weapons systems, and the various political and military strategies. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about this crucial period in history.
This sweeping reference work covers every aspect of the Cold War, from its ignition in the ashes of World War II, through the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War superpower face-off between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated international affairs in the second half of the 20th century and still reverberates around the world today. This comprehensive and insightful multivolume set provides authoritative entries on all aspects of this world-changing event, including wars, new military technologies, diplomatic initiatives, espionage activities, important individuals and organizations, economic developments, societal and cultural events, and more. This expansive coverage provides readers with the necessary context to understand the many facets of this complex conflict. The work begins with a preface and introduction and then offers illuminating introductory essays on the origins and course of the Cold War, which are followed by some 1,500 entries on key individuals, wars, battles, weapons systems, diplomacy, politics, economics, and art and culture. Each entry has cross-references and a list of books for further reading. The text includes more than 100 key primary source documents, a detailed chronology, a glossary, and a selective bibliography. Numerous illustrations and maps are inset throughout to provide additional context to the material.
How was anti-communism organised in the West? This book covers the agents, aims, and arguments of various transnational anti-communist activists during the Cold War. Existing narratives often place the United States – and especially the CIA – at the centre of anti-communist activity. The book instead opens up new fields of research transnationally.