Cold War Strategies and Conflicts

📋 Course Outline

1. Cold War and decolonisation as twin forces
2. Iron Curtain and Soviet control in Eastern Europe
3. Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan containment
4. Zhdanov doctrine and Europe’s Cold War split
5. Berlin crisis, Korean War and Cuban Missile Crisis
6. Vietnam War origins from French Indochina to Geneva
7. US escalation, Vietcong, Ho Chi Minh Trail
8. Anti-war protest and media impact in the US
9. Vietnam War outcomes and human costs
10. Détente, Reagan-Gorbachev reforms and Cold War end

📖 1. Cold War and decolonisation as twin forces

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Cold War: The Cold War was a limited rivalry after World War II between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies.
• Superpowers: Superpowers are the two dominant states after World War II whose political and economic systems differed greatly.
• Iron Curtain: The Iron Curtain was the Cold War line in central Europe that separated Western and Soviet spheres of influence.
• Decolonisation movement: The decolonisation movement was a push in many African and Asian countries to end colonial rule and reshape political futures.
• Third way: The third way was a policy stance that gathered developing countries that refused to align with either Cold War bloc.

📝 Essential Points