The Origins of the Cold War: U.S. Choices after World War II
Printed Curriculum [$20]
Downloadable Curriculum [$16]
Classroom Set [$9.75ea] (10 min)
Fifth edition.
Overview
The United States emerged from World War II possessing economic and military power unprecedented in world history. Henry Luce, publisher of Time Magazine, saw the period as the beginning of the "American Century" - an era in which the United States could shape events and promote American values throughout the world. Within a few short years, however, the predicted "Pax Americana" had been displaced by an emerging bipolar international system. Increasingly the United States was locked in an ideological, economic, political, and, at times, military struggle with a new world power, the Soviet Union.
While most historians agree that some sort of U.S.-Soviet rivalry was likely after the common enemies had been defeated, few insist that the Cold War, in the particular form that it took, was inevitable. Contrary to the typical textbook presentation of the 1945-47 period as a sequence of predictable Soviet actions and U.S. responses, U.S. perceptions of the Soviet Union at the time were confused and the policies being discussed ranged along a wide continuum of possibilities.The Origins of the Cold War: U.S. Choices After World War II brings students back into this formative period to experience the conflicting perceptions and participate in the process through which U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union was shaped.
Readings
The background reading in The Origins of the Cold War: U.S. Choices After World War II places students in the context of late 1946 as they prepare to consider the debate surrounding U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union. Primary sources, such as speeches, newspaper articles and editorials, and political cartoons from the mid-1940s, are used extensively in the unit.Students begin with the U.S. entry into World War II and review the course of U.S.-Soviet relations during the fighting. They then examine the key issues on the postwar U.S.-Soviet agenda.
Framework of Policy Options
The four distinct policy directions, or options, at the core of the unit reconstruct the debate that took place among U.S. policymakers in late 1946. Each is grounded in a clearly defined philosophy about the U.S. role in the world, Soviet ambitions in Europe, and the future of international relations. By exploring a broad spectrum of alternatives, students gain a deeper understanding of the competing values and assumptions that framed the debate on U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union in late 1946. Ultimately, the intent is to help students clarify their thoughts on U.S. Cold War strategy, articulate their own views on U.S. policy, both past and present, and apply the lessons of history to the challenges facing Americans today.
Suggested Five-Day Lesson Plan
The Teacher's Resource Book of The Origins of the Cold War: U.S. Choices After World War II contains a day-by-day lesson plan and student activities.
- Day One introduces students to the issues on the U.S.-Soviet agenda at the end of World War II.
- Day Two involves a role-play activity that acquaints students with the main security concerns of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France in 1946.
- Days Three and Four is the centerpiece of the unit in which students are involved in a two-day simulation that revolves around the four options for U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union.
- Day Five has students develop a classroom consensus on U.S. policy and discuss the goals and underlying values of the Truman Doctrine.