Unit 8.1 - Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization

THEMATIC FOCUS

Governance

A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Explain the historical context of the Cold War after 1945.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS

KC-6.2.II Hopes for greater self-government were largely unfulfilled following World War I; however, in the years following World War II, increasing anti-imperialist sentiment contributed to the dissolution of empires and the restructuring of states.

KC-6.2.IV.C.i Technological and economic gains experienced during World War II by the victorious nations shifted the global balance of power.

increasing anti-imperialist sentiment

Decolonization -- the relinquishing of all colonial possessions by imperial powers or the end to empires

brought the world to its current international standing.
- - Imperial agents lost their control
  - new independent states gained autonomy and self determination
  - given the concurrent developments in the cold war—the globe was no longer demarcated by clearly identifiable spheres of influence
Emerging nations were often confronted by the demand that they take sides and choose between capitalism and communism
Asian and African lands faced daunting challenges in their pursuit of domestic or regional goals in a rapidly changing world
- - they worked to transform their societies in the midst of religious, sectarian, or ethnic crises or neoimperial or superpower pressures

Shifting Global Balance of Power

Western European nations that were tied to the United States embraced parliamentary political systems and capitalist economic structures and adjusted their foreign policies to the U.S. vision of the postwar world.
Eastern European states (under the watchful eyes of Soviet occupation armies) adopted Soviet political and economic institutions and supported Moscow’s foreign policy goals
Outside Europe, members of the socialist and capitalist blocs often diverged significantly from the political and economic norms of their patrons.
- - when it suited their needs, both sides in the cold war welcomed regimes that practiced neither democracy nor socialism

CLASS ACTIVITY -- Sourcing

Activity:

1.) watch How America became a superpower-video

2.) Source the image below in one way (H.I.P.P.) : Salvador Dali (1943) Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of a New Man

H-Historical Context

I-Intended Audience

P-Purpose

P-Point Of View (limitations of using the document)

Salvador Dali (1943) Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of a New Man

CLASS ACTIVITY -- Historical Claim (Soviet)

Activity

1.) Use the document below to write a claim / category of analysis using the following prompt:

Prompt: Analyze the causes and effects of the Cold War.

2.) Source the document in one way using H.I.P.P. relevant to your argument

H-Historical Context

I-Intended Audience

P-Purpose

P-Point Of View (limitations of using the document)

Source: Soviet foreign minister, V.M. Molotov, “The Task of our Time: Unite Against the Enslavement of the People, “broadcast to the Russian people, November 6, 1947.

Today the ruling circles of the U.S.A. and Great Britain head one international grouping, which has as its aim the consolidation of capitalism and the achievement of the denomination of these countries over other peoples...Take, for example, the German question. If in the post war period America and Britain had adhered to all the principles--let us say, for example, the democratic principles--of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences on the German question, which made possible and fruitful the collaboration of the great allies against Hitlerite, Germany, with the aim of liquidating the remnants of fascism, then collaboration between the Soviet Union, the United States, and Britain would also today produce good results. But the United States and Britain have departed from these democratic principles and have violated the decisions jointly taken.

CLASS ACTIVITY -- Historical Claim (American)

Activity

1.) Use the document below to write a claim / category of analysis using the following prompt:

Prompt: Analyze the causes and effects of the Cold War.

2.) Source the document in one way using H.I.P.P. relevant to your argument

H-Historical Context

I-Intended Audience

P-Purpose

P-Point Of View (limitations of using the document)

Source: John Foster Dulles, U.S. Secretary of State, a speech to the press; 1957

Let us also make apparent to the Soviet rulers our real purpose. We condemn and oppose their imperialism. We seek the liberation of the captive nations. We seek this, however, not in order to encircle Russia with hostile forces but because peace is in jeopardy and freedom a word of mockery until the divided nations are reunited and the captive nations are set free. . . .

Events of the past year indicate that the pressures of liberty are rising.

…

The satellite countries no longer provide a submissive source of added Soviet strength. Indeed, Soviet strength, both military and economic, has now to be expanded to repress those who openly show their revulsion against Soviet rule.

DEBRIEF AND SUMMARY

Key Takeaways

A.) The events of WWII made the prospects of maintaining empire unfeasible and the old-empires that had once dominated the globe spun off their empires in a variety of ways

B.) The global balance of power had been irrevocably altered by this attainment of worldwide independence.

Remember,

• Your claim should be more universal than just what is in the document

• It is not enough to identify the audience, purpose, historical situation, or audience. You need to give the “so what?” of it as well.