HIS 281 - Cold War: Soviet Confrontations and Vietnam

3 Credits, 3 Contact Hours
3 lecture periods 0 lab periods

Causes and effects of US-Soviet confrontations from WW II to 1994. Includes origins of the Cold War from WW II, initial Soviet probes, challenges in the Far East, probes and rhetoric, Soviet globalism, Vietnam, period of detente, end of detente, new challenge to Soviet Expansionism, and new vision and new world order.

Information: This is a continuation course to HIS 280  History of the World Wars; however, HIS 280  is not a prerequisite. This course will require a college level reading ability.
  

2.   Examine the Marshall Plan, the coup in Czechoslovakia and the Berlin blockade.

3.   Describe the strategy of containment and the significance of the Korean Conflict.

4.   Describe the missile gap, the New Look strategy, the U-2 crisis, Suez crisis and McCarthyism.

5.    Analyze the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the strategy of Flexible Response.

6.   Describe US involvement in Vietnam, the major battles, social unrest in the US and Watergate.

7.   Examine the strategy of détente, Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 & 1973, and nuclear/security talks.

8.   Analyze the Iranian hostage crisis,  Afghanistan, and the role of Pope John Paul II in Poland.

9.   Examine the Reagan strategy of US rearmament, Nicaragua, Poland, Grenada & Libya.

10.  Describe Perestroika and Glastnost, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the rise of terrorism.

B.    Korea

       2.  Military leadership and strategy:  Inchon & Chinese intervention

1. Leadership:  Influence of President Dwight Eisenhower
2. Strategy

1.  Containment
2.  New alliances
3.  Germany Rearms

1. Probes & Rhetoric, 1950-1957

1. Rise of Khrushchev : purge of Stalin & peaceful coexistence
2. Europe:  unrest in Poland & Hungary
3. Middle East: 1956 Suez Crisis
4. Far East: Mao’s Great Leap Forward & Cult of Personality
5. New strategy

1.  U-2 and Sputnik
2. The New Look (Massive Retaliation & B-52)

1. Social challenge in the US:  McCarthyism

V.  Soviet Globalism, 1958-1963

1. Middle East: US sends Marines to stabilize Lebanese government threatened by civil war
2. Latin America

1. Castro in Cuba
2. Bay of Pigs
3. Cuban Missile Crisis
4. Military coups and dictatorships

1. Europe

1. Berlin Wall constructed
2. French Algeria crisis: De Gaulle returns to lead 4^th Republic & French Independence

1. Far East: Sino-Soviet Split & Border Clashes
2. Leadership: Influence of President John Kennedy
3. Strategy: Flexible Response & Robert McNamara’s new way of doing business

1.  Vietnam, 1954 - 1975

1. Rise of Ho Chi Minh and Dien Bien Phu
2. Elections of 1956 rejected by both sides
3. US involvement, overthrow of President Diem and the Gulf of Tonkin
4. Major military actions

1. Ia Drang
2. Khe Sahn
3. Tet Offensive
4. Strategic bombing
5. Cambodia & Laos Offensives

1. Strategy

1. Guerrilla war or conventional war?
2. Domino Theory
3. Vietnamization

1. Social protests in the U.S. and abroad
   1. Student protests
   2. Civil Rights protests
   3. Women’s movements
2. Peace, the War Powers Act and other Congressional limitations
3. Fall of South Vietnam
4. Leadership

1. President Lyndon Johnson & the Great Society
2. President Richard Nixon, his visit to China & Watergate

VII. Period of Détente  1967 - 1975

1. Europe

1.  Alexander  Dubcek  & Prague Spring
2.  Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia

1. Middle East

1.  Nasser and Syria
2.  Arab-Israeli Wars, 1967 and 1973

1. Africa:   Angola
2. Latin America:  Chile
3. Strategy

1.  Anti-Ballistic Missile Defenses

2.  Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I)

1.  Conference on Security & Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) at Helsinki

VIII. End of Détente, 1976-1979

1. Europe

1. Pope John Paul II visits Poland
2. Czech playwright Vaclav Havel

1. Middle East

1. Iran Hostage Crisis
2. Soviets invade Afghanistan

1. Latin American:  Nicaragua &  El Salvador
2. Soviet military buildup & deployment of SS-20 Missiles
3. Far East:  Deng Xiaoping & Market Economy
4. Leadership:  influence of President Jimmy Carter
5. Strategy

1.  Rapid Deployment Force
2. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II)

IX. New Challenge to Soviet Expansionism, 1980-1984

1. Europe:  Margaret Thatcher
2. Latin America

1. Falkland Islands
2. Nicaragua & El Salvador
3. Grenada

1. Africa:  Libya
2. Middle East:  Lebanon
3. Leadership:  influence of President Ronald Reagan
4. Strategy

1. Push for US rearmament
2. New covert actions
3. Pershing & Cruise Missiles for Europe to counter Soviet SS-20
4. Strategic Defense Initiative & the Reykjavik conference

1. Social protests in the U.S. and abroad

1. New Vision and New World Order, 1985 - 1994

1. Mikhail Gorbachev – Perestroika, Glastnost & dabbling with reforms
2. Chernobyl Crisis
3. Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty
4. Middle East

1. Terrorism:  TWA jet to Beirut; Achille Lauro; Berlin discotheque
2. Lebanon hostages and Iran-Contra Affair
3. Yasser Arafat and the Intifada

1. Europe

1. Hungary destroys the Iron Curtain
2. East German free elections
3. Berlin Wall Torn Down – Germany reunifies
4. Lech Walesa, Vaclev Havel, & Boris Yeltsin

1. Far East:  Tiananmen Square
2. Latin America:  US Invasion of Panama
3. Middle East

1. Madrid Conference – Arabs and Jews finally talk directly with each other
2. Jordan’s King Hussein & Peace Treaty with Israel

    I.  Legacy of the Cold War