The Cold War: Introduction

The Cold War was the most important political and diplomatic issue of the early postwar period. The main Cold War enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold war got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly. In such a “hot war,” nuclear weapons might destroy everything. [...]

Reinventing Stalin: Modern Historical Trends

Reflecting on a recent post, High Heeled Historian commented that though Stalin may have been responsible for 35 million deaths (which someone computed at about 18% of the entire population) at least he saved the USSR from Nazi Germany. There seems quite a trend about modern historians to reinvent Stalin; to move him from “Monsters [...]

Cold War: A Level Bibliography

Reference Books

Cold War : Notes

The immediate and tangible causes of the cold war begin with World War Two itself. On July 25, 1945, two months after Germany had surrendered, the Big Three — Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman — met at POTSDAM in order to discuss the fate of Germany. By 1945, Stalin was the veteran revolutionary, [...]

Was Ludwig Erhard the real mover and shaker in the Adenauer years?

Considering Adenauer as a leader: Good, Bad or….indifferent?

The ice cold war?

Considering the territorial factors in the Cold War, does this week’s news about melting ice caps suggest the possibility of an imminent “ice cold war”? Roger Howard explains:

Why was there a “Cold War”? A lecture by Kreis

There are now two great nations in the world, which starting from different points, seem to be advancing toward the same goal: the Russians and the Anglo-Americans. . . . Each seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world. Alexis de Tocqueville, [...]