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How did atomic weapons change the world’s
geopolitical dynamic?
What were the two main options for socioeconomic organization at the end of WWII?
What was the purpose of the United Nations?
What were the two most important bodies
within the U.N.?
How many members did the U.N. have when
it began?
How did decolonization and the growth of the
“third world” affect the U.N.?
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Why did the United States and the Soviet Union
become enemies after WWII?
Why is this oppositional relationship known as
the “Cold War”?
What did the United States fear with regard to
Soviet intentions?
What was the strategy they devised to combat
possible Soviet expansion?
How did developments in Eastern Europe support
the American interpretation of Soviet intentions?
How did the Soviet handling of situations
elsewhere in the world, such as Iran and Turkey,
affect the American point of view?
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What did Churchill mean when he said that an
“iron curtain” had descended across eastern
Europe?
* Who was George C. Marshall?
* Who were Dean Acheson and George Kennan?
What was the Truman Doctrine?
What was the role of the national security
apparatus established within the United States in
the late 1940s and early 50s?
What is the most well known example of the
national security establishment?
Why did the Soviet Union feel threatened by the
United States?
How did the U.S.S.R. respond to these perceived
threats?
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How did the policies of the western powers in
Germany provoke a response from the Soviet
Union?
What form did that response take (June
1948?)
*How did Truman respond to the blockade?
* What was the significance of the blockade
for the U.S. domestically and internationally?
* What was the Marshall plan and why was it
proposed?
What is NATO?
How did it come to exist?
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* What was the significance of the stationing
of American forces inside West Germany?
How did the Soviet Union interpret the “three
prongs” of the Western response to the Soviet
Union?
What was the geopolitical situation in Europe
by 1950?
* What did the National Security Act of 1947
accomplish?
* Why was Dean Acheson, and others,
insistent that the U.S. should develop the
hydrogen bomb?
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* What is the significance of NSC-68?
What changes to Japanese government and
society did the American government bring about
in occupied Japan?
What factors contributed to Japan’s economic
revival?
What was the situation in Korea as of 1950?
How did it get this way?
How did the United States interpret the invasion
of South Korea by the North in June 1950?
What were the most likely intentions of the North
and the U.S.S.R. in mounting the invasion?
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What role did the UN play in the Western
response?
How did the initial fighting go for the UN
forces?
What turned the tide and put the UN back on
the offensive?
Why did China enter the war and what was
the effect?
How did the war finally “end”?
What were the “costs” of fighting the war to
the participant nations?
Did they view the costs as acceptable?
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How did many of the nonaligned nations view
the outcome of the war?
Section 112
When did Stalin die?
What was his impact on the Soviet Union?
How did Stalin’s paranoia and totalitarian
controls manifest themselves in Soviet policy?
What was meant by “Khruschev’s thaw”?
How deep did the thaw really go?
What was Sputnik?
Why was Khruschev ousted from power in
1964? Who succeeded him?
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Which eastern European countries fell into the
Soviet sphere of influence after the war?
How did Soviet supported policies in eastern
Europe “make a mockery” of the idea of free
elections?
How did Stalin’s paranoia fuelled purges manifest
themselves in eastern Europe?
What economic reforms did the communist
governments enact?
What was the Warsaw Pact?
Who was Tito?
How and why did Poland revolt aginst the Soviet
Union following Khruschev’s de-Stalinization
speech in 1956?
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How did the Polish success influence
Hungary?
Why did the Soviet Union crush the Hungarian
uprising of 1956?
What happened to its leader, Imre Nagy?
Section 113
How did the Chinese Nationalists and
Communists get along during the war with
Japan?
What happened when WWII ended?
What happened to China’s seat in the UN in
1971?
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What were Mao’s goals for China after he
attained power?
How repressive was Mao’s regime during the
1950s?
Why did Mao encourage a “hundred schools
of thought”? What happened to many of the
thinkers?
What evidence was there of friendly SinoSoviet relations early on?
What was the “Great Leap Forward”?
How successful was it?
What are some examples of positive changes
brought about by Mao?
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What was the cultural revolution? Who were
its main tools and who were its main victims?
What were the results of the Cultural
Revolution?
When did Mao die?
What was Mao’s legacy?
What was his “little red book”?
Why did China invade Tibet?
Why did Sino-Soviet relations sour
throughout the 1960s?
Whom did Mao welcome to China in 1972?
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Readings for the next few weeks:
Main Text:
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P. 947-950 French Algerian War
P.961-962 Belgian Congo
P.981-987 Iran-Iraq War, First Persian Gulf War
P.995-1010 Section 121: Confrontation and Détente
P. 1021-1027 Section 123: The Cold War Rekindled
P. 1027-1032 Section 124: China After Mao
P. 1033-1064 Ch. 26 End of the Cold War
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
706 -720 Cold War at Home and Abroad
728- 738 Sputnik, Beginning of Civil Rights
739-772 the 60s
793-94 Collapse of Détente
799-804 Reagan and the World
808-809 Ending the Cold War, The Gulf War
Handouts
American Text:
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Describe Spain and Portugal’s system of
control over Latin America during the colonial
period.
What class (caste) distinctions were there in
Latin American society?
How did these influence the push towards
independence?
What role did the Napoleonic invasion of
Spain and Portugal play in increasing Latin
American autonomy?
Why did many Spanish American “colonies”
create their own juntas?
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Why did Brazil not need to create a junta?
Who were some of the leaders of the
independence movements?
How did the United States view the newly
independent nations of the south?
What was the Monroe Doctrine?
What was Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress? Did it
work?
What impact did borrowing money have on the
countries of Latin America?
What is the OAS?
How did the United States often “handle”
governments that were deemed to be too far left?
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Who was Salvador Allende of Chile? What
happened to him?
How did Castro challenge America’s power in
the Western Hemisphere?
Section 117/Handout on Algerian War of
Independence
How did France’s treatment of Tunisia and
Morocco differ from its treatment of Algeria?
Why do you think this was the case?
How many of Algeria’s 9 million people were
French settlers, or “colons”?
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What is a guerrilla war? Where does the term
come from?
What are the common strategies and tactics
used in most guerrilla campaigns?
What are some of the challenges in mounting
a guerrilla campaign?
How did Mao’s victory in China influence
other movements?
Describe the societal advantages French
settlers enjoyed over Arab natives in Algeria.
What were the three sides involved in the
war?
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What were the UDMA and the Ulema? What
were their respective beliefs regarding
Algerian independence?
How were the two sides represented in the
MTLD and its successor the Font de
Liberation Nationale (FLN)?
Who was Ahmed Ben Bella?
How did events in Korea and French
Indochina (Vietnam) influence the Algerian
nationalists?
How similar were the Viet Minh with the FLN?
When and how did the Algerian War begin?
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What tactics did the FLN use throughout
1954-55? How did the French respond?
What does the principle of “collective
responsibility” mean? Is it just?
How did the use of helicopters affect the
French army’s ability to conduct operations?
How many soldiers did France have “incountry” by 1957? How many guerrillas were
they fighting?
Why did the French use torture? How did this
knowledge affect public opinion of the war in
France?
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Did Morocco and Tunisia play a role in the
war?
Why did the army and pied-noirs turn to
Charles de Gaulle?
How did things go for the FLN in Algeria
during 1959?
How did they bring the war “home” to the
people of France?
Why did de Gaulle put the issue of Algerian
independence to a referendum? How did it
turn out?
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Do you agree with Kissinger’s quote, “A
conventional army loses if it does not win. A
guerrilla army wins if it does not lose.”?
How did the colons/pied-noirs/French
settlers in Algeria, along with portions of the
army, react to the move toward Algerian
independence?
Approximately how people were killed during,
and as a result of, the war?
What were the Evian Accords?
How did Islamic extremism affect Algeria in
the 1990s?
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The Belgian Congo:
What did the Belgian government decide to
do in 1960?
Who was Patrice Lumumba?
What happened that undermined the power
and authority of Lumumba’s government?
Why did Moise Tshombe have the European
financial support for his attempted secession
of the Katanga region of the Congo?
Why did Lumumba appeal to the UN for help?
How did the UN respond?
To whom did Lumumba turn after the UN?
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Why was Lumumba removed as Prime
Minister?
How was he able to establish his own
government in Stanleyville?
What happened on January 17, 1961?
How did the UN end up conducting offensive
military operations against the Katanga
government?
How did it turn out?
Why is this an important event in the history
of the UN?
In what ways did the larger struggle of the
Cold War manifest itself in the Congo Crisis?
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How did the internal strife in the Congo
finally resolve itself?
Why did the United States support Mobutu?
How did Mobutu remake the Congo?
Iran-Iraq War
How is Iran different than most of the Arab
Gulf states?
What had been Iran’s history through the 20th
century up to the revolution of 1978-79?
What was the nature of the Iranian
Revolution?
Who took ultimate control of Iran as result of
the revolution?
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How did the Ayatollah Khomeini and his
Supreme Council change the country?
How did they view the west? How did they
express their view in the autumn of 1979?
Why were Iraq and Iran natural enemies as of
1980?
What did Iraq use an excuse to attack Iran?
How did the war progress for each side?
What was the extent of western involvement
in the Persian Gulf?
Why did Iran and Iraq bring the war to an end
in 1988?
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What were the effects of the war on each country
and the region?
The Persian Gulf War, 1990-1991
Why did Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invade Kuwait in
August of 1990?
How did other countries in the region, and
around the world, interpret Iraq’s aggression?
*What was Operation Desert Shield?
What was the purpose of economic sanctions
against Iraq?
Were they successful?
*Why did the Soviet Union not block the United
States’ push for UN support of military action
against Iraq?
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What was Operation Desert Shield?
*How did the attack on Iraq begin? How was
this an example of the increased importance
of air power in modern warfare?
How successful was the ground assault
launched five weeks later?
Why did President Bush not push American
forces all the way to Baghdad and remove
Hussein from power?
What were the immediate and long-term
effects of the war?
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The Cold War: The 50s
How did the Berlin crisis of 1948 help Truman
retain the presidency?
* How did the Cold War impact America’s “home
front”?
* What was the purpose of Truman’s loyalty
program?
* Was the House Un-American Activities
Committee?
* What did Senator Joseph McCarthy say on
February 12, 1950 that grabbed national
attention?
* How did this lead to “McCarthyism” and what
does the term mean?
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* What were McCarthy’s usual tactics?
* How did he use his Senate sub-committee
to promote his agenda?
* To whom did McCarthy appeal?
* What was Eisenhower’s approach to dealing
with McCarthy?
* What were the Army-McCarthy hearings?
* How did it bring about McCarthy’s political
downfall?