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List of essay outlines:

1. To what extent was the Cold War a result of World War II? 2. The Cold War was a result of two conflicting ideologies. How far do you agree? 3. The Cold War was mainly caused by fear and less due to aggression. Do you agree? 4. How is it possible to explain the emergence of the Cold War by referring to events from the period 1945-50? 5. To what extent had the policy of containment been successful in Europe and Asia 194750? 6. To what extent was the Korean War a part of the Cold War? 7. How were the Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment implemented in the period 1947-61? 8. Why and with what results did the USSR place missiles in Cuba in 1962? 9. Why has Cuba been an important country in Cold War history? 10. Why was Germany a centre of Cold War problems in the years 1945-61? 11. The Asian development of the Cold War was far more dangerous than the European development. With reference to events from the period 1945-60, how far do you agree? 12. It is unjustified to see Khrushchev as a Cold Warrior. Do you agree? 13. Assess the role played by Vietnam in the Cold War. 14. How did the Vietnam War affect the Cold War? 15. How and why was there a period of dtente in the 1970? 16. Why was dtente brought to an end in the late 1970s? 17. To what extent did military expenditures lead to the end of the Cold War? 18. To what extent was it external pressure which led to the collapse of the Soviet system? 19. Was Gorbachev responsible for the collapse of the Soviet system? 20. Assess the importance of dtente in ending the Cold War 21. What role did Germany play in the Cold War? 22. What role did China play in the Cold War? 23. What were the main events in the arms development 1945-1991?

Marx

Lenin

Lenin his disciple, wrote: Bolshevism can serve as a model of tactics for all proletarians in the whole world.1 Adolf Hitler also realised what the future would bring. In April 1945 he wrote: With the defeat of the Reich...there will remain in the world only two great powers capable of confronting each other, the United States and Soviet Russia. The laws of both history and geography will compel these two powers to a trial of strength, either military or in the fields of economics and ideology.2 You need to be able to discuss the importance of ideology as one reason for the Cold War. You should be able to explain the ideologies of the two superpowers. Lets do that by investigating four vital areas within society:

Marxism-Leninism versus liberalism. A. The economy:

The idea of a communist society or Marxism-Leninism is that the state controls the means of production. It is a rejection of private capitalism and private companies. To achieve an equal society, the state must plan how resources shall be used and how the result of the production shall be distributed. State control of the means of production is a necessary prerequisite in creating an equal and classless society. Common ownership will guarantee both equality and wealth. In Soviet Russia it led to a nationalisation of both land and companies, without compensation to the previous owners. According to Marxism a worker in a capitalist society is exploited by the capitalists. Consequently a true Marxist wants to liberate oppressed workers in other countries. The rejection of private capitalism and a desire to liberate oppressed workers in other countries terrified conservative politicians in Western countries. Let the ruling classes tremble, said Marx. In a liberal or capitalist society private ownership and a free market are cornerstones of the society. Competition and a free market produce wealth, and government intervention is normally seen as a negative thing. Even though some state intervention may be acceptable to secure a free market, it is entrepreneurship, trade etc., that will guarantee a prosperous economic development. The Americans wanted free trade between states to endorse economic growth. This policy was referred to as an open door policy. From a Russian point of view, this was only a new form of imperialism. By creating economic dependence, the political life of each country would later be controlled. The American demand for equal rights was seen as a demand for economic conquest.

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1. To what extent was the Cold War a result of World War II? (You need to write one part
where you show that the Cold War was a consequence of. W.W.II and a second part where you demonstrate that it was a result of other things that had nothing to do with the war) Yes it was a result of the war (elaborate on the following points): The war resulted in two victorious superpowers with totally different ideologies. One had a nuclear monopoly and had used the bomb without informing her ally. The USSR had suffered enormously from the war while the US emerged stronger than ever. The question of a second front during the war had soured relations. The Red Army controlled Eastern Europe, which would have a major significance in post-war Europe. Germany did not exist politically and militarily. There was a power vacuum in the heart of Europe. Decisions during the war had resulted in Germany being divided into zones of occupation, Berlin was to have a western zone and there should be a ruling Allied Control Council with veto rights assigned to each occupying power. In Asia, Japan had surrendered and control had to be re-established in Korea, China and Indochina.

No, the Cold War was not a result of the war (we are now facing a problem which is difficult to deal with: How shall we discuss post-war history from the perspective of there never having been a W.W.II? It is however possible to discuss the following points:) Tension had already surfaced during the Russian Civil War 1918-21 and it took years until the Americans recognised the USSR. Their relations had always been hostile, which was expected. Write about how fundamentally different these two systems were from and ideological point of view. It is likely that there would have been tension between these two systems even without the war. Neither believed in a peaceful co-existence. You could put yourself in the shoes of an orthodox historian by arguing that a Marxist Leninist system would challenge the free world even without W.W.II. This was inevitable due to the USSRs wish to liberate oppressed workers in capitalist countries. Lenin had argued that clashes between the Soviet republic and bourgeois states were inevitable. You can use arguments from a revisionist historian. The Open Door policy aimed at dominating other countries economically and this kind of dollar imperialism cannot be purely seen as a result of the war and it would of course provoke the USSR. To post revisionist historians, fear is one key explanation of the Cold War and one reason for this fear was of course nuclear weapons. The construction of nuclear weapons had started before the war and it cannot be argued that nuclear weapons were a result of W.W.II. It is clear that the existence of nuclear weapons in the future would cause tension and this cannot be seen as a W.W.II phenomenon.

Conclusion: Cold War questions dealing with responsibility and guilt are clearly controversial and it is not a coincidence that historians are so divided over the issue. In this question however, we think it is possible to conclude that there would be some cold war problems even without W.W.II. The war created some problems but these two systems were so fundamentally different that problems would have occurred in some form even without the war. Lenin was correct in his prophecy. But this assumption is of course not a historical fact.