Syllabus
The course will focus on the following topics: 1. The origins of the Cold War (Soviet strategic planning in the final stages of World War II, U.S. proto-containment, correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt in 1944-45) 2.
The key documents related to the beginning of the Cold War (Kennan, Roberts, Novikov, Churchill, Byrnes) 3. Czechoslovakia's road to the Eastern bloc (Beneš's negotiations in Moscow in 1943 and 1945, Czechoslovakia's uranium ore, the Marshall Plan, the Communist coup of February 1948).
A comparison with the case of Finland. 4. The Berlin Crisis, 1948-49 5.
The Soviet-Yugoslav split 6. The Soviet threat in the early 1950s - perceptions and reality (NSC-68, the Moscow summit in January 1951) 7.
The Korean War - prelude to a global conflict? 8. Uprising in East Germany, 1953 9. 1956 - three crises with different results (Suez X Hungary and Poland 1956) 10.
Soviet strategic planning in the 1950s and 1960s 11. 1961 - the Vienna summit and the Berlin crisis 12. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 - diplomacy and intelligence under the threat of nuclear holocaust
Annotation
This course is drawn up as one-semester seminar, concluded by an exam. Its major content comprises detailed analysis of strategic and diplomatic documents related to the key stages of the bipolar struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union (and their respective Allies) in the years 1945-1962.
It thus focuses on the early stages of the Cold War, starting from the final stages of World War II until the Cuban Missile Crisis. The major aim of this course is to acquire basic skills of research work with primary sources of political, diplomatic as well as strategic character - their thorough critique, setting them into relevant contexts and subsequently providing their adequate interpretation (or interpretations).
This professional training is based on the use of attractive documentary material in English, but in some cases also in Czech and Russian (their knowledge is welcome, but not necessary) - mostly declassified in the last two decades.