HIS344Y1 : HIS344 Study Guide.docx
Document Summary
Historiography about the cold war, collapse of grand alliance. The first cold war/truman doctrine: traditional view. Soviets did not provide evidence against this view. Cause of the cold war was nothing but soviet activity, the soviet union. Guilt falls on the soviets, communism and stalin. Communism by its nature wanted to expand. Soviet union aimed to overthrow the free world: revisionist. Mid 1970s us and soviet relations thawed out -> challenged the traditional interpretations. Cold war emerged because of the us being in a superior position -> its desire to ensure markets for their its economy: post-revisionist. 1989-90: unprecedented opportunity because all of the soviet archives were opened to the public. Both sides committed blunders, tried to gain the upper hand in cold war. Archives proved that it wasn"t just soviet ideology but also genuine soviet concerns triggered international conflicts. Many post-revisionist still put more blame on the soviets: soviet.
