Operation Unthinkable. Its significance in the development of the Cold War

Operation Unthinkable. Its significance in the development of the Cold War PDF

Author: Sam Hines

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2016-07-18

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 3668261229

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Essay from the year 2016 in the subject History of Europe - Europe in the Cold War, grade: A, , language: English, abstract: This essay investigates the question “How significant was Operation Unthinkable in the development of the Cold War?” Operation Unthinkable was Churchill’s plan to attack the Soviet Union in 1945. Stalin was very suspicious of British actions and his intelligence soon discovered the document - although it is not clear when. This investigation makes use of a variety of primary and secondary sources. The first source is a book written by the historian Jonathan Walker: ‘Operation Unthinkable: The Third World War’ provides an in-depth study of the plan and considers its role in key events of the Cold War. Another source referenced is the document itself. Declassified in 1998, it is used to try to understand Churchill’s fears of the Soviet Union at the time. The rest of the investigation continues to use a range of interesting sources in order to understand the significance of the plan. The investigation is structured in the following manner: an introduction explains the historical and modern relevance of the topic followed by an analysis of key sources. From here, the essay investigates the significance of Operation Unthinkable by considering the tension it caused, the promises Stalin reneged on after Yalta, the USSR’s redeployment of troops, the introduction of the atomic bomb and the use of salami tactics. Also, the significance in terms of what it tells historians about Churchill’s views of the world is assessed. Finally, there is a conclusion to complete the essay.

A Brief History of the Cold War

A Brief History of the Cold War PDF

Author: Lee Edwards

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-03-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1621575411

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A book to challenge the status quo, spark a debate, and get people talking about the issues and questions we face as a country!

The Cold War at Home

The Cold War at Home PDF

Author: Philip Jenkins

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2014-06-30

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1469619652

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One of the most significant industrial states in the country, with a powerful radical tradition, Pennsylvania was, by the early 1950s, the scene of some of the fiercest anti-Communist activism in the United States. Philip Jenkins examines the political and social impact of the Cold War across the state, tracing the Red Scare's reverberations in party politics, the labor movement, ethnic organizations, schools and universities, and religious organizations. Among Jenkins's most provocative findings is the revelation that, although their absolute numbers were not large, Communists were very well positioned in crucial Pennsylvania regions and constituencies, particularly in labor unions, the educational system, and major ethnic organizations. Instead of focusing on Pennsylvania's right-wing politicians (the sort represented nationally by Senator Joseph McCarthy), Jenkins emphasizes the anti-Communist activities of liberal politicians, labor leaders, and ethnic community figures who were terrified of Communist encroachments on their respective power bases. He also stresses the deep roots of the state's militant anti-Communism, which can be traced back at least into the 1930s.

Science and Technology in the Global Cold War

Science and Technology in the Global Cold War PDF

Author: Naomi Oreskes

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2014-10-31

Total Pages: 467

ISBN-13: 0262526530

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Investigations of how the global Cold War shaped national scientific and technological practices in fields from biomedicine to rocket science. The Cold War period saw a dramatic expansion of state-funded science and technology research. Government and military patronage shaped Cold War technoscientific practices, imposing methods that were project oriented, team based, and subject to national-security restrictions. These changes affected not just the arms race and the space race but also research in agriculture, biomedicine, computer science, ecology, meteorology, and other fields. This volume examines science and technology in the context of the Cold War, considering whether the new institutions and institutional arrangements that emerged globally constrained technoscientific inquiry or offered greater opportunities for it. The contributors find that whatever the particular science, and whatever the political system in which that science was operating, the knowledge that was produced bore some relation to the goals of the nation-state. These goals varied from nation to nation; weapons research was emphasized in the United States and the Soviet Union, for example, but in France and China scientific independence and self-reliance dominated. The contributors also consider to what extent the changes to science and technology practices in this era were produced by the specific politics, anxieties, and aspirations of the Cold War. Contributors Elena Aronova, Erik M. Conway, Angela N. H. Creager, David Kaiser, John Krige, Naomi Oreskes, George Reisch, Sigrid Schmalzer, Sonja D. Schmid, Matthew Shindell, Asif A. Siddiqi, Zuoyue Wang, Benjamin Wilson

Getting MAD: Nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction, Its Origins and Practice

Getting MAD: Nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction, Its Origins and Practice PDF

Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1428910336

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Nearly 40 years after the concept of finite deterrence was popularized by the Johnson administration, nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) thinking appears to be in decline. The United States has rejected the notion that threatening population centers with nuclear attacks is a legitimate way to assure deterrence. Most recently, it withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, an agreement based on MAD. American opposition to MAD also is reflected in the Bush administration's desire to develop smaller, more accurate nuclear weapons that would reduce the number of innocent civilians killed in a nuclear strike. Still, MAD is influential in a number of ways. First, other countries, like China, have not abandoned the idea that holding their adversaries' cities at risk is necessary to assure their own strategic security. Nor have U.S. and allied security officials and experts fully abandoned the idea. At a minimum, acquiring nuclear weapons is still viewed as being sensible to face off a hostile neighbor that might strike one's own cities. Thus, our diplomats have been warning China that Japan would be under tremendous pressure to go nuclear if North Korea persisted in acquiring a few crude weapons of its own. Similarly, Israeli officials have long argued, without criticism, that they would not be second in acquiring nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Indeed, given that Israelis surrounded by enemies that would not hesitate to destroy its population if they could, Washington finds Israel's retention of a significant nuclear capability totally "understandable."

Origins of the Cold War 1941-1949

Origins of the Cold War 1941-1949 PDF

Author: Martin McCauley

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-11-19

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1317362489

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Origins of the Cold War 1941-1949 covers the formative years of the momentous struggle which developed between two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. It not only involved these titans but also the rest of the globe; many proxy wars were fought much to the detriment of the developing world. In a clear, concise manner, this book explains how the Cold War originated and developed between 1941 and 1949. The fourth edition is revised, updated and expanded to include new material on topics such as the culture wars and Stalin’s view of Marxism. The introduction looks at the various approaches which have been adopted to analyse the Cold War and the challenges to arrive at a theory which can explain it. The book explores questions such as: - Who was responsible for the Cold War? - Was it inevitable or could it have been avoided? - Was Stalin genuinely interested in a post-war agreement? Illustrated with maps and figures and containing a chronology and who’s who of key individuals, Origins of the Cold War 1941-1949 incorporates the most recent scholarship, theories and information to provide students with an invaluable introduction to a fascinating period that shaped today's world.

The End of the Cold War and the Causes of Soviet Collapse

The End of the Cold War and the Causes of Soviet Collapse PDF

Author: N. Bisley

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2004-04-30

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0230000541

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Soviet efforts to end the Cold War were intended to help revitalize the USSR. Instead, Nick Bisley argues, they contributed crucially to its collapse. Using historical-sociological theory, The End of the Cold War and the Causes of Soviet Collapse shows that international confrontation had been an important element of Soviet rule and that the retreat from this confrontational posture weakened institutional-functional aspects of the state. This played a vital role in making the USSR vulnerable to the forces of economic crisis, elite fragmentation and nationalism which ultimately caused its collapse.

The Global Cold War

The Global Cold War PDF

Author: Odd Arne Westad

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005-10-24

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0521853648

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The Cold War shaped the world we live in today - its politics, economics, and military affairs. This book shows how the globalization of the Cold War during the last century created the foundations for most of the key conflicts we see today, including the War on Terror. It focuses on how the Third World policies of the two twentieth-century superpowers - the United States and the Soviet Union - gave rise to resentments and resistance that in the end helped topple one superpower and still seriously challenge the other. Ranging from China to Indonesia, Iran, Ethiopia, Angola, Cuba, and Nicaragua, it provides a truly global perspective on the Cold War. And by exploring both the development of interventionist ideologies and the revolutionary movements that confronted interventions, the book links the past with the present in ways that no other major work on the Cold War era has succeeded in doing.

Churchill's Third World War

Churchill's Third World War PDF

Author: Jonathan Walker

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2017-05-04

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 0750951605

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As the war in Europe entered its final months, we teetered on the edge of a Third World War. While Soviet forces smashed their way into Berlin, Churchill ordered British military planners to prepare the top-secret Operation Unthinkable - the plan for an Allied attack on the Soviet Union - on 1 July 1945. The plan called for the use of the atomic bomb and Nazi troops if necessary: more than merely controversial, as the extent of the Holocaust was becoming clear.A haunting study of the war that so nearly was, Walker offers a fascinating insight into the upheaval as the Second World War drew to a close and the Allies' mistrust of the Soviet Union that would blossom into the Cold War.

The Cambridge History of America and the World: Volume 4, 1945 to the Present

The Cambridge History of America and the World: Volume 4, 1945 to the Present PDF

Author: David C. Engerman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-03-03

Total Pages: 903

ISBN-13: 1108317855

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The fourth volume of The Cambridge History of America and the World examines the heights of American global power in the mid-twentieth century and how challenges from at home and abroad altered the United States and its role in the world. The second half of the twentieth century marked the pinnacle of American global power in economic, political, and cultural terms, but even as it reached such heights, the United States quickly faced new challenges to its power, originating both domestically and internationally. Highlighting cutting-edge ideas from scholars from all over the world, this volume anatomizes American power as well as the counters and alternatives to 'the American empire.' Topics include US economic and military power, American culture overseas, human rights and humanitarianism, third-world internationalism, immigration, communications technology, and the Anthropocene.