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Teaching the Cold War to Units 1 & 2

By Ron Anderson, Scotch College

Introduction and rationale

Study Design specifies study of

• key concepts - power, power blocs, ideology, hegemony, nuclear issues, capitalism etc
• impact of key events since WWII - so many here ,mainly involving Cold War

Huge topic –

• too big and complex for year 11? - I’m not convinced about this

We are not teaching history here!! - but some detailed historical knowledge is essential

Danger of 'double dipping' with 20th-century history courses - depends on school offerings

Difficulty of finding elements which are :

• interesting for students
• important for them to know
  • as part of general education
  • as basis of understanding the contemporary world - events and concepts

The following aspects seem to fit these criteria:

comparison of the two systems (general education)

1. internal effects - McCarthyism and civil liberties (interest and contemporary relevance)
2. nuclear weapons
   1. as examples of weapons of mass destruction (education)
   2. the nuclear 'club' and non-proliferation issues (understanding the contemporary world)
   3. the balance of terror and mutually assured destruction (general education)
   4. Australia’s place in MAD and the US alliance (contemporary relevance)
3. Conflicts over:
   1. Cuba (interest esp. assassination of JFK)
   2. Korea and the Korean War (too historical? but has contemporary relevance)
   3. Afghanistan - US support for mujahadeen (contemporary relevance - al Qaida)
   4. Iran revolution - humiliation of the US and the 'new cold war' after 1979 (contemporary relevance - Islamism, and nuclear weapons proliferation)
4. The End of the Cold War

The following notes support some of these choices:

I. Comparison of the two systems: Capitalism vs Communism?

The phrase the 'Cold War' invokes the images of an undeclared state of rivalry between the two national superpowers. In its most basic form the Cold War combined two key elements - an intense ideological rivalry, based on different and completely opposed forms of social organisation, and the traditional rivalry between great powers. These two basic elements were extended to give a situation with six core elements which become central to the Cold War.

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