The Cold WAR


The following resources will help you in your exploration of the events of the Cold War and their impact on US-Soviet relations.  This page correlates with two tasks:

"But My Side Is Right!" Propaganda from the Cold War  Political Cartoon Analysis Worksheet.

"Voices from the Not-So-Distant Past" Conducting Oral Histories of the Cold War

 Online Databases & Ebooks

Student Resource Center Gold - Offers more than 1,100 full-text periodicals and newspapers, primary sources, creative works, and multimedia, including hours of video and audio clips and podcasts
 

 

World Book Encyclopedia
Offers a combined search feature of encyclopedias, research tools, biography center, magazines, websites and much more

Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security (ebook) , K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, Editors. 
Provides a comprehensive, subject specific guide to the history, uses, scientific principles, and technologies of espionage, intelligence, and security, with special emphasis placed on the current ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding this very topical subject.

 Internet Sites

General

BBC Wars and Conflict - The Cold War:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/

CNN Special Episodes on The Cold War (several videos on Cold War sub-topics): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7408239438440019683#

Cold War Files - Interpreting History Through Documents - Events: http://coldwarfiles.org/index.cfm?thisunit=0&fuseaction=events.list

Cold War International History Project: www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.browse&sort=Collection

Cold War International History Project: US-Soviet Relations:  www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.browse&sort=
Collection&item=US%2DSoviet%20Relations

The Cold War Museum: http://www.coldwar.org/index.html

Library of Congress - Revelations fro the Russian Archive: Cold War - Soviet Perspectives: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/cols.html

National Archives (UK) Learning Curve - Cold War: http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/coldwar/default.htm

PHS Social Studies Department - Cold War Websites: www.pomperaug.com/departments/social_studies/worldhistory2/coldwar.htm

WWW-LV History - The Cold War History: http://gpweb.us/VLColdWarIndex.htm

Teacher Oz's Cold War Pages: http://www.teacheroz.com/coldwar.htm

Weaponry U.S. Dept. of Energy- The Manhattan Project: An Interactive History on Nuclear Proliferation http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/proliferation.htm

Atomic Archive - The Hydrogen Bomb: www.atomicarchive.com/History/coldwar/page04.shtml

The Bulletin Online: http://www.thebulletin.org/minutes-to-midnight/timeline.html

CDI Nuclear Weapons Database - United States Arsenal: http://www.cdi.org/issues/nukef&f/database/usnukes.html

Cold War Museum - H Bomb Development Survey: http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/h_bomb.html

Nuclear Weapon Archive: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/ Use with caution - Author information, credentials not available.  Be sure information found on this site can be corroborated elsewhere.

PBS - Race for the Super Bomb: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/index.html

Timeline - Chronology of the Nuclear Age (see Timeline & Nuclear Weapons: http://www.nuclearfiles.org/
 

1940's

Center for Defense Information - Nuclear Weapons Database - The United States Arsenal: www.cdi.org/issues/nukef&f/database/usnukes.html

Cold War - Did Truman Cause the Cold War? (Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan)
http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/coldwar/G3/cs3/

Cold War International History Project - Soviet Nuclear Development: www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.browse&sort=
Collection&item=Soviet%20Nuclear%20Development

The Cold War Museum - The Berlin Blockade: http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/berlin_blockade.asp

Cold War Museum - H Bomb Development Survey: http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/h_bomb.html

Cold War  - Yalta: Peace, Power and Betrayal: http://www.opb.org/education/coldwar/yalta/index.html

PBS - Cold War - Berlin Blockade: www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX49.html

U.S. Department of State - The Marshall Plan: www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/April/200504291439291CJsamohT0.6520502.html
 

1950's The Avalon Project at Yale Law School - The U2 Incident: www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/u2.htm

BBC News - Communist States Sign the Warsaw Pact: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/14/newsid_3771000/3771065.stm

BBC News - The Cold War: The Korean War - An Overview: www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/korea_hickey_01.shtml

Cold War International History Project - The Warsaw Pact: www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.browse&sort=
Collection&item=The%20Warsaw%20Pact

Cold War International History Project - The Korean War: www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.browse&sort=
Collection&item=The%20Korean%20War

Cold War Museum - H Bomb Development Survey: http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/h_bomb.html

Cold War Museum - U2 Incident: http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/u2_incident.asp

NASA - Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age: http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/sputorig.html

The Times Looks Back: Sputnik: http://www.nytimes.com/partners/aol/special/sputnik/?scp=1&sq=the times looks back sputnik&st=cse

The Rosenberg Trial
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/rosenb/ROSENB.HTM
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USArosenbergT.htm
http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/library/Divisions/Government/rosenbergs.html

 

1960's BBC News - John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis: www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/kennedy_cuban_missile_01.shtml

Cold War Files - The Vietnam War: http://coldwarfiles.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=units.details&thisunit=3

Cuban Missile Crisis - The Bay of Pigs: http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/bay_of_pigs.html

Cuban Missile Crisis - An Overview of the Conflict: http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html

JFK Presidential Library - Bay of Pigs: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty8.shtml

JFK Presidential Library - Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/Nuclear+Test+Ban+Treaty.htm

Library of Congress - Revelations fro the Russian Archives: Cuban Missile Crisis: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/colc.html

The Making of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1958-1963: www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB94/

Building the Berlin Wall http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/010815_berlinwall.shtml

Newseum's Berlin Wall: http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/

Newseum's Space Race: http://www.newseum.org/cybernewseum/exhibits/dateline_moon/space.htm

Think Quest's The Space Race: http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00861/thespacerace.htm

The Space Race
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/spacerace/sec100/sec100.htm
http://www.coldwar.org/Articles/60s/space_race.asp
http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/cold/articles/godwin.html#12t

 

1970's Atomic Archive - SALT I: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty8.shtml

Atomic Archive - SALT I I: http://www.atomicarchive.com/Treaties/Treaty13.shtml

BBC New - The Day the Viet Nam War Ended: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4491193.stm

BBC News - Looking Back at Iran's Revolution: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1814141.stm

History of Iran: Islamic Revolution of 1979 http://www.iranchamber.com/history/islamic_revolution/islamic_revolution.php

Cold War International History Project - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.browse&sort=
Collection&item=Soviet%20Invasion%20of%20Afghanistan

Cold War Museum - Afghan War (1978-1992): http://www.coldwar.org/articles/70s/afghan_war.asp

FAS (Federation of American Scientists) - SALT I: http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/salt1/

FAS (Federation of American Scientists) - SALT II: http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/salt2/

US State Department - Ending the Vietnam War: www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/dr/17411.htm

Nixon's Visit to China
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/china/sfeature/nixon.html
http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/tapeexcerpts/chinatapes.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/21/newsid_2728000/2728761.stm
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB106/index.htm

Detente
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/detente.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1946.html
 

1980's BBC News - 1985: Gorbachev Becomes Soviet Leader: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/11/newsid_2538000/2538327.stm

BBC News - 1989: Berliners Celebrate the Fall of the Wall: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/9/newsid_2515000/2515869.stm

The Case for the MX: www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1980/jul-aug/korb.html

Cold War Files - The Fall of the Wall: http://coldwarfiles.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=units.details&thisunit=14

National Security Archive - Afghanistan: Lessons from the Last War: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB57/soviet.html

Last Soviet Soldiers Leave Afghanistan: http://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/021689afghan-laden.html?Partner=PBS&RefId=Eutttn-uFBqv

Ronald Reagan on the Strategic Defense Initiative: www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/missile-defense/history/reagan_on-strategic-defense-iniative.htm

World Book - The Cold War After 1980: http://www.worldbookonline.com/student

Nicaraguan Civil War

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1850.htm
http://www1.american.edu/TED/ice/nicaragua.htm
http://www.nicaragua.com/blog/nicaragua-origins-and-effects-of-the-contra-war


Peristroika and Glasnost
http://www.soviethistory.org/index.php?page=subject&SubjectID=1985perestroika&Year=1985
http://www.historyorb.com/russia/glasnost.shtml
YouTube - Gorbachev, Glasnost, Perestroika, Arms Agreement
 

End of the USSR (1980's to 1990's)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974495,00.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/soviet_end_01.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/26/world/end-of-the-soviet-union-the-soviet-state-born-of-a-dream-dies.html?pagewanted=1
 

Political
Cartoons
Clifford H. Baldowski Editorial Cartoons Collections "Cold War:" http://dbs.galib.uga.edu/cgi-bin/ultimate.cgi?dbs=bald&userid=galileo&serverno=8&instcode=publ&_cc=1

Cold War - Cartoon Gallery of Leslie Illingworth: http://www.llgc.org.uk/illingworth/index_s.htm

Edmund Valtman: The Cartoonist That Came in From the Cold: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/valtman/presentation.html

Herblock's History - Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/fire.html

It's No Laughing Matter - Analyzing Political Cartoons - Cartoon Analysis Guide: http://frontiers.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/political_cartoon/index.html

Library of Congress - Prints & Photography Online Catalog: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html

Propaganda
Techniques
American and Russian Propaganda Techniques During the Cold War: www.associatedcontent.com/article/312785/american_and_russian_propaganda_
techniques.html?cat=37

Argument, Persuasion, or Propaganda - Analyzing World War II Posters: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=829

PBS Reporting America At War - Propaganda Techniques: http://www.pbs.org/weta/reportingamericaatwar/teachers/pdf/propaganda.pdf

Propaganda Critic: http://www.propagandacritic.com/

Recognizing Propaganda and Errors of Faulty Logic:
http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/404.htm

Teaching with Documents: Powers of Persuasion - Poster Art of World War II: http://archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_persuasion/powers_of_persuasion_home.html
 

Oral Histories **Rutger's Oral History Archives (Models provided): http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/

Step by Step Guide to Oral History http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

42 Explore- Oral History (extensive links provided): http://www.42explore2.com/oralhst.htm

 


If you don't find what you're looking for in any of the sites above, try your 
own keyword search using the following tips...

 Internet Search Tips

  1. Type the URL (web site address) of a search directory/engine in the address box: ex: www.yahoo.com, or www.google.com, etc.
     
  2. (Be sure to type the address exactly the way you see it, including any uppercase letters and punctuation).
     
  3. Type in keyword(s). (If your keyword has two parts such as: "Cold War", be sure to put quotes around it so that the search engine only finds the Internet sites about the Cold War as opposed to all of the sites containing the word cold plus all of the sites containing the word war.
     
  4. If you would like to search for something specific about a the Cold War, try a combined keyword search by adding a comma, followed by a space and you other search term.  For instance; if I wanted to find out about the events of the Cold War, and the impact they had on U.S. and Soviet relations, I would enter the following:
     

     "Cold War", events, impact, U.S., Soviet relations
     

  5. Hit Enter on your keyboard, or click on Search, then scan the description of the "hits" (entries) and click on the links that sound best.
     
  6. Be sure to critically evaluate Internet sources.  UC Berkley Library's Evaluating Webpages: Techniques to Apply and Questions to Ask is an excellent source to help you critique the quality of websites in the following areas:
  7. Remember: if you choose to use any information (text or graphics) found on the Internet, online databases, or print material, you must cite every resource you used.  Use the Works Cited Guide to access MLA format.
  8.  

Created by Liza Zandonella & Kelly Pelletier, Library Media Specialists.

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