Possible Essay Questions on The Cold War Text

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Following each question are suggested points or terms to include in a response. Fault of the united states fault of the soviet union ideological leadership bipolarity misperception discuss the bretton woods system. 160 160 planned even before the end of world war ii goal was to avoid economic collapse like that of the 1930s.

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Created the institutional framework for money, finance, and trade imf ibrd gatt gold standard and exchange discuss the u.s. Was it a success? long telegram george kennan truman doctrine cold war explanations, especially mutual mistrust nsc 68 korea massive retaliation flexible response vietnam d 233 tente reagan doctrine how did korea change the cold war? u.s. Involvement in asia solidified bipolar competition introduced concept of limited war because nuclear weapons were not used what caused the end of the cold war? discuss explanations by level of analysis. Reagan gorbachev internal changes in the soviet union soviet union collapse, end of the evil empire decline of bipolarity please send comments or suggestions about this website to [email protected] post your essay. Do you know students who want critical essay reviews from a professor of english literature? click like to share. Cold war interview essay with a free essay review bill hamrick, now age 75, has first hand information about what went on during the cold war. He served in the strategic air command of the united states air force, 55th strategic reconnaissance wing, from 1956 to 1960.

As far as wars go, the cold war was unique in that the goal was not to fight a war but to deter one and there was much fear among americans and people all around the world that an atomic war would be the end of the world as we know it. The cold war began as an aftermath to world war ii in the mid 1940’s and lasted around 45 years. Due to the devastation around the world caused by world war ii, the united states and the soviet union emerged after the war as the world’s two superpowers.

Although they worked together during the war, they were still enemies when the war was over. And even greater was the fear that the soviets were producing atomic bombs of their own. Their main areas of focus were strategic bombardment, long range reconnaissance exploratory survey of enemy territory , mapping, and weather reporting.

Bill worked in the long range reconnaissance area utilizing and maintaining the electronic counter measures ecm , the most advanced technology of the day for long range surveillance. The air force had bases in strategic points around the perimeter of the soviet union. At different points during his service, bill was stationed at two of these strategic air force bases, one in turkey and one in england. The bases housed sophisticated b 47 airplanes containing radars and high tech electronics that were constantly monitoring any information and actions obtained from the soviet union.

Bill’s primary duty was to monitor and provide service for the ecm equipment on the b 47’s in order to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the critical information it was receiving. Bill made reference to the air force motto sleep tight tonight, your air force is awake and the 55th strategic reconnaissance wing motto we see all while emphasizing the importance of the constant efforts to avoid an atomic war with the soviets. The strategic air command became america’s primary deterrent force during the cold war. Some claimed the tensions between the united states and the soviet union were exaggerated by propaganda in both countries, but the fear was real for many americans and people around the world of a possible atomic war. When asked what he thought about this idea, bill responded that many feared the end of humanity if we bombed each other. He said, people were building underground shelters and stocking them with enough food, water, and supplies to last for years. He expressed that everyone worried about the worst case scenario, possibly the end of the world.

These fears were heightened and confirmed by comments of the soviet leader nikita khrushchev we will bury you! while addressing western ambassadors at a reception in moscow in 1956. In a subsequent public speech, he said we must take a shovel and dig a deep grave, and bury colonialism as deep as we can. During khrushchev’s visit to the united nations in new york in 1960, bill and a handful of others from the 55th strategic reconnaissance wing took b 47’s and a kc 97 support plane to new hampshire to await khrushchev’s departure from new york. The goal of the mission was to intercept information from the soviet airplane that was transporting khrushchev back to the soviet union. While on stand by at the air force base, bill and his crew were on alert for several days awaiting the departure of khrushchev. Their bunkers were directly adjacent to the runway to permit quick and easy access to the b 47’s that would take off and monitor the soviet aircraft. One interesting tidbit he shared about this mission was his amazement that he walked right past an airplane carrying a huge atomic bomb.

He had earned top secret clearance in the air force, but he never imagined he would get that close to something so massive and dangerous. He now had first hand knowledge that the reason for fear of an atomic war was genuine. The cold war was basically a war to avoid a war, and the fear of an atomic war changed the way many thought about war and political power. Bill expressed that his initial reason for joining the air force was to get the technical training he needed to start a new career, but he gained much more than training from his experiences. He had the opportunity and the honor to protect the united states of america, along with the rest of the world, from a tragic ending.

_ essay review while your story is interesting just because it presents information one doesn't normally come across, you're writing an essay, not a newspaper article, and that means that you need to make some kind of argument based on your interpretation of the significance of the information you provide. If you were writing a newspaper article, on the other hand, your editor would probably string you up for not providing any contextual information about how the interview with mr. Such information should be included in essays too, since it gives us an idea about how seriously to take what mr. For instance, we don't know whether he was being interrogated by hostile forces under torturous duress or just telling tales to his grandson at the fireplace. What would make the essay appear more coherent and purposeful generally would be some kind of explanation of what bill hamrick's first hand account adds to the general perception of the cold war held by americans as a result of their exposure to news media or school history books. For instance most people understand that the cold war was a non aggressive war of deterrence and espionage.

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You could set up your essay as an attempt to fill in a few of the details that we normally don't hear about. You seem to want to set up your essay that way when you refer to hamrick's first hand information about what went on during the cold war in your first sentence, but the essay as a whole shifts back and forth, as though seamlessly, between common knowledge about the cold war and the specific details coming from the interview with bill hamrick. In other words those details are presented as merely continuous with the usual story and not as peculiar details that make up for gaps in understanding or clarify misunderstandings. Consider, in this respect, your first paragraph, which introduces bill hamrick to us in the first sentence, and then says nothing more about him that first paragraph has two separate topics that you treat as though they were one topic. Another problem affecting the clarity of the essay's purpose is the fact that you come to no conclusions about the information provided by hamrick. For example, you tell an interesting story about hamrick's waiting to spy on khrushchev's plane, but instead of telling us the significance or even the end of that story, you move on to the tale about his walking by an airplane carrying a huge atomic bomb. Your interpretation of the significance of that event is limited to a comment on its impact on bill hamrick himself he now had first hand knowledge that the reason for fear of an atomic war was genuine .

That comment of course is related to the topic of the paragraph in which it appears i.e. Skepticism vis a vis the seriousness of the tensions between the us and the ussr but you don't stress the relation or elaborate the point. It's not as if or is it? the existence of an atomic bomb in itself proves that tensions were as elevated as claimed.

Frankly, i was most disappointed with the lack of an ending to the khruschev story. I wanted to know what khrushchev and his crew were talking about on the plane, even if it was actually, especially if it was the lovable greasy cheesiness of new york pizza. But even if hamrick revealed nothing about the outcome of his espionage mission, that fact is not irrelevant.

In fact, you could probably make it sound intriguing that he should reveal nothing about the outcome of the mission. The important point, however, is not that you happen to disappoint this reader's expectations, but that you don't interpret the significance of the information that you do provide. You had an opportunity here, too, to emphasize the reality of the tensions since presumably spying on khrushchev's plane was serious business but you leave everything in that respect up to your reader to infer. Most readers are lazy and stupid, just like me, and won't bite what you’re offering unless you put it on a spoon and shove it in their face.