HIST 3953 Cold War Europe (GLC-AS, HST-AS) (HEU)
Tuesday and Thursday: 2:55-4:10 plus Independent Research
Professor Cristina Florea
This course explores the Cold War's profound impact on Europe, examining how the continent became the primary battleground for competing ideologies and visions of world order in the aftermath of World War II. We trace Europe's transformation from wartime devastation to division along the Iron Curtain, analyzing the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the Berlin Crisis and construction of the Berlin Wall, and the development of distinct political, economic, and social systems in East and West. Topics include Marshall Plan reconstruction, Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe, European integration movements, popular uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, détente and Ostpolitik, dissident movements and human rights activism, and the cultural dimensions of ideological competition. Through primary sources, scholarship, and film, we examine how ordinary Europeans experienced life under surveillance states, consumer capitalism, and the constant threat of nuclear conflict. The course concludes by analyzing the peaceful revolutions of 1989, German reunification, and the Cold War's lasting impact on contemporary European politics, from EU expansion to current tensions with Russia.
