Cold War Dynamics and Decolonization

📋 Course Outline

1. Cold War terms and blocs
2. Cold War leaders and key dates
3. Détente and the Third World
4. Collapse of the Soviet bloc
5. Liberation movements and decolonization

📖 1. Cold War terms and blocs

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Bipolarity : Bipolarity is an international situation where power is organized around two rival blocs.
• Blocs : Blocs are political-military groupings that coordinate positions around one of the two rival powers.
• Warsaw Pact : The Warsaw Pact is an Eastern-bloc alliance listed as a core element of Cold War blocs.
• NATO : NATO is a Western-bloc alliance listed as a core element of Cold War blocs.
• Areas of influence : Areas of influence are territories or regions claimed as spheres where each bloc seeks control or influence.

📝 Essential Points

• Cold War terminology includes the Western and Eastern military alliances NATO and Warsaw Pact.
• Cold War terminology includes the Security Council and the right of veto as key diplomatic notions.
• Cold War terminology includes Truman principle and Marshall plan as Western initiatives.
• Cold War terminology includes Comintern office as an institutional notion tied to the communist side.

💡 Memory Hook

NATO vs Warsaw = West vs East blocs; areas of influence are the “neighborhoods” each side tries to control.

📖 2. Cold War leaders and key dates

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions