H1 History notes

H1 History - syllabus 8838, 2027

• Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1955

  Why the wartime alliance broke down: ideology, security and economics, Yalta and Potsdam, containment, Berlin, NATO, and how historians interpret the origins.

• The Korean War and the global Cold War, 1950-1953

  How China's revolution brought the Cold War to Asia, why the Korean War broke out, the roles of Kim, Stalin, Mao and Truman, and how the war transformed the Cold War.

• The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

  How the Cuban Revolution changed Cuba's relations with the superpowers, why Khrushchev sent missiles, the thirteen days, Castro's role, and the crisis's impact on the Cold War.

• The Vietnam War, 1954-1975

  From the First Indochina War and Geneva to American escalation, the roles of Hanoi, Saigon, the superpowers and China, American withdrawal, and the war's impact on the Cold War.

• The end of the Cold War, 1979-1991

  Reagan's renewed confrontation and arms control, Soviet decline, Gorbachev's New Thinking and the Sinatra Doctrine, the revolutions in Poland and East Germany, and the debate over who ended the Cold War.

• China and the Cold War, 1950-1991

  The Sino-Soviet alliance and split, the 1969 border clash, Sino-American confrontation and rapprochement, and the normalisation of Sino-Soviet relations.

• Japan and the Cold War, 1952-1991

  How the Japan-USA alliance was built and strained by security, domestic politics and trade, and how Japan engaged China and Southeast Asia.

• The Third Indochina War, 1978-1991

  Historical animosities and Cold War alignments, the Khmer Rouge and the border war, Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia, China's punitive war, and the settlement of 1989-1991.

• ASEAN and regional cooperation, 1967-2000

  Why ASEAN was formed, how it managed disputes, ZOPFAN and the Bali Summit, its campaign over Cambodia, its growth after the Cold War, and how to judge the ASEAN Way.

• Singapore and the Cold War, 1965-1991

  How a vulnerable new state managed relations with the USA, USSR and China, and responded to the Third Indochina War, and what shaped its choices.