The Cold War is typically seen as a political struggle between the U.S. and the USSR, yet it was played out on and directly affected the peoples of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. The course will trace the splitting, and then deepening, divides in Europe as well as the consequences of the Cold War for states across the continent. From a socio-political perspective focused on Central Europe, we will analyze the most dramatic and significant turning points, such as the Berlin Airlift in 1949 and the Polish Solidarity strikes in 1980, as well as survey internal and external actions and reactions across nearly five decades until the implosion of the entire communist system between 1989 and 1991. The course will close with a look at currently rising tensions between Europe and Russia.
