The Cold War: The Great Powers and Their Allies :International Relations Since 1945 : A History in Two Volumes

These two volumes in the Postwar World Series are linked but individually self-sufficient. They provides a detailed global account of international relations since the Second World War. They offer accessible introductory surveys of world history in the postwar era. The Cold War is an account of East, West Relations from l945-1991 exploring the causes and consequences of the biopolarisation of international politics the western powers and the Soviet bloc. It begins with the domestic background of both the USSR and the USA, through to the post war transition, Korea, the Khruschev years. Vietnam, the fluctuations of detente in the 1960’s and 70’s, Gorbachev and the Soviet collapse. Looks at communism in post war Europe and concludes with general perspectives in the cold war. Although many of the trouble spots in the Cod War – Korea, Vietnam, etc – were outside the Western sphere geographically, the focus of this volume is on the Great Powers and their immediate allies (hence mostly on the USA, the USSR and Western and Eastern Europe). The wider picture of the impact of the Cold War on the rest of the world is largely stated in Volume Two. Key deals with covert action as well as formal diplomacy; uses mostly Western sources but also some Eastern material which is now more readily available, providing new information and Insights and helping to settle some familiar western historical controversies; clarifies the military issues which are intertwined with East-West politics; brings out the importance of domestic politics in determining the outcome of the Cold War Undergraduate and postgraduate students of contemporary World History, International Relations and Politics, as well as students of Further Education, some A Level students and the general reader with an interest in the subject.