For this assignment, you will continue your mastery of evaluating historical resources for relevance and creating annotations that you began in Unit V. You will then use your evaluation of those sources to support further exploration of this unit’s concepts.
First, using a well-designed search strategy, you will locate and select one source and generate one annotation for that source. You must do this for each of the following topics-for a total of three sources and three annotations:
- Include one primary source generated during WWII discussing either the aims of Stalin or of Churchill. Primary sources are generated in contemporary times. These may include interviews, speeches, government documents, newspapers, other historical papers or quantitative data.
- Include one peer-reviewed history research article on the World War II roots of the Iron Curtain. View the video How to Find Peer-Reviewed Resources tutorial from the CSU Online Library for assistance in locating a peer-reviewed article.
- Include one scholarly book by a historian on the emergence of the superpowers in the Cold War.
You may find these two resources helpful for this assignment:
Primary Sources webinar
LibGuide for Western Civilization I and II
You may also seek help from the librarians at the CSU Online Library who are there to assist you with your research and information literacy. Information literacy is the ability to find and evaluate information to help you make sound decisions, whether for academic, professional, or personal purposes.
- Under the Resources tab in Blackboard, select My Library. You have the ability to chat with a librarian via the live chat on the right side of the screen, or you can access the contact information for the CSU Online Library.
In creating your annotations, recall and follow the guidance introduced in Step 5 of the Helpful Tips document in the Unit V Scholarly Activity. Remember, an annotation is not a summary or an abstract, but a quick identification of the credibility and utility of a source. Your appraisal in each annotation should have one sentence for each of the items listed in Step 5 of the guidance document.
Next, based on your summary and appraisal of the three sources above, write a one-page paper in which you do the following:
- Begin with a thesis statement that compares 20th-century superpowers to 19th-century imperial powers.
- Relate the rise of the superpowers in the Cold War to differing political philosophies among the Grand Alliance nations during World War II.
Some recommended CSU Online Library databases for this subject area are: World History (Gale In Context), World History (Gale OneFile), Academic Search Ultimate and *JSTOR.
*Note: JSTOR does not have the ability to limit to peer-reviewed articles, but students can further research various journals to determine if they qualify as peer-reviewed.
Your finalized paper must be at least two pages, not including the title and reference pages. You must use at least two sources, in addition to the three sources for which you create annotations, to support your paper.
All sources used must be properly cited. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment.
Evaluating Historical Resources
Part 1: Annotated Bibliography
Office of the Historian. (, 2016). Milestones: 1937–1945. Retrieved from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/casablanca
This primary source article highlights the outcome of the Casablanca Conference of 1943. During the meeting, Roosevelt and Churchill decided that they would continue with operat6ion around the Mediterranean until they drove the Italian and Germans out of Northern Africa. The decision was in line with Churchill’s strategy of avoiding a direct assault of Germany through France and instead focus on other weakly Germany defended German territories outside Western Europe. The conference also saw Roosevelt and Churchill adopt the policy of unconditional surrender for the Axis powers.
Levering, R. B. (2016). Toward cold war thinking: Editorial reactions to Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in North Carolina newspapers. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 14(4), 340-349. doi:10.1080/14794012.2016.1230255
This article contends that during his iron curtain speech delivered in March 1946, Winston warned the American public about Soviet foreign policy that was both communist and expansionist. Specifically, the article uses an exploratory methodology encompassing content analysis to investigate the editorial reactions to the iron curtain speech among five North Carolina newspapers. The report highlights that four of the newspapers agreed with Churchill that Western countries needed to form an alliance that would oppose Soviet expansionism. The review concludes by pointing out why the then U.S. president did not publicly condemn the Soviets until the “Truman’s Doctrine “speech of 1947.
Dukes, P. (2000). The superpowers: A short history. London: Routledge
This book traces Russia and the U.S.’s growth from 1898 to 2000, thereby placing the Cold war into the broader political, social, and economic context. The book explores the two superpower’s imperial background, the Russian Revolution and World War 1, socialism, and capitalism. It also explores the conflicts of Vietnam, Afghanistan, Berlin, Czechoslovakia, and the USSR’s fall. Overall, the book explores the relationship of5 the two superpowers throughout the 20th century.
Part 2; Essay
Both the 19th-century imperial powers and 20th-century superpowers were similar in that they annexed foreign territories to increase their sphere of influence. During the late 18th century, many industrial nations, including Britain, Germany, Portugal, Japan, and Germany, begun a scramble for territory throughout the undeveloped world. The conquered colonies were a source of power for the imperial powers in that they provided raw materials and served as s markets from industrial products. Similarly, during the 20th century, superpowers used force in areas such as Vietnam and Afghanistan to increase their influence and forestall domination from the opposing side. For instance, immediately after W.W. 2, Churchill used his iron curtain speech to warn Americans about the Soviet’s expansionist policies (Levering, 2016). The U.S. also tried to increase its influence to counter the Soviet Union’s growing influence, which had annexed several Eastern European countries to prevent them from having contact with the West.
The Cold War-era rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was often referred to as the iron curtain, whose origins could be traced to the various disagreements during and after the Second World War. The main disputes during WW2 were about when and how to attack German’s frontline in Western Europe. Stalin has borne the brunt of Hitler’s invasions and was eager to launch an invasion of Germany. However, the other Allied leaders thought that Stalin’s strategy was weak and would lead to failure. Consequently, Winston and Roosevelt met in Casablanca in 1943 to emphasize that the war campaign would focus on German areas in the Mediterranean (Office of The Historian, n.d.). Further, the 1917 Russian Revolution ended centuries of monarchial rule. It paved the way for communism, which was significantly different from Western ideals and antagonized the two superpowers throughout the second half of the 20th century. Each sought to spread its ideologies (Dukes, 2000). Thus, while Russia and the U.S. fought on the same side during W.W. 2, they both had differing political philosophies.
References
Dukes, P. (2000). The superpowers: A short history. London: Routledge.
Levering, R. B. (2016). Toward cold war thinking: Editorial reactions to Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in North Carolina newspapers. Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 14(4), 340-349. doi:10.1080/14794012.2016.1230255
Office of the Historian. (2016). Milestones: 1937–1945. Retrieved from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/casablanca