Critical Thinking Questions

1. From Peace to Cold War

1. What aspects of the post-war world did the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union agree on at the close of World War II?
2. How did these countries disagree over the post-war fate of eastern Europe?
3. Why did tensions between the Soviet Union and Great Britain and the United States increase after the war ended? To what extent had there always been tension in the relationship?
4. How did the Western powers react to the Soviet blockade of Berlin?
5. Describe American foreign policy in the immediate post-war period.
6. How was the Cold War "fought"?
7. How did Cold War rivalries play out in Asia, in particular, in China, Korea, and Vietnam?
8. How did the Cold War unfold in Latin America?
9. What threat did a Communist regime in Cuba pose to the United States?

2. East and West: Two Paths to Recovery in Europe

10. Describe the two different political and economic paths to recovery adopted in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and in Western Europe.
11. In the years after Stalin died, how was discontent expressed in Eastern Europe and how was this discontent resolved (consider East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia)?
12. Explain the ideas and policies behind the concept of the welfare state. Where did this system take hold?
13. What early moves were made in Western Europe toward European economic and political integration?
14. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages to the Communist systems in Eastern bloc nations.
15. What kind of economic situation did West European government spending and welfare-state programs produce?

3. The Twilight of Colonialism

16. What methods were used to achieve independence in the national liberation struggles of Southern Asia?
17. Explain the roots of the conflict over Palestine in the Middle East.
18. How did European colonies in Africa go about gaining independence?
19. What problems did former colonies experience after gaining independence?

4. A Sense of Relativity in Thought and Culture

20. How did existentialists interpret reality?
21. Describe post-war cultural trends in art and literature. Why did their themes and methods often bewilder audiences?
22. Why did Europeans fear "Americanization"?

5. Protests, Problems, and New Politics: The 1960s to the 1980s

23. What victories did the Civil Rights Movement gain for African-Americans?
24. What did student activism protest and attempt to achieve?
25. Why was feminism revived in the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s? What demands did women make? What did they gain?
26. How did rising world oil prices upset Western, Asian, and African economies?
27. How did economic crisis and rising unemployment affect Western societies and, in turn, those people wanting to emigrate to Western nations?
28. To what extent did politics turn left in Western Europe during the1970s and 1980s?
29. What changes did the conservative politics of Thatcher and Reagan bring to Britain and the United States?
30. Where was terrorism utilized as a form of protest?

6. Post-Industrial Society

31. What are the economic and social characteristics of a "post-industrial" society?
32. How did daily life change in post-industrial society? What demographic changes characterized post-industrial society?
33. How did family life and the process of raising children change?
34. What was different about youth culture during this period?

7. Breakthroughs in Science

35. What was "big science"? To what breakthroughs in technology did "big science" contribute and how did this change the way people lived?
36. What medical breakthroughs were achieved in the post-WWII period?