Modern scholar.

Lecture 1. Hiroshima and the origins of the Cold War -- Lecture 2. The superpowers and the world in 1945 -- Lecture 3. The struggle for Europe -- Lecture 4. Globalizing the Cold War -- Lecture 5. The Korean War and changing power balances -- Lecture 6. Turmoil in the third world -- Lecture 7. The Cuban missile crisis -- Lecture 8. The turbulent 1960s -- Lecture 9. Origins of detente -- Lecture 10. Revolution in the third world and the end of detente -- Lecture 11. The arms race and the breakdown of detente -- Lecture 12. The Reagan offensive -- Lecture 13. Gorbachev and the end of the Cold War -- Lecture 14. Understanding the Cold War

The US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War II but also gave birth to the Cold War, which would be marked by the fragile relationship of two superpowers with opposing ideologies: the United States and the Soviet Union. For 45 years, these two powers would vie for supremacy in world politics and the arms race that held the potential for an apocalyptic confrontation and the end of the human race. Understanding the Cold War is essential to our understanding of the second half of the 20th century and beyond

Professor David S. Painter

Compact disc