An engaging range of period texts and theme books for AS and A Level history. The Cold War was an economic, ideological and political confrontation. There was no single cause, no single driving force and no single factor that brought it to an end. In this incisive and thought-provoking book, Mike Sewell examines the complex historiography surrounding the Cold War as well as the events and issues themselves. The result is a telling account of the fifty years was that has shaped our world. Topics include: the origins of the Cold War, the globalisation of the War culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the period of detente which followed, and the end of the Cold War in the 1980s.

Table of Contents

List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Origins of the Cold War to 1947; 2. The Cold War takes shape, 1947-51; 3. Brinkmanship, 1951-63; 4. The Cuban Missile Crisis, hinge of the Cold War, 1962; 5. Detente, 1963-75; 6. Renewed confrontation, 1975-85; 7. The end of the Cold War; Conclusion; Select bibliography; Index.