XHSC 0933N High School U.S.History: The Cold War

1. Discuss the causes, characteristics and impact of social, political, military, scientific and  economic developments in the U.S. during the second half of the twentieth century. 
2. Reconstruct, interpret and represent the chronology of significant events, developments and narratives in the Unites States during the second half of the twentieth century. 
3. Compare and contrast American institutions and ideas in the second half of the twentieth century with those of other eras and other states.  
4. Use historical documents, narratives and other data to explain historical cause and effect, patterns of change and patterns of continuity in the second half of the twentieth century. 
5. Describe a U.S. twentieth century issue, problem, or phenomenon from varied perspectives or opposed points of view. 
6. Link historical United States decisions and developments in the late twentieth century to past and present national and international events and conditions. 
7. Explain how diverse contemporary perspectives affect historical interpretation of this period. 

• The End of World War Two and the Emergence of Two Opposing Political-Socio-Economic Blocs 
  • Socialism, totalitarianism, collectivism, and equality vs. capitalism, democracy, individualism, and freedom 
  • Immediate and long-term effects of the atomic weapon 
  • The partition of Germany 
  • The Iron Curtain: formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact 
  • The Berlin Airlift 
  • The solicitation of third world countries by both blocs 
• Cold War Fears and McCarthysim 
  • Causes of national paranoia 
  • Blacklisting and the House On Unamerican Activities Committee 
  • Long and short-term effects of McCarthyism on American society 
• U.S. Involvement in the Korean Conflict 
• The Space Race 
• U.S. Opposition to Communism in the Western Hemisphere 
  • The Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis 
  • The CIA in central America 
• U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War 
  • Development  of conflict between France and Vietnam 
  • U.S. involvement and escalation  
  • Causes of defeat 
  • Long term effects of the war on American society, economy, and prestige 
• Sources of American Social Tension in the 1960s 
  • The Civil Rights Movement 
  • The Equal Rights Movement 
  • The Anti-War Movement 
• The Collapse of the Soviet Union 
  • Calculated use of the Star Wars plan to destroy the Soviet economy 
  • The fall of the Berlin Wall 
  • Demise of the Warsaw Pact 
  • Determination of a new role for NATO