Historiography approaches and primary sources in Cold War

Historiography, approaches, and primary sources in Cold War Studies

The aim of the review Problem: • There are many stories about the Cold War proposing divergent views • All the stories are based on selected documents, and every author tries to find surprising things, applying his (her) personal interpretations and concepts. Solution: • To explain the past and continuing debate about the Cold War • To identify a number of major themes, dominated in today’s literature

Historiographical review: Stages 1) The orthodox/realist/positivist interpretation: in the West, from the early 1950 s through early 1960 s • central argument was that the Cold War had its origins in a power struggle; • they blamed the expansionist intentions of the Soviet leader, Josef Stalin, and communist ideology Herbert Feis, Between war and peace : the Potsdam conference, Princeton, NJ, 1960

Historiographical review: Stages 1) The orthodox/realist/positivist interpretation: in the East, from the early 1950 s until 1988 • central argument was that the Cold War was launched by imperialists and the U. S. N. N. Inozemtsev, Vneshnyaya Politika SSh. A v Epohu Imperialisma (The Foreign Policy of the U. S. in the Epoch of Imperialism), Moscow, 1960

Historiographical review: Stages 2) The revisionism in the West, from the early of 1960 s until the mid-1980 s • central argument is that the crucial stimulant to confrontation lay in the expansionist tendencies of the United States (its intention to extend their economic influence) • Democracy is a cover for American imperialistic intentions (Lasch) W. A. Williams, The tragedy of American diplomacy NY, 1962 D. F. Fleming, The Cold War and its origins, 1917– 1960. NY, 1961 Lasch Ch. The Agony of American Left. N. Y. , 1969

Historiographical review: Stages • 2) revisionism and postrevisionism: Soviet leadership was influenced by national security interests rather than by communist ideology Daniel Yergin, The shattered peace. New York, NY, 1977

Historiographical review: Stages 2) revisionism and post-revisionism: • American policy was determined by failed perceptions about Soviet behavior/policy • Washington “mistook Stalin’s determination to ensure Russian security through spheres of influence for a renewed effort to spread communism. ” Gaddis J. The Origins of the Cold War, 1941 – 1947. N. Y. , 1972

Historiographical review: Stages 3) triumphalism in the West, the end of 1980 s through the early 1990 s • This concept constituted a Western victory over the Cold War and the inevitable spread of liberal democracy and market economics • Influence of Francis Fukuyama, ‘The end of history’, The National Interest (Summer 1989); The end of history and the last man (London, 1992).

Historiographical review: Stages 4) Revisionism in the East, the middle and the end of 1980 s • The Cold War was a product of Stalin’s ruthless regime the special issue of Diplomatic History, 21 (1997)

Historiographical review: Stages 5) The stage of shifts, reevaluations and concentration on the concrete topics, the mid-1990 s through 2000 s Why shift? 1) The access to the former Soviet and Eastern European archives; 2) the entry the scholars from disciplines such as sociology, literature, and media studies in the Cold War Studies>> cultural turn in these Studies >> Two main approaches: political and anthropological

Historiographical review: Stages Political approach: western researchers • high-echelon politics • a documented sense of the thinking behind Soviet policy John L. Gaddis. We now Know: Rethinking of the Cold War. Oxford, 1997 John L. Gaddis. Cold war: New History, 2005 John L. Gaddis. George F. Kennan: An American Life, 2011 (new Kennan, who loved Russia of 19 th cnt, hated both democracy and Stalin)

Historiographical review: Stages: political approach Political approach: Russian researchers • Analysis of new dimensions of the Cold War – Egorova N. Multilateral Diplomacy during the Cold War. Moscow, 2008 • A balance and coolness of the analysis – Pechatnov B. Ot Soyusa K Kholodnoy Voyne (From the Alliance to the Cold War), Moscow, 2006 Renaissance of Soviet approach sponsored by the government – Utkin A. “The World Cold War”. M. , 2006

Main results of 1990 s studies: a new interpretation of the Cold War origins 1) a necessity to provide the national security either for the USA or the Soviet Union; 2) the incompatible difference between the ideology and cultural values; 3) the role of a person in history: -misunderstanding -the «Other»

Historiographical review: Stages Anthropological approach is social and cultural Cold War. • Public diplomacy • Cultural contacts • Influence of the Cold War on a citizen, culture F. Saunders. Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War. L. , 1999 Mitter R. , Major P. Across the Blocks: Cold War Cultural and Social History. L. , 2004 Tsvetkova N. Cultural Imperialism? American Educational Policy around the World during the Cold War, 2004 Tsvetkova N. The Failure of Cultural Imperialism: American And Soviet Policy in German Universities, 1945 -1990, Leiden: Brill, 2013

Historiographical review: approaches to studies 1. Memories and oral history Dobrynin A. In Confidence. Moscow, 1997 2. Publications of Documents from Archives: The Archive of Modern History The Archive of Russian Foreign Policy The National Archives in Washington the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz and Berlin 3. Cold War International History Project at W. Wilson Research Center 4. Main research Journals: Journal of Cold War Studies, 1999 - (Harvard) Cold War History Journal, 2000 - (London) Diplomatic History

Historiographical review: major themes in the Cold War studies, 2016 1) Cultural and the ideological, propaganda (=public diplomacy) dominated 2) CIA and Espionage is also developed 3) Die Deutshe Frage 4) China line and Chinese scholars 5) Home Fronts: dissidents, opposition and how the Cold War influence the national culture

Main ideas of contemporary writings about Cold War: Russian and Western scholars 1) Reasons of the Cold war are: a political vacuum in Europe; aim of the U. S. to fill this space Washington was the victim of 2 paradigms of how to behave: -to be a global power -to be hard with Russians Atom freezes the Cold War relations 1) Soviet ideology and political system were the main source.

Main ideas of contemporary writing about Cold War: Russian and Western scholars 2) The intention of the US to fill the vacuum was clashed with the real position of the Soviet Armies in Europe +The Aim of the Soviet Union was to create buffer zone in Europe 3) Ideology: The Wilsoniasm – expansion of liberal democracy – was the main foundation for American policy 2) US wanted to save Europe from communist expansion +Soviet Union feared another invasion, but the buffer closed zone was not understood by the U. S. 3) Soviet imperialism

Main ideas of contemporary writing about Cold War: Russian and Western scholars 4) A guilty: Should the Soviet ideology and policy be blamed for the Cold War? “NO, it should not” is an answer of Russian scholars 4) Personal mistrust was another major factor, and Stalin was responsible