Unit name | Britain's Cold War (Level C Special Topic) |
---|---|
Unit code | HIST14018 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | C/4 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Grace Huxford |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
HIST13003 Special Topic Project |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
For four decades Britain faced the prospect of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. In 1953, UK defence planning assumed such an exchange would result in 1.4 million deaths and three-quarters of a million casualties. Within a year, the Soviet development of the hydrogen bomb vastly increased these figures. Planners estimated a death toll of 12 million in 10 selected cities and assumed that British society would 'break down' as a result. Almost as soon as it was over, however, the Cold War seems to have evaporated from popular memory. Using a wide range of primary sources, many recently released, this special topic sets out to explore this increasingly forgotten episode in British history. Focusing on the first half of the Cold War, it provides an introduction to its military and political dimensions whilst also considering its social and cultural impact on the lives of contemporary Britons.
On successful completion of the unit students will have developed:
10 x 2- hour seminars
1 x 2-hour exam
Arnold, L. Britain and the H-Bomb
Black, J. (2000) The politics of James Bond
Clarke, B. (2005) Four minute warning
Gaddis, J. L. (2006) Cold War
Grant, M. (2010), After the bomb: civil defence and nuclear war in Britain, 1945-68.
Greenwood, S. (2000) Britain and the Cold War, 1945-91
Hennessy, P. (2003 or 2010) The secret state
Hennessy, P. (2007) Cabinets and the Bomb
Hopkins, M. F. et al (2006) Cold War Britain 1945-1964
McMahon, R. J. (2003) The Cold War: a very short introduction
Nuttall, J. (1968) Bomb culture
Saunders, F. S. (1999) Who paid the piper? The CIA and the cultural Cold War
Shaw, T. (2001) British cinema and the Cold War
Various (2005) special issue on Britain and the cultural cold war, Contemporary British History, vol. 19, no. 2,