De2MP_COWA East - Central Europe in the context of the Cold War

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2017
Extent and Intensity
1/0/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. PhDr. Karel Konečný, CSc. (lecturer), PhDr. Kamil Štěpánek, CSc. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jaroslav Vaculík, CSc.
Department of History – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: PhDr. Kamil Štěpánek, CSc.
Supplier department: Department of History – Faculty of Education
Prerequisites
General knowledge of the 20th century history of Europe. Basic orientation in political geography of European continent.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
Course objectives: The aim of the course is to learn more in depth about East-Central European history after 1945. Student will be able to analyse international relations during the Cold War and to interpret the questions regarding crucial turning points of the Cold War (1956, 1968, 1989) and to explain specific terminology (human rights, doctrine of containment etc).
Syllabus
  • Contents: 1, the origins of the Cold War, American responses, George Kennan and the doctrine of containment; 2, Cominform and the forming of Eastern Bloc; 3, the Soviet – Yugoslav split, Tito, Djilas and Stalin; 4, The impact of the split on the regimes in Central Europe, show trials and purges; 5, DDR, internal situation, relations to BRD (West Germany), 1953 revolt and regime´s stabilization, status of West Berlin; 6, Poland, sovietization and civil war, 1953 and 1956; 7, the impact of XX. Congress of CPSU on Soviet society and on the Eastern Bloc regimes; 8, Hungary, postwar situation, 1956 and its aftermath, 9, Czechoslovakia during the Prague spring; 10, Detente 1970´s, Helsinki accords and violation of Human Rights; 11, Collapse of the communist regimes in Central Europe 1988-1991; 12, Propaganda during the Cold War;
Literature
    required literature
  • JUDT, Tony. Postwar : a history of Europe since 1945. 1st pub. New York: Penguin Press, 2005, xv, 878. ISBN 1594200653. info
    recommended literature
  • BREN, Paulina – NEUBAUER, Mary (eds.). Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. 413 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-982767-1.
  • STROMBERG, Roland. Europe in the Twentieth Century. University of Milwaukee: Prentice Hall, 1997. 514 pp. ISBN 9780135693445
Teaching methods
student´s presentations, class discussion, combining methodology of political geography and historiography, examining and analysing audio-visual records and documents
Assessment methods
oral colloquium, short presentation
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2016, Autumn 2018.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2017, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/autumn2017/De2MP_COWA