Cold War- Beyond USSR and USA

This is something I’ve been focusing more over the past 2 years especially since in US History they cover it more like this. I try to tie it more with decolonization and say as certain countries are becoming independent, they’re being influenced by both the US and USSR to join their side in the conflict. I’ve also done more work on the Non Alignment Movement. There’s a good DBQ on this in the AMSCO Review book for AP World. 

Here's a Cold War Thermometer activity - students are assigned a topic to research and present. I make sure to include conficts from around the world to help them develop a more comprehensive understanding. 

I had an epiphany a couple of years ago when I attended an online which focused on teaching the Cold War and Decolonization together.  Up until that point, I always taught them separately.  Teaching them together makes so much more sense from a World History perspective.  I look at both as just nationalism and the Cold War is really just one aspect of the nationalism that's occurring in the last half of the twentieth century.  It's just one thing that's influencing the process of decolonization.

Check out the OER materials on the 1200, 1750, and AP courses.  They do a nice job: https://www.oerproject.com/1200-to-the-Present/Unit-8 

I haven’t tried teaching them together yet, but I really like the idea of approaching both the Cold War and Decolonization through the lens of nationalism. That perspective makes so much sense and seems like it would help students better understand the connections between the two. I’m definitely going to look into trying that approach.

Great question, Katie!

For a few years now, I've realized that the Cold War and Decolonization is happening concurrently, so I use Cold War to contextualize Decolonization and vice versa.   This leads to a better understanding to the rise of the Third World/Non-Aligned Movement and the Bandung Conference.  

I use this Cold War and Decolonization Thematic map to start the conversation, and this overview article "The Cold War Around the World."

This year, I discovered these two videos from OER Project of "Cold War and Decolonization through a Caribbean lens", and "Cold War and Decolonization through an Asian lens" and I think it really helps providing a global perspective to the entire Cold War. 

I use the Unit 8.0 Setting the Stage materials to kick things off, particularly the video "Unit 8 Overview: Cold War and Decolonization" and the article "Unit 8 Introduction: Cold War & Decolonization, 1945–1990." I also use the videos Angela Lee  mentioned. I wrap up this article, "End of Old Regimes." I also pair articles about the spread of (or resistance to) communism with decolonisation in that region as well.