Thread by @DoorstepPodcast

@RadioFreeTom #NickGvosdev here. Since I teach History of the Cold War for @HarvardExt, let me add my two cents. In class one, we look at the impact of 1917 and the attempt to reach a consensus during World War II. In class, we date start of Cold War to 1946, based on 1) Iran situation ... 1/

@RadioFreeTom @HarvardExt 2) Stalin's 1946 speech; 3) stopping of travel between the Korean zones; 4) breakdown of Allied coordination on Germany ... continues through 1947 and 1948 based on how elections in Eastern Europe shake out, and the rejection of the Marshall Plan. Symbolically by March 1948, 2/

@RadioFreeTom @HarvardExt when USSR walks out of the Allied Control Council for Germany and declares it no longer capable of functioning, we can say the WWII Grand Alliance is definitely over. Push to create a single Western Germany and NATO in 1949 confirms that. 3/

@RadioFreeTom @HarvardExt Cold War ending? We take as the juridical "end" the Charter of Paris on a New Europe, November 1990, which ratifies what happened in 1989 and 1990. END

@RadioFreeTom @HarvardExt Of course, some argue Dec 1991, or after 9/11 when Condi Rice says it is definitely over, or some who say it never ended, just took on a new form. One thing we address in the class is whether the Cold War is defined by capitalist/communist split, or whether this is part of the 5/

@RadioFreeTom @HarvardExt longer-term rivalry between continental/Eurasian and maritime/Atlantic powers, in which case the Cold War is part of a four-century long historical process. REALLY ENDING HERE