Bachelor
2026/2027
Modern History of International Relations before 1945
Type:
Compulsory course (International Programme 'International Relations and Global Studies')
Delivered by:
Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs
When:
1 year, 3, 4 module
Open to:
students of one campus
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
4
Contact hours:
48
Course Syllabus
Abstract
This course covers the modern period of global history, focusing on the rise of decline of the post-WWI international order in different aspect: economic, social, political and geostrategic ones. There are no prerequisites for this course. However, a rigorous work during the course is required. Students who attend all classes, participate in discussions, solve home assignments, and complete the course projects would very likely pass the course with a good grade.
Learning Objectives
- To understand the economic and social development European states in the interwar period (1920-1930);
- Analyze the reasons and consequences of the Great Depression;
- Have a deep and comprehensive outlook of the ideological context of the social and political development of European and non-European societies (rise of Fascism and Militarism, spread of Communist ideas);
- To examine the preconditions and reasons of the WWII and policies of the Great Powers, which led to destruction of the post-WWI international order.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Be able to determine the role of Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan in undermining collective security;
- Be able to determine characteristic features of dictatorial regimes of Italy, Germany, and Spain;
- Be able to determine the role of Versailles System in stimulating the rise of fascism in Europe;
- Know strategic and military preconditions of WWII;
- Know the impact of the Great Depression upon the progress that had been made in terms of international collaboration through the League;
- Know the implications of the Treaty of Versailles for the Weimar Republic;
- Know the reasons for the appearance of fascism in Europe;
- Know the role of Germany and Italy in the Spanish Civil War;
- Know the US role in international relations during the interwar period.
- Understand the theory and logic of detente
- know and understand the key treaties and events of the Detente policy
- understant the context and nature of the Korean War
- understand influence of the Korean war on the Cold War
- learn the nature and context of the Vietnam war
- learn the political and strategic developements in Eastern Europe in the first half of the Cold War
Course Contents
- Consequences of the WWI
- The League of Nations and Collective Security
- The Weimar Republic
- The Great Depression
- Rise of Fascism
- The Manchurian Crisis and The Spanish Civil War
- Appeasement
- Beginning of WWII
- Post-war planning and the breakdown of the Grand Alliance, 1943–1944
- The German question and the Marshall Plan: preventing the spread of Communism, 1946–1948
- The onset of the Cold War: from containment to rollback, 1948–1953
- Intelligence, propaganda and covert operations. Nuclear weapons and Cold War
- The Sino-Soviet split
- Détente, 1969–1979
- The Cold War in Asia – Korea
- The Cold War in Asia – Vietnam
- The Soviet Union and the Cold War in eastern Europe, 1947–1962
- The Cold War in Latin America – Guatemala and the Cuban Revolution, 1950–1963
- The Cold War in the Middle East – the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1950–2000
- The end of the Cold War and the collapse of communism
- The Cold War in Africa – Congo, the UN and Angola, 1959–1976
- The rise of China
- The USA and the War on Terror. The USA and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
Interim Assessment
- 2026/2027 4th module0.25 * Quizzes + 0.25 * Final Exam + 0.25 * Test + 0.25 * Seminars activity
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- 1989: democratic revolutions at the Cold War's end : a brief history with documents, Kenney, P., 2010
- After leaning to one side : China and its allies in the Cold War, Shen, Z., 2011
- After the cold war : essays on the emerging world order, , 1997
- Allende's Chile and the Inter-American Cold War, Harmer, T., 2011
- American foreign policy since World War II, Hook, S. W., 2013
- APEC and the rise of China, , 2011
- Awakening giants, feet of clay : assessing the economic rise of China and India, Bardhan, P., 2010
- Black market, Cold War : everyday life in Berlin, 1946-1949, Steege, P., 2007
- Chinese foreign relations : power and policy since the Cold War, Sutter, R. G., 2012
- Cold War exiles and the CIA : plotting to free Russia, Tromly, B., 2019
- Detente after Brezhnev : the domestic roots of Soviet foreign policy, Yanov, A., 1977
- Foreign intervention in Africa : from the Cold War to the war on terror, Schmidt, E., 2013
- In the shadow of the greatest generation : the Americans who fought the Korean War, Pash, M. L., 2012
- Nixon, Kissinger, and the shah : the United State and Iran in the Cold War, Alvandi, R., 2014
- Nixon, Kissinger, and U.S. Foreign policy making : the machinery of crisis, Siniver, A., 2008
- Soviet - american relations : the detente years, 1969 - 1972, , 2007
- The 1967 Arab-Israeli war : origins and consequences, , 2012
- The First Vietnam War : colonial conflict and Cold War crisis, , 2007
- The Iraq War : European perspectives on politics strategy and operations, , 2006
- The Iraq wars and America's military revolution, Shimko, K. L., 2010
- The United States in the Vietnam war, 1954-1975 : a selected annotated bibliography of English-language sources, Peake, L. A., 2008
- The Vietnam war, Anderson, D. L., 2005
- Why intelligence fails : lessons from the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq War, Jervis, R., 2010
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- British policy in South-East Europe in the Second World War, Barker, E., 1976
- Challenges to International Relations in Post-Cold War Europe, , 2002
- The Cambridge history of the Cold War. Vol.2: Crises and detente, , 2010