The United States' latent potential to become a global power had been realised by 1917 when it entered the First World War. Thereafter it engaged in a succession of conflicts. Where involvement in the Second World War was applauded as 'the good war', subsequent interventions were more controversial from Vietnam to the War on Iraq. Conflict avoidance is another theme explored, not least the Cold War era and its greatest crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis. The causes of intervention, their impact and the ways in which wars were fought and what determined their outcome are considered in relation to the literature and original documents providing insights into decision-making.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
analyse and critically appraise key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny
analyse and critically evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material
critically evaluate the historiographical context and trends of the subject under exploration
summarise, synthesise and evaluate the subject material in a sophisticated written form
