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Courses / Modules / HIST3258 America and the world, 1945-2000: technology, conflict and the lives of others (Part 2)

America and the world, 1945-2000: technology, conflict and the lives of others (Part 2)

When you'll study it
Semester 2
CATS points
30
ECTS points
15
Level
Level 6
Module lead
Kendrick Oliver
Academic year
2025-26

Module overview

This module continues the exploration of the impact of defense technologies and humanitarian concerns upon US foreign policy from the escalation of US involvement in the Vietnam War into the post-Cold War era. It will examine the US approach to fighting the Vietnam War, including the strategy of attrition, the use of napalm, instances of atrocity, and the use of strategic bombing. It will also consider the role played by the United States in instances of genocide or regime change in Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Chile, and its efforts to explicitly integrate a concern with human rights into its foreign policy from the mid-1970s onwards. The module will conclude with sessions devoted to the dilemmas confronting American foreign policy in the post-Cold War eras, looking at the first Gulf War, the intervention in Somalia and the Rwandan genocide.

Linked modules

HIST3257