Student will be able to evaluate the policy of containment and the effects it had on the United State before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Students will be able to compare and contrast United States foreign policy under the presidencies of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
We now know that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda grew to prominence during the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan (Soviet/Afghanistan War). We also know know what spurred Osama bin Laden to call for Jihad (war) against the United States leading up to 9/11. Bin Laden was angered at the way the Saudi government invited U.S. military forces onto its soil to launch a war on Iraqi forces, which invaded Kuwait. The Gulf War of 1991 gave Bin Laden a new mission and that was to destroy or get back at the United States.
Therefore, how does the collapse of the Berlin Wall have anything to do with the eventual "War on Terror"? With the collapse of the Berlin Wall came a huge foreign policy shift that took us away from containment and shifted our foreign policy into unknown and uncharted territory. As Hal Brankd's writes in his book, From Berlin to Baghdad , "for more than four decades, containment of communism provided the overriding goal of American foreign policy, allowing generations of political leaders to build on its concepts. But with the collapse of the wall the United States attempts to devise a new grand foreign policy strategy that could match the political efficacy of containment".
Students will be able to compare and contrast United States foreign policy under the presidencies of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
We now know that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda grew to prominence during the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan (Soviet/Afghanistan War). We also know know what spurred Osama bin Laden to call for Jihad (war) against the United States leading up to 9/11. Bin Laden was angered at the way the Saudi government invited U.S. military forces onto its soil to launch a war on Iraqi forces, which invaded Kuwait. The Gulf War of 1991 gave Bin Laden a new mission and that was to destroy or get back at the United States.
Therefore, how does the collapse of the Berlin Wall have anything to do with the eventual "War on Terror"? With the collapse of the Berlin Wall came a huge foreign policy shift that took us away from containment and shifted our foreign policy into unknown and uncharted territory. As Hal Brankd's writes in his book, From Berlin to Baghdad , "for more than four decades, containment of communism provided the overriding goal of American foreign policy, allowing generations of political leaders to build on its concepts. But with the collapse of the wall the United States attempts to devise a new grand foreign policy strategy that could match the political efficacy of containment".
Reading/Questions: "Origins of the Cold War: The Containment Policy |