Cookie Policy

Our website uses cookies to understand content and feature usage to drive site improvements over time. To learn more, review our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Skip Navigation
OER Logo

DBQ Source Summaries: The Cold War and Decolonization

Page 1 of 3
Checkmark Alert Banner
Did you know? You can access an editable version of this activity: Google Doc or Word Doc
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT1200/ LESSON8.5ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCE SUMMARIES: THE COLD WAR AND DECOLONIZATIONUnless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “DBQ Source Summaries:The Cold War and Decolonization”, OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/1Note to Teachers:Below are summaries of the sources in DBQ Sources:The Cold War and Decolonization. Theseare meant to provide you a quick understanding of the document types and content so you can decide which sources you want your students to use. You may choose to provide these summaries to your students as additional scaffolding.Source SummaryDocument 1 (Text)Source:Nehru, Jawaharlal. “Indian Foreign Policy (Selected Statements).” India Quarterly 41, no.1 (1985): 74–100.Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, gave a speech in 1947 where he set out a course of independence for his country that allied with neither the Soviet Union nor the United States. During the Cold War, this would cause a good deal of consternation for both superpowers as they assumed India was secretly working with the other. Nehru points out that once the superpowers realized India was working for itself, it did little to ally their fears, but did cause the United States and the Soviets tohave greater respect for their country.Document 2 (Text)Source: “Soldiers of People’s Army please rescue us!” North Korean Propaganda Posters and Tabloids Captured During the Korean War, 1950–1953. National Archives and Records Administration. https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2019/07/09/spotlight-propoganda/#jp-carousel-22136This piece of North Korean propaganda shows a woman and child victimized by a United States bayonet. The dollar sign and flag indicate that, from the perspective of North Korea, that money and nationalism were the driving factors of United States involvement in their country.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT1200 / LESSON8.5 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCE SUMMARIES: THE COLD WAR AND DECOLONIZATION2Source SummaryDocument 3 (Text)Source: Zhou,Enlai.“MainSpeechbyPremierZhouEnlai,HeadoftheDelegationofthePeople’sRepublicofChina,DistributedatthePlenarySessionof theAsian-AfricanConference.”Bandung,Indonesia,April19,1955.HistoryandPublicPolicyProgramDigitalArchive,TranslationfromChinaandtheAsian-African Conference. Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1955. http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/121623In this speech to a 1955 Asian-African conference, Zhou Enlai, the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China, makes the point that colonialism in all forms has wreaked havoc in Asia and Africa. Additionally, he makes the point that this colonialism should be fought at every turn.Document 4 (Image)Source: President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (from left) greet South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem at Washington National Airport on May 8, 1957. National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/eisenhower-ngo-dinh-diemThis image of President Dwight D. Eisenhower greeting Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1957 shows the growing alliance between the newly created country of South Vietnam and the United States. The United States growing commitment to the independence of South Vietnam would, within a few years of this picture, would result in a long conflict that left over 58,000 Americans and countless Vietnamese dead.This image has potential for a lot of good outside information for students to work into their response.Document 5 (Text)Source:Mandela, Nelson. “A New Menace in Africa.” Liberationno. 30 (March 1958): 22–26. https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/Lin30581729455X000030Mar1958South African revolutionary leader Nelson Mandela, in this 1958 article, speaks out against what he sees as American imperialism in Africa. He sees United States involvement in Africa presenting as a benevolent force of freedom that masks a true desire to control African resources and gain strategic advantage through establishing military bases on that continent.
WORLD HISTORY PROJECT1200 / LESSON8.5 ACTIVITYDBQ SOURCE SUMMARIES: THE COLD WAR AND DECOLONIZATION3Source SummaryDocument 6 (Text)Source:Mao,Zedong.“MaoZedong,OutlineforaSpeechontheInternationalSituation.”Beijing,December1959.HistoryandPublicPolicyProgramDigital Archive. Translated by David Wolff. In Mao Zedong’s Manuscripts since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, vol. 8. Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe,1993.https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/118893In a 1959 speech, Chinese leader Mao Zedong discusses the sometimes fractious relationship between the world’s two foremost Communist powers—China and the Soviet Union. Document 7 (Text)Source:Schlesinger,Arthur.MemorandumforPresidentJohnF.Kennedy,February11,1961.JohnF.KennedyPresidentialLibrary.https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/115/JFKPOF-115-003?image_identifier=JFKPOF-115-003-p0005Arthur Schlesinger Jr., in his capacity as a historian and Special Assistant to US President John F. Kennedy, had a front row seat to the height of Cold War tensions over Cuba. In this excerpt from a February 1961 internal memorandum, Schlessinger suggeststhat Kennedy should couch United States concerns over Cuba as something that threatens the entire Western Hemisphere.