Pollard Memorial Library (Lowell)

The Cold War's killing fields, rethinking the long peace, Paul Thomas Chamberlin

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 567-605) and index

contains biographical information

illustrationsportraitsmapsplates

index present

non fiction

The Cold War's killing fields

bibliography

1042160786

Paul Thomas Chamberlin

rethinking the long peace

"In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, fostered a series of deadly conflicts that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy accord hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War's killing fields, resulting in more than fourteen million dead--victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history. A superb work of scholarship, [this] is the first global military history of this conflict and the first full accounting of its devastating impact. More than previous armed conflicts, the wars of the post-1945 era ravaged civilians across vast stretches of territory, from Korea and Vietnam to Bangladesh and Afghanistan to Iraq and Lebanon. Chamberlin provides an understanding of this sweeping history from the ground up and offers a moving portrait of human suffering, capturing the voices of those who experienced the brutal warfare. Chamberlin reframes this era in global history and explores in detail the numerous battles fought to prevent nuclear war, bolster the strategic hegemony of the United States and the USSR, and determine the fates of societies throughout the Third World."--Dust jjacket

Introduction: A geography of Cold War-era violence ; The Iron Curtain descends, 1945-1947 -- Part I: The East Asian offensive and the rise of Third World communism, 1945-1954. The Cold War comes to China, 1945-1946 ; The Cold War's first battlefield, 1946-1949 ; Intervening in Korea, 1945-1950 ; Rehearsing for World War III, 1950-1954 ; French Indochina and the death of colonialism, 1945-1954 -- Part II: The Indo-Asian bloodbaths and the fall of Third World communism, 1964-1979. Making a quagmire in Vietnam, 1961-1965 ; The massacre of the Indonesian PKI, 1965 ; The Tet Offensive and Ussuri River clashes, 1967-1969 ; Selective genocide in Bangladesh, 1971 ; The India-Pakistan War, 1971 ; The fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon, 1975-1979 ; The Cambodian nightmare, 1975-1979 -- Part III: The great sectarian revolt of the late Cold War, 1975-1990. The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1978 ; The Iranian Revolution, 1978-1979 ; The Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, 1978-1979 ; The Middle East at war, 1980-1982 ; Reagan's war for the Middle East, 1983-1987 ; "You are creating a Frankenstein," 1988-1990