A new Korean War?

If you thought that what's happening in today's newspapers has nothing to do with history, you're wrong. Just look at what's happening in the Korean peninsula.

In November 2010, North Korean artillery attacked an island controlled by South Korea, causing massive harm. Today, many newspapers are asking why North Korea attacked the South, as well as whether there will be another Korean War. For example, AOL News and Korean Times.

In order to answer these questions, one must understand Korea's past. After the end of World War Two in 1945, Korea was temporarily split into two halves (North and South). They were supposed to unite in a few years time. However, there were disagreements over how they should unite. In 1950, believing that these differences could not be settled, North Korea invaded the South in what was known as the Korean War.

Fighting stopped in 1953, but both Koreas have not made up and there are still a large number of disagreements.

To find out more about the Korean War, do read Wikipedia.

Cold War & Lessons from it

Above is an video summarising the origins of the Cold War. It also covers some of the cultural aspects of the Cold War.

When watching the video, think about the following issues:
1. What were the causes of the Cold War?
2. Which cause do you think was most responsible for the Cold War?
3. Who do you think was more at fault, the USA or the USSR? Or was it just a misinterpretation?
4. What was the Cold War all about - an arms race, an ideological battle, a cultural war? Or perhaps everything at once?
5. Was it good that the Cold War ended?

Very often we think that History is all about learning facts. At O level we study a list of causes and impacts. Once in a while we must ask ourselves, "What can we learn from this?"

Melvyn Leffler, a professor at the University of Virginia, shares his views of what can be learnt from the Cold War below.



What have you learnt from the Cold War? What have you learnt from your study of History?