top of page

GABRIEL'S TRAVELS 

UNDERSTANDING THE COLD WAR BY SEEING IT IN PERSON

Gabriel is homeschooling this year between eighth and ninth grades to realign himself with the "right" class after skipping fifth grade. Since he doesn't have to go forward an actual school year, he's taking advantage of his freedom by studying math, research, and writing, and by focusing on his passion: world history. He'd already spent the earlier part of his childhood reading everything he could about westward expansion in the U.S., then the end of colonialism, then WWI and WWII. So it was natural that he asked to study the Cold War--not to mention very appropriate at this time in history. 

What are we studying? And where?

LIST 

Where we've been:

  • Cuba

    • Havana​

  • The Netherlands

    • Amsterdam

    • Arnhem

  • Germany

    • Münster

    • Munster

    • Point Alpha

    • Erlangen

    • Nürnberg

    • Dresden

    • Berlin

  • Ukraine​

    • Kiev​

  • England​

    • Cosford

    • London​

    • Wool

  • Poland

    • Warsaw​

  • Latvia​

    • Riga​​

  • Lithuania​

    • Plokstine Missle Base

    • Kaunas

    • Vilnius

  • Cambodia​

    • Siem Reap​

  • Vietnam​

    • Hanoi​

    • Da Nang

    • Hoi An

    • Quang Tri (DMZ)

    • Phong Nha

    • Hue

    • Ho Chi Minh City

  • Japan

    • Tokyo

  • United States​

    • Chicago​

    • Boston

    • New Haven

    • New York

    • LBJ Museum, Austin

What we decided to explore: 

  • How did the events of WWI and WWII set the scene for The Cold War?

  •  What caused the falling out between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union  and  repositioning of NATO and the Warsaw Pact (and more tightly, the US and the USSR) as rival superpowers?

  • What were the most important crisis and transition moments in the conflict?

  • How was the Cold War waged?  How did the role of the military and surveillance change during this period?

  • How did the Cold War affect life for ordinary people in the US, Russia, Germany, and other countries? 

  • How did it impact industry, trade, technology, philosophy, and culture? 

  • What “hot” conflicts around the globe were inspired or impacted by the Cold War?

  • What was the full cost of the conflict, economically and in lives?

  • What were the positive outcomes of the Cold War?  The negatives?

  • What forces and events brought about the waning of the Cold War?

  • What differences are there in the way different countries tell the story of the Cold War?

  • Does the Cold War conflict continue to affect lives and politics now?

  • Are there lessons and parallels from the Cold War that could be applied to current events?

 

And more “global” questions:

  • How is power created and maintained?

  • Is it possible to have moral war?

  • In a world of information with both intentional and unintentional bias, how does one determine what is true?

  • What factors allow discontent, covert resistance, and public protest to shift into political change at the governmental level?

  • How does storytelling affect the way we approach and think about war?  How do different countries tell the story of their own involvement in WWII and the Cold War? 

  • Is it possible to keep one’s humanity, mental health, and moral compass when war necessitates actions that, in other contexts, would be in direct opposition to them all?

bottom of page