Unit 2: Project Builder 1

Cold War/ 20th Century Wars

Suri, J. (2006). The world the superpowers made, an article from History in Focus. History.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/cold/articles/suri.html

What is the article about?

The article talks about the cold war; the struggle between the US and the Soviet Union to emerge as the superpower; the only two countries in the position to emerge as superpowers after the collapse of the European countries after the famous 2^nd World War. It is important to note that the Cold War was the condition of military and political upheavals that developed between Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc just after World War II, in 1947-1991. It was a difference in economic beliefs and ideas with other countries backing their ideologies with their religious beliefs. The US was capitalist while the Soviet Union was communist and each advocated for the spread of their ideas to various Asian countries. The two nations were working hard to expand their territories further and further.

What has been written or published before it

Many articles were written before this article mostly talked about the World War II and its effects on the global income. After the collapse of the European and the Asian countries the US as well as the Soviet Union were actually the only two powerful countries left to handle the future of the international relationships. 

What is in the article?

The article talks about how Truman and Stalin joined forces to determine the fate of the world economy and avoid another war. However, they two knew that they were rivals. Before the cold war, the US and the Soviet Union turned from a cautious cooperation to a bitter rivalry with each superpower trying to spread their political and economic ideologies to the other countries of the world. The Soviet Union was dissolved due to massive economic destruction and bankruptcy which is believed to be brought by the need to put up with NATO’s armament level in the 1980s; the individual countries partnered with the US. The Reagan doctrine succeeded in reducing nuclear use and in using diplomacy other than force while facing any global disagreement. However, it is the source of labor strikes in America, third world dependency and most of the critical wars such in Angola.

The impact of the article

The article opens the reader to what happened in the past about the Cold War. It enables anyone who reads it to understand why the Cold War existed and why it lasted for that long.

The design

The article is historical and shows the activities that took place in the world in the past. The author of the book wrote the prize-winning book, Power, and Protest: Global Revolution and the Rise of Détente (Cambridge, Mass., 2003). The author uses stylistic sentences that compare the two superpowers. The sentence shows what Soviet Union does in response to what the US does. The story flows continuously from the first to the last paragraph. The introduction shows where the Cold War began while the conclusion summarizes the whole events and comments what ended the war.

Whether it is appropriate

The article was appropriate since it narrates the whole story about what happened since the World Cold War started to when it ended.

Saunders, N. (2002). History in Focus: War (Articles: Material Culture of War). History.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2016, from http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/War/articles/intro.html

What is the article about?

The article talks about the material culture of the war in the twenty century. It shows the elements that the anthropologists have corrected from the military personnel. The anthropologist should have tangible evidence to connect the war and the activities.

What has been written or published before it

The book is an edition of a previous book

What is in the article?

The article talks about how little things such a bullet is used to give people an experience of the situation at that particular time. For instance, each war that occurred in the past has a representative object. World War I is represented by an artefact.  Seeing the objects helps people to explore the connections of changing values and attitudes associated with different individuals in the various decades. The war materials enable people to connect the spiritual, material, politics and emotions of the residents in a particular decade. The British commemorate the war memorials through observance of silence for two minutes since 1919 to present. The materials also showed the evolution of technology over the years. For instance, during the World War I the soldiers used the 3-D items such as mementos. The archaeological materials are often a tourism heritage for the countries that have them. The article also talks about the Imperial War Museum which is now a financial gain for the country it is situated.

The impact of the article

The report shows the importance of archaeological materials; the benefits the war materials have brought to the countries which have them. It motivates people to preserve the materials of an individual situation for memorization and future references. War items are historical evidence of the fact that war existed.

The design

The article uses rhetorical style. It kept the reader in suspense and interested to know more about the author theme. The author makes paragraphs that are related, but each has a different topic with a similar theme. Most sentences are in a question form to enable the reader to think through about what they expect would happen. The title is related to the whole article concept since the author expounds on it. The author also incorporates photos such that of Imperial War Museum to show the importance of war materials.

Whether it is appropriate

The article is relevant since it convinces readers like me about the importance of archaeological evidence. It also shows the financial and other benefits realized through preservation of the cultural and historical evidence. The war areas are now tourism sites.