[Terrence Rantzau]

Hello ,
I have some difficulties with this essay I'm doing as preparation for my upcoming exam ... Could someone please help me with these ?
I have done sort of a rough draft of it , but I doubt whether it is correct or not .
Do I miss any major examples as well ... Thank you very much ^^

“No matter how close the Cold War seemed to come to becoming a nuclear war . it was all brinkmanship .No one would have dared to start such a war .” How far do you agree with this statement ?
-Agree
The risk of nuclear war was too much .It would be MAD. Both parties knew well the consequence of their actions . From Truman ,Eisenhower to Kennedy , no one dared to use the atomic bomb for the second time .Even in Koran War , when Truman was pressurized by MacArthur , and in Cuban Missile Crisis .Obvious example of brinkmanship in Cuban Missile Crisis , when Kennedy ignored the second letter and the U2 plane incident whereas Khrushchev ignored both and accepted Kennedy’s terms quietly as well .In one way , this can be seen as Khruschev seizing the opportunity to end the crisis quietly ,while Kennedy was the one who flaunted the opportunity before him .
-Disagree
As nuclear arms race became more intense than ever – USA claimed she had enough nuclear to destroy the world many times over ,and the USSR claimed similarly . Tension between the two were often high , even breaking into proxy wars outside their home countries : eg : Vietnam ,Afghanistan , and Korea . There were already underlying resentment between both , and before the Cuban Missile Crisis , none believed about co-existence .The tension was such that one mistake by the leaders of the two superpower could trigger the nuclear button . Such was the enormity of the nuclear war possibility that countries were frightened to silence during the Cuban Missile Crisis .

tks

[MrJohnDClare]

If I were you teacher, I would have two things to say about this essay:

1. It's not really systematic enough about going through the events. It makes two good points plus evidence, but I would have liked to see a more systematic approach to those events - take a paragraph each and for each briefly state what happened and why this illustrates your point.
You are almost there -- but why not suss out http://www.johndclar...t/cold_war1.htm to make sure you have mentioned ALL the relevant events of the Cold War. And just be a little bit more explicit about linking your facts to your explanation.

2. You have only argued FOR the question. In a quote+question essay like this, you should be looking to:
a. write arguments agreeing with the statement.
b. write arguments challenging the statement.
c. finish with a conclusion saying whether you think the statement is true or false.
You have not done b or c.

- IS it true that 'It was all brinkmanship' - were there any times when the two sides did NOT go to the edge - where they stayed well within the 'safety zone' (suss out 'peaceful co-existence' and 'detente')?

- and IS it true that 'No one would have dared to start such a war (think about the importance of the phrase 'no one'. NO one? What about MacArthur in Korea -- the governments always pulled back, but there were always 'hawks' that argued tha a nucelar war was winnable).
Try googling
"believed a nuclear war was winnable"
and see what you get.

[Terrence Rantzau]

Thank you ^^

But can I confirm about the disagreeing part ? Can I use MacArthur and Kennedy's advisors as an example of someone who believed that nuclear war is winnable to challenge the statement ?

Like :
However , not everyone believed in brinkmanship. Some individual , such as Mac Arthur , firmly believed that a nuclear war might be winnable . During the Korean War , as US and UN troops advanced into the North Korean border near the Yalu river , MacArthur had proposed that the atomic bomb been used to crush communism in China . He continued advancing up to North Korea's border with China, where the Chinese , alarmed , sent 200,000 'volunteers' to fight back MacArthur's troops .Later , when MacArthur's troops was driven back to the 38th parallel , Truman commanded that he did not advance past the 38th parallel into North Korea .Enraged , he criticized Truman . Thankfully , his desire to use th atomic bomb to bring Communism in China and north Korea to en end was not fulfilled , and a nuclear war was avoided because Truman sacked him straight after his criticism .

Similarly , during the Cuban Missile Crisis , Kennedy's advisors , which included his own brother , had propose to him several ways , one of which was to utilize the atomic bomb in crushing Cuba .Thankfully , a nuclear war was also avoided here for Kennedy had decided to put up a naval blockade .Still , the crisis had brought the world to the closest ever brink of an atomic war. The high tension and fear were, fortunately , subdued as both leaders agreed to a compromise .There are individuals , some of them with power in the government , believed that a nuclear war would bring them to victory ,often ignoring the catastrophe such a war might cause .

I have checked the facts in the net , but I am still confused whether there are other cold war events I can use as an example of brinkmanship .Thank you ^^

[MrJohnDClare]

I think that's looking good, don't you?
Time to see what your teacher thinks now, I would say.

Terrence Rantzau, on Oct 27 2008, 05:31 AM, said:

I have checked the facts in the net , but I am still confused whether there are other cold war events I can use as an example of brinkmanship .

I think I'll leave that to you - you seem to be doing fine on this.

Tell us what your teacher says.

[Terrence Rantzau]

Ok.
Lots of thanks for the great help anyway ..
[having my paper GCE tomorrow...hehehe...]