British decolonization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

British decolonization - Essay Example The cartoon is striking in that it reduces the geopolitical tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis, where the United States and Soviet Union reached the brink of nuclear war over the stationing of Russian missiles in Cuba, to a bar game or crude, male ego-driven sport. From the Soviet perspective, the Americans had previously stationed nuclear missiles positioned at Russia from similar strategic locations in Europe and Asia. The two countries, in less than 20 years, had built nuclear arsenals hundreds of thousands of times greater than the weapons used to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By many scientific estimates, the two countries possessed sufficient nuclear weapon power to destroy the entire earth many times over. Few were completely certain of the effects of nuclear war on a mass scale, but both sides had built the largest, most powerful war machines the world had ever seen, and Khrushchev and Kennedy pursued a policy of brinksmanship to bring the entire global civilization to the th reat of destruction through their two nuclear arsenals. That the two political leaders are reduced to the caricature of a bar-room arm wrestling match represents the anxiety felt by the general populace who were restrained from truly participating in the decision making of the match, but were rather forced into the role of spectators to watch how events unfolded in mass-media and television. The public could only wonder if two human beings, with human emotions and weaknesses, could be trusted to manage the behavior of nations and armies with such a great destructive firepower. The policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was based in the brinksmanship of the political rulers in the cartoon, highlighting the tension of the day in a manner that also illuminates the risk of the human emotions in a centralized leadership command structure. This activity was also depicted in Stanley Kubrick’s classic movie Dr. Strangelove. The brinksmanship ended with the Soviets withdrawing t he nuclear missiles from Cuba in the end to a standoff that had captivated the world as the first and possibly most serious escalation of conflict between superpowers in the Cold War. This cartoon is useful to understand the public opinion of the times, but could be further verified through relations to other news media such as editorials and journalism of the events. Historians Craft Assignment Question 2 Source 2 of 2: An Excerpt from a Political Diary Sunday, November 26, 1967 So this is the end of the second devaluation week and we’re still completely without any central control or decision-taking in this Labour Government. And the chances of getting this as a result of the devaluation are very small indeed. .... the lower the Government plummets the stronger my position grows in my own little corner. Suppose the impossible happened and as a result of the crisis Jim [Callaghan] replaced Harold [Wilson]. That’s not inconceivable when you remember Macmillan replacing Eden after Suez. But it’s something I wouldn’t tolerate because I know the qualities of Mr Callaghan. He’s not an adventurous bold forward-looking Macmillan who could rejuvenate the Party. Right inside he’s a coward with a wonderful outside image and a very likeable personality. ... however, I don’t see the remotest chance of Harold going. It’