Ukraine, Russia, and the Cold War and its Legacies: Resources from the American Historical Association
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we have compiled a list of AHA resources on the history of Ukraine, Russia, and the Cold War and its legacies. Teachers can use them in classrooms to help students understand the history of the present; journalists can draw on them to provide historical context for current events; researchers can draw on them to inform future scholarship.
The AHA released a statement “condemn[ing] in the strongest possible terms Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine” and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s abuse of history as justification for the attack.“Putin’s rhetorical premise for this brutal violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty is anchored by a set of outlandish historical claims, including an argument that Ukraine was entirely a Soviet creation,” the AHA wrote.“We vigorously support the Ukrainian nation and its people in their resistance to Russian military aggression and the twisted mythology that President Putin has invented to justify his violation of international norms.”
In March 2022, the AHA hosted a webinar about the conflict, “Russia and Ukraine: History Behind the Headlines.” You can view the full recording from the event on our YouTube channel.
2013–14 Ukraine Crisis
- “History and Historians in the Ukraine Crisis” by Sarah Fenton (AHA Today, 2015)
- “National History Center Holds Congressional Briefing on the Ukraine Crisis” by Dane Kennedy (AHA Today, 2015)
- “Serhii Plokhii of Harvard University on The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine” a National History Center talk (YouTube, 2015)
Before the Cold War
- “Capitulations Redux: The Imperial Genealogy of the Post–World War I ‘Minority Regimes’” by Laura Robson (American Historical Review, 2021)
- “Sounds of February, Smells of October: The Russian Revolution as Sensory Experience” by Jan Plamper (American Historical Review, 2021)
- “To the East Turn: The Russian Revolution and the Black Radical Imagination in the United States, 1917–1924” by Winston James (American Historical Review, 2021)
- “Beyond the Archive: What GIS Mapping Reveals about German POWs in Soviet Russia” by Susan Grunewald (Perspectives on History, 2019)
- “Mobilizing the Russian Nation: Patriotism and Citizenship in the First World War,” a National History Center talk by Melissa K. Stockdale (YouTube, 2017)
- “Self-Determination: How a German Enlightenment Idea Became the Slogan of National Liberation and a Human Right” by Eric D. Weitz (American Historical Review, 2015)
International History of the Cold War
The Soviet Cold War
- “Soviet Secrecy: Toward a Social Map of Knowledge” by Asif Siddiqi (American Historical Review, 2021)
- “Paper Plans: Inside the Mysteries of Soviet Mapmaking” by Elizabeth Elliott (Perspectives on History, 2017)
The Cold War and the World
- “The CSCE and the End of the Cold War: Diplomacy, Societies and Human Rights, 1972–1990,” a National History Center talk by Nicolas Badalassi and Sarah B. Snyder (YouTube, 2019)
- “Benevolent Diplomacy: Children’s Art and US Food Relief in Occupied Germany” by Kaete O'Connell (AHA Today, 2017)
- “Demolishing ‘Participatory Dictatorship’: Leipzig in 1968” by Andrew Demshuk (AHA Today, 2018)
- “Outer Space Exploration in Divided Germany” by Colleen Anderson (AHA Today, 2016)
- “Looking Out for Each Other: How Shoppers and Employees Navigate the Aisles Differently” by Leah Valtin-Erwin (Perspectives on History, 2020)
- “Were Soviet Tanks Deployed in Egypt 50 Years Ago? On the Front Lines of Historical Forensics” by Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez (AHA Today, 2018)
- “‘Cuba, My Love’: The Romance of Revolutionary Cuba in the Soviet Sixties” by Anne E. Gorsuch (American Historical Review, 2015)
- “Rivalry and Alliance Politics in Cold War Latin America,” a National History Center talk by Christopher Darnton (YouTube, 2015)
- “Muslim, Trader, Nomad, Spy: China's Cold War and the People of the Tibetan Borderlands,” a National History Center talk by Sulmaan Khan (YouTube, 2015)
- “Selma and the International History of American Civil Rights” by Mary L. Dudziak (AHA Today, 2015)
- “The Cold War as Operational Experience: The View from NORAD” by Lance Blyth (Perspectives on History, 2014)
- “David E. Hoffman on The Billion Dollar Spy: A True Story of Cold War Espionage and Betrayal,” a National History Center talk (YouTube, 2016)
Legacies of the Cold War
- “Democracy and Misinformation: The Cold War and Today” by Jennifer M. Miller (Perspectives on History, 2019)
- “‘‘Our Biggest Mistake Is That We Trusted You Too Much’: Geopolitics, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin’s Historical Memory” by Jeffrey A. Engel (AHA Today, 2018)
- “Is Today’s Russia a Relic of the Past? A New Look at Contemporary Theories of Soviet History” by Michael David-Fox (AHA Today, 2016)
- “‘The Armored Train of Memory:’ The Politics of History in Post-Soviet Russia” by Nikolay Koposov (Perspectives on History, 2011)
- “A Threat from the East? Narratives of Easternness and the COVID-19 Shortage Crisis” by Leah Valtin-Erwin (Perspectives on History, 2020)
- “The Cold War Never Ended: Historical Roots of the Current North Korea Crisis” by Suzy Kim (AHA Today, 2017)
- “‘‘Fire and Fury’: Military Economies and the Battle of Rhetoric between United States and North Korea” by C. Harrison Kim (AHA Today, 2017)
- “Writing the Cold War Back In: How History Influences Chinese Foreign Policy” by Gregg A. Brazinsky (AHA Today, 2017)
- “Wall Remains, Holocaust Memorials, and Prussian Heritage: Reflections on Cold War Commemoration in Germany” by Keith R. Allen (Perspectives on History, 2014)
Teaching Resources
Thinking about Teaching
- “Teaching on the ‘Balkan Express’: A Collaborative Attempt to Write History for Reconciliation” by Christina Koulouri (Perspectives on History, 2019)
- “The Personal is Historical: What to Do When Your Profession Catches Up to You” by Tyler Stovall (Perspectives on History, 2017)
- “Why Study Russian History?” by E. Thomas Ewing and Virginia Tech Students enrolled in HIST 3604: Russia to Peter the Great (AHA Today, 2017)
- “Being There: Writing History for a Postmodern World” by Kate Brown (AHA Today, 2015)
- “More than McCarthy: Teaching the Cold War, K–12 and Beyond” by Beth Slutsky and Nancy McTygue(Perspectives on History, 2014)
From Remote Teaching Resources
- 1917: Digital Resources on the Russian Revolution by Association for Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies, University of Pittsburgh
- Alexander Palace Time Machine by Bob Atchinson
- The Deepening of the Russian Revolution: 1917 Digital Resources by Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Everyday Life in Eastern Europe in the 1980s by Tom Rushford
- The Fallen of World War II by Neil Halloran and Andy Dollerson
- Historiana by EuroClio, Webtic, and Use
- Remembering Tiananmen Square by Matthew P. Romaniello
- Smart Histories: Compelling Stories of Russian History by Tanil Vasilahu, Madis Maasing, Kerry Kubilius with Sammi Bold, Tony Burnett, Mehak Zaib Suddle
- Women and Stalinism, 1929–1939 by Tom Ewing and Elizabeth Ten Dyke
Primary Sources
- Caucasus: Primary Documents by Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
- Central Europe: Primary Documents by Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
- Eastern Europe: Primary Documents by Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
- Enlightened Despots: Primary Sources by Internet History Sourcebooks Project, Fordham University
- The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated: The Empire That Was Russia by Library of Congress
- Russia: Primary Documents by Eurodocs, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University; European History Primary Sources, European University Institute
Remote Teaching Resources
The AHA’s Remote Teaching Resources compiles materials and tools to help historians develop courses and teach remotely in online and hybrid environments.
History Behind the Headlines
History Behind the Headlines is a webinar series featuring prominent historians discussing the history behind current events. Webinars in this series are generously sponsored by AHA member Jared Brubaker.
AHR Member Access
- Start at historians.org/myaha.
- Login with your email address and password.
- On the MY AHA page, scroll down in the white part of the page until you see the section AHA Publications on the left side. Click the link under that for American Historical Review at Oxford University Press.
- You'll then come to a transfer page where you click Continue to the AHR at Oxford Journals.
- Then on the Oxford site at academic.oup.com/ahr, you'll see AHA Member Access at the top right. As long as you see those words, you're logged in and can access all articles. Just ignore the Sign In and Register links—once you see AHA Member Access, you're set.
The History of Racist Violence in the United States
In response to ongoing racist violence in the United States, we have compiled a list of AHA resources on the history of racist violence. Teachers can use them in classrooms to help students understand the history of the present; journalists can draw on them to provide historical context for current events; researchers can draw on them to inform future scholarship.