This lesson focuses on a second great historical movement in the post-World War II era: decolonization. The Cold War did not cause the end of the colonial empires, but new nations became entangled in the dispute between East and West. The Cold War and decolonization created a Three World order. The First World was the US and its liberal democratic, capitalist allies, the Second World was the USSR and its communist allies, and the new, decolonized nations formed the Third World, a problematic term that students will scrutinize. In this lesson, students learn about American and Soviet efforts to influence the Third World and the attempt of leaders in the Third World to create a “Third Way” that was independent of both superpowers. Two conflicts –the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961 –teach student show leaders tried to shape a Third Way amid the pressures of the Cold War.
What was the Third Way?