In the first book-length analysis of the origins of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Craig Daigle draws on documents only recently made available to show how the war resulted not only from tension and competing interest between Arabs and Israelis, but also from policies adopted in both Washington and Moscow. Between 1969 and 1973, the Middle East in general and the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular emerged as a crucial Cold War battleground where the limits of detente appeared in sharp relief. By prioritizing Cold War detente rather than genuine stability in the Middle East, Daigle shows, the United States and the Soviet Union fueled regional instability that ultimately undermined the prospects of a lasting peace agreement. Daigle further argues that as detente increased tensions between Arabs and Israelis, these tensions in turn negatively affected U.S.-Soviet relations.

This new Handbook offers a wide-ranging overview of current scholarship on the Cold War, with essays from many leading scholars. The field of Cold War history has consistently been one of the most vibrant in the field of international studies. Recent scholarship has added to our understanding of familiar Cold War events, such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and superpower detente, and shed new light on the importance of ideology, race, modernization, and transnational movements. The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War draws on the wealth of new Cold War scholarship, bringing together essays on a diverse range of topics such as geopolitics, military power and technology and strategy. The chapters also address the importance of non-state actors, such as scientists, human rights activists and the Catholic Church, and examine the importance of development, foreign aid and overseas assistance. The volume is organised into nine parts: Part I: The Early Cold War Part II: Cracks in the Bloc Part III: Decolonization, Imperialism and its Consequences Part IV: The Cold War in the Third World Part V: The Era of Detente Part VI: Human Rights and Non-State Actors Part VII: Nuclear Weapons, Technology and Intelligence Part VIII: Psychological Warfare, Propaganda and Cold War Culture Part IX: The End of the Cold War This new Handbook will be of great interest to all students of Cold War history, international history, foreign policy, security studies and IR in general.