Cold War Expert Launches WSU Visiting Professorship
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| Georg Schild, visiting professor from the University of Tübingen in Germany. |
Georg Schild from the University of Tübingen in Germany holds a doctorate in American History from the University of Maryland. He has written several publications on American history, including works on Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Woodrow Wilson and the Russian Revolution.
He will teach a course on America and the Cold War, providing a European perspective. His professorship began Aug. 25 and will conclude Oct. 11. He will also give a public lecture on Sept. 10 at 1:30 p.m. in room 219 of the Social Science building.
“Bringing in international faculty will expose our students to new perspectives on history,” said Susan Matt, WSU history chair. “Professor Schild is a good scholar to inaugurate the program because he has written eight books and many articles on American history. He has taken a leading role in the Organization of American Historians in setting up international exchanges for faculty.”
In addition to his degree in American History, Schild also has personal experience with the Iron Curtain, having been born in West Germany and having served in the West German army.
“I was born the year the Berlin Wall went up and grew up in a divided country,” Schild said. “I studied in West Berlin in the 1980s and was reminded of that division every time I drove to West Germany, through East Germany, to visit my parents. It was clear to me that international politics was essential to the future of my country and that the two superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, could make life better or more miserable for the Germans.”
In his 2013 book, 1983: The Most Dangerous Year of the Cold War, Schild explained that the greatest threat of nuclear war did not happen in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but during several events in 1983.
One event occurred on Sept. 26, 1983. The Soviet Union’s nuclear early-warning system twice reported a nuclear launch from the United States, but Soviet Air Defense Forces correctly identified those as false alarms. Retaliation to this false information could have sparked a nuclear war and the loss of millions of lives. Officials learned later that the satellite had malfunctioned.
“In my own research and particularly in my book, I argue that our perception of the danger of the Cold War is wrong,” Schild said. “The Cuban Missile Crisis was less dangerous than the events in 1983. I will be giving a talk about that issue while at Weber State.”
Schild also wants to stress the importance of American influence in Germany after World War II.
“My goal in teaching the class is to demonstrate to young Americans how crucial their country's role was in global affairs in the post-World War II period,” Schild said. “I do not foresee any other country assuming such a dominant role. I also cannot imagine in which directions international affairs will develop should an American administration sometime in the future decide to focus inward instead of abroad.”
This is not Schild’s first visiting professorship in the United States. He learned from his previous experience that there can be differing perspectives on certain issues between Americans and Europeans.
“I look forward to working with students at Weber State University,” he said. “We might have slightly different perspectives on certain issues. Mostly, however, I find that our cultural and political values are very similar.”
WSU’s history department hopes to host an international historian each year. Next year the department will host a historian from China.
For more information on the University of Tübingen, visit uni-tuebingen.de/en/university. For more information on the WSU history department, visit weber.edu/history.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
For a high-resolution photo, visit the following link:
wsuucomm.smugmug.com/Press-Release-Photos/2014-photos/September-2014/i-7nM9Sns/0/XL/GeorgSchild-XL.jpg
- Marcus Jensen, Office of Marketing & Communications
801-626-7295 • marcusjensen@weber.edu - Contact:
- Susan Matt, history chair
801-626-7325 • smatt@weber.edu