Spring 2027

The Cold War - From World War II to End of Soviet Empire

The Cold War from WWII to the end of the Soviet Empire, exploring geopolitics, ideology, and covert operations across five continents using diverse sources.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Alfred Mccoy4.1/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.71 GPA, 85.2% A/AB (n=61 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.87 GPA, 95.5% A/AB (n=67 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.93 GPA, 95.8% A/AB (n=120 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Interpret primary sources

  • Develop a refined ability to critically analyze secondary sources

  • Merge a considered thesis, operational factors, and empirical evidence into a coherent analytical narrative

  • Edit their own prose for both grace and clarity

  • Develop a perspective on how to incorporate primary sources in undergraduate teaching

  • Develop a foundation for teaching their own world history courses, which are a requirement for job placement in a growing number of colleges and universities

  • Develop a resonant sense of the extraordinary carrying capacity of historical narrative

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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AB
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing or 3 credits in HISTORY or INTL ST

    • Sophomore standing
    • 3 credits in HISTORY or INTL ST
    take one
HISTORY/INTLST 375

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • Sophomore standing
    • 3 credits in HISTORY or INTL ST

Professors

Spring 2027

Alfred Mccoy

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 4.19/5 from 58 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.71 GPA, 85.2% A/AB (n=61 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.87 GPA, 95.5% A/AB (n=67 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.93 GPA, 95.8% A/AB (n=120 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ALFRED W. MCCOY is recorded teaching in Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1440
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 180
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 1440
DIS 301Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 305Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 306Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 307Classroom Instruction0 / 180
DIS 308Classroom Instruction0 / 180

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2023: 3.71 GPA, 85.2% A/AB (n=61 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.87 GPA, 95.5% A/AB (n=67 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.93 GPA, 95.8% A/AB (n=120 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Geopolitics, ideology, internationalism, empire, revolution, counterinsurgency, and covert operations
  • Major wars in Korea, Vietnam, Angola, and Afghanistan
  • Nuclear-armed stalemate in Europe and cultural politics in America

Skills

  • Interpreting primary sources and critically analyzing secondary sources
  • Merging thesis, factors, and evidence into narratives and editing prose for clarity

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
HISTORY/INTLST 375 · Spring 2027

The Cold War - From World War II to End of Soviet Empire

Recorded 2026-10-14
HISTORY/INTLST 375 · Spring 2027

The Cold War - From World War II to End of Soviet Empire

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:448:026062",
    "course_id": "HISTORY/INTLST 375",
    "course_uid": "course_7731516560e86212e441c5a8",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "026062",
    "source_subject_id": "448",
    "title": "The Cold War - From World War II to End of Soviet Empire",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:504:026062",
    "course_id": "HISTORY/INTLST 375",
    "course_uid": "course_7731516560e86212e441c5a8",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "026062",
    "source_subject_id": "504",
    "title": "The Cold War - From World War II to End of Soviet Empire",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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No records available.

Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "10ba545be74967bb92c3e42837f3ed16c8e8f8c0b1132fd2a206266182948b4a",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}