The History of the Twentieth Century

A review of what lessons we can take away from the war, with an emphasis on what lessons were not learned, to the grief of many.

Russia's Second Pacific Squadron finally reaches the western Pacific, and meets a catastrophic end. US President Theodore Roosevelt brokers a peace agreement between Japan and Russia.

The Japanese fund dissenters in  Russia. A peaceful protest in St. Petersburg becomes "Bloody Sunday." Admiral Rozhdestvensky struggles against the odds to bring his fleet into the Pacific, and the Japanese win the Battle of Mukden, possibly the largest battle in world history, until this time.

Japanese forces move north and oust Kuropatkin and his armies from Liaoyang. Port Arthur falls after a six-month siege and a bloody assault on 203 Hill.

The Japanese First Army defeats the Russians at the Battle of the Yalu River and advances from Korea into Russian-occupied Manchuria. The Japanese Second Army lands on the Liaodong Peninsula and advances north, while the Japanese Third Army moves south to begin the Siege of Port Arthur. Russian commanders quarrel among themselves. The small Russian Vladivostok Squadron proves surprisingly troubles...

Russia has 100,000 soldiers in Manchuria, and is pressuring Japan's interests in Korea. When diplomacy fails, Japan launches as surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Squadron at Port Arthur (Liushunkou).

Europe has managed to keep the peace (more or less) for some 85 years now. Remarkably, she has done that with no formal peacekeeping structure; just a willingness among the great powers to come to the negotiating table when necessary. But how long can that last?

There has not been a general war in Europe since Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. But military technology has grown frighteningly effective. Is war now obsolete? Is it time to find other ways of resolving differences, or else perish?

A look at Russia during the late 19th century, during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, with a special emphasis on the coming of age of the crown prince and his wedding to Alexandra.

Slavic people occupy half the land area of Europe, and Slav nationalism is going to be a driving force in the history of the 20th century. This episode explains the history of the Slavs, with a special emphasis on the most important Slav nation: Russia.

The 1904 World's Fair helped define America in the 20th century.

Pablo Picasso begins his career in Paris, the city of the 1900 Exposition and Olympic Games. Turmoil in Morocco gives the French an opportunity to move in, but first they need to come to an understanding with the British.

Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley expounds on international courts, and argues that what we really need is an international police force.

Roosevelt tours America and runs for re-election. Ugly racial violence erupts in the South. An American citizen is kidnapped in Morocco, and somebody thought, "This would make a great movie."

The remarkable unification of Italy in the nineteenth century was complete, but the problem of uniting these disparate peoples of the peninsula, who over the course of centuries had grown accustomed to thinking of themselves as different nationalities, into one nation.

 La nascita della Italia moderna.

We return to the USA to take a look at some more issues facing President Roosevelt. Possible war crimes in the Philippines. Cuban independence. The Colombia Panama Canal. A major coal strike. And, most important, Roosevelt's prospects in the 1904 election.

After securing international recognition of his claim to the Congo, King Leopold sets to work to extract as much wealth as he can from the Congo in the most brutal ways imaginable. He is eventually exposed, but walks away a billionaire.

King Leopold II of Belgium, having decided his ambitions are far greater than the "small nation of small people" he reigns over, sets out to swindle for himself a colony in Africa.

As working class conditions seem to be getting worse instead of better, a new political movement emerges, advocating intervention on behalf of the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised.

Theodore Roosevelt becomes President and at once begins turning everything upside down. Scott Joplin writes an opera about it.

Theodore Roosevelt becomes a war hero, and Vice President of the United States. An anarchist assassin takes the life of the President, William McKinley.

Reinforcements from the Western nations turn the tide in the fight against the Boxers. But will they get to Beijing in time?

A grassroots uprising against foreigners develops in China in 1900, a result of outrage over Chinese territorial concessions and foreign missionary activity.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a fault line develops in Protestantism, especially in the USA, over the role of ancient Scriptures in a modern church.