Explaining History

Why did Stalin and Hitler, mortal enemies, sign a non aggression pact in 1939 on the eve of the Second World War? This podcast explores the origins and the consequences of the pact. If you'd like to know more you can check out my ebook Hitler, Stalin and the Destruction of Poland: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitler-Stalin-Destruction-Poland-Shepley-ebook/dp/B00E0KVDFW Explaining History helps you unde...

In 1921 Britain, America and Japan were among ten powers that met in Washington DC for the world's first ever disarmament conference. The declining power of the British and the rising confidence of Japan in Asia created the conditions for possible future conflict and all three nations positioned themselves to safeguard their interests. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century throu...

In 1956 Britain suffered her greatest post war humiliation with following Colonel Nasser's decision to nationalise the Suez Canal and reclaim it from Britain and France for Egypt. This videocast explores the long term reasons behind this and the foreign policy disaster that cost Anthony Eden his Prime Ministership.(Note: this first appeared on the Explaining History YouTube Channel) Explaining His...

Throughout the 19th Century Britain felt constantly threatened by and suspicious of Russia. Russian expansionism in the Balkans threatened Britain's ability to access the routes to her Indian Empire and the British were committed to supporting the weakening Ottoman Empire against Russian expansionism. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and exper...

Between 1924 and 1929 Germany's economy and politics seemed to stabilise and recover from the violence, unrest and revolution of the previous four years. A vibrant avante garde culture flourished in Berlin, and the fortunes of the Nazi Party and the Communists slumped as Germans enjoyed prosperity. The recovery proved to be an illusion and politics once again polarised to the extremes of left and...

In 1932 Oswald Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists, basing his new party firstly on Italian Fascism and later German Nazism. Within four years the movement had been broken, partly by anti fascist activism but mainly because it was rejected by the British public, fearful of its association with Nazism. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations a...

There are few economists in the 20th Century who have had the effect on politics and economics in the western world that Friedrich Hayek achieved. His central thesis on the size of the state and the threat of dictatorship influenced politicians from the 190s onwards and has shaped the world we inhabit today. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations an...

Between 1918 and 1921 the Russian Civil War claimed 14 million civilian and military lives. The conflict between the new Bolshevik government and the White counter revolutionaries also saw the fragmentation of the empire, famine and the intervention of Britain, France, America and Japan. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews....

How did Lenin manage to assert his control over Russia in the aftermath of the October Revolution? The new Bolshevik Government used hunger and terror to force widespread social and political change within the country, targeting the old bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. This podcast explores the Red Terror, the establishment of the Checka and policy of War Communism. For more help, follow these lin...

In March 1917 a provisional government established itself in Russia in the aftermath of the downfall of the Tsar. By October 1917 it had been swept away and Lenin's Bolshevik Party replaced it. The crises of 1917 and the challenge of sharing power with the Petrograd Soviet overwhelmed the government before they could establish a democratic elected regime. Explaining History helps you understand th...

In early 1943 the tide of the Second World War was turning in favour of the allies, following victories in North Africa. At Casablanca the British and the Americans met to discuss their two conflicting views of the future conduct of the war. The British approach triumphed, giving Churchill's strategy the upper hand but it was the beginning of the end of Britain's wartime influence. New Ebook title...

In 1945 France returned to its former colony in Indochina, determined to re-assert control after humiliation by Japan. The nationalist Vietminh were determined to fight for their independence and nine years later inflicted a catastrophic defeat on France at the long battle of Dien Bien Phu. How was France brought to her knees in Indochina and what were the consequences for France? Explaining Histo...

in 1956 Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev spoke for the first time the 20th Party Congress about the crimes of his predecessor Joseph Stalin. His speech shocked those gathered and had profound consequences for the future of the Soviet regime, this podcast explores why. You can read more about this in our three ebooks on the Soviet Regime and communism: The Communist Century: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Th...

By the end of the First World War Herbert Hoover was a national hero in America for his humanitarian work. A decade later he was engulfed in an economic catastrophe following the Wall Street Crash that would claim his career and reputation. This podcast explores the contradictions and paradoxes of Hoover's character and life. Check out the Explaining History ebook on Hoover and the crash here:http...

By the early 1970s a perfect storm of inflation and mounting industrial unrest brought the government of Edward Heath to its knees. His plans to introduce free market economics and politics to Britain were abandoned and he was outmanoeuvred by the National Union of Mineworkers, resulting in the 1974 three day week. This podcast explores the crises that beset Heath and their origins in the Wilson y...

From the 1840s onwards China endured over half a century of an unprecedented onslaught from Britain and other western powers. She was defeated, humiliated and forced to sign treaties that drained her of her wealth, Japan quickly reformed her economy and military to prevent the same process from occurring. This podcast explores the relationship between the west's 'Scramble For China' and the downfa...

Why did West Germany suffer a decade of terrorism from 1967-77? During the height of Vietnam War protests, a generation of radical West German students saw a relationship between the West German Government's support for America's war and their own unresolved Nazi past. Their decision to wage an urban war against what they saw as a barely concealed Nazism would culminate in the bloody summer of 197...

In 1933 Hitler established a state run mass leisure organisation in Germany to help develop his vision of a socially unified, racially homogenous society. The extent to which it was successful has been an area of debate by historians of Nazi Germany and is explored in this podcast. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We con...

Between 1936 and 1938 nearly 2,000 British men and women travelled in secret to Spain to fight on the side of the Spanish Republic against a nationalist military rebellion. Motivated by fears of a fascist Europe and by the intervention on Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on the side of the rebels, the men and women of the international brigade suffered appalling hardship and losses in an ultimately...

When the Italian Socialist Giacomo Matteotti was assassinated in 1924, parts of the nation were united in outrage, strongly suspecting that their Prime Minister Mussolini was behind the killing. How did Mussolini manage to turn the situation to his advantage and emerge as the dictator of Italy a year later? Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and...

Why did the British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour give an assurance to Britain's Zionists that there would be a Jewish homeland in Palestine in 1917? This podcast gives a brief outline of the politics of the Balfour Declaration and Britain's deals with the Arabs, French and Jews. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We co...

How did Benito Mussolini manage to be appointed Prime Minister in 1922? This podcast explores the details of his rise to power from relative obscurity and his March on Rome. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support the Show & Get...

What are the origins of Italian Fascism? In order to understand Fascism as a concept we have to delve into the 19th Century history of the country. The manner in which Italy was unified as a nation state led to a fundamentally divided country that was chaotic and unstable - an authoritarian idea like Fascism seemed to many on the right to be the solution to Italy's weaknesses. Explaining History h...

A general overview of the development of the trade union movement from the 1830s to the eve of the First World War. What factors led to the radicalisation of the movement and how did the two main parties, Liberal and Tory adapt to the 'threat' of mass democracy and the working class vote? Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews....

How did the fall of France, the invasion of the Soviet Union and Pearl Harbour have bearing on the fate of Vietnam? This podcast explores not only the actions of the great powers towards Vietnam during the Second World War, but also the actions of the Vietnamese themselves and their resistance to both French and Japanese occupation. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through...