Peace In Their Time

Technically this is the start of the miniseries covering the first couple years of the Second Sino-Japanese War. But before I properly get going with that, I am going to cover the militaries of the war. And today I am starting with the Imperial Japanese Navy, the IJN. This formidable force wasn't built in a day, so I'm taking an episode to talk about its doctrine and the guiding principles it oper...

It took almost two years of judicial attacks and the confidence inspired by the 1936 electoral landslide for FDR to summon the gumption to go after the Supreme Court. Second term misfortune struck quickly though, and the battle left its mark on the president.    Bibliography for this episode:    Simon, James F. FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Ove...

In 1935 the Roosevelt administration came up against the most effective opposition faced yet, which would setup a showdown between the United States' executive and judiciary. Today I introduce the US Supreme Court and the devastating day that set the stage for that confrontation.    Bibliography for this episode:    Simon, James F. FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, an...

By 1935 the material conditions of the average America were still unacceptably low and millions had no hope of private employment. Help was on the way though, and FDR would spare no expense in making the new Works Progress Administration a success.    Bibliography for this episode:    Taylor, Nick American Made, The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work Bantam Books 2008 Kenn...

The next round of advancing worker power during the New Deal saw organized labor's allies in Congress successfully secure their right to organize. And a massive split in the labor movement would set the stage for a quick to materialize test of those new rights.    Bibliography for this episode:    Dray, Philip There is Power in Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America Anchor Books 2010 Kennedy, D...

FDR didn't call it the cornerstone for nothing.    Bibliography for this episode:    Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999 Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Coming of the New Deal 1933-1935: The Age of Roosevelt Volume II First Mariner Books 2003 Schle...

Today is the start of the New Deal's second chapter, and I cover the lay of the land before getting in deep with some of the era's greatest reforms.    Bibliography for this episode:    Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999 Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M...

The saga finally concludes and the Second Spanish Republic is destroyed. Its demise started with an army coup and it ended with one too.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War M...

The fall of Catalonia wasn't much of a fight, and its loss set off a scramble to try and set the terms for the winding down of the war.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Mo...

I'm entering the endgame of the SCW, and today I cover the last Republican offensive, the Battle of the Ebro. Fun bonus are the half-hearted machinations going on behind the scenes to try and negotiate a peace. If my voice sounds weird today I'm recovering from a pretty dire illness so hopefully it doesn't sound too terrible!   Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republi...

I conclude my coverage on the violent quest for internal order in the two zones of Spain.   Bibliography for this episode:    Seidman, Michael The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War University of Wisconsin Press 2011 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Preston, Paul Architects of Terror: Paranoia, C...

Madrid was a busy place in the fall of 1936, and you can bet the action happening on the front was matched by events unfolding in the city itself.    Seidman, Michael The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War University of Wisconsin Press 2011 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Preston, Paul Architect...

No civil war would be complete without purges and oppression going on behind the frontlines, and this one was no exception.   Bibliography for this episode:    Seidman, Michael The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War University of Wisconsin Press 2011 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Preston, Paul...

Wherein I try and contextualize the conflict from the viewpoint of the Anarchists.    Bibliography for this episode:    Evans, Danny Revolution and the State: Anarchism in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 AK Press 2020 Guillamon, Agustin Ready for Revolution: The CNT Defense Committees in Barcelona 1933-38 AK Press 2014 Guillamon, Agustin Insurrection: The Bloody Events of May 1937 in Barcelona AK...

Against the backdrop of military defeat, the misadventures of the Spanish Republic's government roll on.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001 Beevor, Anton...

The Republican zone behind the frontlines of the civil war was a hot mess, and nowhere was it hotter or messier than Catalonia. As it turns out the Leftist joke "Anarchists and Communists can be friends until the Revolution" isn't actually a joke.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The...

Starting a long break from the battlefield, today I am covering political jockeying and the social/economic conditions faced in the zone of Spain controlled by the Nationalists.    Bibliography for this episode:    Seidman, Michael The Victorious Counterrevolution: The Nationalist Effort in the Spanish Civil War University of Wisconsin Press 2011 Payne, Stanley G. Fascism in Spain 1923-1977 Univer...

Busy episode today as in the first part I cover the blizzard battle of Teruel, in the second the lopsided Aragon Offensive, with updates at sea and in the air in between.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Th...

With Bilbao fallen and the Basques effectively knocked out of the war, the Republic was desperate to stall the final collapse of their enclave on the northern coast of Spain. Two large offensives were launched with the intent of drawing Franco's attentions south, but their failures only minimally delayed the final result for their isolated comrades.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Ga...

Madrid may have been a bust, but Franco still had the initiative. Looking around on where to strike next, he settled on the Republican-held coastal strip along the northern coast. While this was indeed where the anti-Fascist forces were weakest, the combination of terrain and determined fighters would turn the campaign into a months-long affair taking up the bulk of 1937.    Bibliography for this...

Picking back up with the course of the fighting, the Italians enter the fray in force in both the south and north of Spain. Franco also tries again to make a play on Madrid, to about the same results as before.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revoluti...

The aftermath of the Battle of Madrid left both sides of the war realizing that the conflict was going to be a long and grinding one, and so each began scrambling to consolidate their positions and expand their armies.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction,...

The big showdown in the Spanish capital got underway in early November 1936 and lasted until just after the new year. While the Nationalists would hurl their forces in the fray time and time again, the resolution of the defenders in forcing them back would shock the world. And maybe even themselves a little bit.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civ...

The Nationalist assault Madrid begins.    Bibliography for this episode:    Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39 Princeton University Press 1965 Preston, Paul The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge Harper Perennial 2006 Thomas, Hugh The Spanish Civil War Modern Library 2001 Beevor, Antony The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 Penguin Bo...

The SCW was from word go an international affair, although the help rendered was not even on the two sides. Today I take a look at how material aid for both factions materialized.    Bibliography for this episode:  Preston, Paul A People Betrayed: A History of Corruption, Political Incompetence, and Social Division in Modern Spain 1874-2018 William Collins 2020 Jackson, Gabriel The Spanish Republi...