Peace In Their Time

I wrap up the intro to Ethiopia this week by covering the key points of Menelik's successful reign, and the rise to power of Ras Tafari Makonnen. Who before this episode is finished will have established himself under his much more famous royal name of Haile Selassie. His reign would see forceful attempts at modernization, which was carried out against a ticking clock, as there always seemed to be...

Today marks the start of another new miniseries, this time cover the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. But before I get going on the main topic, I'm going to be spending the next two episodes introducing modern Ethiopia. If you missed the overview histories from last season, you're in luck as this is a crash course how the country unified and survived the scramble for Africa.    Bibliography for this...

Given all the misfortune to have befallen the Roosevelt administration going into the 1934 mid-terms, you'd probably think FDR and the Democrats were going to pay a political price. Well, turns out their opposition wasn't exactly the most effectual. Or in the case of Huey Long it was complicated by actually being a Democrat at the time. Anyway, today I'm looking at the early opposition figures to...

One of the big criticisms of the New Deal, and one of the most valid, was the fact that it didn't do much of anything to try and tackle the plight of African-Americans. Sure, the relief efforts and public works projects were mostly made available to all Americans. But these efforts didn't reckon with the institutional discrimination of the country, nor the fact that they had toiled as second-class...

Organized labor might as well have been pronounced dead during the 1920s, and the Depression didn't seem like it'd be a big help in rejuvenating it. But thanks to a dramatic policy change from the Roosevelt administration, unions got a new lease on life. This would of course be challenged by the owner class, and the first couple years of worker resurgence would be met with physical force.    Bibli...

By 1933 the bright golden haze on America's meadows had been dimmed down to a featureless beige. Twelve years of bad times, which included four years of outright Depression, had wrecked the nation's farms. It would take unprecedented levels of intervention and organization to bring the truly lean years to a conclusion, and the collateral damage would be severe.    Bibliography for this episode:   ...

Possibly the most defining programs of the New Deal were the public works projects that created well-paying jobs for millions of Americans in the depths of the Depression. This shouldn't be a surprise, much of the nation's most iconic infrastructure, still in use in many cases to the modern day, was built through these programs. But they were not without controversy as today I'll be covering today...

The great economic straight-jacket of the 1920s and 30s was the Gold Standard, which created a global system that seemingly locked everybody into a stable system. I've talked about that enough already, so today I'm talking about how the Roosevelt administration began distancing itself from the old ways. Bibliography for this episode:    Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in D...

The narrative of the New Deal really kicks off here, as I discuss the work of the National Recovery Administration. Okay, that's not totally accurate. I'm mostly talking about the public antics of its boss, former brigadier general Hugh Johnson. Who will easily win the award for most self-destructive character in this mini-series.    Bibliography for this episode:    Kennedy, David M. Freedom From...

Wherein the special session of Congress of 1933 concludes, and I can stop making blurbs about bills and government agencies.    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 Age of Roosevelt V...

The reforms in Washington, DC keep coming and this week we tackle public relief, housing, and farm management.    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 Age of Roosevelt Volume II: The...

Probably the most consequential legislative session in United States history was the special session of Congress that was summoned for the first 100 days of the FDR administration. Today, and for the next two episodes after, I'll be breaking down the major pieces of legislation that constituted the New Deal's first round. Both what they were and what they hoped to accomplish in the face of the Gre...

Getting back onto the chronological history of the United States, I take a look at the lame-duck period leading up to FDR's swearing-in. Unlike other lame-duck periods, things actually happened during this one. The economy entered a last freefall that might have spelled the end of the nation, the population sunk into despair, and Hoover tried to sabotage the incoming administration. But it didn't...

FDR takes the national stage with his appointment to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he's off to the races. No, that's not a crack on his bout with polio, although I finally get around to covering that today. Even with health and marital setbacks, FDR never lost sight of the high office he coveted, which carried him through to the triumph of 1932.    Bibliography for this episode:    Smith, J...

The time has finally come to return to the United States and kickoff the history of the New Deal. But what would the New Deal be without the blue-blooded president with the gumption to defy convention? Today starts a quick two-parter covering the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt up to his election to the presidency in 1932.    Bibliography for this episode:    Smith, Jean Edward FDR Random House...

To close out this miniseries on the First Five-Year Plan I'm covering Soviet diplomacy during the early 30s. The Great Depression came at a good time for the USSR and covered up much of its weakness during the dislocations of the period, but there was still threats that needed addressing.    Haslam, Jonathan Soviet Foreign Policy 1930-33: The Impact of the Depression Macmillan Press Ltd 1983 Kotki...

Life in the Soviet cities might not have wracked up the fatality count during the early 1930s that the countryside did, but it had its share of suffering all the same. Food shortages, goods shortages, black markets, all became painful facts of life that urban Soviets acclimated to.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fitzpatrick, Sheila Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: So...

Turning more towards the culture of the Soviet Union during the early 30s, I take a look at the Cultural Revolution carried in the USSR from 1928-1931. It was a brief, but critical event that brought the most active and passionate in the Party into Stalin's camp. Which in turn gave him the foot soldiers necessary to bring the bureaucracy and intelligentsia into line.   Bibliography for this episod...

Taking a break from the thrilling world of statistics, today I zero in on the crown jewel of Soviet industrial expansion, the construction of the industrial city of Magnitogorsk. From an empty steppe there was built an entire city with the purpose of cranking out the steel and iron that would help fuel Soviet industry. It was no small task, and the eventual success of the project stands as a testa...

If collectivization was the great failure of the 1st Five-Year-Plan, then rapid industrialization was its great success. But don't worry, there was still enough mayhem during those days to make the story of building factories an interesting one.    Bibliography for this episode:    Allen, Robert C. Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution Princeton University Press 2...

To wrap up this look at collectivization in the USSR, I focus in on the famine years of 1932-33. Why it happened, how it affected people, how the state responded. Really kind of hard to describe the scale of it, although I give it a shot.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fitzpatrick, Sheila Stalin's Peasants: Resistance & Survival in the Russian Village After Collectivization Oxford Univer...

The first year of collectivization was a wild time, even before the massive famine of 1932-33. The world of the peasantry was turned upside down, and modes of life that had predominated for generations were changed forever. And a bunch of people got deported and a band of Communist faithful showed up to lend a hand.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fitzpatrick, Sheila Stalin's Peasants: Resist...

The massive swing towards collectivized agriculture during the 1930s was one of the Soviet Union's most defining moments. Where the state had been previously weak in the countryside, the movement of the peasants onto the collective farms (the kolkhoz) changed that for the rest of the USSR's history. It also created dislocations and conflicts that will be at the heart of the next few weeks' worth o...

The commencement of the 1st Five Year Plan in the USSR signaled quite a break from state policy as it was in the 20s. And by that, I mean kicking the NEP to the curb. This shift caused no small debate within the Soviet hierarchy, and Stalin would use the divisions as a wedge against his enemies.    Bibliography for this episode:    Allen, Robert C. Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet...

New miniseries! Today I begin covering the First Five Year Plan, the mother of all five year plans. You might have heard about them in places other than the USSR, you might even have one of your own. But there isn't anything like this one. I break down why the Plan was so central to Soviet history, as well as take time to introduce the supporting players on Stalin's team that were integral to actu...