The Y in History

China's territorial disputes exist with several of its neighboring States, but the South China Sea dispute takes them to another level. The US is wary of China's growing assertiveness in the region and this has led to greater US presence and participation in the region. This episode also delves into the East China Sea dispute with Japan and the border dispute with Bhutan.

The Germans were motivated into Space Exploration due to the allure of rocket technology in design and development of ballistic missiles, which ended up being used in WWII. After the defeat of Germany in WWII, a lot of these scientists moved to the US and played a central role in the early development of space launchers for the United States. But the Soviet Union took the world by surprise in Octo...

The G7 group of nations finds itself challenged by China and the BRICS group. The US has aligned with a few nations in the Pacific to form the QUAD, mainly to check China's growing influence in the region and the South China Sea. So, is the world turning multipolar? With the economic impact of the G7 waning, it does appear that the world is turning multipolar. But is there a silver lining to it?

Europe has 4 times more countries per million sq kilometers than Asia and this one of the contributing factors why Europe seems to be always at war. The religious differences and ethnic diversity are other reasons behind Europe's conflicts through history. After World War II, the continent was relatively quiet, but there was a lot of tension within the Soviet Satellite states like East Germany, Hu...

In 1436, Johannes Gutenberg  invented the printing press, setting the stage for a new era in information exchange on a massive scale and kick-starting the era of scientific discovery. The Compass made it possible for sailors to move into deep sea and explore new lands, ultimately boosting international trade. Tune in to this episode to listen to other impactful inventions through history.

In the 1990s, North Korea acquired access to Pakistani centrifuge technology and designs from scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who had directed the militarization of Pakistan's nuclear program. In exchange, Pakistan received North Korean missile technology.  Through his job at URENCO, A.Q Khan methodically stole classified plans for a centrifuge, that would create bomb-grade uranium. In the fall of 19...

On December 31, 1600, Queen Elizabeth I  granted  a charter to a group of London merchants for exclusive overseas trading rights with the East Indies. The new English East India Company was a monopoly in the sense that no other British subjects could legally trade in that territory, but it faced stiff competition from the Spanish and Portuguese, who already had trading outposts in India, and also...

In 1920, Charles Ponzi started the Ponzi scheme which promised a 50% return on investments after 90 days. After a few successful months, his luck ran out as new investments dried and Ponzi came under the radar of investigators.  Victor Lustig conned two buyers and sold a national monument. The two biggest corporate bankruptcies in the United States came about due to Accounting Fraud. The 1MDB moen...

The Dust Bowl in the 1930s caused by extensive soil erosion in the southern plains region of the United States, led to  severe dust storms during a period of extensive drought. For five days in December 1952, the Great Smog of London smothered the city, wreaking havoc and killing thousands. In the early 1950s, the Minamata Bay was the center of the outbreak of the Minamata Disease caused by Mercur...

On May 15, 1967 Egyptian President Nasser ordered his army to march into Sinai Peninsula and then demanded that the United Nations pull its peacekeepers from the peninsula. Then he declared the Straits of Tiran, closed to Israeli shipping.  Subsequently, o n June 5, 1967, the Israel Defense Forces initiated Operation Focus, a coordinated aerial attack on Egypt. After catching the Egyptians by surp...

The trans-Atlantic slave trade was one leg of a three-part system known as the triangular trade. The forming of the triangle began when European ships, carrying firearms and manufactured goods, sailed to Africa, where the commodities were traded for enslaved men, women and children. Next, the same ships transported the human cargo across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.  This horrific journey w...

In December 2001, Afghan delegates convened in Bonn, Germany, by the United Nations selected Hamid Karzai to serve as head of an interim national government, marking the beginning of post-Taliban governance. Nine years later, in late 2010, secret negotiations began between a Taliban representative and some U.S. officials. The talks centered largely on confidence-building measures, specifically the...

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine with the expectation of capture of its capital Kyiv within 3 days and a subsequent change of government in Ukraine. But within a month, the Russian forces were beating a retreat into their comfort zone in Eastern Ukraine, realizing their inability to achieve their primary battle aims. In the East too, the going has been tough. From corruption to poor pla...

Post WWII, Israel hunts and captures the dreaded Nazi Official, Adolph Eichmann in a foreign country and smuggles him out, to bring him to justice in Israel. The CIA conducts the espionage coup of the century by taking over a key crypto provider without its clients having any knowledge. The KGB masterminds the first documented case of cyber espionage.

Coffee was harvested from wild bushes in Ethiopia and transported across the Red Sea to Yemen, starting in the middle of the fifteenth century. Coffee seems to have spread rapidly in the Near East. By the time the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt from the Mamelukes in 1517, coffee-drinking was already widespread in Cairo. The spread of coffee to the rest of the world took place in the seventeenth cen...

The Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 makes China cede Taiwan and the Peng-hu Islands to Japan in perpetuity. Tokyo's first attempt at colonialism is a great success as it establishes order, eradicating disease, building infrastructure, and creating a modern economy. Taiwan soon becomes the most-advanced place in East Asia outside Japan itself. Post WWII, Taiwan is handed over to China, but Chiang Kai...

In October 1950, Mao Tse Tung decides to invade Tibet. In 1953, India finds out that China has built a road in India's Aksai Chin region to connect Mainland China to Tibet. India protests and China suggests that it will withdraw claim on any territory south of the McMahon line in exchange for retaining Aksai Chin. This is rejected and India implements the Forward Policy to push back China. On Octo...

In October of  1 962, President John F. Kennedy was stunned to learn that the Soviet Union was installing nuclear-armed medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba. Though Moscow was trying to balance out the equation between the two Super Powers, JFK was against any Soviet presence in the Western Hemisphere . Through a combination of involving the UN Security Council, to enforcing a...

On June 15, 1215, King John of England signs the Magna Carta declaring the King to be subject to the rule of law and documenting the liberties held by free men.  The Magna Carta lays the  foundation for individual rights enshrined in several Constitutions across the globe, including the US Constitution. The Industrial Revolution creates a new educated Middle Class which further promotes a free soc...

The first bank bailout in history, happened in Rome in 33 A.D. The first medium of exchange was the barter system and this was replaced by Commodity Money. Coins were first minted in Lydia (modern day Turkey) and Chinese were the first to make paper money. Money continued to evolve and the latest disruption has been digital currency, aka Bitcoin.

Around late 18th Century the acceleration in the processes of technical innovation brought about new tools and machines which led to the concept of mass production, thereby triggering an Industrial Revolution. It's impact was profound - from the creation of a new Middle Class to a new set of wealthy industrialists. Capitalism swept the globe and Adam Smith wrote the Wealth of Nations. The wealth g...

In 1978 Deng Xiaoping becomes China's new leader after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. He takes on a pragmatic approach towards reform, opening up SEZs (Special Economic Zones along the Pearl River Delta, overlooking Hong Kong. It's an experiment and will be expanded to other parts of the country, if successful. Hong Kong and Taiwan show interest and invest, triggering the biggest economic turnar...

Igor Gouzenko,  a Soviet cipher clerk stationed at the Soviet Union's Ottawa embassy during the Second World War, defects to the Canadian government with proof that his country had been spying on its wartime allies: Canada, Britain and the United States. This prompts the Gouzenko Affair. His defection is considered the start of the Cold War. In 1946 the United States, working with Britain, deciphe...

In his farewell address, President George Washington warned against political parties, particularly those based on geographic loyalties. However his own Cabinet fostered an intense rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Jeffersonians formed the Democratic-Republican party, while the Hamiltonians formed the Federalist party. The Federalist Party would gradually fade into oblivion...

Tracing the history of the Worldwide Web or the Internet. In 1989. Tim Berners-Lee at CERN, Geneva, comes up with a proposal to get the CERN scientists talk to each other via their computers so they can conduct their experiments remotely. In December of 1990 he sets up the first successful communication between a Web browser and server via the Internet. Initially, the internet is just a medium for...