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Abandoned children in Stalin's Russia 1928-39
The rapid industrialisation of the USSR, poor housing, poverty and family breakdown led to countless children being abandoned to fend for themselves by uncaring and cruel parents and step parents. Th…
Published on 5 years, 5 months ago
France's road to Dien Bien Phu 1954
As French power and influence declined in Vietnam from 1953 onwards, the conflict started to become a proxy for the wider cold war and not simply an anti colonial struggle. The enormous French miscal…
Published on 5 years, 5 months ago
French political crisis and the First Indochinese War 1951-54
Despair and defeatism defined the French political class's response to the worsening situation in Vietnam following the French defeat at Cao Bang in 1950. This lack of hope led to a gradual decline i…
Published on 5 years, 6 months ago
Hunting Evil: Nazi War Criminals in South America. Explaining History in conversation with historian Guy Walters
In the half decade after the Second World War, a stream of wanted Nazi war criminals, including Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele fled from Germany and escaped via Italy to Argentina and Brazil. They …
Published on 5 years, 6 months ago
German terror bombing and Warsaw 1939
The German airforce was designed to support its army on the battlefield and act as a tool for rapid military operations or 'blitzkrieg'. Unlike British and American air fleets that pursued a policy o…
Published on 5 years, 7 months ago
Britain's Europe Referendum 1975
In 1973 the Conservative Party and the right of the Labour Party voted to join the European Economic Community or 'Common Market' as it was known. Despite opposition on the right and left, the decisi…
Published on 5 years, 7 months ago
French Politics and the war in Indochina 1949-54
By 1950 the French political establishment was in a state of despair about its prospects in Vietnam. The newly reorganised army of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam had inflicted defeats on France i…
Published on 5 years, 7 months ago
Internationalism vs Anti Communism in America: 1945-7
In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the popularity of international, multilateral organisations such as the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions in America was high. Wartime cooperat…
Published on 5 years, 7 months ago
140 Days to Hiroshima Part Two: Explaining History interview with David Dean Barrett
This is the second in our two part interview special with historian David Barrett, whose new book 140 Days to Hiroshima examines the decision making regarding the dropping of the first atomic bomb on…
Published on 5 years, 7 months ago
Ronald Reagan's conservative transition 1954
In the 1930s, Ronald Reagan had been a Roosevelt Democrat supporter and had believed that the role of government in alleviating the crisis of the Great Depression was vital. By the early 1950s, Reaga…
Published on 5 years, 7 months ago