Podcast Episodes

Britain and conscription 1945-49

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Britain's wartime policy of national service continued as a result of Britain's acute need for military manpower around the world. This podcast exp…

Published on 7 years ago

Utopian thinking and everyday life in Stalin's Russia

Despite the hunger, hardship and terror, a generation of young Soviet citizens were committed to a bright vision of the future where technology conquered nature and a modern socialist society emerged…

Published on 7 years ago

The Battle of Vittorio Venetto - October 1918

Italy's final offensive of the First World War and the only outright victory the Italian army gained, as fought with French and British help but begun after Austria Hungary had called for an armistic…

Published on 7 years ago

Mao, Stalin and Khrushchev: 1949-57

When Stalin died, Mao felt entitled to lead the world communist movement and looked upon Khrushchev as an insignificant upstart. However, Soviet attitudes towards China only brought about greater res…

Published on 7 years ago

The Nazi Party and Germany's working class 1933

In 1933 the Nazi Party came to power and encountered a once powerful workers movement that was now deeply weakened and which hoped for compromise. Hitler was determined to destroy the trade unions wh…

Published on 7 years, 1 month ago

The Armenian Legionnaires 1914-21

Review of Susan Paul Pattie's Armenian Legionnaires, published by IB Tauris.

Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect …

Published on 7 years, 1 month ago

Oswald Mosley and post war British fascism 1945-66

In the aftermath of the Second World War, British fascist Oswald Mosley, free from internment, attempted to revive his political career. In the 1950s he used non white immigration to re-build a polit…

Published on 7 years, 1 month ago

Amateurism, incompetence and the Bolshevik seizure of power

In the immediate aftermath of the October Revolution, there was a power vacuum in Petrograd that the Bolsheviks seemed to fill in name only. The new Bolshevik government had the loosest grasp on powe…

Published on 7 years, 2 months ago

American society and foreign policy 1945-47

In 1945 there was every chance that America might retreat into isolationism once more. The US population sought to avoid overseas commitments, but the American foreign policy establishment recognised…

Published on 7 years, 2 months ago

Stalinism and the black market 1928-39

The shortages of the command economy and the failings of Stalinism made speculation, theft and the black market an essential part of everyday life in the Soviet Union

Explaining History helps you und…

Published on 7 years, 2 months ago