Podcast Episodes

Britain's early victories in the desert war 1940-41

Despite being vastly outnumbered in Egypt, a small British Empire force inflicted devastating losses on a vast Italian Army. Mussolini's poorly led and poorly motivated troops were swiftly defeated b…

Published on 8 years, 2 months ago

The rights of American Women 1945-55

In the immediate aftermath of World War Two, women left war industries in huge numbers and some entered the domestic sphere. However the view that women existed in the 'comfortable concentration camp…

Published on 8 years, 2 months ago

The Politics of Stalinism Part One

This podcast is the first of several that explore the inner workings of the Soviet State and the Communist Party under Stalin after 1928.

Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century thro…

Published on 8 years, 2 months ago

Booker T Washington and the Jim Crow Era

Between 1890 and 1915 the eradication of political, social and economic gains that black Americans had achieved after the Civil War in the Reconstruction era occurred across the southern states. The …

Published on 8 years, 2 months ago

Hitler's personality and German Government

After fifteen years of 'struggle' Hitler brought to orderly German Government the politics of the demagogue and the populist, and retreated from the bureaucratic business of government. His actions w…

Published on 8 years, 2 months ago

Bolshevik Russia and the Paris Peacemakers - 1919

While revolution and civil war tore the former Russian Empire apart, the British, French and American leaders at the Paris Peace Conference were unsure as to how to deal with Russia and what part it …

Published on 8 years, 2 months ago

The Italo Turkish War

In 1911 Italy launched an opportunist war against the Ottoman Empire for control of Libya. Despite the huge costs and the unexpected guerrilla war that Italian troops found themselves fighting agains…

Published on 8 years, 2 months ago

America, USSR, Britain and the development of the atomic bomb

The wartime Manhattan project resulted in unforseen diplomatic tensions between the three powers and gave America unprecedented power which President Truman was reluctant to use and uncertain how to …

Published on 8 years, 3 months ago

American and British Volunteers at the Battle of Jarama, 1937

Poorly equipped and with virtually no training, the American and British volunteers in the International Brigades, along with French, German, Belgian, Polish and other groups of anti fascists sustain…

Published on 8 years, 3 months ago

Hitler and the creation of the 'Fuhrer State'

The insertion of a highly personalised dictatorship into Germany's previously highly functional bureaucratic state and the gradual erosion of barriers between Fuhrer, state and party led to the growt…

Published on 8 years, 3 months ago