Podcast Episodes

David Ben Gurion and Palestine 1945-48

The rising star of the Zionist movement by the end of the Second World War, Ben Gurion was a mercurial figure with complex and often antagonistic relationships with Chaim Weizmann and Menachem Begin.…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

World War One and the creation of the Mandate system

During and immediately after the First World War, a range of plans were devised to distribute and manage German and Ottoman colonies and the process became led by American priorities and values.

Expl…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

The Battle of Britain Part Two

Despite Herman Goering's estimates that the RAF would be defeated in under a month, a long battle of attrition raged throughout August and September 1940, resulting in unsustainable losses for the Lu…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

Black Americans and Civil Rights in 1945

The Second World War had a dramatic impact on the civil rights struggle, but as a new era in the battle for equality and justice for Black Americans dawned, deep prejudices and entrenched inequality …

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

The overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Ottoman Empire 1909

In the space of a year the Ottoman Empire was convulsed by two revolutions and a violent civil war between secular modernisers and Islamic traditionalists. The struggle resulted in the overthrow of t…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

Rethinking Stalin's Gulags

Some fresh perspectives on Stalin's labour camps, revising Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archepelago

Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert intervie…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

Operation Sealion and the Battle of Britain Part One

Following the devastating defeat of France, Hitler turned his eyes to Britain, the last obstacle in his conquest of the west. Poor planning and a failure to understand Britain's strengths contributed…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

Adenauer, Schumacher and West German De-Nazification: 1949

Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of West Germany attempted to suppress the memory of the Holocaust in the new republic. His political opponent, Kurt Schumacher of the SPD was determined to bring…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

The Young Turk Revolt 1908

After decades of decline and gradual European encroachment into the Ottoman Empire, disaffected and angry army officers staged a revolt in 1908, forcing the Sultan Abdulhamid II to accept the reinsta…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago

Sacco and Vanzetti Part Two

The second part of the discussion on Sacco and Vanzetti, based on Eric Foner's 1977 essay 'The Men and the Symbols'

Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversat…

Published on 8 years, 4 months ago