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Between 1956 and 1957 Mao ZedongMao Zedong mao-zedong The founder and supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. A revolutionary strategist, Marxist theorist, and political poet, he led the Communist Party to victory in the civil war, transformed China through collectivisation and industrialisation, and unleashed the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution with catastrophic consequences. Mao Zedong rose to leadership of the Chinese Communist Party through the Long March and Yan’an years, developing a distinctive theory of revolution adapted to Chinese conditions: emphasis on the peasantry rather than the…
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As the Tsarist empire collapsed and Russia’s new rulers, the Bolsheviks, negotiated with Germany at Brest Litovsk, the most important territory to both powers was Ukraine. The fate of the nation and its wealth of food and mineral resources would decide the outcome of the war for both empires. http://www.mrbsemporium.com Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation…
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In 1936 a British Christian Zionist army officer, Orde Wingate, was posted to the British Mandate in Palestine to help quell the Arab revolt. Wingate’s passionate support for the Jews in Palestine led to him organising a brutal counter insurgency against the Arabs with the Jewish defence organisation the Hagannah, laying down the tactics later employed by the Israeli Defence Force. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content Become…
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The massive increase in government spending, borrowing and currency devaluation that occurred during the First World War by all powers led to a global surge in inflation. This growth in prices had major implications for both the combatant powers and the empires they governed Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸…
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In the second half of the 1970s Americans developed a profound disillusionment with politics and a skepticism towards the office of president. The impact of WatergateWatergate Full Description The political scandal that destroyed the Nixon presidency, beginning with the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in June 1972, ordered by Nixon’s re-election campaign. The subsequent cover-up — which involved obstruction of justice, hush-money payments, and abuse of the CIA and FBI — was exposed through the Washington Post reporting of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and Senate hearings. Nixon resigned on 9 August 1974, the…
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In March 1918 in Britain, Parliament voted to enfranchise property owning women for the first time. This podcast explores the wartime decisions that led to this moment of radical electoral reform. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for…
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Lyndon Johnson had an antagonistic relationship with the Kennedy brothers but was indispensable to John F Kennedy as a political fixer. Following Kennedy’s death he became President of the USA and won a landslide victory a year later. This podcast explores the career, ambitions, struggles and crises of Lyndon Johnson. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation…
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When the Nazis’ occupation of Greece ended and a gradual withdrawal turned into a desperate retreat from the Red Army, a civil war in Greece began. The British occupied Athens in a bid to restore King George II and prevent a communist takeover, but it proved to be one of Churchill’s most controversial initiatives of the war and the beginning of a conflict that would last until 1949. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support…
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Erich Fromm, one of the most overlooked intellectual figures of the 20th Century wrote insightful critiques of consumerist capitalism and explanations of the appeal of Nazism. His work also explored the dilemmas of being human in an increasingly alienating world. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share. ▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go…
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In 1966 after four years of existing at the margins of the Chinese Communist Party following the disasters of the Great Leap ForwardThe Great Leap Forward A catastrophic economic and social campaign led by Mao Zedong prior to the Cultural Revolution. Its massive failure and the resulting famine weakened Mao’s position within the party, providing the primary motivation for him to launch the Cultural Revolution to regain absolute control. The Great Leap Forward was an attempt to rapidly transform China from an agrarian economy into a socialist industrial society through collectivization and the construction of “backyard furnaces” for steel production. It…