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The First World War had pushed British rule in India close to collapse and had arguably made home rule or dominion status only a matter of time. During the Second World War the Quit India campaign manifested itself as open rebellion against Britain and the subsequent famine in Bengal discredited Churchill’s wartime government in the eyes of much of the population. By 1945 the pressures that Japan’s war against Britain’s Asian Empire had placed on the colonial rulers had made the end of empire an inevitability. Not only had the British failed to show their martial prowess against Japan, but…
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In 1945, after the devastation of a long war across Asia, Britain’s hold over her Indian empire was greatly weakened. The new Labour Government was notionally committed to Indian independence, but it was the inability of Britain to continue ruling and the development of India as a powerful new military force in the region that made independence an inevitability. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to t
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Following the death of US president Franklin Roosevelt, his successor, Harry Truman entered the Oval Office in the last days of World War Two. The inexperienced and untested president charted a new course in US diplomacy, ending his predecessor’s accommodation of Soviet demands. One of the key moments in the development of the Cold War began in April 1945 with Truman’s presidency. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We co
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During the Second World War, Subhas Chandra Bose courted Soviet, Nazi and Imperial Japanese leaders in order to build an army to force the British out of India. He died in a plane crash in Taiwan in 1945 but was seen by many in India as a freedom fighter and a hero. 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 C
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In 1974 the government of Edward Heath was defeated in an election called to give Heath a mandate against the trade unions. His nemesis was the miners union organiser Arthur Scargill. In 1984 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inflicted a crushing defeat on the union movement, a victory long in the planning by the Conservative Government. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy t
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In August 1945 two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan ending the Second World War in Asia. However the bombs did not end conflict across the region, instead they ended Japan’s involvement as an imperial power. Fighting continued in Asia throughout the next three decades as the new fault lines of the cold war emerged and European powers sought to regain control of their colonies. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We conn
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At the end of the Second World War, the USA was the wealthiest society in history and experienced an economic boom that was to last for nearly three decades. This boom had a profound transformational effect on American society and was the dawning of the USA that dominated the world in the second half of the 20th Century. 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
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During the chaos of the First World War a generation of British and American correspondents in Russia astutely predicted the failure of the Provisional Government and came to see the Bolsheviks as a viable alternative. Some, like Arthur Ransome and John Reed went further and became passionate advocates for the new regime led by Vladimir Lenin. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you
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Throughout the 20th Century Romania has endured the twin catastrophes of fascism and communism. During the Second World War Romania was deeply involved in the holocaust and the development of an aggressive nationalism that remained undiminished throughout the communist era was chiefly to blame. 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.▸ Suppo
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Margaret Thatcher was a politician convinced that a return to ‘family values’ after two decades of seeming moral decline in the 60s and 70s was part of the key to restoring British fortunes. Throughout the 1980s, however, this manifested itself in a prolonged attack on gay rights, during a time when the existence of the HIV virus and AIDS was associated in the press with the LGBT community. During the 1980s however, Conservative policies led to a politicisation of the gay community and the quest