The Battle of the Atlantic was a key conflict during World War II, lasting from 1939 to 1945. It was a struggle for control of the Atlantic Ocean between the Allied powers (primarily the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada) and the Axis powers (led by Germany).
Category Archives: 20th Century Britain
Talking about JB Priestley
Hi there everyone, I had the great pleasure to be interviewed on the East Marshian Chronicles podcast recently about the writer JB Priestley and the historical context of his work. You can hear the show here: https://eastmarshianchronicles.buzzsprout.com/1764181/9442034-historian-nick-shepley-on-the-background-and-context-of-an-inspector-calls
Brexit’s Leninists
Reading Everyday Stalinism by Sheila Fitzpatrick (one of my favourite social histories of the USSR, as regular listeners will know), one thing becomes abundantly clear about the Soviet view of time and history itself. The historical and social state that the party would describe as communism was always something to be eventually reached and neverContinue reading “Brexit’s Leninists”
Neville Chamberlain’s world view, 1937
British Prime Ministers in the 1920s and 1930s inherited a world created for them by David Lloyd George between 1919 and 1923, and were unable to cope with its challenges, complexities and risks. In the case of Stanley Baldwin, who ruled for most of the period as leader of a Conservative or National Government, theContinue reading “Neville Chamberlain’s world view, 1937”
The intellectual origins of Neoliberalism
This article was originally posted on the Explaining History Patreon in April. Neoliberalism is a term so over used as it is fast approaching redundancy. Marxists like David Harvey see it as a tool for class retrenchment and the erasing of the modest social democratic gains seen during the post war era in much ofContinue reading “The intellectual origins of Neoliberalism”
Great British Disasters
I originally posted this article on an older blog, but as Britain rarely learns from its crises, it’s pretty much evergreen: In a way, Britain has had but once crisis since the end of the Second World War, it has emerged in different guises at different times, but it has essentially been the same problem.Continue reading “Great British Disasters”
This Week’s Podcasts
Hi everyone, as I might have mentioned on the podcast, I’ve now got the time and the long covid recovery to start blogging again. Here’s a rundown of everything I’ve podcasted this week: Poverty, Caste and recruitment to the Indian Army during the Second World War: https://play.acast.com/s/explaininghistory/poverty-casteandrecruitmenttotheindianarmyduringworldwartwo France, Britain and the Road to Suez 1952-56:Continue reading “This Week’s Podcasts”
John Lennon and Give Peace a Chance
British song writers in the 1960s rarely ventured into the realm of politics and protest, unlike their American counterparts. The Who’s My Generation had little to say about politics and was simply a statement about the aspirations and interests of the baby boomers. John Lennon had gravitated towards politics from 1968’s Revolution onwards and inContinue reading “John Lennon and Give Peace a Chance”
Explaining History Podcast 