-
From the late 1970s onwards China and the USSR were on two very different historical paths and three US presidents, Carter, Reagan and Bush sought to harness the potential of the world’s most populous country as it rapidly became wealthier. China, often cited as having embraced capitalism after Mao, abandoned inward looking autarchy and opened its economy up in the 1980s to foreign trade and investment. In the 1990s and 2000s there would be an explosion of offshoring that has partially created t
-
Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are often overlooked but pivotal figures in recent Chinese history whose role in steering China through its extraordinary economic transformation in the 1990s and 2000s is overshadowed by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. This is the first in a series of podcasts about these two figures and how they created the China now ruled by Xi Jinping.*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author a
-
In a hundred years time will China offshore its manufacturing to poorer countries? Not if it has any sense. Today Trump’s great retreat from the tariff war began in earnest as some cold economic realities have begun to bite, but what is the historical long view here? This episode explores how offshoring and America’s weakening dollar supremacy, combined with the ownership of nearly $2 trillion of debt by China and Japan place America in an economic position it has never experienced in its nearly
-
In the aftermath of the Second World War, America had half the world’s wealth and a quarter of its GDP. By the 1970s its position as an economic powerhouse without competitor had slipped away and it faced stronger challenges from Europe and Japan. A decade of crisis in America saw the forces of neoliberal thinking take centre stage to eviscerate the New Deal in the 1980s.*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy
-
America’s de-industrialisation, offshoring, its battle to maintain dollar supremacy whilst also restoring itself to being a net exporter have led to historic crises from which there appear to be no exit. President Trump’s recent and clearly failing tariffs against China and the rest of the world are merely an indication of America’s relative economic decline. This podcast explores the factors that have powered rising Chinese living standards, economic and diplomatic power and the factors that ha
-
Fifty years ago, the longest imperial war of the 20th Century ended with the fall of Saigon and the victory of the North Vietnamese in the reunification of Vietnam. Miki Nguyen’s account of his family’s desperate flight from Saigon is covered in his father’s story, Last Flight Out, and his father’s bravery escaping the retribution of the communist forces. You can read his book here, based on his father, Ba Van Nguyen’s memoirs.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through cri
-
How did China embrace its own hybrid form of market capitalism with state control after the death of Mao in 1976? How did China avoid the economic shock therapy that devastated the USSR and become a technological super power in the 21st Century? Today’s podcast explores the writings of David Harvey on Chinese capitalism and communism.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show
-
This episode is part of our study series AQA – Revolution and Dictatorship – Russia 1917-53. In this episode we look at the first part of Stalin’s foreign policy, relating to China and Germany.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support t
-
This episode is the second in our isms and ologies series on Anarchism and gives a concise overview on the history of anarchist thought and politics from the 1848 revolutions onwards. Anarchism shaped countries as diverse as Mexico, Russia, Spain and China and both capitalist and Stalinist regimes sought to destroy it. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, plea
-
By the late 1950s ties between the USSR and China were weakening and there was mutual hostility and suspicion between the two powers. Deng Xiaoping in 1960 was involved in advancing China’s role as a key player in the shaping of world communist thought. This podcast examines his role and the crises that shape both regimes.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, p