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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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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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In August 1961 East German and Soviet forces created a wall around West Berlin, preventing East Germans from fleeing to the west. The failures of Soviet Communism and the attractions of a prosperous west had led a fifth of the population to migrate. This podcast explores the crisis and how the wall led to a gradual stabilisation in the Cold War in Europe. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the pres
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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 Forward, Mao Zedong returned. He claimed that revisionist and right deviationist elements within the party were derailing the revolution and only the millions of Red Guards and the Chinese workers and peasants could put China back on track to socialism. The result was the catastrophic cultural revolution. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through cri
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By the early 1960s the once cordial relations between the USSR and The People’s Republic of China had been replaced by suspicion and animosity. Two rival interpretations of communism vied for supremacy across the communist world and East Germany came to back the Soviet Union against the Chinese.https://explaininghistory.selz.com/item/55ad4404b7987212602077ee?mode=edit Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the pas
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In the mid 1930s, the Soviet Union claimed that living standards in the USSR had surpassed those in the capitalist world. For a brief period during the Second Five Year Plan the regime’s focus was on creating a consumer culture of department stores and choice for Soviet citizens. 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 & G
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Between 1956 and 1957 Mao Zedong took the unprecedented step of encouraging criticism amongst the people of the Chinese Communist Party. The deluge of anger and rage towards the party was overwhelming and swiftly inspired a brutal reaction from the dictator and a crack down against dissent. 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 t
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In 1955 one of the most important international conferences of the 20th Century took place in Bandung, Indonesia. The leaders of the recently decolonised nations of Africa and Asia met to forge new economic and diplomatic ties. The conference was the first of a series of meetings of African and Asian nations resistant to colonialism and determined to avoid taking sides in the Cold War. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews.
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When Leonid Brezhnev came to power in 1964 he was determined to undo many of the liberalising reforms of his predecessor Nikita Khrushchev. However, his appointment of Alexei Kosygin gave joint control of the economy to a moderniser who attempted to introduce more market based reforms. 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 Sh
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In the immediate aftermath of the Chinese Civil War and the seizure of power by the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong began a violent struggle for control of China’s countryside. In a bid to develop a rural powerbase for himself and his party, Mao encouraged communities to tear themselves apart in cycles of denunciation and revenge. 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