-
In this episode of the Explaining History podcast we sit down with Adam Langer, Editor of the Forward podcast, to discuss their latest show “Playing Anne Frank”. We delve into the history of the dramatization of Anne Frank’s diary and explore the complex politics of the Holocaust on either side of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. This episode offers a unique perspective on the preservation of Holocaust memory and the impact of politics on cultural narratives. Join us as we gain a deeper und
-
In this episode of the Explaining History podcast, we explore the concept of American empire and its role in the framework of modern capitalism, exploring the Making of Modern Capitalism by Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin. The book discusses key points such as the role of the state in modern capitalism, the global power dynamics at play, and the ways in which American empire has shaped the current economic system. News UpdateAre you a student of history looking for extra support and resources? Look n
-
During the 1930s, the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, experienced a wave of repression and terror that came to be known as the Great Terror. This period saw the widespread use of secret police, forced labor camps, and executions to suppress perceived threats to the regime.We’ll be examining the causes and consequences of the Great Terror, and exploring how it impacted Soviet society and the lives of ordinary people.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century thr
-
When Leon Trotsky was murdered by NKVD agent Ramon Mercader in 1940, his ideas lived on. The Trotskyist Fourth International and the American Socialist Workers Party in particular claimed (though this was disputed by his widow Natalia) to be the inheritors of his beliefs. Trotsky’s critique of the USSR and its capitalist enemies stated that the Russian Revolution had effectively been killed in its infancy, and that instead a bureacratic state had replaced a revolutionary society. Some of Trotsky
-
In this episode of the Explaining History Study Extra, we explore Lenin’s death and the consequences for the power struggle to succeed him. We examine the legacy of the New Economic Policy and War Communism and the divisions in the party they led to. 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 ContentBecome a P
-
In the second year of the Great War, the British began to consider the future of the Middle East once the Ottoman Empire had been defeated. The Ottomans were proving to be far more effective fighters than the British had anticipated, but the discovery of oil at Mosul had made the control of the Middle East a priority. Prime Minister David Lloyd George summoned Sir Mark Sykes, a British diplomat and explorer to demonstrate how British and French ambitions in the region could both be accomodated.
-
After the first attempt at a national uprising by the fascist generals in Spain ended in failure, Madrid became a dangerous and violent city dominated by anarchist militias. Many had no trust for the Republican government and their ranks were bolstered by murderers and other violent prisoners let loose from the city’s jails. In 1936 many of the Madrid police and civil guard had joined with the fascist insurrection and the last hold outs of the failed uprising within the city were brutally massac
-
The surviving Jews who became citizens of East Germany faced a precarious existence when the GDR was established. Not only was Stalin, the Soviet dictator, becoming ever more anti Semitic in the final years of his life, but the establishment of the state of Israel and its ties to the Western allies made Jews in Eastern Europe suspect in the eyes of the various communist regimes. In East Germany Jews presented a challenge to the established memory of the war and their supposed connection to the w
-
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the economic strains on Britain after six years of conflict were immense, but Britain’s international commitments were if anything even greater than during the war. Imperial overstretch, the temporary re-conquest of other European colonies like French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies, the occupation of Germany and the involvement in the Greek Civil War, and the new realities of the Cold War world meant that Britain needed to maintain a large standing
-
Yugoslavia, a state created in 1919 and recreated from the ashes of war once again in 1945 was a federation of balkan nationalities held together after World War Two by the totalitarian Leninist Josep Tito. The fact that Yugoslavia under his leadership had liberated itself and was not dominated like the rest of Eastern Europe by the Red Army, meant that its Cold War years would be fundamentally different. Yugoslavia was affected by the wave of unrest that afflicted Eastern Europe in 1968, follow