-
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
-
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
-
In 1961, the city of Berlin, divided between East and West since 1945 saw a more permanent division erected. A wall that cut the city in two prevented East Germans from crossing from East to West enticed by the promise of a better life. * Support Explaining History here: please take a moment to look at my project https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/explaining-history and pledge whatever you can – there are some great rewards on offer!) Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through c
-
In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the Labour Party swept to power on a mandate of social reform. Six years later, despite the creation of an almost universally popular National Health Service, the party was defeated in the 1951 election and spent 13 years in opposition. What explains their success and failure in one term in office? Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you e
-
In January 1945 the city of Budapest was surrounded by the Red Army and Hitler’s occupying forces made a desperate and futile last stand. The siege of the city by the Red Army is often overshadowed by the subsequent downfall of Berlin, but the consequences for the inhabitants were no less savage. 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.▸ Sup
-
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.
-
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
-
In the immediate aftermath of the First World War, British anxieties over revolutionary tensions in India were high. The action of a lone British general at Amritsar in April 1919 shattered the fragile peace between the colonising British and the colonised Indians, radicalising the independence movement throughout the inter war period. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy th
-
In 1878 tensions over the Balkans were close to exploding into a major European war. German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck held a conference in Berlin to resolve the tensions, but the result was simply the postponement of war, not its prevention. 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 Patron:
-
In 1922, during the turbulent early years of the Weimar Republic a social research institute was established in Frankfurt. It was set up by Marxist intellectuals and the alumni of the school had a massive impact on 20th Century thought, examining the workings of mass society, consumerism, culture, totalitarianism and the unconscious. 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