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In the first year of the war, from September 1939 to September 1940, Germany’s military forces fought four seperate European campaigns (Poland, Scandanavia, France and the Low Countries, Britain), three of which could be described as blitzkrieg, rapid, armoured ‘lightning wars’ using aircraft and armour. The fourth campaign, the Battle of Britain, fought in the summer and autumn of 1940 was a failure, despite Lufwaffe hopes that a war could be won from the air alone. This podcast explores the us
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The Second World War was a national humiliation for France, enduring occupation, collaboration with the Nazis and Vichy complicity in the Holocaust. The violent purge of collaborationists after the war saw tens of thousands of mainly low level members of Vichy and the French civilians who had been friendly with the occupying Germans assaulted, imprisoned or killed. High profile collaborators like Peirre Laval were tried and executed, whereas other fascist figures evaded justice and re-emerged as
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In the decade before the FIrst World War, Germany and Austria-Hungary put little effort in to coordinating their military strategies in the event of a war on two fronts. Germany’s chief of General Staff Helmuth Von Moltke assured Austria that the plans inherited from Alfred Von Schlieffen, his predecessor, would offer the best chance that the central powers had of overcoming unfavourable odds. The plans were out of date by 1914, however, and both Germany and Austria-Hungary went to war basing th
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A popular view of the July crisis that led to the start of the First World War was the excitement and enthusiasm across Europe for war. Examining Alexander Watson’s Ring of Steel, we discuss the validity of this view and the motivations of the crowds that filled the streets of Berlin and Vienna in July 1914. This podcast also explores the motivations and loyalties of Germany’s largest party the Social Democrats. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversati
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In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the belief that anything was now possible in the reshape and redesign of societies was widespread in the liberal capitalist and communist worlds. The role that planning had played in the victory over fascism was beyond doubt and politicians, intellectuals, planners and citizens in Europe, Asia, America and Africa saw the post war era as an opportunity to harness the power of the state to transform society. A fringe group of economists and think
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The invasion of Australian ruled Papua New Guinea in 1942 by the Japanese presented a direct threat to Australia and to Supreme Commander in the South West Pacific Douglas MacArthur’s plans to retake the Japanese held Pacific. The tenuous fighting across the Owen Stanley mountain range by the retreating Australian ‘diggers’ was one of the most desperate and savage campaigns of the war in rain drenched jungle conditions. Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical c
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In the years following the Conservative Party’s defeat in the 1945 general election, the Tories were forced to accept significant parts of Labour’s programme, recognising their un-electability otherwise. A right wing fringe of the party rejected this centre ground compromise and demanded an extreme brand of supply side economics known as monetarism. The opportunity to impose this on the party and later the country emerged in the crisis years of the 1970s. Explaining History helps you understand
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In 1958 as part of Mao’s attempts to improve productivity and create a socialist economic miracle in China, Mao waged war against private property and family life during the disastrous ‘Great Leap Forward’. He removed from families the ability to privately farm vegetables and rice, own livestock and prepare food in their own homes. Following the communalisation of entire provinces, families were forced to each at communal kitchen, where food was often withheld for party members and visiting dign
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During the Second World War the imperial government of India, ruled by Lord Linlithgow, the Viceroy of India, was desperate for manpower and the traditional ‘martial classes’ that the British had relied on were to small in number to supply all the troops needed. The vast scope of the conflict meant that millions of men not normally considered for military service would be enticed to volunteer. This would have a radical effect on Indian nationalism and the movement for independence after the conf
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In the mid 1950s, Anthony Eden and Guy Mollet, Britain and France’s respective prime ministers initially showed little determination to overthrow Colonel Nasser of Egypt. However, mounting French problems in Algeria and Britain’s dependence on ‘holding out’ in Egypt against further imperial decline, and the small and conspiratorial groups of ministers, intelligence chiefs and senior military figures that surrounded both governments began to shift thinking towards war. Explaining History helps yo