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In the first weeks of the outbreak of the First World War, the outdated Schlieffen Plan required the German Army to rapidly cross Belgium to attack northern France. Instead of the anticipated 6-8,000 troops, the Belgians fielded 32,000 men and defended the fortress town of Liege vigorously. German atrocities in Liege afterwards were the product of an imagined belief in guerrilla fighters amongst the civilian population.*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also
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The way in which Malcolm X and the Black Power movement has been interpreted and understood over time has changed as academics grappled with his legacy and interrogated his autobiography, published posthumously. This podcast explores how the way we have come to understand him has changed over time. You can buy Kevern Verney’s book – The debate on Black Civil Rights in America here*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspiran
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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
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The period of the last 25 years in Britain has been one of continual crisis and disaster, from the Iraq War to the financial crisis to Brexit and covid. Britain has been transformed by these disasters and now is a smaller, poorer and more isolated country, perhaps permanently so. In his book Britain Alone, Liam Stanley explores the causes of this diminution, you can get a copy here.*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspir
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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
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In this episode of the Explaining History podcast we speak with the writer Dennis Broe whose new book The Dark Ages, explores the second Hollywood anti communist purge of 1951. We talk about Hollywood and Los Angeles as a site of ongoing class struggle, the role of the media and the LAPD in the development of modern Los Angeles and the role of dissenting writers and film makers in challenging the power of the studios.You can join Dennis for a zoom class on Darkest LA: Film Noir, Greed and Corpor
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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
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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
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Britain’s political class have realised that the writing is on the wall for them in the past week as Trump’s tariffs as imposed. This podcast explores the contemporary state of international affairs between Britain, America and the EU.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 tak
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Scholarship of the Black Power Movement in general and the Nation of Islam in particular has been harder to accumulate than that on the main Civil Rights Movement led by Dr Martin Luther King and the SCLC. This podcast explores reasons for this and the differing interpretations on the nation that were recorded by historians and sociologists in the 1950s and 1960s. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content