In the inter war years as air policy developed in Britain, 'air policing' of the British Empire was a strategy adopted by the RAF in order to wage aerial warfare against colonised peoples in Africa and Asia. The same principals were applied later to Germany, in the flawed belief that strategic bombing would work in a similar way Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By the late 1920s alinist fears of subversion by enemy social classes saw the disenfranchisement and expulsion from jobs and homes of members of the former bourgeoisie. This policy had both supporters and opponents in local and national government. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November 1933 the reactionary movement CEDA became the a key part of a new right wing government. CEDA actively proposed a violent fascist coup and began to prepare a militia to achieve this. The socialist party the PSOE threatened revolution in response but in reality lacked the determination or the means to carry it out. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The development of air power in the USA from 1938 onwards in the shape of the B-17a four engine bomber was not matched by an official air doctrine, but a belief in the importance of mass bombing of industrial areas was emerging from planners, air force generals and junior officers throughout the decade. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the USSR during the Stalinist era, class origins defined all aspects of an individual and by the end of the decade were a matter of life and death. This podcast explores how 'former people' from enemy classes were treated and excluded from society. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Marshall Plan was the most successful use of American soft power in the country's history. By offering $13 billion in economic aid to rebuild western Europe, America stabilised half the continent and created new markets for American corporations. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By 1939 the Camp SS, normally responsible for controlling prisons such as Dachau was equipped and trained to fight at the front line. This podcast explores the evolution of its role. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In four years between 1958-62 a catastrophic famine in China killed 40 million people and a quarter of those died in Szechuan, a food rich province. This podcast explores the wilful blindness of Mao and the corruption of the communist party that cost so many lives. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the start of the First World War, Egypt and the Suez Canal were vital to the functioning of the British Empire and were under huge pressure from an Ottoman offensive. However, it was Muslim, Seikh and Hindu Indian soldiers from a British India riven with nationalist revolutionary politics that were deployed to hold the British Empire together in the Sinai. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After two short years of social reform under the socialist PSOE party in Spain a new right wing government came to power led by the conservative party CEDA. In the following two years poverty, hunger and violence tore apart the modest gains made by Spain's peasants and workers Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By the end of 1946 a guerrilla war was being waged by the new Democratic Republic of Vietnam against the colonial French in the south, but developments over the next three years would radically expand the scope of the conflict to make it the 'first total war of the anti colonial era'. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone, I'm sending out this podcast today to invite you all to collaborate in the creation of a new podcast focusing on contemporary political, social, environmental and other crises, challenges and debates. Please get in touch if you'd like to become involved. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1947 US President Harry Truman was forced to commit to the defence of Greece and Turkey against the possibility of communist victories in the Greek civil war and the threat of Soviet pressure on Turkey. The British had been forced to end their commitments to both countries, placing the eastern Mediterranean in danger and as a result the flow of Middle Eastern oil to Europe and America. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The island fortress of Singapore was meant to be an unassailable bastion of British imperial power in Asia. Its fall in February 1942 was the biggest humiliation for the British of the entire war and doomed the British empire in Asia. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By the end of the 1930s the Nazi regime had successfully directed public opinion in favour of the concentration camp system. As the decade wore on gradual apathy and disinterest in the camp system was a defining feature of public attitudes towards mass social and political incarceration. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1945 a Labour Government swept to power at the end of the Second World War, it had an agenda of domestic social reform but considerable foreign policy commitments. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin was an advocate of National Service to meet Britain's military manpower needs. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the aftermath of the Second World War the British gave assistance and support to the French in their attempts to recolonise Vietnam. French colonialists deliberately sabotaged negotiations with Ho Chi Minh and led to the outbreak of war in December 1946. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In December 1941, hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, a naval invasion of Malaya began. Poor planning and a collective denial on the part of British colonialists that the Japanese were a serious threat led to the rapid collapse of Britain's colonies in Malaya, Singapore and Burma. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One book more than any other propelled Mao to global significance, 13 years before he seized power in China. It was called Red Star Over China and was written by an ambitious and often naive American journalist, Edgar Snow. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did everyone from German citizens to concentration camp survivors, war ravaged citizens of Poland and partisans across eastern Europe encounter the Red Army in 1945? In some cases violent conquerors and in others as liberators. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What did ordinary Austrians and Germans think, feel and believe during the July Crisis of 1914? This podcast explores how the murder of a widely disliked archduke who was assassinated in 1914 presents largely apathetic populations in both countries with the pretext for war. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1941, despite believing that thee USSR could not last against a Nazi invasion for more than a month, Churchill and his cabinet rejoiced at the news that they were no longer fighting the war alone and planned to offer the USSR whatever assistance they could. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For those unable or unwilling to offer manual labour in service of the Nazi volksgemeinschaft, mass arrests and imprisonment in the growing camp system was an ever present threat. The Nazi camps by 1938 were full of 'asocial' prisoners who were arrested largely on the basis of poverty, vagrancy or the inability to fit into the new world of the Third Reich. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By 1927 the situation of the Soviet peasantry had just about stabilised from the famine years of the Russian Civil War. However, both Lenin and Stalin looked upon the peasantry and especially the wealthier peasants with barely concealed disgust and suspicion. In Bolshevik thinking, the peasants represented an existential threat to the revolution and would be subsequently broken by Stalin after 1928. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following the end of a bloody civil war in China, the communist party began to rapidly seize the levers of power and create class categorisations for the population. Control of the police and a network of communist spies and informers began a wave of repression which was but a foretaste of catastrophes and horrors to come. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A complete absence of intelligence about new German guns along the Dardanelles led Britain into a disastrous campaign against the Ottoman Empire in 1915, in the hope that naval power alone could defeat Germany's ally and lead to a break through away from the western front. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By 1946 America's political class, it's intellectuals and opinion formers and the population as a whole was broadly anti Soviet but had not committed to any major confrontation with the USSR. It would take changes in world circumstances in 1947 to bring about this commitment in the guise of the Truman doctrine. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After three years of fixed positions, trenches and deadlock, the First World War became a conflict of rapid movement again in 1918. This podcast explores how military innovation made this possible, focusing on artillery and intelligence. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between 1928 and 1935, bread rationing in the USSR had been implemented due to the extraction of foodstuffs from the peasantry for export and Stalin's disastrous collectivisation policy. In 1935 Stalin signalled a shift towards consumerism, but many Soviet citizens saw little improvement in their living conditions. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By October 1918, the resolve of the central powers to carry on the war was crumbling. The Austro Hungarian Empire fragmented following a manifesto by the new emperor Karl promising a federal future and German resolve finally ended with the German revolution. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a two month period Truman's policy towards the Soviet Union became more entrenched in the face of Soviet advances in eastern Europe and Iran. Truman, with little foreign policy experience was swayed by wartime diplomats such as George Kennan and the former Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During the Stalin era, the science of genetics came under a sustained attack and was denounced as a bourgeois ideology. This podcast explores the changing thinking of British communist scientist J.B.S. Haldane and the Stalinist fraud Trofim Lysenko Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did a combination of Wilsonian liberal internationalism and British colonial ideas about civilisation intersect with Britain's objectives in expanding its territories after the First World War? The Mandate system for administering German and Ottoman colonies was a largely British project, influenced by American internationalism and resented by the French. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1937 there was a dramatic increase in the numbers of petty criminals being arrested, re-arrested and taken into the Nazi camp system. There were deep seated economic reasons for this assault on Germany's small time thieves and burglars, and precious little solidarity in the camps from other political inmates. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The recording of the anti war protest song Give Peace a Chance in 1969 was part of a complex and often contradictory period of political journeying by John Lennon as he abandoned the Beatles and embraced different forms of political and psychoanalytical radicalism in the last decade of his life. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the mid 1930s a celebration of the achievements of workers, aviators, explorers and peasants accompanied Stalin's Five Year Plans. This championing of the 'everyday' hero was the product of Stalinist thinking and a utopian belief in the creation of a new egalitarian society. The myths, however, rarely corresponded to reality as most Soviet citizens experienced it. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I was fortunate enough to interview Jacob Field, the author of A history of Europe in bite sized chunks. We discussed the future of the EU, the nature of medieval Christendom and the legacy of Churchill's wartime diplomacy among other topics. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During the Second World War the Indian Army grew in size by a factor of ten. This radical transformation would have profound consequences for post war India and the independence movement. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the mid 1960s a weak pound and the Vietnam War combined to place pressure on Anglo American relations and the belief in the mind of British prime minister Harold Wilson of the diplomatic 'special relationship' between America and Britain. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1945, following the death of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, a foreign policy novice, was determined to take a tough line with the Soviet Union but was no match for Stalin, despite the detonation of America's first atomic bombs, ending the war with Japan. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before the First World War, Munich was the home of Germany's avante garde, with vibrant socialist and anarchist parties, whereas Berlin was the home of militarism and conservatism. By the mid 1920s, this had reversed, with Munich producing Nazism and Berlin seeing radical political, cultural and social liberation. This inversion would have profound implications for the fate of Germany in the 1930s. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One key part of Nazi racial policy was the 'cleansing of the aryan racial body', which meant extreme repressive policies to poor, criminal, deviant and unemployed Germans who did not conform to the stereotype of German masculinity or femininity. For those deemed asocial, mass incarceration was their punishment. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 1930s a generation of young Soviet citizens were motivated to work for the development of a socialist society. Massive urban reconstruction projects, an obsession with aviation and the development of a new urban Stalinist aesthetic began to dramatically transform Russia, along with huge increases in literacy and urbanisation. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between August and October 1914, the Ottoman Empire attempted to play both sides in the First World War off against the other. The empire pledged to Germany that it would go to war against Russia and its allies, while offering reassurances to the Russians that it would not. Eventually, Germany would force the Ottoman's hand and ensure that the empire joined the war on Germany's side. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The death of Roosevelt in 1945 left Harry Truman a politician with limited foreign policy experience surrounded by Roosevelt's top aides and ministers. Truman had little knowledge of international affairs and yet was far quicker to take a stand against the USSR than his predecessor Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a special feature length episode of the Explaining History podcast, featuring an interview with Joanna Lillis who brings with her thirteen years of experience in Kazakhstan. We discuss the experience of the communism, free market capitalism, famine and cultural suppression on the Kazakh people and ask what the future holds for the oil rich former soviet republic. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Britain's wartime policy of national service continued as a result of Britain's acute need for military manpower around the world. This podcast explores the politics of national service and its origins. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Despite the hunger, hardship and terror, a generation of young Soviet citizens were committed to a bright vision of the future where technology conquered nature and a modern socialist society emerged. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/explaininghistory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.