Explaining History

Latest Episodes:

Holocaust Remembrance and Auschwitz Jan 27, 2025

Show notes

Eighty years ago today, Red Army soldiers liberated the surviving prisoners at Auschwitz, one of many Nazi death camps but now an enduring symbol of the Holocaust. Today, there will be no Russian representative at the official commemorations of the Holocaust at Birkenau, eight decades on. This podcast explores the complex nature of memorialisation at Auschwitz and the challenges of managing memorialisation, tourism and the past.

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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.

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Anarchism: A beginners guide Part Three Jan 25, 2025

Show notes

This episode is the third in our isms and ologies series on Anarchism and gives an explanation of anarchist thought on society, the state, communism and how the state and individuals interact.

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If 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:

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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.

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Website: explaininghistory.org

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America's boom years - 1950 to 1970 (part two) Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

This is part two of our exploration of America's boom years in the 1950s and 1960s. What factors led to an unprecedented improvement in living standards for white American families during the post war decades? This podcast examines this period that is firmly rooted in the US and world wide imaginary as a moment that is quintessentially American and explores the global transitions that created it.

Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each week

If 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:

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Or you can just say some nice things about it here

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.

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Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

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Website: explaininghistory.org

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AQA Revolution and Dictatorship: Russia 1917-53 part 13 Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

In this episode of the podcast we continue with our study of the AQA syllabus - Russia 1917-53: Revolution and Dictatorship. We explore the nature of Stalinist culture during the period 1928-41

Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each week

If 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:

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Or you can just say some nice things about it here

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.

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Website: explaininghistory.org

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Prince Harry and the British Press - a media history Jan 22, 2025

Show notes

The British right wing print media has enjoyed extraordinary power to shape politics and public affairs in the UK in the past half century. They have influenced the outcome of elections, their owners invited to meet with British Prime Ministers regularly and they have been largely free of regulation. This podcast explores the liberal ideas that have failed to constrain their power, in the context of Prince Harry's record settlement with Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers.

Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each week

If 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:

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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.

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Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

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Website: explaininghistory.org

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America's boom years - 1950 to 1970 (part one) Jan 21, 2025

Show notes

What factors led to an unprecedented improvement in living standards for white American families during the post war decades? This podcast examines this period that is firmly rooted in the US and world wide imaginary as a moment that is quintessentially American and explores the global transitions that created it.

Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each week

If 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:

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You can support the podcast viaPatreon here

Or you can just say some nice things about it here

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 Content

Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

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Website: explaininghistory.org

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Trump 2.0 Jan 20, 2025

Show notes

It's Trump's second inauguration and here are some thoughts about him, about political organisation in the years ahead and why we absolutely cannot depend on centrist sensibles any longer.

Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each week

If 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:

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Or you can just say some nice things about it here

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 Content

Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation

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Website: explaininghistory.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A brief history of Anarchism Jan 18, 2025

Show notes

This episode is the second in our isms and ologies series on Anarchism and gives a concise overview on the history of anarchist thought and politics from the 1848 revolutions onwards. Anarchism shaped countries as diverse as Mexico, Russia, Spain and China and both capitalist and Stalinist regimes sought to destroy it.

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If 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:

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You can support the podcast viaPatreon here

Or you can just say some nice things about it here

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.

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Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

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The Mandate System, Palestine, Syria and Iraq Jan 17, 2025

Show notes

At the end of the First World War the Ottoman Empire was carved up between the British and the French, with Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq being taken as mandates by Britain and Syria and Lebanon being occupied by France. The British originally secured Syria for France, but the French then overthrew the new king of the country, Faisal, the son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca.

Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each week

If 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:

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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 Content

Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation

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Website: explaininghistory.org

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Tiananmen Square 1989 - Part One Jan 16, 2025

Show notes

There are two main ways that historians have conceived of the causes of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, both as a struggle between liberalism and authoritarianism and between a people's socialism and a new rising state capitalism. This episode explores the arguments of Yueran Zhang, who suggests that there is a different explanation that can be understood from the motivations of the students and workers who stood up to the regime.

Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each week

If 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:

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Or you can just say some nice things about it here

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 Content

Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory

▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation

Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast

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▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper

Website: explaininghistory.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.