Stay ConnectedWDF examines how wars broke out, how they were concluded, and their consequences. Expect juicy diplomacy, sneaky intrigue, fascinating characters, and incredible drama. By Dr Zack Twamley, qualified history nerd.
Current Series: The July Crisis
Patreon Series: The Age of Bismarck
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
After so many weeks of preparation, it is finally time to journey to Warsaw where the Council for Russian Freedoms presents its mission. Accompanied by volunteer forces from all over the world, the message is clear - the extinction of Bolshevism and the rescuing of Russia. However, beneath of the surface of the good intentions and proud speeches, lurks dark rumours, doubts and further conspiracy...
*****
The Delegation Game is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Are you ready for this? After a long time teasing you all, it's time I dropped some incredibly exciting news on the world. This news has the potential to change history podcasting FOREVER...sort of, but first and foremost, it means big changes for you and I. I hope you'll have a listen to the first half of this show to hear my news and get to grips with what I'm all about. Pat yourself on the back and say a huge thankssss with me, for seven wonderful years of history podcasting! Who would have thought that after seven years of talking to myself, you would all still be listening! Happy birthday to us, and thankss for being the best history friends a guy could ask for [self hug]
Here are the questions I cover in this episode:
What’s a typical day of work for you with the show? How are you managing to do all this? What black magic are you using to make days last 48 hours etc.? How is teaching? Do you think you’ll revisit BGTW again? How do you get through sources so quickly? Do you see Sean anymore? What’s your favourite junk food? If you had one piece of advice for someone starting out in history podcasting, what would it be? What is your recording studio set up? Will you cover any examples of when diplomacy succeeds in the future? What’s a pet peeve you have with history podcasting? How do you construct your scripts for each episode? You came to the US in November 2018, what was one thing you liked and one thing you didn’t like about our country? Did you expect this series to be so massive? Most surprising fact about my research for it? What’s the weirdest error you’ve made with the project? What’s your favourite subtitle you’ve given to an episode of the series? Where do you begin with big projects like the VAP? Whose diary do you wish you had for the VAP? What are you reading right now aside from all the VAP/1956 stuff? Any books that you stopped reading out of frustration? Name and shame! What famous hair or beard style do you wish you could pull of today? Favourite female diplomatic leader? You get to ask one question to one historical figure, they must answer honestly, who will you ask and what question will you ask? What do you think of historians that allow their ideology or opinions to affect their work?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket!
OTD 100 years ago, the switch was finally pulled, and Greek soldiers were landed in Anatolia for the first time in centuries. The cause was the city of Smyrna, that centerpiece of Greek culture and history which, Greek premier Venizelos claimed, was eager to welcome its compatriots. Yet, the act of the landing is as fascinating as the story which led up to this event. It was a story of Hellenic romanticism, background intrigue, a selective application of self-determination, a lot of Greek pressure oh, and did I mention, a whole lot of Greek pressure.
On the surface, this act seemed to be the peak of Venizelos' career. It was merely a stepping stone, potentially, for the realisation of a Greater Greek Empire which straddled the Hellespont. And yet, several problems lurked behind the curtain. Perhaps the most important elephant in the room were the Turks, who were not even considered a proper nationality by the allies. Certainly, in Venizelos' view, Turks were really just lapsed Greeks, or sometimes, they were irredeemable barbarians. Either way, Greek culture would nourish them back to civilisation, and it was only humane not to stand in their way. Yet, despite receiving the most punitive peace treaty of any vanquished power, the Turks would enjoy a resurgence, and against all odds, ignore the peace treaties handed down by the allies. They were by far the most thoroughly punished of the Central Powers, yet they were also the only member of that group to ignore the peace terms which the allies presented, and to live to tell the tale.
On the other side of this crisis, loomed a reckoning between two peoples, Greek and Turkish, who had been at loggerheads for millenia. It was impossible to imagine Greeks and Turks living side by side in harmony, to the extent that, in acting to land at Smyrna, Venizelos set off a chain of events which would result in an incredibly tragic scene - the ending of centuries of Greek culture in Smyrna, in exchange for a lasting peace. It was a journey - from triumph to despair - which took fewer than five years. The aftershocks of this act were still being felt nearly four years after the First World War had officially 'ended', and believe it or not, Venizelos had a key role to play in both of these seismic chapters of Greco-Turkish history. All of it, began with a landing...
***********
The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The story of Greece comes under our microscope at long last. Here we are introduced to a fascinating vision, yet another example of what might have been. Greater Greece was a project which appealed to many people outside the realm of Greece itself, and in this episode we will get to grips with the origins of the idea in Greek, but mostly in British foreign policy. It was in Britain, as we'll see, that some of the most enthusiastic supporters of an enormous Greek empire existed. This 'redeemed' Greece would expand its power and influence across the Hellespont, into Constantinople, into Anatolia, all over the Aegean, and virtually everywhere else that a smattering of Greek culture and history could said to have resided.
We also recap in this episode how Greece got to this point. Greece was, in spite of what Premier Venizelos might have claimed, a very divided country by 1919. The legacy of the war, where the country had flip flopped between allied and central power supporter, had left serious scars, which only Venizelos seemed capable of keeping under control. The danger, as ever, was that Greece might unravel if it were left wanting in its claims. Another more serious danger though, which was realised too late, was what might happen if the Greeks DID get what they wanted. What would it mean for Greek and Turkish relations into the future if Greece acquired portions of Anatolia? Without due consideration of this question, the allies blundered onward with terrible naivety, pushing Greeks and Turks into a collision course, the impact of which reverberates to this day...
***************
The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The President Marshall arrives in London to take his seat alongside the big three in the Council of Eight, as a very exhausted SIR Alistair Tancred accompanies him. Awaiting Foch in London are several developments; the Minor Council continues to quarrel, the League of Nations is under severe threat, and the concerned nations prepare themselves to contribute men to the cause of Russian freedom, after a rocky start...
**********
The Delegation Game is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Somehow, we managed to cram an hour of content in an episode that examines the 8-10 May 1919! That's because in that episode, a great deal happened which requires our attention, so sit down and relax as we talk about...Italy again??!! Well yes, but other issues too. How would the Germans respond to the peace terms? What plans did the allies have in place in the event that the Germans refused to accept? The two week deadline was ticking downwards, but considering all we've seen so far, it should be no surprise that sceptics and realists alike imagined that this two week deadline was not the final word...
*******
The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On this day 100 years ago, the Germans were finally presented with the treaty had been under construction for nearly five full months. What would they think of it? That remained to be seen, but in the process of handing this treaty to them, the German delegation, represented by Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, would be given a chance to speak while seated, before the entirety of the plenary conference on afternoon of 7th May 1919. It was a scene which the allies had never expected to behold, but as soon as the German foreign minister began talking, two things were clear.
First, despite the fact that they hadn't got the treaty in their hot little hands, the Germans had tapped into the rumours which were swirling around, and they hadn't liked at all what they had gathered. Second, and arguably more importantly though, the spectre of the German foreign minister defying the allies and their treaty went down like a lead balloon. Brockdorff-Rantzau's performance, while in content was not explosive, in style it was positively volcanic, and it shaped the attitudes of the big three towards the Germans more than ever before. If they had forgotten who the real enemy was, this scene served better than anything as a grim reminder of the task ahead.
***********
The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In our longest episode to date (and hopefully ever) we examine the incredible story of the first week of May 1919, by delving into primary sources never before used on a podcast, and rarely used in books! This delivers to us a narrative rich in detail and plainly, in length, but it is a necessary chapter to absorb in our story simply because it is so fascinating. The Italians, as is commonly known, walked out of the Peace Conference in the last week of April. Therefore, a reasonable history enthusiast might conclude that the big three would ignore them, and that they would spend more time talking about Germany instead, especially since the German delegation was present in Paris, and eagerly awaiting the moment when they would be handed that peace treaty which the allies had been working on for so many months by this point.
And yet, an incredible truth of the 1-6 May 1919 is that, in spite of all of these facts which would recommend a speedy resolution of the German peace, and the conclusion of the first phase of peacemaking, the big three were utterly besotted with an apparently irrelevant issue - the Italians. That's right - contrary to what conventional pictures of the conference process tells us, the Italians were not forgotten once they left Paris. Instead, the Italians had never been so popular, as the allies worked to predict a morass of issues that concerned Rome. Would the Italians be included in the final peace? Would the Italians join the League of Nations? Would the Italians launch a pre-emptive strike at Fiume, or even Asia Minor? What should the allies do to stop them?
Amidst these concerns, of course, the conference did not sit still, and the German treaty was examined in a plenary conference on the afternoon of 6th May, in a process which House called 'stupid beyond endurance.' Yet, it deserves reiterating that even by that point, the allies had yet to examine or consider the treaty in its full scope or impact. It is often noted that the big three didn't spend enough attention properly considering the full extent of their decisions. What is talked about far less, and what my research brings forward here, is the surprising answer behind these delays and misconceptions.
The allies didn't pay scant regard to the eventual Treaty of Versailles because they were inherently lazy or ignorant, but because they were consumed and distracted by the long Italian shadow, which was cast over all their proceedings. Try as they might, they could not escape from the power which had abandoned them a week before. Tune in here for a story which I have never seen told; as we delve into the nitty gritty of the conference, to unveil a story that is as fascinating as it is disturbing. It's something which has to be HEARD to be believed, so if you'll join me for this two hour bonanza, I believe you'll come away with a completely different perspective on what it meant to be a peacemaker, and sit among the big three...
******
The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The German delegation had arrived in Paris, but despite the confident exterior, Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau would have known full well that all was not well back home. Germany was tottering on the edge of the abyss, and nowhere was this danger more acute than in the traditionally safe, conservative heartland of the Empire - Bavaria. What had led this second state of Germany to veer so far to the left, and so far from its old roots? Was there any hope for Bavaria, or was it destined to be another Budapest? Germans were determined that the answer should be nein, but the aftershocks of this trauma were not something that could be so easily contained...
*******
The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The 30th April was a strange day. It was barely a microcosm in the grand scheme of the Paris Peace Conference, and it was wedged awkwardly between the Italian walkout and the German arrival, not to mention the madcap adventures of the drafting committee, as hundreds of overworked printers and technicians worked to get the Treaty finished within 48 hours - the intended deadline at this stage. It is little wonder that the big three were busy then - they held no fewer than FIVE meetings on the same day. What did they have to show for it by the end? Some notes taken on the Italian feelings, the confirmation of Japanese intransigence over China, and French stubbornness over Alsace-Lorraine...and that was it! If the allies continued to work without working like this for the next few days, then it didn't look good for either the drafting committee, or the Peace Conference itself. As a new month dawned, the big three seemed more sluggish than ever...
***********
The Versailles Anniversary Project is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread the word, engage with the debate, and look at the different ways you can help this project succeed!
->Visit the homeland for this new project!
->Become a delegate and play the Delegation Game for just $6 a month!
->Support the podcast financially and access ad free episodes with transcripts from just $2 a month!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
