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
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It's time.
It's time at long last to unleash this project, to reveal the hidden complexities, the terrible truths, the dire dangers, the fascinating characters and the inspiring anecdotes of the period in history so often maligned and misunderstood, but so critically important to our world. It's time to go to 11th November 1918, where the guns fell silent at long last, and the birds could finally be heard to sing.
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WDF is about to be positively lit up by the most ambitious project we've ever taken on, but before we jump into that, I felt it only right that I bring you guys up to speed with my new job, how I got on in the Sound Education Podcast Conference in Harvard, some notes about the podcasting schedule, a bit on Dan Carlin, some more info about my future and even more ramblings - sounds like a state of the podcast address to me!
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It's time to say goodbye to this incredible era, and to end this whopper journey we've been on for the past 11+ months. I really can't believe we're here, but we are, and I figured there was never a better time to end this series, than on my birthday, so happy birthday to me!
Our conclusion examines a suitably poignant moment in recent history - the location of a reunion of Korean families, trapped and separated for more than six decades by a war which they never wanted, but which they have been paying for for their entire lives. It is here, I believe, that we should end our story - with a reminder that the greatest losers in the conflict of no winners, was the Korean people themselves.
Thankssss as always for joining me history friends, and make sure you prepare yourselves for the Versailles Anniversary Project, coming on 11 November 2018...
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It's time to say good bye!
Episode 48: Something Of An Ending gathers together everything we’ve learned over the last 47 episodes and returns to those key questions, theories and goals which opened our series all those months ago. It is a typically intensive episode, since we have a good deal of stuff to talk about, several things to reiterate and not a small amount of final goodbyes to wave at our key figures. By now you have seen our narrative underline and hopefully vindicate my conclusions, which I presented to you guys all the way back in the introduction episodes. It’s been quite a journey, to put it mildly, and I have sincerely enjoyed taking it with you, as we learned, laughed and were shocked together.
I hope you’ll continue to seek out new information on the Korean War, and that you now have seen for yourself that this conflict is so much more than just a few sentences in a textbook. Instead, it was the vital ingredient in the Cold War, the terrible tragedy which cost millions of lives, and the start point for countless diplomatic and military initiatives, with varying degrees of success. The Korean War was many things to many people, but now it’s time for us to say goodbye, and to prepare for our next series – the Versailles Anniversary Project. Of course, this wouldn’t be WDF if we didn’t have an Epilogue and Conclusion to round our narrative off, so make sure you place the cherry on top of our experience here, by tracking those episodes down in the next few days. Other than that my lovely history friends and patrons – it is time to say thanksss, and I’ll be seeing you all soon!
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Music used:
“Streets of New York” by Billy Murray released in 1907. Available: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Billy_Murray/Antique_Phonograph_Music_Program_03032015/The_Streets_of_New_York_-_Billy_Murray
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Episode 47: Ike Will Bring Them Home! This is our penultimate episode, and as such plays a critical role in bringing several threads of our narrative together. How fluent in the use of atomic diplomacy was Eisenhower’s administration? Armed with the knowledge we have from the last episode, we can state that Eisenhower was far from the first President to bring atomic weapons into the diplomatic discourse. Indeed, it makes sense that the first and last president of the US to make use of the atomic bomb should make the most active use of it in diplomacy. In addition, contrary to the conventional view, Eisenhower’s administration failed in the last phase of the Korean War to actually formulate a coherent policy regarding nuclear weapons and diplomatic pressure. For a number of reasons, the former General was content to drag his feet.
Dispensing with the myths of atomic diplomacy enables us to look more closely at the very real role which the Indians played in putting forward the policy ideas in the UN General Assembly, most notably in the case of the touchy prisoners issue. The genuine importance of Indian diplomacy in that institution has been greatly understated for some time, and in this episode we’ll give them their proper due. The Chinese will of course also need to be considered, since if atomic diplomacy did not force them to make peace, what can we say actually did? The answer has as much to do with the policy of bluff as it does with the death of Josef Stalin, and it’s another fascinating journey I can’t wait to take you on! Of course, the major appeal of this episode is in the loose ends are tied up – it is in this instalment of our series that the Korean War is finally brought to its anticlimactic end on 27th July 1953.
SPONSORS
1) Use the code WDF15 to get 15% off your stylish new pair of headphones/earphones/listening things
2) To access some fascinating books, nerd out with like minded enthusiasts, further your knowledge of some classical works, get 25% off your first three months AND help the show, head on over to onlinegreatbooks.com!
Remember to BEFIT!
B is for blog
E is for email wdfpodcast@hotmail.com
F is for Facebook, the Page and the Group
I is for iTunes, please rate, review and subscribe
T is for TELL ANYONE!
1) Pre-order our book on the Thirty Years War 2) Are you TeamFerdinand or TeamFrederick ? It's time to pick a side, and a t-shirt! 3)Don't forget of course to support WDF on Patreon to access ad-free episodes with the scripts attached, as well an hour of extra content every month, and so much more! - $1, $2 & $5 memberships available! 4) Of course, make sure you also follow us on Twitter, visit our website and sign up to our
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Episode 46: Atomic Diplomacy looks at the fascinating tactic supposedly made use of by the Eisenhower administration in the first half of 1953. This policy of threatening nuclear war if the communists did not see sense worked, so the conventional account suggests, and it worked because NSC68 had so empowered American defensive capabilities. However, as we’ll see in this episode, Eisenhower’s tactic was neither completely successful nor was it unprecedented. In fact, to set the background by what we mean when we talk about atomic diplomacy, in this episode we’ll examine not Eisenhower’s, but Truman’s consistent approach to that weapon in diplomatic negotiations, while we also assess the general perspective of the political and military staffs of the early 1950s.
The result is a surprising but also critically important set of take aways – not only was Truman unsuccessful in his efforts to bluster with the atomic bomb, he also learned from these failures, and refrained from threatening the communists from spring 1951. This gap enabled the Eisenhower administration, or more accurately John Foster Dulles, to claim that the new brand of atomic diplomacy was a great success, and played a leading role in ending the war. The truth, as we’ll learn, was far from so straightforward.
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Music used:
“Take Me Out To The Ball-game”, by the Hayden Quartet released in 1908. This classic should be familiar to everyone, even those like myself who don’t know what’s going on if they watch a baseball game! Available: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Hadyn_Quartet/Antique_Phonograph_Music_Program_04212015/Take_Me_Out_to_the_Ballgame_-_Hadyn_Quartet
SPONSORS
1) Use the code WDF15 to get 15% off your stylish new pair of headphones/earphones/listening things
2) To access some fascinating books, nerd out with like minded enthusiasts, further your knowledge of some classical works, get 25% off your first three months AND help the show, head on over to onlinegreatbooks.com!
Remember to BEFIT!
B is for blog
E is for email wdfpodcast@hotmail.com
F is for Facebook, the Page and the Group
I is for iTunes, please rate, review and subscribe
T is for TELL ANYONE!
1) Pre-order our book on the Thirty Years War 2) Are you TeamFerdinand or TeamFrederick ? It's time to pick a side, and a t-shirt! 3)Don't forget of course to support WDF on Patreon to access ad-free episodes with the scripts attached, as well an hour of extra content every month, and so much more! - $1, $2 & $5 memberships available! 4) Of course, make sure you also follow us on Twitter, visit our...
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Our endless flurry of Korean War content continues as we pave the way towards the Versailles Anniversary Project! Stay tuned!
Episode 45: The Culminating Factors brings several threads of our story together, as we count down towards the establishment of peace amidst the political climb of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who would be elected President of the US and wave goodbye to the Truman administration. The story of how Eisenhower got there, and why he decided that “I will go to Korea” is a fascinating one which we examine here. At the same time, we look at what the departing Truman administration meant for American foreign policy. Was Truman sad to leave, or did he believe that he had done his duty for American security, and left a lasting legacy on that office?
In addition to examining these aspects of the story, we look as well at the coercive diplomacy used by Eisenhower. Was Eisenhower’s diplomatic approach, as the historical consensus suggests, sprinkled with several sticks and threats, in a bid to force the communists out of the war? A great deal of evidence exists to suggest that the Eisenhower administration did engage in a great deal of coercive, even nuclear, diplomacy, from 1953. However, while this does fit quite nicely with the idea that NSC68 made America more powerful and thus better positioned to actually lob threats at its rivals, we will see in future episodes that the reality is not so straightforward.
SPONSORS
1) Use the code WDF15 to get 15% off your stylish new pair of headphones/earphones/listening things
2) To access some fascinating books, nerd out with like minded enthusiasts, further your knowledge of some classical works, get 25% off your first three months AND help the show, head on over to onlinegreatbooks.com!
Remember to BEFIT!
B is for blog
E is for email wdfpodcast@hotmail.com
F is for Facebook, the Page and the Group
I is for iTunes, please rate, review and subscribe
T is for TELL ANYONE!
1) Pre-order our book on the Thirty Years War 2) Are you TeamFerdinand or TeamFrederick ? It's time to pick a side, and a t-shirt! 3)Don't forget of course to support WDF on Patreon to access ad-free episodes with the scripts attached, as well an hour of extra content every month, and so much more! - $1, $2 & $5 memberships available! 4) Of course, make sure you also follow us on Twitter, visit our website and sign up to our Newsletter
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Episode 44: Talking & Fighting picks up from last time with the Korean peace process, as the allies managed to sit down at last and talk face to face with the communists, at a place called Kaesong. As we’ll discover, getting the communists to sit and talk with them was only half the battle. The Chinese and North Koreans were well equipped to turn even the most genuine peace initiative into a great propaganda victory. When they weren’t applying their own brand of spin to the latest talks, they were talking in public and preparing for more war in private.
Indeed, the first year of peace talks was to be one of immense frustration to the allies, who were made to look like supplicant puppets in the communist propaganda, and then like fools when those same communists took advantage of the lull in hostilities to prepare a defensive line which would, with some small changes, remain unchanged for the next two thirds of the war. Peace initiatives thus had their price, but as the allies and the communists well understood, peace initiatives were the only means by which the Korean War could be ended, and the suffering soldiers be returned home. Dilemmas such as these were a dime a dozen in the wearisome conflict, and Korea was by no means finished with the allies yet.
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Music used:
“Is There Still Room For Me ‘Neath the Old Apple Tree”, by Albert Campbell and Henry Burr, released in 1916. Available: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Albert_Campbell_and_Henry_Burr/Antique_Phonograph_Music_Program_01202015/Is_There_Still_Room_for_Me_Neath_the_Old_Apple_Tree_-_Albert_Campbell_and_Henry_Burr
SPONSORS
1) Use the code WDF15 to get 15% off your stylish new pair of headphones/earphones/listening things
2) To access some fascinating books, nerd out with like minded enthusiasts, further your knowledge of some classical works, get 25% off your first three months AND help the show, head on over to onlinegreatbooks.com!
Remember to BEFIT!
B is for blog
E is for email wdfpodcast@hotmail.com
F is for Facebook, the Page and the Group
I is for iTunes, please rate, review and subscribe
T is for TELL ANYONE!
1) Pre-order our book on the Thirty Years War 2) Are you TeamFerdinand or TeamFrederick ? It's time to pick a side, and a t-shirt! 3)Don't forget of course to support WDF on Patreon to access ad-free episodes with the scripts attached, as well an hour of extra content every month, and so much more! - $1, $2 & $5 memberships available! 4) Of course, make sure you also follow us on
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Episode 43: Peace Talks, Almost presents the situation on the frontlines as it stood in spring 1951, following some promising offensives by General Ridgeway which effectively crushed the Chinese capacity to launch another great offensive again. This incapacitation of the Chinese by no means meant that the communists were ready to roll over; indeed, the Chinese were still determined to hold on. As the allies crossed the 38th parallel for the second time, indeed, there was no genuine desire to push the envelope either, and to advance once more to the Yalu River. To have done so may well have escalated the situation, and caused the Chinese to declare an open war against the allies. Neither Washington nor its allies wanted this, but what the allies wanted above all was an end to the war after so many difficult months, and Washington was forced to listen to this request.
As certain initiatives were approached, the real star of the peace-making game loomed into view. The Indian delegation in the United Nations held influence among the third world delegations, and had been a convenient go-between with the Chinese and the West in years past. Now, Indian Prime Minister Nehru wished to bring an end to the Korean War through the auspices of the UN, either through its General Assembly or its Security Council, which India held a temporary seat in at this critical time. With high hopes, Nehru’s representatives in New York busied themselves throughout 1951, but it soon became clear that not even the Americans could be counted as reliable, in the strange game which was peace-making. With several twists and turns ahead, the Indians settled down into a long, arduous pressure campaign, just as the soldiers settled into the early phases of military stalemate.
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Music used:
“Alabama Red”, by Sidney Stripling, released in 1941, available: http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=82676
SPONSORS
1) Use the code WDF15 to get 15% off your stylish new pair of headphones/earphones/listening things
2) To access some fascinating books, nerd out with like minded enthusiasts, further your knowledge of some classical works, get 25% off your first three months AND help the show, head on over to onlinegreatbooks.com!
Remember to BEFIT!
B is for blog
E is for email wdfpodcast@hotmail.com
F is for Facebook, the Page and the Group
I is for iTunes, please rate, review and subscribe
T is for TELL ANYONE!
1) Pre-order our book on the Thirty Years War 2) Are you TeamFerdinand or TeamFrederick ? It's time to pick a side, and a t-shirt! 3)Don't forget of course to support WDF on Patreon to access ad-free episodes with the scripts attached, as well an hour of extra content every month, and so much more! - $1, $2 & $5...
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Episode 42: So Long Old Soldier bids farewell to General MacArthur in a podcast experience which has to be heard to be believed! Before we get to the point that MacArthur stood before Congress and gave that rousing farewell speech on 19th April 1951 though, we have to detail how it was that the relationship between President and General deteriorated to such a point that both parted ways. It was not, predictably enough, MacArthur’s choice. Yet, for a myriad of reasons, including MacArthur’s inability to stop flapping his gums, Truman decided in early April to pull the plug on the grizzled General’s career.
Truman’s decision is still debated to this day. It seems at its core was the problems that MacArthur presented to American foreign policy. It seemed, in spring 1951, that there were two American foreign policies – one presented by the Truman administration in Washington, the other communicated by MacArthur’s staff in Tokyo. In a world where America’s allies were anxious that the war not be escalated, it was only natural that the President would seek to limit his General’s pronouncements, lest they cause a chain reaction and ruin the original plan. Fortunately for Truman, the end of MacArthur’s career was not an out of the blue event, but an incident which contained several stages that had been prepared in time. It was in many ways the perfect conclusion to a plan set in motion months beforehand, but that didn’t mean the General was going down without a significant PR fight. Let’s see how it all looked, as I take you to one of the most contentious, and vibrant periods of the Korean War!
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Music used:
“I’ll Say She Does” by Al Jolson, released in 1919. Available: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Al_Jolson/Antique_Phonograph_Music_Program_04212015/Ill_Say_She_Does_-_Al_Jolson
SPONSORS
1) Use the code WDF15 to get 15% off your stylish new pair of headphones/earphones/listening things
2) To access some fascinating books, nerd out with like minded enthusiasts, further your knowledge of some classical works, get 25% off your first three months AND help the show, head on over to onlinegreatbooks.com!
Remember to BEFIT!
B is for blog
E is for email wdfpodcast@hotmail.com
F is for Facebook, the Page and the Group
I is for iTunes, please rate, review and subscribe
T is for TELL ANYONE!
1) Pre-order our book on the Thirty Years War 2) Are you TeamFerdinand or TeamFrederick ? It's time to pick a side, and a t-shirt! 3)Don't forget of course to support WDF on Patreon to access ad-free episodes with the scripts attached, as well an hour of extra content every month, and so much more! - $1, $2 & $5...
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