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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Episode 3: The Brittle Curtain, examines the actual situation Comrade Stalin faced when he considered his options in the post-war world. Exactly how strong, or powerful, was the Soviet Union, and how stable were its East European satellites? Was the USSR's control based on more than merely the threat of force, or was the power of fear the glue that tied the entire edifice together?
All of these are important questions, and it is immensely important that we get to the bottom of exactly what the position and perspectives of Stalin were in the pre-Korean War world, and we do our best to answer them in this critical bit of background, so I hope you enjoy it my lovely history friends!
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Music used:
What else could be appropriate for such an episode other than utter forced epicness of the Soviet National Anthem? NOTHING! Here's where we got it, and thanks again to the great work done by sites like Archive.org for making this available to humble podders like me. Available: https://archive.org/details/01NationalAnthemOfTheUSSR
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In Episode 2: The Force of Peace, we examine the founding moments of the United Nations, where the idea for it came from, why it was established and how it developed as an institution in the 1940s to have a leading role in the post-war world. The UN, as we'll see, was quite effective when its aims didn't conflict with the American or Soviet world views. Limited cooperation was, it seemed, a possibility in this shattered, traumatised world. Yet, this cooperation would only go so far.
Clouds were looming on the horizon, but these clouds were largely invisible to General Douglas MacArthur (pictured with Hirohito in an immensely controversial photograph for the time) the other interest of this episode. We look at MacArthur's days in post-war Japan, and how he managed to craft for himself an incredible legacy, with not a small amount of Japanese adoration to boot. MacArthur was busy creating not merely a post-war Japanese order, but also his own legend.
His success in this measure would lead in time to his appointment as Supreme Allied Commander in the critical early phases of the Korean War, at a time when his hubris could barely fit within the Japanese islands.
It was a recipe for disaster, or was it? Let's investigate, in this second episode of the Korean War!
Music used:
Ada Jones & Billy Watkins, 'By the Beautiful Sea', available at:
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ada_Jones_and_Billy_Watkins/Antique_Phonograph_Music_Program_03312015/By_the_Beautiful_Sea_-_Ada_Jones_and_Billy_Watkins
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Want to grab yourself some quality, stylish head/ear phones and get 15% off? Use the code WDF to avail of this special offer and start your listening journey with When Diplomacy Fails like never before! See: https://www.sudio.com/eu/
Want to support this podcast in other ways, as we meander through the Korean War? Check out the following links to our social media, website, source materials and Patreon below.
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Visit the website: http://www.wdfpodcast.com/
Visit the blog: http://www.wdfpodcast.com/thevassalstate/
Look at our sources: http://www.wdfpodcast.com/source-materials/
Remember spreading the word by telling a history friend about us is still the most effective way to spread the history love! Thanksss :D
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Episode 1: America Dawns, looks at the situation which greeted US policymakers between 1945-50. As an episode it serves as a good roundup of all we've learned in the Cold War Crash Course, but a simple summary episode THIS IS NOT!
We delve into the mindset behind the Truman Doctrine, ask what the goals of NATO were and investigate how Washington viewed Soviet moves by examining their additional policies and proclamations.
We also look at the problems which faced the US in the late 1940s, including the mindset which insisted that there was no money in the kitty to fight the Soviets, and that Washington would have to cut its cloth to suit its pocket. This attitude towards defence expenditure and confrontation with the forces of communism would change in time, but not yet. The three losses - of China, of its status as the sole nuclear power, and of Mao Zedong himself to the Soviet Union, after the Treaty of Friendship was signed in February 1950 - all influenced American policymakers to consider a radical change in policy, and they settled upon a blandly named report called NSC68.
What was meant by Chinese Titoism? And what had American policymakers hoped to achieve by cosying up to the Chinese communists? Could they really expect to change the perspective of the Chinese, when the Soviets loomed so large in Mao's estimation? Make sure you join us to find out the answer to this question as well as a host of others. Our first episode, at long last. I hope you enjoy it.
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In the final episode of this miniseries, we look at the several crises which accompanied the answering of the German question. The Berlin Blockade, as well as the Prague Coup, provided key pieces of evidence in the Western mind that Stalinism was expanding its reach through the use of intimidation and brute force. Stalin, it was clear, was determined to pose as the champion of his own brand of Soviet, expansionist communism, powered by the Red Army and the threat of force. It was vital in these circumstances that the West provided a foil to such a challenge, but the question remained one of how to do so in a shattered Europe and a de-mobilising American armed force. To the surprise of all, the solution would be provided not in Europe, but thousands of miles away in Korea.
Formidable though he seemed, Stalin had his own problems with Yugoslavia. Tito, it emerged, had developed his own cult of personality, and was far less willing to fall in line that his other Eastern neighbours. This, coupled with the creation of NATO in spring 1949, provided Stalin with a great strategic challenge. Europe was evidently not his for the taking, and the soft power of communism was evidently waning with the hardening of the communist party's attitudes towards their peers in the likes of Italy and France. Had Stalin missed the boat, or was he merely scheming to launch an attack somewhere else? Either way, it was clear that Stalin was the face of Soviet power, and that this Georgian native, this paranoid, cunning, ruthless man was the face of all of democracy's problems.
Stalin responded to these challenges as only he knew how - with purges, a second reign of terror and show trials on a vast scale, as Eastern Europe's native communist parties were put through the ringer, and Stalin's worst qualities again bubbled to the surface. In our final installment of the Crash Course, these qualities inflict their damage on Stalin's position and reputation, but it was nothing the Kremlin leader could not handle. In the background, Stalin was already turning his attentions further East. He was in regular contact not merely with the Communist leader of China, but also with the most obscure Stalinist vassal in Korea, a man known as Kim Il-sung. Though nobody could know it yet, within the year, it would be Korea, not Europe, that attentions would be focused, with consequences that are felt to this day.
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The question of Germany and how the east-west divide played a role in answering that question forms the basis of the latest episode in the series. The repairing and restructuring of Germany, so that it was strong enough to contribute to Europe's rebuilding, but not so strong that it pulled another war of revenge out of its hat, was a critical balancing act. It profoundly unnerved some people and inspired others. It puzzled some and excited others. Above all though, it was the legacy of Hitler's war, of Nazism, that was struggled wit
Could Hitler be purged from the consciousness of these Germans, and how many 'Good Germans' were left that could be expected to lead a democratic Germany into the future? Everyone, from the " first-class comrades" to those that had once resisted Nazism, would have roles in this post-war German order. As the clock ticked by, it remained to be seen what form the new Germany would take, and what role if any the Soviets would be able to have. History as we know, would provide the two halves of German life - the Western democratic, and Eastern communist. This episode is about that journey, its arrival and the problems, challenges and victories therein.
To the east, opportunities for Soviet expansion in Prague profoundly influenced the way that the Western allies looked at the world and Germany's role in it. More threatening than a resurgent Germany, perhaps, was an all-powerful, expansionist Soviet Union. It proved to be the case, thanks mostly to Stalin's own blundering and strong arm approach, that the lesser of two evils was a Western German state, rather than a co-opted and empowered Soviet Union. Stalin, not Hitler's ghost, was the true enemy.
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In our latest installment of the series, we look at the person of Josef Stalin, a dominant figure for our wider Korean War series, and his security blanket he was in the process of creating in Eastern Europe. The spread of communism in Europe's shattered cities, combined with the looming threat of the Red Army and the sweeping impact of its soldiers into the East, created a new dynamic in Europe. At the head of this new dynamic was the will and ambition of Stalin, who had a direct hand in everything that occurred.
Stalin was critical in his creation of the Soviet Union bloc, but he was also critically important to any arrangement which would be reached on the future of Germany. Exactly what form Germany would take, whether it was feasible or sustainable to preserve Germany in its divided state - these were questions that the post-war governments in Britain, the US and France all grappled with. Without Stalin, they initially believed, any progress on this question would be impossible.
With Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, and Stalin's pronouncement of the West's hostility to the needs of Eastern Europe's citizens, the Cold War lines were clearly being drawn. Several conflicts lay ahead, but the more immediate questions, such as how to rebuild the continent and what to do about the continent's integral centrepiece - the Germans - remained a sore point for some and pressingly urgent for others. Here we find out how the post-war allies of east and west attempted to cooperate in spite of the looming divisions into the different ideological camps.The German question, as we'll see, could not be answered in a year, (or one episode!) it was instead a question based fundamentally on Berlin's past behaviour, where German revanchism and a repeat of the post-WW1 experience remained at the forefront of many minds.
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In the second episode of the CWCC, we look at how the US managed to tie Western Europe closer to its orbit through political strategy, closer cooperation and sheer economic investment. The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and NATO were critical building blocks in the Euro-American relationship in the late 1940s, and we get to grips with them here.
As the US worked with its beleaguered allies, the chronic lack of food as much as coal threatened disaster. With the dollar above all being the top currency of the shattered continent, a shortage of these same dollars represented disaster to many European states. The initial solution, so it seemed, was favourable loans. Eventually, the solution, stark as it was, was the provision of American sponsored grants. The provision of billions of dollars of aid to get the West back on track, so that it could stand up to communism and hold its own.
All the while, Moscow schemed, and the critical question of what to do with Germany loomed large. Neither question would be answered quickly, or without the expenditure of a great deal of effort, money and other resources. Although they were on the right track, there was much to be concerned about in this post-war world, and several challenges still lay on the horizon. The dangers of a communist takeover, or of the big freeze that the winter of 1947-48 presented, threatened ruin for Western civilisation, and one man in particular George C Marshall (pictured), believed that strategic charity, not a tough business sense, should take centre stage. Marshall Aid was en route, but would it get there in time?
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"I thought you’d be there waiting for me…what greeted me instead was the lingering stench of ashes and the empty sockets of our ruined home."
Polish citizen Samuel Puterman returns to Warsaw in late 1945.
We begin our examination of the post-WW2 world by looking at the sheer impact the conflict had on the peoples, infrastructure and industry of Europe. Once considered the centre of the world, now Europe was its shattered, gloomy shell. It would take an immense amount of rebuilding, of money and of effort to bring Europe back to the level even approaching the pre-war state of affairs.
Yet in the background, a sinister presence loomed. While the war against Fascism had been won, a new ideological world view - communism - had rooted itself in every broken dream and lost cause that remained left over from the war. Time would tell how this world view would represent itself, but already in the East, signs were emerging that the triumphant Soviet Union planned to create its own system at the expense of those in its path.
History friends! The Cold War Crash Course is our prequel to the Korean War, so make sure you check in with us here if you want to be up to speed with what happened before.
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Is it the forgotten war, or simply a war we need to look at differently? Let's investigate.
We need to make some things clear. We have to set out the structure and scope of this project, outline what sources we used and of course, talk a bit about how each one of the episodes will be structured. What music will we used? What will Patrons get? What will the series actually look like? This is the place to find out - the Sources and Structure of the series will be learned of here.
You don't NEED to check this episode out, but if you like to be filled in on a variety of details, do check this episode out. Remember of course that I am excited to hear what you think about this - I am super excited to talk and nerd out with you about this conflict. As ever you can find history nerds and some other normal people in the Facebook group linked below. A huge thankssss to all of you that have supported us thus far, and after such a long time, I can't wait to finally unleash this massive series on you guys!
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The Korean War is a project which I have been preparing for for several months. It is in this episode that I drop some knowledge on you guys, such as, above all, what my take on the Korean War will look like, and what exactly I have here that is so potentially controversial. My revisionist take on the conflict is a brave approach considering the conventional views, but I do hope you'll give it a chance. Either way there are some fascinating stories to get through, and we have so much to get through in terms of introducing this series, that we need TWO Introduction episodes to get us all up to speed!
This is diplomatic history at its most juicy, and at its most underrated and glossed over. I hope to change all that, by bringing you all the most detailed account of the diplomatic origins of the war, in a 48 episode epic unparalleled in history podcast land. Why in the 21st century does a regime like Kim Jong-un's exist? All of it can be traced back to the events of the Korean War, and thanks to the legacy of the war, it has never been so relevant. We need to be able to properly understand and appreciate it if we are to then understand why North Korea does what it does today. Here we unwrap my plans, but be sure to check out the second introduction episode if you'd like more information on the sources and structure used for this series.
Other than that history friends, I'm so excited to finally bring this to you, so I have to say thanksss and I hope to see you all there!
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