364 - 360: Now You Belong to the Japanese Army
For India, like Australia, the entry of Japan into the war meant it was no longer a distant, European struggle. By May 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army was at the Indian border.
Sun, 17 Mar 2024 - 42min
363 - 359 Order 9066
In 1942, many Americans feared a Japanese invasion of the West Coast of the US or Canada was imminent. Regrettably, these fears led to the belief--unsupported by facts--that the ethnic Japanese population on the West Coast represented a dangerous fifth column of potential spies and saboteurs.
Sun, 10 Mar 2024 - 51min
362 - 358 The Wannsee Conference
Sometime in the autumn of 1941, a decision was made among the Nazi elite to murder every Jewish person in Europe--or within reach, anyway. No record exists of how that decision was made, but we have a very detailed record of how it was carried out.
Sun, 03 Mar 2024 - 57min
361 - 357 No Retreat
The winter of 1941-42 was not a happy one for the German Army. On the Eastern Front it was battered by a record cold winter and a Soviet counteroffensive. In North Africa, a British offensive pushed Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps all the way back to central Libya, from where he had begun.
Sun, 25 Feb 2024 - 44min
360 - 356 Happy Time
After the sinking of Bismarck, the Germans abandoned surface raiding in the Atlantic and turned to their greatest naval strength: submarine warfare.
Sun, 11 Feb 2024 - 44min
359 - 355 Reap the Whirlwind
The Luftwaffe's bombing campaign over England did not force a British capitulation. Can RAF Bomber Command force a German capitulation?
Sun, 04 Feb 2024 - 50min
358 - 354 The Fall of Singapore
The Japanese Army's greatest victory; the British Army's greatest defeat.
Sun, 28 Jan 2024 - 47min
357 - 353 A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
The attack on Pearl Harbor ended the political division in the US between interventionists and isolationists. Now the US was united as never before.
Sun, 21 Jan 2024 - 55min
356 - 352 Climb Mount Niitaka II
The Japanese attack the US naval base at Pearl Harbor.
Sun, 07 Jan 2024 - 53min
355 - 351 Climb Mount Niitaka I
The Japanese give up on peace talks with America and began prepare for war.
Tue, 02 Jan 2024 - 45min
354 - 350 The Land of Abundant Wildlife
The defining features of the nation of Panama are its abundant wildlife and that it is the place where the world's two largest oceans are at their closest.
Mon, 25 Dec 2023 - 47min
353 - 349 Why Do the Winds and Waves Rage So Turbulently?
The upper levels of Japanese government (and, more important, the military) increasingly came to the view that war with the United States was necessary if Japan was to survive.
Sun, 24 Dec 2023 - 58min
352 - 348 Five Minutes to Midnight
At the end of the rasputitsa, the mud season, the German Army had one final, narrow opportunity, to win the war against the USSR before winter.
Sun, 17 Dec 2023 - 41min
351 - 347 The Green Folder
Even before the first German soldier crossed the frontier into the USSR, the Nazi government in Berlin had a plan for administering occupied Russia.
Sun, 03 Dec 2023 - 48min
350 - 346 The Battle of Smolensk
The German invasion of the USSR went brilliantly for the first 2-3 weeks, but instead of collapsing as expected, the Red Army only got stronger.
Sun, 26 Nov 2023 - 44min
349 - 345 Operation Barbarossa
On June 22, 1941, Germany began an invasion of its erstwhile trade partner, the USSR.
Sun, 19 Nov 2023 - 44min
348 - 344 America First
The Dust Bowl ravages the central United States, Charles Lindbergh's infant son is kidnapped, the America First movement opposes US involvement in the war.
Sun, 12 Nov 2023 - 55min
347 - 343 The Balkan Detour
Germany executes its invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece, and the Axis encourages an anti-British coup in Iraq.
Sun, 29 Oct 2023 - 54min
346 - 342 Operation Marita
As Germany made preparations to assist its ally Italy in the war against Greece, a coup in Yugoslavia prompted Adolf Hitler to order the invasion of that country as well.
Sun, 22 Oct 2023 - 42min
345 - 341 A Crime against the Future
In summer of 1940, even as the Battle of Britain was just getting started, Adolf Hitler was already laying plans for war with the Soviet Union.
Sun, 15 Oct 2023 - 38min
344 - 340 The ULTRA Secret
After the fall of Poland, British Intelligence's codebreaking operation at Bletchley Park became the center of efforts to decrypt messages from the Germans' supposedly unbreakable Enigma machine.
Sun, 08 Oct 2023 - 50min
343 - 339 The Enigma Machine
The British had been hugely successful at breaking German codes in the First World War. The Germans were determined not to let that happen again. This time they had Enigma, a code machine that produced messages that could not be decrypted. Or so the Germans believed.
Sun, 24 Sep 2023 - 43min
342 - 338 The Battle of the Atlantic
The navy Germany had at the outbreak of the Second World War was only a small fraction of what the Allies had arrayed against it. But the Fall of France and the entry of Italy into the war changed things dramatically and created opportunities at sea that Germany had never had in the last war.
Sun, 17 Sep 2023 - 46min
341 - 337 The Tizard Mission
In 1940, the British government was in the frustrating position of funding research on a number of promising projects that would be valuable to the war effort, but with the Battle of Britain in full swing, British factories had to turn out fighter planes as fast as they could. There was no room for development of experimental new technologies, so the British turned to the United States
Sun, 10 Sep 2023 - 47min
340 - 336 Όχι
Italy's invasion of Greece was disastrous. With the British also advancing in North Africa, and a surprise air attack disabling three Italian battleships, it was no longer possible to pretend that Italy was a equal of Germany.
Sun, 03 Sep 2023 - 42min
339 - 335 Pay Him in His Own Coin
Benito Mussolini wanted to prove that Italy was an equal partner with Germany in the Axis alliance, so he began a war with Greece.
Sun, 20 Aug 2023 - 44min
338 - 334 Stalemate
Germany found that it could not defeat the British on their home island; the UK was unable to fight the Germans in Europe. So what next?
Sun, 13 Aug 2023 - 42min
337 - 333 The Hand That Held the Dagger
When France collapsed, Roosevelt redoubled his effort to aid Britain. But there was also a Presidential election to think about; Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term.
Sun, 06 Aug 2023 - 48min
336 - 332 God Help Us All
America was preoccupied with domestic issues during the run-up to the war. When the war came, the Roosevelt Administration looked for ways to aid the Allies despite the limitations of the Neutrality Act.
Sun, 30 Jul 2023 - 42min
335 - 331 Caped Crusaders
More on various genres of pulp fiction, and how they led to the development of comic books.
Sun, 16 Jul 2023 - 58min
334 - 330 Amazing Stories
Pulp fiction was an important form of entertainment in the twentieth century, peaking in popularity around 1940. Pulp fiction came in a variety of genres and was the birthplace for a new one: science fiction.
Sun, 09 Jul 2023 - 55min
333 - 329 Dawn of a New Day
The 1939-40 New York World's Fair.
Sun, 02 Jul 2023 - 1h 06min
332 - 328 The Battle of Britain
When the Churchill government showed no willingness to talk peace, Germany attempted the world's first purely aerial military campaign, to weaken Britain in preparation for invasion, or perhaps even to defeat the enemy entirely by air.
Sun, 25 Jun 2023 - 55min
331 - 327 Radio Detection and Ranging
Theories of strategic bombing in the 1930s suggested that it alone might be enough to win a war. But the development of radar meant that the bomber might not always get through after all.
Sun, 11 Jun 2023 - 44min
330 - 326 War in the Air
We examine the advances in aviation technology between the World Wars.
Sun, 04 Jun 2023 - 47min
329 - 325 After the Fall
The world reacts to the Fall of France.
Sun, 28 May 2023 - 48min
328 - 324 Plan Red
After the Dunkirk evacuation, the next stage of the Western offensive began, aimed at capturing Paris and defeating France.
Sun, 21 May 2023 - 43min
327 - 323 Operation Dynamo
After German armor cut off the Allied First Army Group in Belgium, the Royal Navy attempts an evacuation of the trapped forces from the port of Dunkirk.
Sun, 07 May 2023 - 53min
326 - 322 Plan Yellow
After months of delays and a diversion into Denmark and Norway, Hitler finally gets his Western offensive.
Sun, 30 Apr 2023 - 45min
325 - 321 Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat
The Allied debacle in Norway sparked a revolt in the British Parliament against the Chamberlain government's conduct of the war.
Sun, 23 Apr 2023 - 40min
324 - 320 Operation Weserübung
Improbably, the nation of Norway finds itself the front line of the Second World War.
Sun, 16 Apr 2023 - 39min
323 - 319 Winston Is Back!
In the final year before the war began, Winston Churchill's denunciations of Nazi Germany began to seem prescient, but Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain fiercely resisted calls to invite Churchill into the Cabinet until war came. Then Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty, for the second time in his career.
Sun, 02 Apr 2023 - 43min
322 - 318 The Calm Before the Storm
Adolf Hitler wanted to attack in the west immediately after the fall of Poland, but unfavorable weather kept postponing the offensive. Then a copy of the plan fell into Allied hands.
Sun, 26 Mar 2023 - 41min
321 - 317 The Winter War
With the other Great Powers involved in their own wars, Stalin and the USSR are now free to claim the territories Germany granted to their "sphere of influence."
Sun, 19 Mar 2023 - 45min
320 - 316 Nazism Unleashed
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, it freed the Nazis from having to worry about international opinion. Hitler and his followers could now do as they pleased.
Sun, 12 Mar 2023 - 49min
319 - 315 Lessons Learned IV
With the narrative at the beginning of the Second World War, we pause to consider what lessons can be learned from the past twenty years.
Sun, 26 Feb 2023 - 44min
318 - 314 Here We Go Again
Adolf Hitler believed that the leaders of France and Britain would be too cowardly to go to war to defend Poland, but even if they did, he was willing to take them on. Here we go again...
Sun, 19 Feb 2023 - 1h 11min
317 - 313 What Guarantee Is There?
As Germany was ratcheting up the pressure against Poland, it and the USSR signed a non-aggression agreement. No one knew it at the time, but this agreement contained secret protocols that, among other things, divided Poland between them.
Sun, 12 Feb 2023 - 59min
316 - 312 It Don't Mean a Thing
Electronic amplification allowed singers and musicians to perform in a softer, more intimate way. The new styles became very popular, especially in the USA.
Sun, 05 Feb 2023 - 40min
315 - 311 We Shall Not Forget You
By 1938, it was clear the Spanish Republic was in trouble. British and French efforts to maintain peace with Germany and Italy had the side effect eliminating whatever hope remained.
Sun, 22 Jan 2023 - 51min
314 - 310 A Switch in Time
Roosevelt was re-elected in 1936 by an historic margin, but the years 1937-38 saw him stumble.
Sun, 15 Jan 2023 - 48min
313 - 309 The Golden Age of Radio
Over the course of the 1930s, entertainment on radio evolved into a mix of drama, situation comedy, soap opera, and kids' programming that would serve as the model for broadcast entertainment for the rest of the century.
Sun, 08 Jan 2023 - 45min
312 - 308 And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor
Advertising agencies as we know them today came into existence at the dawn of the twentieth century. These agencies were reluctant to move into radio advertising, but in the US, the medium was soon dominated by them.
Sun, 01 Jan 2023 - 43min
311 - 307 The Certainty Principle
In Germany in the 1930s, modern science was exploring the limits of what can be known, at the same time the Nazi political movement was claiming absolute knowledge.
Sun, 25 Dec 2022 - 59min
310 - 306 The November Pogrom
Just weeks after the Munich Agreement avoided a war, Germany was wracked by a spasm of internal anti-Semitic violence.
Sun, 18 Dec 2022 - 52min
309 - 305 Peace for Our Time
Adolf Hitler was gearing up for an invasion of Czechoslovakia. Then Neville Chamberlain intervened.
Sun, 11 Dec 2022 - 49min
308 - 304 Axis and Anschluss II
Hitler's first step on his plan to expand Germany to the east was to annex Austria.
Sun, 04 Dec 2022 - 51min
307 - 303 Axis and Anschluss I
Hitler wanted closer relations with both Britain and Italy. He got half his wish.
Sun, 27 Nov 2022 - 48min
306 - 302 When You Wish upon a Star
Fairy tales date back at least to medieval Europe, and probably further back than that. The 19th century demoted them to children's entertainment, but the twentieth century will find new uses for them.
Sun, 13 Nov 2022 - 46min
305 - 301 The Marco Polo Bridge
Chiang Kai-shek has had enough. When the Japanese provoke a confrontation, Chiang and his new Communist allies do not back down, and the result is war.
Sun, 06 Nov 2022 - 44min
304 - 300 The Imperial Way
Dissenting generals kidnap Chiang Kai-shek and force him to negotiate with the Chinese, while in Japan, right-wing radicals in the military consolidate their power.
Sun, 30 Oct 2022 - 55min
303 - 299 The Spanish Civil War
The generals tried to end the war in a matter of months by moving on the capital. Madrid held, but the Republic couldn't hold its crucial northern enclave.
Sun, 23 Oct 2022 - 48min
302 - 298 The Lost Generation
English language literature of the Jazz Age disdained the old conventions and went off in a new direction, emphasizing the subjectivity of experience and rejecting established authority.
Sun, 09 Oct 2022 - 51min
301 - 297 A Rendezvous with Destiny
Franklin Roosevelt was very popular in 1936, but he and his campaign had concerns, not only about the Republicans, but about potential challenges from the left.
Sun, 02 Oct 2022 - 38min
300 - 296 Request Instructions as to Bodies
The Spanish government was aware that a coup was coming and had taken steps against it, though these precautions would prove inadequate. Still, the coup would likely have failed without intervention from Germany and Italy.
Sun, 25 Sep 2022 - 42min
299 - 295 The Bottle Uncorked
King Alfonso XIII fled Spain in 1931 following the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic. But monarchists, the Catholic Church, and other right-wing forces in Spain were not ready to submit.
Sun, 18 Sep 2022 - 44min
298 - 294 The Year of the Three Kings
King George V died in January 1936, leaving the crown to his eldest son, who became Edward VIII. But Edward just didn't seem to take his responsibilities seriously.
Sun, 04 Sep 2022 - 48min
297 - 293 Strength Through Joy
By all appearances, Adolf Hitler was enormously popular in the early years of his rule over Germany. The Germans named streets, squares, even their own children, after him. They sold beer steins with his face on them.
The Nazis created the "Strength through Joy" program to create leisure activities for working people. The 1936 Olympics was staged to celebrate Nazi accomplishments.
Sun, 28 Aug 2022 - 52min
296 - 292 An Article for Export
Whatever its domestic policies, in international relations, Fascist Italy remained reasonable in its international relations. Then it invaded Ethiopia.
Sun, 21 Aug 2022 - 50min
295 - 291 The Nuremberg Laws
Under Nazi rule, German officials had to create a legal system that would define who was and wasn't "Aryan," because you can't oppress the "non-Aryans" until you know who they are.
Sun, 14 Aug 2022 - 52min
294 - 290 The Second New Deal
After the vindication of the 1934 mid-terms, Franklin Roosevelt further enlarges his agenda.
Sun, 31 Jul 2022 - 43min
293 - 289 The War of Thirst
In the early twentieth century, sovereignty over the Chaco Boreal in central South America was still unsettled. Bolivia and Peru went to war over their conflicting claims.
Sun, 24 Jul 2022 - 46min
292 - 288 What's Up, Doc?
Animated short films were already popular during the 1920s, but the rise of sound and color in motion pictures, pioneered by Walt Disney, revolutionized the form.
Sun, 17 Jul 2022 - 58min
291 - 287 An Eight-Minute Tidbit.
Animated drawings, in the form of flip books and zoetropes, already existed at the beginning of the twentieth century, but the rise of motion pictures also made possible the beginning of animated motion pictures.
Sun, 10 Jul 2022 - 41min
290 - 286 Unwinding Versailles
After the Night of the Long Knives, and with his domestic position secure, Hitler turned to foreign policy. German violations of the Treaty of Versailles were publicly acknowledged by 1935, and in spring of 1936, German soldiers entered the Rhineland.
Sun, 26 Jun 2022 - 52min
289 - 285 The Night of the Long Knives
Adolf Hitler was already effectively dictator of Germany, but in the first 18 months, he moved to tighten his grip, even going so far as to murder his own supporters in the SA and elsewhere.
Sun, 19 Jun 2022 - 55min
288 - 284 The Bomber Will Always Get Through
Even before Hitler and the Nazis took power, it was an open secret that Germany was enlarging its military beyond what the Treaty of Versailles allowed, leading to jittery nerves in France and Britain.
Sun, 12 Jun 2022 - 48min
287 - 283 Where Are the Customers' Yachts?
In this episode, we finish up a couple of New Deal programs we didn't get to talk about last time, and examine the Roosevelt Administration's efforts to restore confidence in Wall Street and in a dollar no longer backed by gold.
Sun, 05 Jun 2022 - 47min
286 - 282 One Hundred Days
Franklin Roosevelt's administration began with a bang.
Sun, 22 May 2022 - 41min
285 - 281 Fear Itself
In the four-month period between Roosevelt's election and his inauguration, the American economy went from bad to worse.
Sun, 15 May 2022 - 45min
284 - 280 A New Deal
New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt was the wide favorite for the 1932 Democratic Presidential nomination, while Herbert Hoover's popularity, like the US economy, was declining every month.
Sun, 08 May 2022 - 55min
283 - 279 Persistent Experimentation
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, scion of two old and wealthy New York families, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy and candidate for Vice President of the United States, had a bright future ahead of him. Then he came down with polio.
Sun, 01 May 2022 - 46min
282 - 278 Chain Reaction
Rutherford's hypothetical neutron was proved to exist in 1932. Atomic physics in the 1930s was regularly producing dramatic--and disturbing--new results.
Sun, 17 Apr 2022 - 45min
281 - 277 The Empire Christmas Pudding
The British economy hadn't fully bounced back from the war when the Depression hit, eventually forcing Britain off the gold standard once again.
Sun, 10 Apr 2022 - 44min
280 - 276 The Salt March
The Indian National Congress had declared independence, but waited for Gandhi to propose a strategy for resisting British rule. Gandhi came up with a characteristically unusual suggestion.
Sun, 03 Apr 2022 - 43min
279 - 275 Stalin Is the Lenin of Today
Stalin claimed the mantle of successor to Lenin and made the claim stick. He would go on to gain a degree of power in the USSR far greater than anything Lenin ever held, or even dreamed of.
Sun, 27 Mar 2022 - 46min
278 - 274 Start Talking and Stop Moving
Strangely, although motion pictures and sound recording were invented around the same time, it took thirty years before the technology to link them came together. Sound changed motion pictures, not always for the better.
Sun, 13 Mar 2022 - 49min
277 - 273 The Anatomy of Fascism
Fascist governments are run on the views of the fascist leader, more than a written ideology. And what does the leader want? At home, to celebrate "our" superior culture; abroad, war.
Sun, 06 Mar 2022 - 40min
276 - 272 The Vision of Fascism
In this second of a three-part series on fascism, we examine the beliefs that form the foundation of fascism.
Sun, 27 Feb 2022 - 43min
275 - 271 The Roots of Fascism
Fascism is the twentieth century's unique contribution to political ideology. In this first of a three-part series, we examine its roots.
Sun, 20 Feb 2022 - 44min
274 - 270 The Reichstag Fire
Hitler became chancellor of a mostly-not-Nazi cabinet. But he also demanded yet another election and worked hard to create a sense of crisis that would encourage more votes for Nazis.
Sun, 06 Feb 2022 - 43min
273 - 269 Chancellor Hitler
Just when it seemed the National Socialist movement was beginning to lose steam, other right-wing parties join the Nazis in a coalition, thinking to use the movement for their own purposes.
Sun, 30 Jan 2022 - 34min
272 - 268 A Private from Bohemia
Germany held four national elections in 1932, and a number of state elections besides. The NSDAP, the Nazi Party did quite well, but fell short every time. By the end of the year, there were signs the Party was losing steam.
Sun, 23 Jan 2022 - 59min
271 - 267 The Brown Battalions
With the 1930 German federal election, the Nazi party went from the fringes to status as one of Germany's major political parties. But that's not the same as participating in government.
Sun, 16 Jan 2022 - 43min
270 - 266 After Hitler, Our Turn
In the late Twenties, Germany saw its Communist and National Socialist parties grow in popularity, especially the latter. Adolf Hitler became the unlikely leader of the right wing in Germany, while the Communists dismissed the Nazis as a temporary obstacle.
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 - 43min
269 - 265 Foreign Commentary Changes Nothing
The Japanese occupation of Manchuria was the first real test of the League of Nations, as this was exactly the kind of aggressive act the League was created to prevent. Unfortunately, the League failed the test.
Sun, 26 Dec 2021 - 43min
268 - 264 What Is a Planet?
Ever since the eighth planet, Neptune, was discovered in 1846, some astronomers searched for a hypothetical ninth planet. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ninth planet in 1930. Or did he?
Sat, 25 Dec 2021 - 52min
267 - 263 Discussion Is Useless
Japan had a rough time of it in the 1920s, between the global economic shocks and a devastating 1923 earthquake. Japanese military commanders saw control of Manchuria as key to Japan's economic independence, and they weren't about to let the politicians in Tokyo interfere.
Sun, 19 Dec 2021 - 46min
266 - 262 The Long March
Chiang Kai-shek unified China, more or less, but survival of the Nationalist government was threatened by warlords, the Japanese, and the Communists. Of these threats, Chiang regarded the Communists as the greatest.
Sun, 12 Dec 2021 - 50min
265 - 261 The Great Crash III
The economic bad news had been centered in the United States, but in 1931, bank failures began multiplying in Europe, leading to the Great Depression.
Sun, 28 Nov 2021 - 49min