A history podcast dedicated to examining the global history of the 1920s and 30s in order to explain the causes of World War II, both large and small. As you might imagine, there’s a lot of ground to cover just to contextualize how the conflict got so out of control. If you love historical deep-dives and play-by-plays of nations in way over their collective heads, this is the show for you. Best niche history podcast out there! PROTIP: If you’re a new listener and are hopelessly confused by me bouncing from topic to topic, the scope of this show has kinda gotten away from me over the years. I have included an index of miniseries in the description of Episode 1 to provide a guide for what I’ve covered so far.
Episodes
Monday Dec 19, 2022
Monday Dec 19, 2022
In contrast to the Genoa Conference failing because it tried to do too much, the Locarno Treaties had much more success due to keeping its ambitions manageable. And those ambitions were to guarantee peace in Western Europe, as opposed to the world. Still, diplomacy being what it was in the 20s, there was still plenty keeping the Great Powers from achieving something that could last.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Jacobson, Jon Locarno Diplomacy: Germany and the West, 1925-1929 Princeton University Press 1972
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Monday Dec 12, 2022
Monday Dec 12, 2022
Bringing the focus back to European affairs, there was a lot of unfinished business left after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. And that business seemed intractable, leading the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George to call a new conference to solve all the continent's woes. Its failure would signal the end of overblown meetings on the Paris model, as well as set the stage for the Ruhr crisis of the mid-20s.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fink, Carole The Genoa Conference: European Diplomacy, 1921-1922 Syracuse University Press 1993
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Monday Dec 05, 2022
Monday Dec 05, 2022
A big point of contention during the 1920s was disarmament. The world public didn't want a repeat of WWI, and maintaining huge militaries was seen as a wasteful expense in times of economic crisis. And for once, the Great Powers of the world did something about it, meeting in Washington, DC to hash out an agreement to scale back navy sizes.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Goldstein, Erik The Washington Conference, 1921-22: Naval Rivalry, East Asian Stability and the Road to Pearl Habor Frank Cass Publishers 1994
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Nov 27, 2022
Sunday Nov 27, 2022
Today we start covering the broader international initiatives that attempted to consolidate the Versailles system after WWI. The one that carried the most promise in the imagination of the world's public, if not the world's leaders, was the League of Nations. A precursor to the United Nations, it would try what had never been done before: Create an independent international body that would mediate the disputes of its members and de-escalate conflicts before a war could break out.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Henig, Ruth The Peace That Never Was: A History of the League of Nations Haus Publishing Ltd, 2019
- Becker, Pete and Natasha Wheatly Remaking Central Europe: The League of Nations and the Former Habsburg Lands Oxford University Press 2020
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Today is our conclusion to this season's miniseries on the Soviet Union. The final years of the 20s saw the USSR slip into paranoia over fears of foreign invasion and subversion at home. It would be the perfect conditions for Stalin to move against his enemies in the Communist leadership, which is to say everyone that didn't swear blind loyalty to him.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila On Stalin's Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics Princeton University Press 2015
- Rayfield, Donald Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed For Him Random House 2004
- Cohen, Steven Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888-1938 Oxford University Press 1980
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Nov 13, 2022
Sunday Nov 13, 2022
We've finally reached the last episodes of the Soviet Union during the 1920s. It was a decade of possibility, but the rise of Stalin to undisputed power meant the era wouldn't last forever. His consolidation of power was a years-long process, and would play out over countless congresses and backroom maneuverings.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila On Stalin’s Team: The Years of Living Dangerously in Soviet Politics Princeton University Press 2015
- Rayfield, Donald Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those Who Killed for Him Random House 2004
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Monday Nov 07, 2022
Monday Nov 07, 2022
The years leading up to WWI were tough on Stalin, whatever luck he or the Bolsheviks had before and during the 1905 Revolution had run out. He personally was mostly stuck in exile, managing to escape every so often, but all too quickly caught and returned. The Tsarist regime though was chronically self-defeating, and the Revolution that would be his salvation was not long in coming.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Monday Oct 31, 2022
Party business got serious after the 1905 Revolution, as the regime struck back against its enemies and the Socialists turned to every source of support they could. Stalin possessed organizational skills and a lack of scruples, so he began a hybrid life of politics and crime that got him noticed by both Lenin and the authorities.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Having been kicked out of the seminary, young Stalin embarked on the life of a professional revolutionary in earnest. Agitation, a refusal to play nice with older party leaders, and mysterious oil refinery explosions all became his calling cards.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
Sunday Oct 16, 2022
The biography episodes return as today I cover the early life of Joseph Stalin. Born into a conquest of the Russian Empire, young Stalin was not the most likely candidate to become a world leader. But the crucible of living under the Tsarist boot and his own violent homelife shaped him into the revolutionary that he would become.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Montefiore, Simon Sebag Young Stalin Vintage Books 2007
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Paradoxes of Power 1878-1928 Penguin Books 2015
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com