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
Sunday Feb 06, 2022
Sunday Feb 06, 2022
The Second Zhili-Fengtian War ended in dramatic fashion. But once again, nobody left on the board was in a good enough position to claim control of China. Instead, the warlord period entered its most factionalized phase, with four major players vying for dominance in the north.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Pye, Lucian W. Warlord Politics Praeger Publishers 1971
- Chan, Anthony B. Arming the Chinese: The Western Armaments Trade in Warlord China, 1920-1928 UBC Press 2010
- Waldron, Arthur From War to Nationalism: China's Turning Point, 1924-25 Cambridge University Press 1995
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
Sunday Jan 30, 2022
This week I cover the arms trade fueling the civil wars in China, and the warlords' own efforts at building native arms industries. Then for the second half, I kick off the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, as the region north of Beijing once again became a battleground.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
- Pye, Lucian W. Warlord Politics Praeger Publishers 1971
- Chan, Anthony B. Arming the Chinese: The Western Armaments Trade in Warlord China, 1920-1928 UBC Press 2010
- Waldron, Arthur From War to Nationalism: China's Turning Point, 1924-25 Cambridge University Press 1995
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Jan 23, 2022
Sunday Jan 23, 2022
The wars between the Cliques kick off as the Anhui and Zhili factions go head-to-head. While their battle would be a short one, the results brought the nation no closer to peace, and only set the stage for the next round of fighting. Also, Sun Yat-sen keeps doing his thing in the country's south.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
- Pye, Lucian W. Warlord Politics Praeger Publishers 1971
- Chan, Anthony B. Arming the Chinese: The Western Armaments Trade in Warlord China, 1920-1928 UBC Press 2010
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Jan 16, 2022
Sunday Jan 16, 2022
Today I take a partial step back from high politics in China. Dissatisfaction had been building over the Chinese government's failure revise the exploitive relationship the country suffered from with the great powers of the world. And it didn't help that both Yuan and Duan had been actively courting foreign support either. On May 4th 1919, the tension broke and people took to the streets, at first mostly students, and then most everybody else in the major cities. In addition to covering this protest, I take a step back and cover the development of Chinese thinking and education that led to this point. While the protests would be relatively short-lived, they represented a break where political and social revolution became far more attractive in China.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
- Pye, Lucian W. Warlord Politics Praeger Publishers 1971
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Jan 09, 2022
Sunday Jan 09, 2022
This week I give an overview of the emerging networks of Warlords that would come to dominate China. Yuan Shikai might have died, but China's troubles were far, far from over. His most powerful subordinate, Duan Qirui, attempted to fill the void left by his old master, but he didn't command the same level of prestige and fear that Yuan did at his height. Other factions began to emerge and Duan's own authoritarian tendencies led to the Warlords scrambling to make alliances for the civil wars to come.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
- Pye, Lucian W. Warlord Politics Praeger Publishers 1971
- Chan, Anthony B. Arming the Chinese: The Western Armaments Trade in Warlord China, 1920-1928 UBC Press 2010
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
Sunday Jan 02, 2022
Fresh off his victory over Sun and the KMT, Yuan fell into the old strongman trap of overreaching while his regime hadn't yet found its footing. That, coupled with his regime being undermined from abroad eventually led him to make a really bad call that totally blew up in his face.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Dec 26, 2021
Sunday Dec 26, 2021
China's decay by the end of 1911 reaches a point of no return and a revolution sweeps the country. The old Qing Empire ends in ignominious fashion as its hand-picked commander decides to parley with the revolution instead. The Qing went away, but the question of what came after would take over 35 years to be answered.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Dec 19, 2021
Sunday Dec 19, 2021
Today is the start of a new miniseries where I finally get to cover China. This is going to be a fun one because the history of China during this time period is one that gets left out of the vast majority of popular histories. The reason is because it's a hectic mess, which is good because hectic messes are one of the reasons I do this show. This week though we just get the table set, with the fall of the Qing Empire, and China's entry into an extended period of misery.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fairbank, John K & Kwang-Ching Liu The Cambridge History of China, Volume 11: Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1980
- Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
- Bianco, Lucien Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Editions Gallimard 1967
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Dec 12, 2021
Sunday Dec 12, 2021
This week we wrap up Japan in the 1920s. While the nation didn't finish the decade gripped by the militarism that would drag the nation into its later disasters, warning signs were already there. The country's ruling class became fearful of the changing times, a shift reflected in the change of monarch as Hirohito takes the throne, and Japan once again had an active emperor.
Bibliography for this episode:
- McClain, James L A Modern History of Japan WW Norton & Company Inc, 2002
- Duus, Peter The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 6: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 1988
- Mason, RHP & JG Caiger A History of Japan Tuttle Publishing 1997
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Sunday Dec 05, 2021
Returning back to normal episodes on Japan, the country enjoys its most democratic period of the years I'll be covering. Too bad for them, it's also the same time that the economy craters and one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history strikes.
Bibliography for this episode:
- McClain, James L A Modern History of Japan WW Norton & Company Inc, 2002
- Duus, Peter The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 6: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 1988
- Mason, RHP & JG Caiger A History of Japan Tuttle Publishing 1997
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com