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
4 days ago
Episode 172 - The First 100 Days, Part I
4 days ago
4 days ago
Probably the most consequential legislative session in United States history was the special session of Congress that was summoned for the first 100 days of the FDR administration. Today, and for the next two episodes after, I'll be breaking down the major pieces of legislation that constituted the New Deal's first round. Both what they were and what they hoped to accomplish in the face of the Great Depression.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999
- Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011
- Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Age of Roosevelt Volume II: The Coming of the New Deal 1933-1935 First Mariner Books 2003
- Katznelson, Ira Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time W.W. Norton and Company, Inc 2013
- Smith, Jason Scott A Concise History of the New Deal Cambridge University Press 2014
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Episode 171 - The 117 Days Before the First 100 Days
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Sunday Apr 21, 2024
Getting back onto the chronological history of the United States, I take a look at the lame-duck period leading up to FDR's swearing-in. Unlike other lame-duck periods, things actually happened during this one. The economy entered a last freefall that might have spelled the end of the nation, the population sunk into despair, and Hoover tried to sabotage the incoming administration. But it didn't matter, the New Deal was coming all the same.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999
- Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011
- Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Age of Roosevelt Volume I: The Crisis of the Old Order 1919-1933 First Mariner Books 2003
- Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Age of Roosevelt Volume II: The Coming of the New Deal 1933-1935 First Mariner Books 2003
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Episode 170 - FDR, Part II
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
Sunday Apr 14, 2024
FDR takes the national stage with his appointment to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he's off to the races. No, that's not a crack on his bout with polio, although I finally get around to covering that today. Even with health and marital setbacks, FDR never lost sight of the high office he coveted, which carried him through to the triumph of 1932.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Smith, Jean Edward FDR Random House 2008
- Dallek, Robert Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life Viking 2017
- Simon, James F. FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal Simon & Schuster 2012
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Apr 07, 2024
Episode 169 - FDR, Part I
Sunday Apr 07, 2024
Sunday Apr 07, 2024
The time has finally come to return to the United States and kickoff the history of the New Deal. But what would the New Deal be without the blue-blooded president with the gumption to defy convention? Today starts a quick two-parter covering the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt up to his election to the presidency in 1932.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Smith, Jean Edward FDR Random House 2008
- Dallek, Robert Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life Viking 2017
- Simon, James F. FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal Simon & Schuster 2012
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Episode 168 - Speak Softly and Carry a Big Industrial Sector
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
Sunday Mar 31, 2024
To close out this miniseries on the First Five-Year Plan I'm covering Soviet diplomacy during the early 30s. The Great Depression came at a good time for the USSR and covered up much of its weakness during the dislocations of the period, but there was still threats that needed addressing.
- Haslam, Jonathan Soviet Foreign Policy 1930-33: The Impact of the Depression Macmillan Press Ltd 1983
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 Penguin Press 2017
- Suny, Ronald Grigor The Cambridge History of Russia Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2006
- Kenez, Peter A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, 2nd Edition Cambridge University Press 2006
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Mar 24, 2024
Episode 167 - It's a Hard Knock Soviet Life
Sunday Mar 24, 2024
Sunday Mar 24, 2024
Life in the Soviet cities might not have wracked up the fatality count during the early 1930s that the countryside did, but it had its share of suffering all the same. Food shortages, goods shortages, black markets, all became painful facts of life that urban Soviets acclimated to.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s Oxford University Press 2000
- Lewin, Moshe Making the Soviet System: Essays in the Social History of Interwar Russia Pantheon Books 1985
- Lewin, Moshe The Soviet Century Verso 2016
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 Penguin Press 2017
- Suny, Ronald Grigor The Cambridge History of Russia Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2006
- Kenez, Peter A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, 2nd Edition Cambridge University Press 2006
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Episode 166 - Stalin's Revolution
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Turning more towards the culture of the Soviet Union during the early 30s, I take a look at the Cultural Revolution carried in the USSR from 1928-1931. It was a brief, but critical event that brought the most active and passionate in the Party into Stalin's camp. Which in turn gave him the foot soldiers necessary to bring the bureaucracy and intelligentsia into line.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s Oxford University Press 2000
- Lewin, Moshe Making the Soviet System: Essays in the Social History of Interwar Russia Pantheon Books 1985
- Lewin, Moshe The Soviet Century Verso 2016
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 Penguin Press 2017
- Suny, Ronald Grigor The Cambridge History of Russia Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2006
- Kenez, Peter A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, 2nd Edition Cambridge University Press 2006
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Episode 165 - Magnitogorsk Steel
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Sunday Mar 10, 2024
Taking a break from the thrilling world of statistics, today I zero in on the crown jewel of Soviet industrial expansion, the construction of the industrial city of Magnitogorsk. From an empty steppe there was built an entire city with the purpose of cranking out the steel and iron that would help fuel Soviet industry. It was no small task, and the eventual success of the project stands as a testament to the perseverance of the Soviet workers who made it happen.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Kotkin, Stephen Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as a Civilization University of California Press 1997
- Allen, Robert C. Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution Princeton University Press 2003
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Episode 164 - Brakes Not Included
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
Sunday Feb 25, 2024
If collectivization was the great failure of the 1st Five-Year-Plan, then rapid industrialization was its great success. But don't worry, there was still enough mayhem during those days to make the story of building factories an interesting one.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Allen, Robert C. Farm to Factory: A Reinterpretation of the Soviet Industrial Revolution Princeton University Press 2003
- Lewin, Moshe Making the Soviet System: Essays in the Social History of Interwar Russia Pantheon Books 1985
- Lewin, Moshe The Soviet Century Verso 2016
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 Penguin Press 2017
- Suny, Ronald Grigor The Cambridge History of Russia Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2006
- Kenez, Peter A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, 2nd Edition Cambridge University Press 2006
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com
Monday Feb 19, 2024
Episode 163 - Kolkhoz, Part III
Monday Feb 19, 2024
Monday Feb 19, 2024
To wrap up this look at collectivization in the USSR, I focus in on the famine years of 1932-33. Why it happened, how it affected people, how the state responded. Really kind of hard to describe the scale of it, although I give it a shot.
Bibliography for this episode:
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila Stalin's Peasants: Resistance & Survival in the Russian Village After Collectivization Oxford University Press 1994
- Viola, Lynne Peasant Rebels Under Stalin: Collectivization and the Culture of Peasant Resistance Oxford University Press 1996
- Lewin, Moshe Making the Soviet System: Essays in the Social History of Interwar Russia Pantheon Books 1985
- Lewin, Moshe The Soviet Century Verso 2016
- Kotkin, Stephen Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 Penguin Press 2017
- Suny, Ronald Grigor The Cambridge History of Russia Volume III: The Twentieth Century Cambridge University Press 2006
- Kenez, Peter A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, 2nd Edition Cambridge University Press 2006
Questions? Comments? Email me at peaceintheirtime@gmail.com