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PODCAST

Explaining History

How do we make sense of the modern world? We find the answers in the history of the 20th Century.For over a decade, The Explaining History Podcast has been the guide for curious minds. Host Nick Shepley and expert guests break down the world wars, the Cold War, and the rise and fall of ideologies into concise, 25-minute episodes.This isn"t a dry lecture. It"s a critical, narrative-driven conversation that connects the past to your present.Perfect for students, history buffs, and anyone who wants to

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All Episodes

28:52

Emergency Episode: The Murder of Renée Good and the...

Explaining History ·

2026/01/08

Episode Summary:In this urgent episode ofExplaining History, Nick addresses the breaking news from Minnesota: the execution of 37-year-old Renée Good by ICE agents.This is not just a news story; it is a historical inflection point. We explore the parallels between the unchecked violence of ICE and the early days of the Nazi SA (Brownshirts) in 1933. When a paramilitary force operates with impunity and state backing, the rule of law collapses.Nick argues that we cannot separate the history of the

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30:02

Official remembering and forgetting in Xi Xinping's...

Explaining History ·

2026/01/07

Episode Summary:In this episode of Explaining History, Nick explores the complex and often suppressed memory of China's recent past. Drawing on Tania Branigan's Red Memory, we delve into the heart of Beijing—Tiananmen Square—and unpack its layers of history, from the May Fourth Movement of 1919 to the founding of the People's Republic in 1949 and the tragedy of 1989.Why does the portrait of Mao Zedong still gaze over the square, despite the catastrophes of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural

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24:59

The End of NATO? Greenland, Trump, and the Collapse...

Explaining History ·

2026/01/06

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick explores the escalating crisis that threatens to destroy the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). With Donald Trump eyeing Greenland as a territorial acquisition and European leaders issuing a rare, unified rebuke, the alliance forged in 1949 to contain Soviet power is facing its greatest existential threat.We delve into the history of NATO—from the Berlin Airlift and the Truman Doctrine to its expansion after the Cold War. How did an

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25:01

Was the Russian Revolution Inevitable?...

Explaining History ·

2026/01/05

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick explores one of the most debated questions in modern history: Was the Russian Revolution inevitable?Moving beyond the simple narrative of "peace, land, and bread," we delve into the competing schools of historiography that have shaped our understanding of 1917. From the Soviet orthodoxy of historical determinism to the Western liberal view of a Bolshevik coup d'état, and finally to the revisionist and post-revisionist syntheses of scholars

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34:47

24 Hours Later: The Reality of Trump's Venezuelan...

Explaining History ·

2026/01/04

Episode Summary:One day after the shock attack on Caracas, Nick returns with an update on the US intervention in Venezuela. With President Maduro reportedly abducted and Donald Trump promising to "run Venezuela," we delve into the grim logistics of occupying a nation larger than France.Drawing parallels with the Boer War, Vietnam, and the disastrous invasion of Iraq in 2003, Nick argues that while the US may have the firepower to win a battle, it lacks the numbers, the political will, and the

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29:17

The Soviet Gulag and Stalin's Great Terror

Explaining History ·

2026/01/02

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick takes a deep dive into the grim reality of the Soviet camp system. Drawing on Anne Applebaum’sGulag: A History, we explore how the camps evolved from disorganized prisons into a vast industrial complex of slave labour.We examine the "Great Terror" of 1937-38 not just as a political purge, but as a bureaucratic process driven by quotas and paranoia. Why did Stalin purge the very men—Yagoda, Yezhov, Berman—who built the Gulag system? How did

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31:33

Trump, India, and the Geopolitical Reset of 2025

Explaining History ·

2025/12/28

Episode Summary:In the third part of our 2025 Year in Review, Nick shifts the focus to Asia, exploring the dramatic realignment of US-India relations under Donald Trump’s second term.For decades, Washington viewed India as a "natural strategic partner"—a democratic counterweight to China, showered with military aid and technology transfers. But in 2025, that special relationship has collapsed. Drawing on a fascinating analysis by Chinese foreign policy expert Mao Keji, we delve into why Trump has

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26:01

American Suburbia and the birth of the Consumer’s...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/27

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick explores the rise of the "Consumer’s Republic" in post-war America. We examine how the dream of the suburban idyll—white picket fences, gleaming appliances, and mass car ownership—became a central pillar of US identity and stability.Drawing on Lizabeth Cohen'sA Consumer's Republic, we delve into how corporate and political elites consciously steered American citizens away from collectivist politics and towards a highly individualized

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33:09

Iwo Jima, historical memory and the myth of the...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/27

In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick explores how different nations remember the Second World War, focusing on the stark contrast between American triumphalism and European melancholy.Drawing on Keith Lowe's brilliant bookPrisoners of History, we delve into the cultural psychology behind monuments like the Iwo Jima Memorial. Why does America view its soldiers as "freedom warriors" and saints, while Europe often builds monuments to victims? We unpack the concept of "The Greatest Generation" and

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31:55

The American New Left, Cold War Liberals and the...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/23

In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick explores the emergence of the "New Left" in 1960s America—a movement born from the failure of Cold War liberalism to deliver on its promises.Drawing on Kim McQuaid’sThe Anxious Years, we delve into the deep disillusionment that fuelled student radicalism. Why did young activists view "vital centre" liberals like JFK and LBJ not as allies, but as "closet right-wingers" trapped in an imperialist mindset? We examine the "bipartisan banality" of the era, where

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31:57

2025 Year in Review Part 2: The End of Europe’s...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/22

Is 2025 the year the European project finally hit the wall? In this episode, we argue that 2025 serves as a massive historical inflection point—comparable to 1933, 1968, or 1989—marking the definitive end of the post-Cold War era.We explore the "perfect storm" battering the continent: the return of Donald Trump and the removal of the American security umbrella, the accelerating de-industrialization of Germany, and the demographic cliff-edge that makes mass migration an economic necessity despite the

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27:22

The Mirage of Classlessness: Affluence and Labour in...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/20

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick continues his exploration of post-war American affluence. We often think of the 1950s as a golden age of middle-class expansion, where the old divisions of wealth and status melted away under a wave of chrome-plated cars and suburban lawns. But was this "classless society" a reality or a comforting myth?Drawing again from James Patterson’sGrand Expectations, we delve into the changing nature of work and the rise of the white-collar economy

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30:29

The Accidental Podcast: Reflections on History,...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/20

As we approach the end of another year, Nick takes a moment to step back from the history books and reflect on the Explaining History podcast itself. What started 13 years ago as a "flipped classroom" experiment by a history teacher in Wales has grown into a global community.In this candid episode, Nick discusses his philosophy of history—why he rejects the "history as entertainment" model and the simplistic "Great Man" theories often peddled by TV documentaries. Instead, he argues for a structural

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25:58

The Forgotten Revolution: The Young Turks and the...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/19

In 1908, the Ottoman Empire was on the brink of collapse. The despotism of Sultan Abdul Hamid II had stifled political life for decades, but a military uprising in Macedonia would soon change everything.In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick explores one of the great forgotten revolutions of the 20th century: the Young Turk Revolution. Drawing on Eugene Rogan's masterful bookThe Fall of the Ottomans, we delve into how the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) forced the Sultan to restore the

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28:14

2025 Year in Review Part 1: De-Dollarization,...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/18

Episode Summary:As 2025 draws to a close, Nick reflects on a pivotal year in global history. From the economic shockwaves of the Trump tariffs to the accelerating shift of power back to Asia, this episode argues that we are witnessing the terminal decline of the Anglo-American world order.We explore the existential threat of "de-dollarization"—a process accelerated not just by Trump, but by the weaponization of the financial system under Biden. Nick also examines the hollowing out of the British

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26:50

Germany's Fears of Russian Invasion in 1914

Explaining History ·

2025/12/13

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick moves beyond the familiar trenches of the Western Front to explore the terrifying reality of the Eastern Front in 1914. Drawing from Alexander Watson’s masterful bookRing of Steel, we examine how the German and Austro-Hungarian empires experienced the outbreak of World War I not just as a military conflict, but as a fight for survival against a "despotic" Russian invader.We delve into the panic that gripped the border city of Allenstein (now

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31:28

The Wannsee Conference and the Nazi Camps

Explaining History ·

2025/12/12

In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick revisits Nikolaus Wachsmann's monumental study,KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps.We explore a critical and often misunderstood aspect of the Holocaust: the relationship between the Concentration Camps (KL) and the extermination camps of the East. Why were Jews initially marginalized within the KL system? How did the failure of the war against the Soviet Union in 1941 shift Nazi policy from the exploitation of Soviet POWs to the mass enslavement

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26:10

Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution

Explaining History ·

2025/12/11

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick delves into the harrowing yet complex world of child labour during the British Industrial Revolution. Moving beyond the Dickensian caricatures of helpless victims, we explore Emma Griffin's groundbreaking book,Liberty’s Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution.Through the voices of those who lived it—captured in hundreds of working-class autobiographies—we uncover the brutal reality of 13-hour shifts in cotton mills and lonely

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27:41

Your Party and the fragmented British Left in 2025

Explaining History ·

2025/12/01

In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick takes a hard look at the state of the British Left in late 2025. With the Starmer government firmly entrenched in "continuity Thatcherism," the opposition has splintered. We analyze the chaotic founding conference of the new left-wing coalition, "Your Party," led by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana.From walkouts and factional disputes to the return of the "spectre of entryism" by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), we explore why the Left seems addicted to

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31:26

Code Breaking: From Bletchley Park to the Cold War

Explaining History ·

2025/11/30

In this episode ofExplaining History, we sit down with author Maggie Ritchie to discuss her latest novel,White Raven. We explore the remarkable true story of Moira Beattie, a Glasgow art student recruited into the heart of Bletchley Park at just 18 years old. Maggie reveals how a chance encounter with the elderly artist unveiled a secret life of wartime codebreaking and a romance with a Russian intelligence officer.We also move beyond 1945 to shine a light on a forgotten chapter of British

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