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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

26:11

The Russian General Staff 1905-14

Explaining History ·

2025/12/05

In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick delves into the institutional failures of the Imperial Russian Army in the critical decade before World War I. Drawing from the essay collectionReforming the Tsar’s Army, we explore how the disastrous defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 shook the foundations of Tsarist power.We examine the struggle between military modernizers like General N.P. Mikhnevich, who sought to adapt to the new realities of machine guns and trenches, and traditionalists who

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27:36

War Correspondents and Vietnam: Part Two

Explaining History ·

2025/12/04

Episode Summary:In this episode ofExplaining History, Nick returns to Philip Knightley's seminal work,The First Casualty, to examine how British and American journalists covered the Vietnam War. While American reporters were often "embedded" and compromised by military PR, British correspondents like John Pilger offered a searing, independent critique of the conflict.We explore the endemic corruption of Saigon—a city described as a "vast brothel" of black marketeering—and the staggering scale of

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35:15

The Forgotten Revolution: Venezuela’s Democratic...

Explaining History ·

2025/12/03

In 2025, Venezuela is once again in the crosshairs of US foreign policy, facing the threat of military intervention and heightened sanctions from a new Trump administration. But to understand the resilience of the Venezuelan people today, we must look back to a pivotal moment in their history that is often overlooked: the "Trienio" of 1945-1948.In this episode, Nick explores the dramatic coup of October 1945, led by young officers like Carlos Delgado Chalbaud and the democratic party Acción

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28:11

Explaining History: The End of the Western World Order?

Explaining History ·

2025/11/24

Is the era of Western global dominance coming to an end? This episode explores the profound decline of Western, and particularly American, "hard" and "soft" power on the world stage.We begin by contrasting two pivotal moments in history: Lord Palmerston's 19th-century Britain, which could blockade a nation over the dubious claims of a single subject, and the modern United States, a superpower unable to prevent a small city-state like Singapore from punishing one of its citizens. This shift

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25:43

The RAF and the origins of mass bombing 1939-40

Explaining History ·

2025/11/19

From Restraint to Ruin - The Birth of the Bombing WarAt the dawn of World War II in 1939, a fragile consensus existed among the warring powers. Spurred by an appeal from President Roosevelt, leaders like Neville Chamberlain and even Hitler gave public undertakings to abstain from the horror of aerial attacks on civilians. There was a genuine, if naïve, belief that the looming conflict could be "humanised," and that the bomber would be restricted to purely military targets.But how did this initial

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30:35

America and China in 2025

Explaining History ·

2025/11/18

Explaining History Podcast: 2025 in Review - The Year the Tech War Was LostAs 2025 draws to a close, we reflect on a pivotal year that historians may one day see as the moment the world changed forever. This episode delves into the most significant geopolitical shift of our time: the American retreat from its tech and trade war with China, and the quiet acknowledgment that the battle has been lost.Join us as we analyze the key indicators of this tipping point, from tech oligarch Peter Thiel losing

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35:28

Live Aid, famine, debt and activism: A four decade...

Explaining History ·

2025/11/09

In this episode of the Explaining History podcast, host Nick Shepley is joined by veteran journalist and author Paul Vallely to explore the definitive inside story of Live Aid and its far-reaching legacy. Vallely’s new book, Live Aid: The Definitive 40-Year Story from Pop and Poverty to Politics and Power, chronicles the journey from the 1984–85 Ethiopian famine and the iconic 1985 Live Aid concert through four decades of activism against global poverty. The conversation delves into how a charity

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31:09

Unsung Victorians: Grace Darling, Josephine Butler &...

Explaining History ·

2025/10/09

Author Mark Beatty joins to explore three Victorians who shaped their era in very different ways yet rarely get the spotlight. We trace Grace Darling’s 1838 sea rescue and the birth of tabloid celebrity; Josephine Butler’s fearless campaign against the Contagious Diseases Acts and for raising the age of consent; and George Biddell Airy’s half-century as Astronomer Royal, standardising Greenwich Mean Time for a world on the move. It’s a conversation about media, morality, science, empire—and how

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29:53

John Dee: Queen Elizabeth's Wizard

Explaining History ·

2025/10/09

Who was John Dee—the Tudor polymath who advised Elizabeth I, mapped the heavens, spoke (he believed) with angels, and penned a landmark preface to Euclid? Historian and writer Rachel Morris joins to unpack Dee’s strange, brilliant world at the fault line between Renaissance “natural magic” and the birth of modern science. We explore why astrology was respectable, what “as above, so below” meant to learned magi, how printing turned libraries into engines of ideas, the hazards of practicing magic in

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24:20

Berlin in 1945

Explaining History ·

2025/10/06

In 1945, weeks before the Western Allies arrived in Hitler's capital the Red Army controlled the city and began to quietly impose a new generation of German communists. Amid the ruins and devastation, ordinary Berliners, aware of their country's crimes, began to rebuild. This episode draws on Berlin by Sinclair McKay.Go Deeper:Visit our website atwww.explaininghistory.orgfor articles and detailed explorations of the topics discussed.▸ Join the Conversation:Our community of history enthusiasts

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23:37

Social Democracy and the Splintering of the 60s left

Explaining History ·

2025/09/16

In the post war decades huge strides were made across the world to address the worst aspects of social deprivation using the coordinated power of the state. Often the resulted showed working class communities that those deciding their fate were indifferent as to the actual results. In Tony Judt's penultimate book Ill Fares The Land, he explores the crises of social provision and the fragmentation of the old and the new left of the 1960s on the issues of collectivism and individualism.Go Deeper:Visit

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24:45

Trump's State Visit 2.0

Explaining History ·

2025/09/15

This week, two seemingly separate events tell a single, troubling story about Britain's place in the modern world. First, a massive, 100,000-strong far-right rally, supported by American funding, took to the streets of London. Now, Keir Starmer's government is preparing to roll out the red carpet for an unprecedented second state visit for Donald Trump.These are not separate events. They are two acts in the same play.In this episode, Nick Shepley argues that Britain is preparing to advertise its own

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1:27

The Explaining History Podcast

Explaining History ·

2025/09/15

If you’re new to Explaining History, this short trailer is the perfect introduction to the show.For over a decade, we've been helping listeners understand the 20th Century. Host Nick Shepley and expert guests break down the critical events, ideologies, and conflicts that shaped our modern world. This isn't a dry lecture; it's an engaging, critical conversation that connects the past to the present in concise, 25-minute episodes.Like what you hear?Hit 'Subscribe' or 'Follow' in your podcast app nowso

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25:28

Anti Communist Hysteria and state legislation in America

Explaining History ·

2025/09/10

In the late 1940s and early 1950s some of the most extreme anti communist laws were passed at state level, including the death penalty for membership of any seditious organisation and the compulsory registration of subversive parties. None of this legislation was ever actually enacted and much of it was declared unconstitutional by federal judges and counteracted by federal legislation, but it gives us a valuable snapshot of the climate of hysteria and dread in America at the time. Newsflash: You

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37:08

What Plato can teach us about the crises of the 21st...

Explaining History ·

2025/08/26

What Plato Can Teach Us About the Crises of the 21st Century — with Professor Angie HobbsIn this special episode of Explaining History, I’m joined by Professor Angie Hobbs to discuss her new book Why Plato Matters Now. Together we explore Plato’s life and thought, and the urgent relevance of his ideas in today’s world. From the dangers of oligarchy and the corruption of language, to the decline of truth, the rise of the demagogue, and the path to tyranny, we trace Plato’s insights into politics,

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26:05

War Reporting in Vietnam

Explaining History ·

2025/08/25

In this episode of Explaining History, we explore the fraught world of war reporting in Vietnam during the decade before full-scale U.S. involvement. Drawing on Philip Knightley’s classic study The First Casualty, we examine how embedded American correspondents were constrained by censorship, official manipulation, and the Pentagon’s control over information. We also highlight the surprising advantage held by some British reporters, who—operating outside the U.S. military’s embedded framework—were

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34:58

Liberalism and the Global South

Explaining History ·

2025/08/13

In this episode, I read from Pankaj Mishra’s Bland Fanatics, a searing critique of liberalism and its reception beyond the West. Mishra explores how, across much of the Global South, liberalism is not the triumphant, self-evident good it is often assumed to be in Euro-American discourse, but instead a system bound up with histories of empire, inequality, and cultural dislocation. Through his lens, we examine why the liberal ideal — so celebrated in Western political thought — can appear hollow, or

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26:44

Rentier Capitalism and neo feudalism

Explaining History ·

2025/08/11

Is modern capitalism beginning to resemble a feudal system? This episode of Explaining History explores the provocative argument, drawn from the work of the late anthropologist David Graeber, that contemporary capitalism has evolved into a new form of feudalism.This episode delves into a lecture by David Graeber, where he contended that modern "rentier capitalism" shares many characteristics with historical feudalism. We'll unpack the distinction he makes between a system based on the extraction of

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37:58

Nation In Arms: Lessons from Five Armies That Made...

Explaining History ·

2025/07/31

What can the Roman legions of Constantine, the Ottoman forces of Mehmet the Conqueror, and the US Army of World War II teach us about modern military power?In this timely episode of the Explaining History Podcast, I speak with former senior British officer and acclaimed military historian Barney White-Spunner about his forthcoming book Nation In Arms (out 14 August). Drawing from five pivotal armies that helped shape the European continent—the Roman, Ottoman, New Model, Prussian, and

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30:06

Britain's Austerity Trap

Explaining History ·

2025/07/16

Britain’s Austerity TrapWhy is one of the world’s richest countries still behaving like it’s broke?In this episode of Explaining History, we dive into Yanis Varoufakis’s searing critique of Britain’s ongoing austerity dilemma under the new Labour government. Despite hopes for change, Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces the same iron cage of fiscal rules, banker subsidies, and Treasury orthodoxy that has strangled public spending for decades.We unpack the hidden costs of so-called “zombie austerity,” from

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