In October 1929, the New York stock market crash ushered in the Great Depression. With their economy closely tied to the supply of cheap American capital, Germans felt the impact of the crash more acutely than most other nations. Soon the country's economy was in ruins, with millions unemployed. This episode charts the relationship between German politics and economic between 1929 and 1932, showing how economic suffering led to growing cynicism about the Weimar system...

Send us a text In the spring of 1925, a newly free Adolf Hitler ordered his bodyguard/chauffeur Julius Schreck to create a new protection detail. Eventually known as the SS, its membership would fluctuate between 250 and 1000 men over the next four years. And yet, perhaps no institution in Nazi Germany strikes more fear into the hearts of modern listeners. This episode documents how the SS grew from an otherwise unremarkable Nazi formation into a sprawling empire that included effective contr...

Send us a text In the Reichstag elections of May 1928, the Nazi Party took home just 2.6% of the vote. Two years later they would explode onto the German political scene, taking 18.3% of the vote and becoming the second largest party in Germany. This episode uncovers the secrets to the Nazis electoral success, showcasing how new techniques and strategies helped distinguish them from their political rivals on both the left and the right. Topics covered include Joseph Goebbels and the use of vi...

Send us a text When Adolf Hitler left prison in Dec. 1924, his Nazi Party lay in ruins. Officially banned by the Bavarian government, he was also prohibited from public speech in many German states. And yet, eight years later he would become Chancellor of Germany, head of the country's largest political party. How did this happen? This episode begins to answer that question by looking at the rebuilding of the Nazi Party between 1925 and 1928. In addition to discussing ...

Send us a text From Indiana Jones, to Captain America to Hellboy, the theme of Nazis and the Occult has long fascinated Hollywood. But is there any truth behind these fictional representations? This partial Patreon preview explores the bizarre world of late 19th/early 20th century occultism, elucidating its tangential links to the birth and development of the Nazi Party. As we'll see, Hitler was not "nuts" about the occult. But some prominent Nazis such as Rudolf Hess and Heinrich...

Send us a text In Nov 1918, Germans set out on a radical experiment: the building of a new, fully democratic state known as the Weimar Republic. Unfortunately, of course, it didn't last. But the question remains why? And what should this tell us about the strength of our own democracies? This episode explores the foundation of the Weimar Republic, discussing some of its early successes and failures. It highlights some of the initial problems encountered in the construc...

Send us a text At the time of its foundation in early 1919, the Nazi Party was a group of several dozen dilettantes who at first glance appeared to stand little chance of changing history. And yet, by 1923 it had grown to over 50K members - enough to convince Hitler that they could seize control of Bavaria. This episode explores the secrets to the Nazi Party's success, showing how they built a politically effective, modern mass movement. Topics covered include why Hitler was...

Send us a text Adolf Hitler is one of the most notorious villains of history. But how did he become HITLER? This partial preview episode documents his early history, from his boyhood in Linz to his Bohemian wandering in Vienna to his exploits during the First World War. It tracks the origins of his political philosophy, showing how much of his political and anti-Semitic wakening occurred only after the Great War, when he participated in ideological training classes sponsored by the German arm...

Send us a text There are many places one could start a history of Nazi Germany, but we begin our series with the experience of the First World War. From the heady August days when Germans were flush with the joy of expectant victory to war and revolution in 1918, the war refashioned and brutalized German politics. Old authorities like the monarchy were discarded, to be replaced by a more wholesome form of politics that centered on the experiences of the front line soldier. ...

Send us a text This episode - the first of 12 on the history of Nazi Germany - begins by asking the question if Nazis still matter in an age when so much of the post-World War II consensus (global institutions, free trade, collective defense) is being abandoned? It highlights the role played in this process by figures such as Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson and the Alternativ fur Deutschland Party (AFD), who along with social media are rapidly reworking popular perceptions of the Nazi past.&n...

Send us a text Continuing our discussion of the 1967 Six-Day War, this episode discusses the outbreak of hostilities with Israeli Operation Focus on 5 June 1967. In addition to covering some operational details, we also sketch out the rest of the history of the war, including discussions of Egyptian and Israeli war planning and the evolution of events on the battlefield(s). The episode concludes with an epilogue about the way the war changed politics in the main combatant states, includ...

Send us a text In June 1967, tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors once again led to the outbreak of war. This episodes examines the causes of the renewed violence, ranging from long term factors such as Nasser's Arab nationalism and the lack of a solution to the Palestinian refugee crisis to shorter term issues such as the evolution of regional politics, fights over water usage and Israeli reprisal attacks. Topics covered include not Nasser and Egypt, but also the rise o...

Send us a text On the afternoon of October 29, 1856, Israeli forces launched a surprise attack into the Sinai peninsula, part of a coordinated plan with Britain and France for the European powers to retake possession of the Suez canal. This episode covers the course of the war, as well as its legacy. Topics covered include: the Cold War context and the run-up to war, British, French, Israeli and Egyptian strategic planning, global reactions, and the meaning of the war for Israelis...

Send us a text After eight years of a tense peace, war came suddenly again to the Middle East in October 1956. This episode answers why, exploring the deeper history behind the building of the Suez Canal from 1859-69, the origins of British colonialism in the region and the rise of various anti-colonial Egyptian movements such as Wafd and the Muslim Brotherhood. We also go into detail about the meteoric rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose efforts to reshape Egyptian and Middle Easte...

Send us a textBy the late summer of 1949, the frozen battle lines between the Arab and Israeli armies led to the realization that Palestinian refugees would not soon be returning to their former homes. This episode charts the fascinating and tragic story of the international response to the refugee crisis from 1949 to the mid-50s, including the creation of UNRWA in Dec. 1949. In particular, it shows how UN thinkers approached the issue from an economic standpoint, believing that a...

Send us a textIn 1948 the Nakbah resulted in the flight and expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians. This episode chronicles their experiences, focusing on the way the refugee crisis unfolded in three geographical contexts: Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon. Among other things, it highlights some of the initial challenges and reactions encountered in trying provide humanitarian assistance to them, the effects the refugees had on the local communities and the ways in which the refugee experience ev...

Send us a textIn 1948, Palestinians suffered both dispossession and expulsion as a result of losing the civil war. But what became of the idea of the Palestinian nation? This episode explores the political and cultural fate of Palestinian nationalism in the 1950s, highlighting how and why in the postwar period Arab-controlled territory did not become an independent Palestinian state. At the same time, it also explores the ways in which the Nakbah paved the way for new expressions of Palestini...

Send us a textIn the second half of our installment on the building of the Israeli national community in the late 1940s and 1950s, we examine how Israelis paid for the massive expenses involved in resettling so many European and Middle Eastern Jews in the immediate aftermath of independence. We also discuss the fate of Palestinians living inside the new Israeli state, highlighting the discrimination they faced as outsiders in the Jewish state. Finally, we also discuss cultural efforts to deve...

Send us a textIn this episode we return to the history of Israel/Palestine, looking at how Israelis built a national community in the late 1940s and early 1950s. As we'll see, this project was neither as straightforward nor as easy as Zionist ideology supposed, complicated by the influx of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from both Europe and the Middle East in the late 1940s/early 1950s. The first part of the episode looks at the construction of the nascent Israeli state, while the s...

Send us a textThis episodes recounts the downfall of the Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini. Topics covered include his initial dismissal in July 1943 (9:01), the 46 days (35:13), the German plot to rescue and restore him (43:40) and the Republic of Salo and the partisan civil war (50:15). The episode concludes with some final reflections on the failures of fascism (1:04:46).Support the showFor more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.co...