At the end of WW1, the Americans and British went to Paris to decide on the fate of Germany and the future of the world. The Treaty of Versailles and the conference in Paris in 1919 set up the Interwar period and made World War 2 inevitable. Here we begin our short series on the … Continue reading "Civ 1919: The Treaty of Versailles pt1"

Two and a half years. 50 episodes. 100+ hours. When we set out to cover World War I back in September 2022, after our Scramble for Africa and our Civilizations (1400-1900) series, we had a plan for how we were going to go about it. In this debrief, Dave and I talk about what we … Continue reading "World War Civ 51: The Debrief"

We have come to the end of our study of World War I, gone over its causes, events, and costs in great detail. Now it’s time for a plot twist: the idea that the whole war was conceived and extended by a conspiratorial group of race patriots at the heart of the Anglo-American elite. We … Continue reading "Was World War I an Immense Anglo-American Conspiracy?"

From the transformation of all the technologies of war – railways, air travel, wireless, tanks, poison gas – to the changes to the institutions of daily life (notably health care) World War I made many changes into the world we recognize today. Also – my apologies – in the second half, my recurrent audio issue … Continue reading "World War Civ 49: How the war changed how things work"

Counting the costs and losses of World War I. 8.5 million killed on the battlefield, 21 million wounded. 10 million civilian deaths, then a flu epidemic that killed tens of millions more. The global economy transformed beyond recognition. The beginning of the end of the colonial empires. And various measures that are inevitably going to … Continue reading "World War Civ 48: Great War, at what cost?"

Ludendorff’s final gamble has failed, fizzling out like every mass offensive of this war. The war is now unwinnable for Germany. But the Germans won’t admit it, and can’t find anyone to sign an armistice. Eventually someone is found, and the myth of the “stab in the back” begins to be written, a myth that … Continue reading "World War Civ 47: Germany Collapses 1918"

With peace in the East, Germany can finally try to win the war against France in the West, and the clock is ticking before America’s troops make the war unwinnable. In addition to assembling a gigantic army and the largest artillery barrage in history, Ludendorff introduces Storm Troopers and a new tactic of “infiltration” past … Continue reading "World War Civ 46: Ludendorff’s Last Gamble Spring 1918"

If politics is in everything, then what are the politics of martial arts as they’re studied and practiced today? For audiences of this show, it’s not a pretty sight. But Sam from Liberationist MA is trying to do things differently. He joins to talk about his play-based martial arts pedagogy, the world view it’s embedded … Continue reading "AER 146: Martial Arts Pedagogy and Politics"

The Bolsheviks had made their revolution promising Peace, Land, and Bread. But peace meant a deal with Germany, which could bring British and French subversion of their nascent revolution. How could Lenin get out of this impossible dilemma? By sending Trotsky to lead the negotiations with Imperial Germany. Did Trotsky go rogue? Was he following … Continue reading "World War Civ 45: Russia and Germany make peace at Brest-Litovsk"

It’s 1917. The French are suffering mutinies and the Entente is desperate for a breakthrough anywhere. It’s not to be. Arras, Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Cambrai, and Caporetto – hundreds of thousands of men killed and no breakthrough. At the end of the year, the Germans have reason to believe they could win the whole war … Continue reading "World War Civ 44: The Agony of the Allies"

When Russia withdrew from the war, Britain and France were in the lurch, but America saved the day. Why? Successful war propaganda, propinquity, or making good on investments and seizing a chance for world domination?

Nora joins and we go over our memories of following Seyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speeches over the decades. He led the resistance for 32 years and freed Lebanon from occupation once. His successors will operate under a new set of rules of engagement.

The scientific principles of war propaganda that we’re all suffering from today were laid down by Anglo-American writers amazed by their own performance in World War 1. What are these principles? Why did Anglo-American propaganda work better than German?

From July through to Red October 1917. The Kornilov Affair to the Bolshevik takeover. The culmination of our series on the Bolshevik Revolution.

With Joe Emersberger. The co-authors of the Monthly Review Press book Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela, discuss the seventh coup attempt on Chavismo which is in the process of being defeated.

Way back in World War Civ 6,7, and 8, we covered the Russian Revolution of 1905 including future main characters Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin. Now as the 1917 Revolution unfolds we revisit these protagonists and study their actions and writings in the years leading to October 1917. Perhaps history is grand movements of masses, but … Continue reading "World War Civ 41b: Russian Revolution pt2 – Lenin and Trotsky"

A scholar who grew up in a Christian Zionist tradition, Jamin Hubner joins to talk about how the ideology is unrolled to kids and how he found his way out of it.

The leadup to the February 1917 Revolution, including the assassination of Rasputin, the abdication of tsar Nicholas II, and the rise of dual power between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.

A report with Jon Elmer on the fierce fighting in Gaza on day 224 of the war and a breakdown of Qassam spokesman Abu Obeida’s speech on that day.

General Allenby, Sharif Hussein and his son Feisal, and their handler TE Lawrence array the forces of the British Empire and the Arab Revolt against the Turco-German forces in Palestine. The battle starts in Gaza and ends with Allenby walking into the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem. The story of the fateful campaign that brought British … Continue reading "World War Civ 40: How Britain Took Palestine in 1917"