The History of the Twentieth Century

Adolf Hitler was already effectively dictator of Germany, but in the first 18 months, he moved to tighten his grip, even going so far as to murder his own supporters in the SA and elsewhere.

Discover the political intrigues in the UK before World War II and the Labour Party's struggles. Explore Canada's push for autonomy during a volatile era, and delve into France's Maginot Line strategy against Germany. Uncover the dawn of aerial warfare and the growing threat of bombers. Listen in on a riveting Oxford Union debate reflecting the public's mixed responses to war fears and the League of Nations as tensions mount across Europe. The groundwork for conflict is laid amid rising militarization and geopolitical shifts.

In this episode, we finish up a couple of New Deal programs we didn't get to talk about last time, and examine the Roosevelt Administration's efforts to restore confidence in Wall Street and in a dollar no longer backed by gold.

Franklin Roosevelt's administration began with a bang.

In the four-month period between Roosevelt's election and his inauguration, the American economy went from bad to worse.

New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt was the wide favorite for the 1932 Democratic Presidential nomination, while Herbert Hoover's popularity, like the US economy, was declining every month.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, scion of two old and wealthy New York families, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy and candidate for Vice President of the United States, had a bright future ahead of him. Then he came down with polio.

Rutherford's hypothetical neutron was proved to exist in 1932. Atomic physics in the 1930s was regularly producing dramatic--and disturbing--new results.

The British economy hadn't fully bounced back from the war when the Depression hit, eventually forcing Britain off the gold standard once again.

The Indian National Congress had declared independence, but waited for Gandhi to propose a strategy for resisting British rule. Gandhi came up with a characteristically unusual suggestion.