

The History of the Twentieth Century
Mark Painter
A chronicle of the history of the twentieth century, including art, music, popular culture, science, religion, and, of course, politics and war.
Episodes
Mentioned books

4 snips
Jan 2, 2024 • 45min
351 Climb Mount Niitaka I
The Japanese give up on peace talks with America and began prepare for war.

Dec 25, 2023 • 47min
350 The Land of Abundant Wildlife
The defining features of the nation of Panama are its abundant wildlife and that it is the place where the world's two largest oceans are at their closest.

Dec 24, 2023 • 58min
349 Why Do the Winds and Waves Rage So Turbulently?
The upper levels of Japanese government (and, more important, the military) increasingly came to the view that war with the United States was necessary if Japan was to survive.

Dec 17, 2023 • 42min
348 Five Minutes to Midnight
At the end of the rasputitsa, the mud season, the German Army had one final, narrow opportunity, to win the war against the USSR before winter.

Dec 3, 2023 • 49min
347 The Green Folder
Even before the first German soldier crossed the frontier into the USSR, the Nazi government in Berlin had a plan for administering occupied Russia.

Nov 26, 2023 • 44min
346 The Battle of Smolensk
The German invasion of the USSR went brilliantly for the first 2-3 weeks, but instead of collapsing as expected, the Red Army only got stronger.

Nov 19, 2023 • 44min
345 Operation Barbarossa
On June 22, 1941, Germany began an invasion of its erstwhile trade partner, the USSR.

Nov 12, 2023 • 56min
344 America First
The Dust Bowl ravages the central United States, Charles Lindbergh's infant son is kidnapped, the America First movement opposes US involvement in the war.

Oct 29, 2023 • 55min
343 The Balkan Detour
Germany executes its invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece, and the Axis encourages an anti-British coup in Iraq.

Oct 22, 2023 • 42min
342 Operation Marita
As Germany made preparations to assist its ally Italy in the war against Greece, a coup in Yugoslavia prompted Adolf Hitler to order the invasion of that country as well.