Explaining History

In this episode of Explaining History, we sit down with author Maggie Ritchie to discuss her latest novel, White Raven. We explore the remarkable true story of Moira Beattie, a Glasgow art student recruited into the heart of Bletchley Park at just 18 years old. Maggie reveals how a chance encounter with the elderly artist unveiled a secret life of wartime codebreaking and a romance with a Russian intelligence officer.We also move beyond 1945 to shine a light on a forgotten chapter of British intelligence: the Joint Services School for Linguists (JSSL) at Crail, Scotland. Discover the "Bletchley of the Cold War," where National Service conscripts were trained in Russian to fight an ideological war, and explore the complex motivations that led some Britons to become agents for the Soviet Union.Key Topics:The Hidden Bletchley: Life, class, and romance in the codebreaking huts.Moira Beattie: The artist who broke German ciphers.JSSL Crail: The secret language school on the Scottish coast.Cold War Moral Ambiguity: Why patriots turned spy in the 1950s.Books Mentioned:White Raven by Maggie Ritchie (Scotland Street Press)For the full article and transcript visit the Explaining History website hereExplaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 illustrates a fundamental redistribution of global power.Join us as we delve into the deep-seated causes of this decline, arguing that it stems not from external threats, but from internal choices. We examine how the creed of neoliberalism has led to de-industrialization, austerity, and the "de-development" of Western nations, hollowing out the very economic foundations of their global strength. We also analyze how the presidency of Donald Trump, with its rejection of liberal internationalism, has acted as both a symptom and a powerful accelerant of this trend, shredding America's soft power and leaving a void on the world stage.In an increasingly multipolar world where rising powers like China and Brazil are forging new alliances, what does the future hold? Is the American-led liberal order gone for good? Listen in for a critical analysis of the end of an era.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 restraint crumble into the devastating strategic bombing campaigns that would define the war? In this episode, we delve into Richard Overy's "The Bombing War" to explore the complex factors that shaped Britain's approach to aerial warfare in the crucial early years of 1939-1942.Join us as we uncover the story of a nation caught between its self-image as a "civilised" power and the brutal necessities of total war. We'll examine why RAF Bomber Command was initially held back, not just by political and legal niceties, but by its own operational unreadiness. Discover how the unique, independent institutional culture of Bomber Command—a force designed solely to attack—fostered a doctrine that would eventually target the enemy's home front, leading to the destruction of cities like Hamburg, Cologne, and Dresden under the infamous command of Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris.If you liked this episode, listen to: https://shows.acast.com/explaininghistory/episodes/the-politics-of-rearmament-in-britain-1936Go Deeper: Visit our website at www.explaininghistory.org for articles and detailed explorations of the topics discussed.▸ Join the Conversation: Our community of history enthusiasts discusses episodes, shares ideas, and continues the conversation. Find us on:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast/Substack: https://theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com/▸ Support the Podcast: Explaining History is a listener-supported production. Your contribution helps us cover the costs of research and keep these conversations going. You can support the show and get access to exclusive content by becoming a patron.Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/explaininghistoryExplaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 confidence in America's top chip manufacturer to the startling revelation that the vast majority of new tech startups are now built on Chinese, not American, artificial intelligence models.We explore the deep-seated historical and economic reasons behind this shift, arguing that the West has been hamstrung for decades by its unwavering faith in neoliberalism. This ideology has de-industrialized and hollowed out Western societies, leading to rampant inequality, austerity, and social decay. In contrast, we examine "neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics"—a model where the state harnesses market forces for national missions, like dominating chip fabrication, without ever ceding ultimate control to a capitalist class.Finally, we look to the future, speculating on the consequences of this new reality: a diminished American empire, the potential fracturing of its global influence, and a world grappling with the end of the American century. What happens to a society that has offshored its industries and strip-mined its own state? Listen in for a thought-provoking analysis of where we are, how we got here, and what might come next.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 rock concert galvanized a generation, evolving from a one-time musical fundraiser into a powerful catalyst for political change on issues like debt relief and fair trade.Vallely shares his firsthand experiences – from reporting on the Ethiopian famine that inspired Band Aid to traveling across Africa with Live Aid founder Bob Geldof. He discusses how Live Aid sparked a shift “from charity to justice,” transforming public consciousness and empowering ordinary people to believe they can make a difference. This episode blends captivating behind-the-scenes stories (from rock stars and world leaders to logistical challenges in war-torn Ethiopia) with insightful analysis of Live Aid’s political and social impact.Paul Vallely’s book, Live Aid: The Definitive 40 Year Story from Pop and Poverty to Politics and Power, was published in November 2025 and is available now. Listeners who enjoyed this discussion can find a wealth of further details and untold stories in the book (which features a foreword by Bob Geldof). As always, we encourage you to support your local independent bookshop or the publisher when picking up a copy!Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Churchill’s Spaniards: The Spanish Republicans Who Fought for Britain in WWII — with Sean F. Scullion In this episode, I speak with historian Sean F. Scullion, author of Churchill’s Spaniards, about a remarkable and little-known story: the Spanish Republicans who escaped the fall of the Second Republic, endured internment under Vichy France, and later volunteered to fight in the British Army against fascism from 1940 to 1945. Drawing on multi-lingual archival work and over 110 family interviews, Scullion reconstructs the routes these veterans took—from the French Foreign Legion and North African labour camps to the Pioneer Corps, Commandos, SOE, and even the SAS—and explores why many kept fighting despite exile, wounds, and the bitter knowledge that Franco would survive the war.Scullion also discusses his research method (triangulating sources across British, French, and Spanish archives), the challenge of language barriers inside British units, the post-war lives of these men in Britain (including the Spanish Ex-Servicemen’s Association and links with trade unions), and the complicated geopolitics surrounding Churchill’s efforts to keep Spain out of the war.What we coverWho were “Churchill’s Spaniards”? From Republican veterans to exiles who re-entered the fight under British command.Two waves of enlistment: 1940 (after service with French forces) and 1942–44 (after release from Vichy internment in North Africa).Across the theatres: Norway, North Africa, Italy, Greece, the Mediterranean, Western Europe— as far as Burma.Units and roles: From enlistment via the Pioneer Corps to transfers into infantry, Commandos, SOE, and the SAS (with c. 15 Spaniards serving in the SAS).Motivation and ideology: Anti-fascist commitment, complex politics (including anarchist backgrounds), and hopes—ultimately disappointed—that the Allies would remove Franco.After 1945: Settlement in Britain, union activism, campaigning against Franco’s regime, and the memory-work of families today.About today's guestSean F. Scullion is a historian and serving British Army officer. A bilingual Spanish–English (and fluent French) researcher, he has spent nine years tracing this diaspora of Republican veterans and their wartime service under British command, combining multilingual archival research with a large and growing network of families across Britain, Spain, and France.Recommended readingSean F. Scullion, Churchill’s Spaniards (paperback edition available now; check independent booksellers or buy direct from the publisher).Background on the Spanish Republicans in exile, Vichy internment in North Africa, and the Pioneer Corps in WWII.CreditsHost: Nick Shepley • Explaining History Podcast Guest: Sean F. Scullion Production: Explaining HistoryIf you enjoy the show, please rate and review on your podcast app and share with a friend or colleague teaching/learning modern European history.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What was life really like for the poor and powerless in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars? In this episode of the Explaining History podcast, we're joined by Katharine Quarmby, author of the powerful new historical novel, The Low Road.Set in 1813, The Low Road is a story of hardship, struggle, and love found in the most brutal corners of English life. Based on a true story unearthed from her hometown in Norfolk, Catherine's novel follows an orphaned girl, Hannah, as she navigates the cruel institutions of the time—from the philanthropic but oppressive Refuge for the Destitute in London to the harsh reality of transportation to Australia.We delve deep into the history, discussing:The "age of austerity" and economic slump that crushed the rural poor after the Napoleonic Wars.The brutal system of transportation—the largest forced migration of British people in history—and its dual injustice to those exiled and Indigenous populations.The hidden lives of women in service, the systemic predation they faced, and the stark choices they had to make.The surprising and tender queer relationships that flourished in the all-female spaces of workhouses and convict ships, and how these bonds of love and loyalty became a form of resistance.Join us for a fascinating conversation that uncovers the resilience of the human spirit against a backdrop of state violence and social injustice. The Low Road is a masterful work that brings a forgotten history vividly to life.Purchase Katharine Quarmby's The Low Road from your favourite independent bookseller, in the show notes below.Find the Explaining History Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Explaining History, Nick is joined by acclaimed author Anne Weber to discuss her new book Sanderling (Indigo Press, 2025) — a deeply personal and philosophical exploration of family, identity, and the shadow of Germany’s past.Through the story of her great-grandfather Florens Christian Rang — a theologian, lawyer, and close friend of figures such as Walter Benjamin and Martin Buber — Weber examines four generations of her family to ask profound questions:What does it mean to be German, then and now?How can one man’s moral convictions coexist with his son’s later embrace of Nazism?How do history and guilt pass through families and nations alike?Weber and Nick discuss Rang’s life and writings, the moral tensions of Germany’s unification and imperial period, and how Weber’s narrative approach — blending travelogue, reflection, and history — reveals how the past extends into the present.The conversation also turns outward: to Europe’s shared colonial legacies, the persistence of national myths, and the uneasy balance between remembrance and denial.“It’s a little bit like discovering your father was a serial killer,” Weber says, describing the weight of Germany’s historical consciousness. Yet through her writing, she transforms that burden into a journey of understanding — and of reckoning.📖 Sanderling is published by Indigo Press on 4 November 2025. Find it in independent bookshops or directly from the publisher. Also available from Indigo Press: Weber’s earlier book Epic Annette, the true story of a French resistance fighter and doctor who defied two wars and two empires.🎧 Listen now for a moving discussion about history, identity, and the limits of inherited guilt.Explaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 private grief and public purpose can collide.Mark’s trilogy on Darling, Butler and Airy is out now. If you can, please support independent bookshops or buy direct from the publisher.Go Deeper: Visit our website at www.explaininghistory.org for articles and detailed explorations of the topics discussed.▸ Join the Conversation: Our community of history enthusiasts discusses episodes, shares ideas, and continues the conversation. Find us on:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast/Substack: https://theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com/▸ Support the Podcast: Explaining History is a listener-supported production. Your contribution helps us cover the costs of research and keep these conversations going. You can support the show and get access to exclusive content by becoming a patron.Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/explaininghistoryExplaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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 an age of heresy trials, and why Dee still feels uncannily modern. We also touch on his years in Prague, his uneasy return to England, and the beautiful—if perilous—idea that the cosmos is alive with meaning.Rachel’s new book The Years of the Wizard: The Strange History and Home Life of Renaissance Magicians (Duckworth) is out now. Please support independent bookshops or buy direct from the publisher.Go Deeper: Visit our website at www.explaininghistory.org for articles and detailed explorations of the topics discussed.▸ Join the Conversation: Our community of history enthusiasts discusses episodes, shares ideas, and continues the conversation. Find us on:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast/Substack: https://theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com/▸ Support the Podcast: Explaining History is a listener-supported production. Your contribution helps us cover the costs of research and keep these conversations going. You can support the show and get access to exclusive content by becoming a patron.Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/explaininghistoryExplaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.