66 min listen
Cold War Crash Course III
ratings:
Length:
32 minutes
Released:
Jan 10, 2018
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
In our latest installment of the series, we look at the person of Josef Stalin, a dominant figure for our wider Korean War series, and his security blanket he was in the process of creating in Eastern Europe. The spread of communism in Europe's shattered cities, combined with the looming threat of the Red Army and the sweeping impact of its soldiers into the East, created a new dynamic in Europe. At the head of this new dynamic was the will and ambition of Stalin, who had a direct hand in everything that occurred.Stalin was critical in his creation of the Soviet Union bloc, but he was also critically important to any arrangement which would be reached on the future of Germany. Exactly what form Germany would take, whether it was feasible or sustainable to preserve Germany in its divided state - these were questions that the post-war governments in Britain, the US and France all grappled with. Without Stalin, they initially believed, any progress on this question would be impossible.With Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, and Stalin's pronouncement of the West's hostility to the needs of Eastern Europe's citizens, the Cold War lines were clearly being drawn. Several conflicts lay ahead, but the more immediate questions, such as how to rebuild the continent and what to do about the continent's integral centrepiece - the Germans - remained a sore point for some and pressingly urgent for others. Here we find out how the post-war allies of east and west attempted to cooperate in spite of the looming divisions into the different ideological camps.The German question, as we'll see, could not be answered in a year, (or one episode!) it was instead a question based fundamentally on Berlin's past behaviour, where German revanchism and a repeat of the post-WW1 experience remained at the forefront of many minds.***************Remember history friends, you too can support the podcast and join our lovely community in the process!Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WhenDiplomacyFailsPodcast/Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1856652614380207/Twitter: https://twitter.com/wdfpodcastPatreon: www.patreon.com/WhenDiplomacyFailsWebsite: www.wdfpodcast.comBibliography: www.wdfpodcast.com/source-materials/ For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy
Released:
Jan 10, 2018
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
WDF 25.2: SPECIAL= The 30 Years War Part Three: Years of Armed Neutrality: Welcome to the long awaited third installment of the TYW special! Today we look at Scandinavia and the history of that region; what it meant for the rest of Europe and how Europe saw it. We also look at the truce between the Dutch and Spanish, the... by When Diplomacy Fails Podcast