Between 2 Wars - Season 1
Season 1
Between 2 Wars
Episodes
1918 Part 1: Rise of the Nations
After the War to End All Wars, there's more of two things. More nations and more wars. Wars of independence, civil wars, ethnic wars, ideological wars and just plain old wars. In the first Prelude to the Between 2 Wars series, covering the years 1919-1939 from WWI to WWII chronologically, we look at the rise of nationalism out of the ruins of The Great War. Indy Neidell and Spartacus take you on a historical journey through 20 years of dawn, light, and dusk back into the darkness of war.
1918 Part 2: Disease, War and The Lost Generation
As World War One ends the dying takes on new proportions when the Spanish Flu ravages the world. A whole generation of young people that should be starting their adult life is instead decimated at a devastating rate. The suffering at the end of 1918 will have consequences that last until this day.
1919 Part 1: Planes, Guns and Automobiles
The year 1919 was the year when the world took the first step into the age of mass communication. Wartime developments now create the aviation industry, mass produced cars, broadcast media and... more guns.
1919 Part 2: Russian Civil War and Russian Wars
On what was only recently the Eastern Front of World War One there is no end to war. Russia is at war with itself while it tries to reconquer the former territories of the Russian Empire. These new countries are also at war with themselves and each other, while they fight the Bolshevik Russian armies invading their young borders. Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Romania, wherever you look in Eastern Europe there is war, more war... endless war.
1919 Part 3: Peace, Revolution and the Treaty of Versailles
The Paris Peace Conference gets underway while the world continues to go up in flames. In 1919 it seems like every corner of the world is plagued by revolutions, strikes, protests, oppression, ethnic violence, massacres, or war.
1919 Part 4: Enter Adolf Hitler Stage Left
The fledgling democracy in Germany struggles to survive as the German Revolution escalates into a downright civil war. In one of the German States Bavaria, Adolf Hitler appears on the stage within the context of the Bavarian Soviet Revolution.
1920 Part 1: Miracle on the Vistula - Polish Soviet War
In 1920 the Bolshevik Russian Red army has more or less routed the Russian counter revolutionary White Armies. Their attention now turns to the West. Lenin wants to take the communist revolution to Germany, France and the United Kingdom. To get there he has to go through Poland though, and he hasn't counted with Józef Piłsudski, the leader of the Polish Republic.
1920 Part 2: The German People Oppose the Right Wing Extremists
Germany is usually associated with the rise of right wing extremism in the interwar years, but in 1920 almost the entire German citizenry unites to stop the reactionary forces from destroying their brand new democracy during the Lüttwitz Kapp Putsch. Meanwhile in Munich Adolf Hitler makes his next move to create the Nazi movement, while Lenin prepares the International socialist revolution in Russia.
1920 Part 3: Carving Up the Middle East
In 1920, the colonial powers of the British Empire and France reverse course on their commitment to grant independence to the peoples of the Middle East. In a game to grab the oil fields of Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia, and to control the Suez Canal they tighten their grip on the region, with far ranging consequences that will shape the world well into the 21st century.
1920 Part 4: Sex, Drugs and the Right to Vote
When many of the fighting men of The Great War return home addicted to drugs and infected with venereal disease, their sweethearts have decided that it's time for some serious changes! It's time for women's liberation!
1921 Part 1: The US Turns Away from the World to Prohibition and Crime
After an unpopular war and facing unrest at home, the US returns to isolationism after half a century of gradually opening up to the world. On the home front, prohibition gives rise to more problems of the very kinds it meant to solve; crime and debauchery, and one the biggest crooks is in the White House.
1921 Part 2: Poland Rises in the East
In 1921 the Second Polish Republic expands to the borders it will have until it is overrun by the Germans and Soviets in September of 1939. Through conquest, popular uprisings, plebiscite, and the Treaty of Versailles Poland incorporates land from her neighboring nations.
1922 Part 1: Rise of Fascism and Mussolini's March on Rome
In 1922, when Italy is in political chaos, reeling from the effects of The Great War and labour unrest, one man makes a violent grab for power. He is the prominent journalist and leader of a new radical, reactionary, oppressive, and murderous movement. He is Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini and he calls his movement Fascism.
1922 Part 2: The Greco-Turkish War and Legalisation of Ethnic Cleansing
When the Ottoman empire is torn apart by the Treaty of Sevres, ethnic conflicts in the old empire that have been boiling for almost a century lead to war between Greece and the parts of the Empire that will soon become the Republic of Turkey. A war that will have lasting effect on the world as both sides proceed to carry out stunning actions of ethnic violence, which is shockingly also sanctioned by international treaty after the fact.
1923: Hitler's Beer Hall Disaster
When Germany spirals into hyperinflation and the French occupy the Ruhr, Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff make a grab for power.
1924: Lenin's Death and Stalin's Rise to Power
As Lenin's health starts to fail, the struggle to become his successor picks up speed with Stalin maneuvering closer and closer to power. The outcome of this struggle will define a century of world events.
1925 Part 1: Smashing China to Pieces, the Background
The 19th century throws all kinds of terror and unfortune on China, which not long before was the most powerful nation in the world. While many other Western, Asian and even American nations seek to gain influence in China through politics, wars and trade, China itself tries to hold on to its glory days.
1925 Part 2: Glueing Back Together the Shards of China
One man tries to reunite China, he is Sun Yat Sen but he shall not see his work come to fruition.
1926 Part 1: Fake News in the Radio Age
Modernization caused a communication revolution in the 1920's with the mass adaptation of the Radio, with all sorts concequences for the entertainment industry as well as the political game.
1926 Part 2: How Hollywood Helped Hitler
The rise of the media superstar and the rise of Naziism had a lot to do with each other. The early death of one of the first media superstars, Rudolph Valentino in 1926 shows us exactly how and why.
1926 Part 3: Chiang Kai-shek Plays It Like Stalin
In 1926 Chiang Kai-shek manages to turn the Kuomintang into his own private army, and the events are befuddling...
1927 Part 1: Making America Great Again - The Roaring Twenties
In 1927 the US is finally back to it's pre-WWI economic greatness, at least measured by the stock market. But all is not well with the finances in the land of the free and home of the brave.
1927 Part 2: From Aerobatics to Terror Bombing - Civil Aviation
With thousands of planes left over from World War One, hobby pilots and entrepreneurs set out to create the modern airline industry. Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and many more set record after record, while airplane manufacturers start the creation of passenger, freight planes, and a new generation of aerial weapons.
1928: A Bankrupt Germany Didn't Create the Nazis - Weimar's Golden Era
When the world goes into economic overdrive in the second half of the 1920s, contrary to popular belief Germany rises with the tide - it is the Goldener Zwanziger, the Golden Twenties.
1929 Part 1: The US Economy Is About to Crash Hard - The Wall Street Crash
In 1929 it's been nothing but growth for the US economy for years, at least if you judge by the New York Stock Exchange. But all that glitters is not gold, and when the gilding comes off this bubble it sinks like a lead ballon.
1929 Part 2: Enter Yugoslavia Part 1
Formed in the ashes of the Great War, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes is already facing some pretty difficult birth pangs.
1929 Part 3: Enter Yugoslavia Part 2
As 1929 approaches, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes spirals closer and closer to collapse. When the parliament descends into murderous chaos, it is up to King Alexander to decide what to do...
1930: Rule Britannia, Britannia Rules the Salt - The British Empire
After the Great War, the British empire is at its peak in terms of population and size. However, resistance against colonialism is starting to brew in the British colonies and dominions.
1931 Part 1: Italy's African Destiny - The Colonisation of Libya
When Mussolini wants to solidify Italy's North African Colonies, he faces massive opposition by one man- Omar Mukhtar, the Lion of the Desert.
1931 Part 2: Japan, the Bureaucratic War Machine
In Japan, there has been a gradual increase of militarism since The Great War and in 1931 the country goes to war again when they Invade Chinese Manchuria based on a false flag terrorist strike at the Mukden railway junction.
1931 Part 3: Germany Commits Suicide by Cancelling War Reparations
Contrary to popular belief it is not so much reparations themselves that puts the first stepping stone in place for the Nazis to rise to power. Instead it is the cancellation of war reparations, or more correctly put; the measures that 'The Hunger Chancellor" Heinrich Brüning implements to get reparations cancelled that pushes Germany over the financial brink and into the hands of Hitler and Goebbels.
1932 Part 1: Stalin's 5 Year Plan for Economic Mass Murder
Stalin has to deal with the consequences of forcibly changing the Soviet Union from an agrarian economy into a modern industrialized society as his first five-years plan reaches its final year.
1932 Part 2: Most Germans Reject Hitler - Politics in Weimar Germany
After Chancellor Brüning has run Germany's economy into the ground, the country is once again going to the polls. It's a wild brawl between reason and madness, populism and stability, and democracy and tyranny focused on who will unite Germany if Germany even can be united again...
1932 Part 3: The Holodomor - The Communists' Holocaust
What do you get when you combine vigorous grain-tax policies, bad harvests with Stalins fear and animosity for the rural population of Ukraine? A man-created murder famine, designed to kill millions of Ukrainian men, women and children.
1932 Part 4: Rise of Evil - From Populism to Fascism
Democracy finds itself in a crisis as the 1930s take off. On a global scale, Fascist or otherwise authoritarian and repressive movements and governments seek to destroy the pillars of liberal society.
1933 Part 1: Germany Never Elected Hitler - The Machtergreifung
Hitlers rise to power, also known as the Machtergreifung, was riddled with physical and mental manipulation, political games and an exploitation of the Democratic system. This episode follows the events leading up to the Nazi takeover of Germany.
1933 Part 2: The State of the US Is Depressing - The Great Depression
The American economy is in a state of despair. Mass unemployment and poverty sweep the lands. In 1933, a new President is elected, promising to change things for the better. His name is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1933 Part 3: The World Takes Advantage of American Isolationism
America is very unprepared for rising tensions in The Pacific and Europe. US President Franklin Roosevelt tries his best to re-arm the American Army and Navy, but the isolationist opposition is a fierce obstacle.
1934 Part 1: Why "All Germans Were Nazis" - How Hitler Created the 3rd Reich
After Hitler seized power in Germany in January 1933, he rapidly transformed the Democratic Weimar Republic into a repressive, totalitarian and racist state. In 1934, Germany became Nazi Germany.
1934 Part 2: Not All Fascists Are Nazis - Civil War in Austria
Austria is very divided in the 1930s. Austrian Nationalism opposes the idea of a Greater German Reich, which triggers the emergence of Austrofascism. They find themselves in a violent struggle against Nazis, Communists, Democrats and Socialists.
1934 Part 3: Murder and Fascism - Rise of the Ustaše
King Aleksandar has been working to forge a single Yugoslav identity in his troubled Balkan state. But ethnic nationalism still runs strong, and a shadowy fascist movement fiercely committed to destroying Yugoslavia is emerging.
1934 Part 4: The Far Right French Revolution - The 6 February Crisi
In February 1934, France threatens to go down the same political rabbit hole as Germany: anti-Semitic Fascism, but the French extremists are not quite as well organized as the Nazis.
1935 Part 1: Czechoslovakia - The Last Bastion of Democracy
Czechoslovakia is holding on to democracy by a thread. It even looks like they might be able to integrate the German Czechoslovakians, but Hitler's rise to power changes everything.
1935 Part 2: The End of Polish Democracy - Pilsudski and the Sanacja Regime
The Second Polish Republic emerged victorious from the Polish-Soviet War in 1921. But the shine of independence is quickly rubbing off as the new state finds itself burdened with sever economic, political, and social problems. There is one man who sees it as his destiny to save his ailing nation. That man is Józef Piłsudski. But will his undemocratic Sanacja regime be able to solve Poland's problems?
1935 Part 3: Communist Boots Are Made for Walking - Mao's Long March
From 1927 to 1934, the Chinese Communists lived in a state within the National Chinese State led by Chiang Kai-Shek. In 1935, the Nationalists strike and the Communists follow their leader Mao Zedong on a Long March Northwards.
1935 Part 4: One More Scramble in Africa - The Second Italo-Abyssinian War
After European Empires were done scrambling for Africa, not much of the African continent was left to be ruled by its native people, or to be colonised for other colony-hungry European powers. However, the Kingdom of Abyssinia is one of the countries that made it through the scramble alive. That is, until Benito Mussolini shifts the Italian focus to East-Africa once more.
1936 Part 1: Zionism, Arabism & Colonialism in the Middle East
After more than twenty years of colonial management, promises made but few promises kept and ethnic & cultural clashes in the area, unrest in the middle east erupts in violence. A series of movements originate in this time, with long lasting consequences.
1936 Part 2: How Left/Right Partisanship Starts a Civil War in Spain
Spain in the early 1930's was practically Europe in Microcosm, with numerous political and ideological movements clashing in debate and open battles on the streets of Spain. All of this worsened in 1936 as Spain slowly descends into Civil War.
1936 Part 3: How Hitler Won the Olympic Games - The Berlin Olympics
The Berlin Olympics in 1936 were a masterfully played piece of Nazi Propaganda, where they framed their race as physically superior and their ideology as modern, organised and cultured while also ostensibly downplaying their anti-internationalism racism and anti-semitism. But the Germans didn't embrace sports for friendly competition. They did so for something very different.
1937 Part 1: Did WW2 Start in 1937? - The Rape of China
1937 marks the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War. And wether or not this is the 'actual' starting point of World War Two, it definitely was a devastating conflict which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the displacement of millions.
1937 Part 2: Why the Nazis Weren't Socialists - "The Good Hitler Years"
The Nazi economy appears to do well during the 1930s. But this is largely myth, as the German economy under Hitler is based on a self destructive, ideologically or selfishly fuelled irrationality driven by conquest and criminal practice.
1938 Part 1: Appeasement - How the West Helped Hitler Start WW2
With the increasing aggression of Italy, Japan, and Germany in the 1930s, the League of Nations is becoming increasingly ineffective in regulating international disputes. Britain and France adopt a diplomatic strategy of appeasement to hold off all-out war and buy some crucial time. But will it work, and can Adolf Hitler's territorial ambitions be contained?
1938 Part 2: Chain Your Woman to the Stove - Feminism in the 1930s
Under the yoke of economic depression and more and more authoritarian rulers, Western women face renewed misogyny, patriarchy, and decreasing independence. But not all women think this is such a bad thing.
1938 Part 3: The Road to the Holocaust - Kristallnacht
After years of gradually increasing persecution, the Nazi's institute a nationwide pogrom on the night of November 9, 1938. It will signal the end of Jewish life in Germany.
1938 Part 4: Stalin's Paranoid Military Purges - The Great Terror
In 1938, Stalin has his military leadership purged, and has thousands of his comrades killed or locked up. The reasons as to why he did it are still open for debate.
1939 Part 1: The Deadly Dry Run for WW2 - The Spanish Civil War
After years of political violence and strife, a military coup in 1936 finally brings Spain into all-out civil war. Mass executions and revolutionary upheaval, as the eyes of the world focus on the Iberian Peninsula.
1939 Part 2: A Soviet-Nazi Alliance - The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
In 1939, two bitter rivals sign a non-aggression pact. But the treaty is something more than just a simple pledge of neutrality. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union have also secretly agreed on how they will carve up Eastern Europe between them.
1939 Part 3: The True Story of How WW2 Began
In this final episode of Season 1 of Between Two Wars we examine what caused the world to stand on the brink of total war in just two decades after the War to End All Wars. Events that end with three words through a phone line: "Grandmother is dead," words that launch World War II.
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