Explaining History

Nick Shepley

How do we make sense of the modern world? We find the answers in the history of the 20th Century. For over a decade, The Explaining History Podcast has been the guide for curious minds. Host Nick Shepley and expert guests break down the world wars, the Cold War, and the rise and fall of ideologies into concise, 25-minute episodes. This isn't a dry lecture. It's a critical, narrative-driven conversation that connects the past to your present. Perfect for students, history buffs, and anyone who wants to understand how we got here. Hit subscribe and start exploring. Join us at Explaining History for daily modern history articles and news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. hace 1 d

    Voter suppression and stolen US elections

    In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by David F. Walbert, a veteran voting rights attorney whose new book, Stealing Elections American Style, traces the long, sordid history of contested and corrupted elections from the mid‑19th century to the present day. David's career spans decades of litigation on voting rights cases, beginning in the early 1970s when he moved to Georgia and discovered that despite the Voting Rights Act, African American representation in elected office was staggeringly low. The problem was not voter registration – Black and white registration was near parity – but structural devices that allowed white majorities to control every election outcome. We explore the origins of the "Southern strategy" – the explicit deal struck by Richard Nixon in 1968 with the white South: electoral votes in exchange for Supreme Court justices hostile to civil rights. That strategy, David argues, is the genesis of the ongoing assault on voting rights, culminating in the 1980 Supreme Court decision that nearly shut down vote dilution cases – and the subsequent effort to amend the Voting Rights Act in 1982. The conversation moves to the stolen election of 1876 – perhaps the most flagrant in American history – where Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the presidency despite losing the popular vote, through the systematic throwing out of Democratic precincts in Louisiana. The parallels to the present are striking. David also discusses the evolution of voter suppression tactics, the spread of white racist ideology from the South to the North, and the alarming infiltration of election denialists into state and local election apparatuses. He warns that the next close election – particularly in the House and Senate – could be decided not by voters, but by partisan politicians in Congress, a prospect that threatens the very foundation of American democracy. Topics covered: David's career litigating voting rights casesThe Voting Rights Act and its amendmentsThe Southern strategy and its consequencesThe stolen election of 1876 (Tilden vs. Hayes)George W. Bush vs. Al Gore in 2000Trump's attempt to steal the 2020 electionThe infiltration of election denialists into state and local officesThe constitutional power of Congress to judge its own electionsThe threat to the 2028 presidential electionDavid F. Walbert's Stealing Elections American Style is published by Bloomsbury and is available from September 3 in the US and October in the UK. Please consider buying from an independent bookshop or directly from the publisher. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes. 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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. hace 2 d

    From Empire to Neoliberalism – The Long Arc of Capital and the Cannibalisation of the West

    In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we step back from the specific history of Congo to examine the broader theoretical framework of neocolonialism – and how the decline of formal empire prepared the ground for the neoliberal revolution. Drawing on thinkers from Marx and Lenin to J.A. Hobson and Rosa Luxemburg, we explore the purpose of empire from the perspective of capital: the pursuit of cheap resources, cheap labour, and captive markets. Britain's transformation from a middling European kingdom to a global superpower was built on the extraction of wealth from its colonies – from the opium trade with China to the slave‑based sugar and cotton economies to the systematic deindustrialisation of India. But what happens when empire becomes unsustainable? In India, the British lost control of the Indian Army in 1946, and with it, their ability to monopolise armed force. By the 1950s and 60s, most of Britain's African colonies were gone. Yet the flow of wealth from the Global South to the City of London did not stop. It continued through neocolonialism – debt, the Bretton Woods institutions, corporate infiltration, and support for pliant regimes. And then came neoliberalism. As the returns from empire declined, capitalist elites in the Global North turned inward, cannibalising their own societies through privatisation, the erosion of welfare states, and the breaking of organised labour. The neoliberal revolution was, in part, a response to the crisis of empire – a way to maintain elite wealth and power when the old imperial structures could no longer deliver. We also consider the explicitly colonial and eugenic thinking of some neoliberal architects, and the destructive consequences of imposing market logic on societies with no history of it. From the mass unemployment of Thatcher's Britain to the ongoing exploitation of Africa, the arc of capital bends towards extraction – and the people always pay the price. Topics covered: Marxist and liberal theories of imperialism (Hobson, Lenin, Luxemburg)Britain's transition from formal empire to neocolonialismThe loss of control over the Indian Army in 1946The Bretton Woods institutions and the weaponisation of debtNeoliberalism as a response to the decline of empireThe cannibalisation of Western welfare statesThe role of organised labour and the defeat of the minersThe eugenic and colonial thinking of neoliberal theoristsIf you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes. 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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. hace 3 d

    Belgium, America and Congo 1884-1960

    In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we begin a journey into one of the darkest and most overlooked chapters of the 20th century: the establishment of neocolonialism in Africa after the formal end of European empires. After the Second World War, the dreams of a genuinely independent Africa – of nations free from exploitation, able to chart their own futures – were mercilessly snuffed out by Western powers. Drawing on Susan Williams's brilliant White Malice: The CIA and the Neocolonialisation of Africa, we explore the relationship between Ghana and Congo, and the forces that destroyed the hopes of the independence era. We begin with the brutal history of King Leopold II's Congo Free State – a territory nearly 80 times the size of Belgium, where an estimated 10 million Congolese people died as a consequence of forced labour, mutilation, and murder. The purpose of Belgian rule, as Kwame Nkrumah observed, was not to suppress slavery but to change its nature, to make it more profitable. But the exploitation did not end with formal decolonisation. The Congo's Shinkolobwe mine produced uranium of unparalleled richness – up to 75% uranium oxide, compared to ores from America that contained just 0.2%. This uranium was essential to the Manhattan Project, powering the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, the resource extraction continued, but through new means: corporate infiltration, debt, coups, and the tools of the Bretton Woods system. We trace the origins of American intelligence operations in Africa, from the OSS bases in Accra, Cape Town, and Addis Ababa, to the top-secret mission to protect Congolese uranium from falling into enemy hands. And we consider the broader tragedy of neocolonialism – how the West used every tool at its disposal to ensure that Africa's resources remained under its control, long after the flags of empire had been lowered. Topics covered: The Belgian Congo and the crimes of King Leopold IIThe forced labour system and the rubber tradeThe Shinkolobwe uranium mineThe Manhattan Project and the atomic bombThe OSS and early US intelligence in AfricaKwame Nkrumah and Pan-AfricanismThe tools of neocolonialism: debt, coups, and corporate powerThe continuing relevance of resource exploitation todaySusan Williams's White Malice is available from all good bookshops. Please consider buying from an independent retailer. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes. 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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. 12 ago

    America's Wrong Turn – How Neoliberalism Broke U.S. Healthcare with John McDonagh

    In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by John McDonagh, professor of practice at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, former Massachusetts state legislator, and key architect of Obamacare. He is here to discuss his new book, America's Wrong Turn: U.S. Healthcare in the Neoliberal Era – a searing diagnosis of how a revolution in economic thinking turned the American healthcare system into a global outlier. The United States spends more on healthcare than any other advanced nation – by a staggering margin – yet its health outcomes rank near the bottom. Life expectancy has been declining since 1980. The infant mortality rate is embarrassingly high. And while every other wealthy country covers 99–100% of its citizens, the U.S. still leaves millions uninsured. John explains how a single chart – showing U.S. healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP – reveals the story. In 1980, the U.S. was the highest spender but still in the pack. Then something happened. Around 1982–83, the U.S. "jackrabbited" away from every other nation. The culprit? The neoliberal revolution – the ideas of Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and the Mont Pelerin Society – that captured American policy under Ronald Reagan and transformed healthcare from a public good into a site of value extraction. John traces how monopoly capitalism, private equity, and the mantra of "maximising shareholder value" have hollowed out the system. Hospitals are bought by private equity firms, stripped of their land and buildings, and turned into tenants paying exorbitant rents. Two companies now control 90% of dialysis care. Antitrust enforcement has collapsed. The result is a system that Americans hate – but feel powerless to change. Yet John is an optimist. He argues that the feedback loop of public revulsion is building, and that the neoliberal era – though its effects persist – is over. The seeds of hope lie in renewed antitrust activism, grassroots organising, and the eventual replacement of a corrupt administration. Topics covered: U.S. healthcare spending vs. outcomesThe 1980s inflection pointThe neoliberal revolution and its key thinkersMonopoly capitalism in healthcarePrivate equity and value extractionThe collapse of antitrust enforcementMilton Friedman's "shareholder value" doctrineThe NHS and the politics of healthcareHope for reform John McDonagh's America's Wrong Turn is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Use code HTWN at checkout for 30% off. Please consider buying from an independent retailer or directly from the publisher. If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes. 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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. 11 ago

    California and the origins of the carceral state

    In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore a little‑known chapter of American history: the establishment of California's penal system as a form of coerced labour that replaced chattel slavery. When we think of slavery in America, we think of the southern states. But California has a far more complex and underexplored history. In 1849, the year after gold was discovered, California was a lawless frontier. There were no courts, no jails, no police. Vigilantes and self‑appointed "tribunals" dispensed "justice" with fists, guns and ropes. White paramilitary groups like the Hounds terrorised Latino and Black communities, robbing, raping and mutilating with impunity. As California moved towards statehood in 1850, it needed to establish order. But the state had no money to build prisons. The solution was to put prisoners to work – and to make them pay for their own incarceration. From the 1850s onwards, legions of shackled prisoners built roads, broke granite, laid pipes and even built San Quentin prison itself. Convict labour was leased to private businesses, creating a system of penal slavery that would endure for generations. Drawing on Jean Felser's California, a Slave State, we trace the origins of this system. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery – but with a crucial exception: "except as a punishment for crime". That exception allowed California to build an economic colossus on the backs of unpaid prisoners, disproportionately Native American, Black, immigrant and poor. And the system never went away. Topics covered: California's lawless gold rush eraThe Hounds and vigilante justiceThe 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of IndiansThe establishment of San Quentin prisonConvict leasing and penal slaveryThe 13th Amendment's "punishment for crime" exceptionThe racialisation of crime and punishmentThe prison‑industrial complex in historical perspective If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes.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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. 22 jul

    The International Brigades and the fight for Spain

    The International Brigades and the Fight for Spain **In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by Tony Fox, organiser of the Northeast Volunteers for Liberty and the International Brigades Memorial Organisation, to discuss the newly published collection, *Remember Me to My Comrades: Letters from Spain to Britain*.** The book emerged from a remarkable collaboration with the families of volunteers from the North East of England – one of the industrial heartlands hit hardest by the Great Depression. Through letters, diaries, and previously unpublished documents from the Russian archives, it brings to life the voices of men who went to Spain to fight fascism. Tony explains how the International Brigades were formed in response to the Non-Intervention Treaty signed by Britain, France and other powers. While Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy poured troops and weapons into Franco's Nationalist forces, the Soviet Union organised volunteers through the Comintern. In Britain, the Communist Party – not the Labour Party, which supported non-intervention – recruited and vetted two-and-a-half thousand men. We discuss the diverse motivations of the volunteers: from committed communists who had already fought Oswald Mosley's fascists on the streets of Britain, to idealists who saw Spain as the front line of a wider war against fascism. We explore the unique political character of the International Brigades – an army of working-class activists who knew why they were fighting, and whose morale was sustained through political education, including an essay competition held in the middle of the war. Tony also shares the story of Sam Wild, the last and finest commander of the British Battalion, and the chaotic, heroic rear‑guard actions that defined the British experience – from the defence of Madrid to the bloody retreats across the Ebro. **Topics covered:** - The Non-Intervention Treaty and its consequences - The formation of the International Brigades - The role of the Communist Party in recruitment - The social and political character of the volunteers - The Battle of Jarama and the defence of Madrid - Sam Wild and the British Battalion - Letters from the Russian archives - The human cost of the Spanish Civil War --- *Tony Fox's *Remember Me to My Comrades* is available from Barnfather Publishing and independent bookshops. Please consider buying from an independent retailer or directly from the publisher.* *If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes.* 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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. 15 jul

    Between Two Empires – The Arab Revolts Against the Ottomans in Mesopotamia

    In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore the complex dynamics of the Mesopotamian campaign during the First World War – where subject peoples, caught between the collapsing Ottoman Empire and the advancing British, navigated their loyalties with survival in mind.** Drawing on Eugene Rogan's masterful *The Fall of the Ottomans*, we examine the Arab rebellions that erupted in the Middle Euphrates region in 1915. The Ottomans, desperate to hold their empire together, attempted to enforce conscription among their Arab subjects – many of whom had no desire to die in a war they had not chosen. When Ottoman authorities clamped down on deserters, the shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala exploded in rebellion. The rebellion was not nationalist in the modern sense. The rebels did not seek independence; they sought autonomy from a distant Ottoman state that was extracting their young men and disrupting their lives. In Najaf, deserters holed up in the shrine city. When Ottoman soldiers violated local customs by searching under women's veils, the townspeople turned against them. The rebellion spread to Karbala, Al-Hilla, Samawah, and other towns, with rebels burning government buildings, destroying records, and driving Ottoman soldiers out. As the British advanced up the Tigris and Euphrates, local populations made pragmatic choices. Arab villages flew white flags to welcome the new conquerors. The Ottomans, meanwhile, faced a collapse of morale that led to mass surrenders – including at the town of Amara, where a single British steamer with a crew of eight sailors accepted the surrender of hundreds of Ottoman troops. We also explore the divided loyalties of figures like Ali Djaoudat, an Iraqi Arab officer who had served the Ottomans loyally but secretly sympathised with the Arab autonomy movement. His capture by British forces – after being ambushed by Bedouin tribesmen who had turned against the Ottomans – illustrates the complexity of the situation. **Topics covered:** - Eugene Rogan's *The Fall of the Ottomans* - Ottoman conscription and desertion in Mesopotamia - The Najaf rebellion of May 1915 - The Karbala uprising and its spread - The collapse of Ottoman morale - The British advance and "Townsend's Regatta" - The surrender at Amara - The divided loyalties of Arab officers - Robert Fisk's "Lord Blair of Kut" comment - The experience of colonised peoples between two empires --- *Eugene Rogan's *The Fall of the Ottomans* is available from all good bookshops. Please consider buying from an independent retailer.* *If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes.* 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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. 8 jul

    Russia's post communist shock therapy 1991-3

    False Dawn – Russia's Two Utopian Experiments and the Legacy of Shock Therapy https://explaininghistory.org/historiography/russian-revolution/ In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore John Gray's False Dawn and the remarkable parallels between two failed attempts to remake Russia on a Western model – Bolshevism and the "shock therapy" of the post‑Soviet 1990s. After the First World War, John Maynard Keynes warned that the Carthaginian peace imposed on Germany would lead to endless instability. The Treaty of Versailles was a missed opportunity – and so, in a different way, was the settlement that followed the Cold War. Instead of a new international order that might have integrated Russia into the world system, we got free‑market triumphalism and the chaotic dismemberment of the Soviet Union. John Gray's argument is provocative: both War Communism (1918‑21) and the shock therapy of the Yeltsin era were Western utopian projects, divorced from Russian history and culture, that produced catastrophic human suffering. War Communism, with its abolition of private property and markets, was an attempt to impose Marxian socialism on a country that had no industrial base to sustain it. Shock therapy, with its sudden price liberalisation and mass privatisation, was an attempt to impose an American‑style free market on a country that had no institutions to support it. The results were devastating. In the 1990s, Russia experienced collapsing life expectancy, spiralling inflation that wiped out life savings, the rise of gangster capitalism, and the emergence of an oligarchic class that would eventually centralise power under Vladimir Putin. Yet unlike the horrors of Stalinism, this second catastrophe has received relatively little attention in Western historiography. Gray also draws a broader lesson: the global free market is itself a utopia, hostile to tradition, culture, and human needs. Like Soviet communism, it demands the sacrifice of those who get in its way – and its shock troops, from the IMF to the editorial pages of major newspapers, share the same contempt for history as the Bolsheviks. **Topics covered:** - Keynes and Clemenceau on the Treaty of Versailles - The missed opportunity of the post‑Cold War settlement - John Gray's *False Dawn* - War Communism and its consequences - Shock therapy and the collapse of 1990s Russia - The parallels between Soviet and neoliberal utopianism - The human cost of economic experimentation - Russia's "indigenous capitalism" and the rise of Putin - The arrogance of Western state‑building in Iraq and Afghanistan --- *If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting us – we are migrating from Patreon to Substack. Details in the show notes.* 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 Content Become a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory ▸ Join the Community & Continue the Conversation Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcast Substack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com ▸ Read Articles & Go Deeper Website: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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How do we make sense of the modern world? We find the answers in the history of the 20th Century. For over a decade, The Explaining History Podcast has been the guide for curious minds. Host Nick Shepley and expert guests break down the world wars, the Cold War, and the rise and fall of ideologies into concise, 25-minute episodes. This isn't a dry lecture. It's a critical, narrative-driven conversation that connects the past to your present. Perfect for students, history buffs, and anyone who wants to understand how we got here. Hit subscribe and start exploring. Join us at Explaining History for daily modern history articles and news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ficha técnica

  • Creado por
    Nick Shepley
  • Años en activo
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodios
    952
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Derechos de autor
    © Nick Shepley
  • Sitio web del podcast
    Explaining History

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