Reichs & Republics | The German History Podcast

Katja Hoyer & Dr. Christopher Dillon
  • 5.0 (92)
  • History
  • Weekly

Takes you beyond the familiar clichés to uncover the richness and diversity of the German past. Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon ⁠⁠https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host⁠⁠ To comment and ask questions, please join our community:⁠ https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters⁠ Support via Paypal:⁠⁠ http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal⁠⁠⁠ Merchandise and Shop: ⁠⁠https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all⁠ Our WW1 Podcast:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/⁠ Our WW2 Podcast:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com⁠⁠ Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT⁠⁠ If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter:⁠⁠ ⁠https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter⁠⁠ Katjas socials X (Twitter): ⁠ https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist ⁠https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠ Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen

  1. 2d ago

    The Counter-Revolution: Germany, 1919–1923

    In this episode, Katja and Chris explore how the largely peaceful German Revolution of November 1918 descended into terror and bloodshed. Picking up where the previous episode left off, they examine how Friedrich Ebert’s provisional government turned to the army and the Freikorps to crush the so-called Spartacist Uprising of January 1919, leading to the murders of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. They trace the wave of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary violence that followed, from the assassination of Kurt Eisner and the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republics to the brutal Freikorps assault on Munich. Along the way, they ask who the Freikorps men really were, challenge the myth that they were brutalised proto-Nazis, and follow the more extreme units such as the Ehrhardt Brigade into the Kapp Putsch, the underground death squads of Organisation Consul, the murders of Matthias Erzberger and Walther Rathenau, and finally Hitler’s failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. Oct 27

    ‘The Greatest of All Revolutions’. November 1918 and the Fall of the Kaiserreich

    In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the German Revolution of 1918–19, when a mass popular uprising swept away the Kaiser and every other German dynasty. Tracing its roots to the thwarted revolutions of 1848, they follow the upheaval through the munitions workers’ strikes of January 1918, the naval mutiny that autumn, the formation across Germany of workers’ and soldiers’ councils, and the extraordinary ascent of Friedrich Ebert, a socialist and former saddler, to head of state. They unpick the storied Ebert–Groener Pact and the bloody suppression of the January 1919 uprising in Berlin, culminating in the murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Was this a half-hearted revolution, a revolution betrayed – or a democratic breakthrough judged much too harshly in hindsight? Links: https://www.academia.edu/81063033/Kiel_Uprising_Womens_activism_and_the_German_Revolution_November_1918 Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. Oct 20

    The Curious Cult of St Oswald: Kings, Ravens and Mermaids with Sarah Bowden

    In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by Sarah Bowden, Professor of German and Medieval Studies at King’s College London, to explore one of the strangest puzzles of medieval Europe: why hundreds of churches and chapels across southern Germany, Austria and the Alps are dedicated to Oswald, a 7th-century king of Northumbria. From Bede’s account of a Christian warrior king and his miraculously incorruptible right arm to the royal marriages that carried his cult into the Holy Roman Empire, they trace how Oswald travelled from northern England to Weingarten Abbey and beyond. Along the way, they uncover how German storytellers transformed him almost beyond recognition, adding a multilingual raven, a bridal quest, mermaids and a chaste marriage enforced by a cold bath. What can one saint’s many reinventions tell us about power, faith and culture in medieval Germany? Links: https://oswaldusrex.co.uk/ Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. Oct 13

    The Making of Baldur von Schirach and the Hitler Youth

    In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the life of Baldur von Schirach, leader of the Hitler Youth and one of the more unlikely figures in the Nazi elite. Born into a wealthy, cosmopolitan family with American roots, Schirach enjoyed the privilege and connections to pursue almost any career. Instead, he threw himself into the fledgling Nazi movement long before it had any prospect of power. From his antisemitic schooling in Weimar and starstruck first encounter with Hitler to his mobilisation of ultranationalist university students and his ambition to forge an entire generation of children in Nazism’s image, Katja and Chris explore Schirach’s rise within the Nazi movement. They trace how a sensitive young aristocrat became a convicted war criminal, culminating in his role in the deportation of Vienna’s Jews. They also examine how his grandson, the bestselling author Ferdinand von Schirach, has grappled with this troubling inheritance, and what his response reveals about Germany’s continuing struggle with the memory of Nazism. Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. Oct 6

    Augustus the Strong - Europe's Worst King? with Prof. Tim Blanning

    In this week's episode, Katja and Chris are joined by Professor Tim Blanning to discuss Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. Famous for his strength, mistresses and lavish parties, Augustus has been called one of Europe's worst monarchs. They explore how he won and lost the Polish crown, his failures in the Great Northern War, and his triumph as the patron who transformed Dresden. So was he really such a bad king? Books Augustus the Strong: A Study in Artistic Greatness and Political Fiasco https://www.amazon.co.uk/Augustus-Strong-Artistic-Greatness-Political/dp/0241705142 The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pursuit-Glory-Europe-1648-1815/dp/014016667X/ Frederick the Great: King of Prussia https://www.amazon.co.uk/Frederick-Great-Prussia-Tim-Blanning/dp/0141039191/ Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. Sep 29

    The Guillaume Affair: A Stasi Spy in the Chancellery

    In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the Guillaume Affair, one of the Cold War's most dramatic spy scandals. Günter Guillaume was an East German Stasi officer who spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks of the SPD to become Chancellor Willy Brandt's personal aide. They ask how he got there, what West German intelligence knew, and why his arrest in 1974 brought down one of West Germany's most charismatic chancellors. Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. Sep 22

    Wilhelm I with Jan Markert

    In this episode, Katja and Chris are joined by historian Dr. Jan Markert to look past the myth of Wilhelm I as a passive "soldier on the throne" and uncover the shrewd, hands-on monarch who shaped Germany's path to unification. They trace his Napoleonic-era childhood, his doomed teenage romance, his brutal role in crushing the 1848 revolution, and the real story behind his appointment of Bismarck, one that overturns the popular image of Bismarck as the mastermind and Wilhelm as his pawn. Along the way, they explore his troubled marriage, his fraught relationships with his son and grandson, and why Wilhelm's legacy still deserves a serious reckoning. Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. Sep 15

    The Hidden Germans of the White House

    In this episode, Katja and Chris explore the hidden history of German America in the White House. From Friedrich Trump's secretive teenage flight from Kallstadt in 1885 to the presidencies of Dwight Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and Donald Trump, they trace how the largest immigrant group in American history became so thoroughly assimilated that its influence all but disappeared from public view. The episode also uncovers Donald Trump's decades-long insistence that his family was Swedish rather than German, and asks why a community of 44 million Americans produced so few leaders ever remembered as German American. Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host To comment and ask questions, please join our community: https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters Support via Paypal: http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal Merchandise and Shop: https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all Our WW1 Podcast: https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/ Our WW2 Podcast: https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter: https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter Katjas socials X (Twitter): https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen - Editing: Jessa Sargento Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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5
out of 5
92 Ratings

About

Takes you beyond the familiar clichés to uncover the richness and diversity of the German past. Join us as we untangle this complex story, dispelling the popular myths and misapprehensions about a national history that still shapes the world we live in.  Do you like our podcast? Then please leave us a review, it helps us a lot! Host: Katja Hoyer & Dr Christopher Dillon ⁠⁠https://battleguide.co.uk/reichs-republics#host⁠⁠ To comment and ask questions, please join our community:⁠ https://reichs-and-republics.com/supporters⁠ Support via Paypal:⁠⁠ http://battleguide.co.uk/rr-paypal⁠⁠⁠ Merchandise and Shop: ⁠⁠https://reichs-and-republics.com/collections/all⁠ Our WW1 Podcast:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://listen.not-so-quiet.com/⁠ Our WW2 Podcast:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://listen.both-sides-of-the-wire.com⁠⁠ Untitled History Podcast: http://listen.untitled-history.com/ Battle Guide YouTube Channel: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BattleGuideVT⁠⁠ If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what the team at Battle Guide have been getting up to, why not sign up to our monthly newsletter:⁠⁠ ⁠https://battleguide.co.uk/newsletter⁠⁠ Katjas socials X (Twitter): ⁠ https://x.com/hoyer_kat Substack: Zeitgeist ⁠https://www.katjahoyer.uk/ General Enquiries: republics@battleguide.co.uk⁠⁠⁠⁠ Credits: - Host: Katja Hoyer and Dr Christopher Dillon - Production: Linus Klaßen

Information

  • Creator
    Katja Hoyer & Dr. Christopher Dillon
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    34

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