The History of the Twentieth Century

Mark Painter

A chronicle of the history of the twentieth century, including art, music, popular culture, science, religion, and, of course, politics and war.

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457 episodes
Updated Yesterday

Episodes457

Newest first

Oct 21, 2018 · 39 min
133 We Win Ourselves to Death
Germany was already rationing food when the bad harvests of 1916 made the situation far worse. Running out of options, the German military decides to resume unrestricted U-boat warfare.
Oct 14, 2018 · 47 min
132 Guerre à la guerre
The European powers refused to negotiate, but private groups, including women's groups, socialists, and Henry Ford, pressed ahead with campaigns to bring the belligerents to the negotiating table.
Oct 7, 2018 · 38 min
131 This Wellsian Wonder
The automobile and the airplane, both recent inventions that make use of the internal combustion engine, become weapons of war.
Sep 23, 2018 · 41 min
130 He Kept Us out of War
With four years of peace and progressive reform and a booming economy (due to the strong French and UK wartime demand for US imports), you would think Woodrow Wilson would cruise to an easy re-election. You would be wrong.
Sep 16, 2018 · 43 min
129 Everywhere and Nowhere
In the wake of Pancho Villa's attack on the town of Columbus, New Mexico, the US Army sends an expeditionary force into Mexico in pursuit of Villa and his fighters, commanded by Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing.
Sep 9, 2018 · 39 min
128 A Portuguesa
German East Africa was the last holdout among German colonial possessions. Neighboring Portuguese and Belgian soldiers, as well as South Africans, joined in to help the British, although the British were not always happy to accept their assistance.
Aug 26, 2018 · 44 min
127 A Terrible Beauty Is Born II
The Rising begins.
Aug 19, 2018 · 47 min
126 A Terrible Beauty Is Born I
Irish nationalist extremist plot an armed uprising against British rule and reach out to Germany for assistance.
Aug 12, 2018 · 41 min
125 Question Time
We take a break from the historical narrative this week as listener Brent asks the questions that (hopefully) you wanted answered.
Jul 29, 2018 · 46 min
124 What Passing-Bells for These Who Die as Cattle?
We conclude the four-part series on military moves in 1916 in the Great War with Brusilov's Offensive and the Battle of the Somme.
Jul 22, 2018 · 40 min
123 Something Wrong with Our Bloody Ships
Austria begins an offensive against Italy, Russia gears up a counteroffensive in Galicia, and the British and German Navies have it out in the Skagerrak.
Jul 15, 2018 · 31 min
122 They Shall Not Pass
The fighting continued at Verdun as the Russians prepare an offensive of their own to relieve the pressure on France. A German U-boat mistakenly sinks a passenger ferry in the English Channel, triggering another controversy over submarine rules of engagement.
Jul 8, 2018 · 43 min
121 England's Best Sword Knocked from Her Hand
The third year of the war opens with Britain and Germany as the mainstays of their respective alliances. The German Chief of Staff tries a bank shot: cripple Britain by wounding France.
Jun 24, 2018 · 38 min
120 A Line in the Sand
Turkish forces defeat a British force attempting to take Baghdad, but that doesn't stop the British and the French from divvying up the postwar Middle East. Also, the Russians advance, the Italians don't.
Jun 17, 2018 · 40 min
119 The Minister without Portfolio
Venustiano Carranza is gaining momentum in the struggle over the future of Mexico, but Pancho Villa is not ready to give up. The Germans hope to lure the US into intervening, then Pancho Villa decides provoking the US is also in his interests.
Jun 10, 2018 · 43 min
118 The Lunatics Have Taken Charge of the Asylum
In the neutral United States, the economy is booming and so is the motion picture business. And the most famous name in pictures is Charles Chaplin.
Jun 3, 2018 · 40 min
117 What Are the French Doing?
Allied commanders on the Western Front spent 1915 developing new strategies for the Great War, and attempted to implement them in their autumn offensive.
May 20, 2018 · 49 min
116 What Did You Do in the Great War?
With numbers of new volunteers declining every month, the British government wrestles with the issue of conscription. Across Europe, all the Great Powers are feeling the manpower and other shortages created by the war.
May 13, 2018 · 40 min
115 Let Them Raise Hell
After the overthrow of Victoriano Huerta, the revolutionary forces in Mexico begin fighting among themselves, and Huerta himself conspires with the Germans to return to power.
May 6, 2018 · 40 min
114 Beautiful Tightropes of Logic
Albert Einstein needed ten years to flesh out his special theory of relativity into a general theory of relativity, but when he finished, he changed our understanding of the nature of reality itself.

The History of the Twentieth Century

133 We Win Ourselves to Death

132 Guerre à la guerre

131 This Wellsian Wonder

130 He Kept Us out of War

129 Everywhere and Nowhere

128 A Portuguesa

127 A Terrible Beauty Is Born II

126 A Terrible Beauty Is Born I

125 Question Time

124 What Passing-Bells for These Who Die as Cattle?

123 Something Wrong with Our Bloody Ships

122 They Shall Not Pass

121 England's Best Sword Knocked from Her Hand

120 A Line in the Sand

119 The Minister without Portfolio

118 The Lunatics Have Taken Charge of the Asylum

117 What Are the French Doing?

116 What Did You Do in the Great War?

115 Let Them Raise Hell

114 Beautiful Tightropes of Logic