PODCAST · history
Explaining History
by 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.
Episodes
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Stateless Nations – Wales, Catalonia, and the Mezzogiorno
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by Sam Parry of Cardiff Metropolitan University to discuss the concept of stateless nations – nations that have not achieved nation-state status for complex historical reasons. We focus on three examples: Wales, Catalonia, and the...
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Gentlemen Amateurs – Staffing the Secret Service in the First World War
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we return to Keith Jeffery's official history of MI6 to examine a question that gets to the heart of how the secret state was built: who became a spy, and why? When the First World War broke out, Mansfield Cumming – the first "C" of the Secret...
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Japanese War Crimes in China 1937-45
China’s war against Japan was one of the largest, bloodiest and most consequential theatres of the Second World War — yet it is still too often treated as peripheral to the wider conflict. In this episode of the Explaining History podcast, we examine China’s experience of war through Max…
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America's withdrawal from Iraq
In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we examine the American withdrawal from Iraq – the product of Trump's war with Iran, and a strategic defeat of historic proportions. Iraq has been enormously important to the United States since the end of the Cold War. It has served…
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A Way of Love – Gay Life in Post-War Britain with Peter Parker
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by historian Peter Parker to discuss the remarkable rediscovery of James Courage's A Way of Love – widely regarded as the first gay novel by a New Zealander – and what it tells us about gay life in post-war Britain. First published…
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Bombing Damascus – France, the Mandate System, and the Atrocities of 1925
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we return to Susan Pedersen's *The Guardians* – the definitive history of the mandate system – to examine one of its darkest chapters: the French bombing of Damascus in October 1925. The French had acquired Syria under the Sykes-Picot Agreement,...
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India, America and Nehru 1940-41
**In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore Srinath Raghavan's brilliant *India's War: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1939–1945* – a book that places India at the centre of the Second World War, rather than at its margins.** India is frequently overlooked in histories…
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Stalin's Statues – Monuments, Memory, and the Theme Parking of History
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore Keith Lowe's *Prisoners of History* and the contested world of memorialisation – focusing on one of the strangest and most controversial memorial sites in Europe. Monuments occupy public space, and they impose meaning on it. Walk…
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Macmillan's Britain – Suez, Decline, and the Winds of Change 1957-60
In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore the Macmillan years – that remarkable, contradictory period of post-war British history when the country was forced to confront its diminished place in the world, even as it sought to cling to the vestiges of imperial power. When...
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MI6 in 1914
MI6 and the First World War – The Birth of the Secret State In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore the origins of MI6 – the Secret Intelligence Service – during the First World War, drawing on Keith Jeffery's official history of the organisation. Intelligence history…
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The AFD's advances– Neoliberalism, the Extreme Centre, and the Rise of the Far Right
In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we examine the recent electoral victory of the Alternative for Germany (AFD) in the state of Saxony-Anhalt – and what it tells us about the global resurgence of the far right. The AFD's crushing victory has alarmed commentators around the...
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Civil Rights After 1980 – The Unfinished Revolution
# Episode Description In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we tackle one of the most persistent problems in how we teach and understand the civil rights movement: the "happy ever after" narrative. For many years, students have been taught that the struggles of the 1950s and 60s...
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The Fall of Baghdad 1917 - Part Two
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we continue our exploration of Eugene Rogan's masterful The Fall of the Ottomans, examining the fall of Baghdad to British forces in March 1917 – a victory that transformed Britain's position in the Middle East and revealed the imperial ambitions...
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The Fall of Baghdad 1917
The Fall of Baghdad In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we continue our exploration of Eugene Rogan's masterful The Fall of the Ottomans, examining the British campaign to capture Baghdad in 1917 – a victory that helped redeem the catastrophic humiliation of Kut. The surrender...
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Britain Alone – The Hostile Environment and the Remaking of Britishness
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore the transformation of British society since Brexit – a story of the weaponisation of immigration, the erosion of the NHS, and the narrowing of who counts as "British." Drawing on Liam Stanley's excellent book, Britain Alone, we examine...
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Reforming the Tsar's Army – From Serfdom to Universal Service in Imperial Russia
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore one of the most significant transformations of 19th-century Russia: the introduction of universal military service in 1874. The Crimean War had exposed the profound weaknesses of the Russian Empire. Its army, composed largely of serfs...
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Hegseth's War Crimes
Hegseth's War – The Catastrophic Consequences of Maximum Lethality In this week's solo episode, I examine a ProPublica investigation into Pete Hegseth's tenure as US Defence Secretary – and the catastrophic consequences of his "maximum lethality" doctrine. Here, I want to expand on some of the…
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An Exceptional Hatred – Antisemitism, Free Speech, and the American Culture War
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by James Loeffler, the Felix Posen Professor of Modern Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University, to discuss his new book, An Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight Over Free Speech in Modern America. The book traces a...
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Harold Wilson, Corporatism, and the Paranoia of the British Right
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore the life and legacy of Harold Wilson – the most successful Labour Prime Minister of the 20th century, and the man who attracted the most fevered paranoia from the British right. Wilson is often misunderstood. To the right, he was a...
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Trump, Canada and the defence of sovereignty
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, I examine the extraordinary diplomatic demands the United States has placed on Canada – demands that echo the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia in July 1914 and raise profound questions about American intentions. The Trump administration's…
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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…
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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…
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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War and Empire in the 20th Century
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we dive into Richard Overy's magnificent *Blood and Ruins* – a history that reframes the Second World War not simply as a struggle between democracy and fascism, but as the bloody climax of a centuries‑long competition between rival imperial...
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Mamdani, Corbyn and the War Within the Centre-Left
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, I explore the striking parallels between the British Labour Party's war on Jeremy Corbyn and the Democrat establishment's growing fear of Zohran Mamdani – a new kind of left politics that refuses to be bullied. We begin with the uncomfortable…
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Quebec's secret biological warfare history
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by award-winning French Canadian author Mireille Gagné to discuss her acclaimed novel, *Horsefly* – a powerful, genre-defying work inspired by a top‑secret biological warfare laboratory that operated on Québec's Grosse Île during…
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Belfast and the international networked far right
Northern Ireland, the Far-Right, and the Battle for Democracy with Heidi Birick In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined again by Heidi Birick of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism to discuss the recent far-right violence in Northern Ireland – and the global...
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Italy from the fascism to post war republic
The Toscanini Conspiracy – Arturo Toscanini, Fascism, and the Italian Resistance with Filippo Iannarone In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by Italian author Filippo Iannarone to discuss his acclaimed crime novel, The Toscanini Conspiracy – a story that weaves…
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Militarism, Masculinity, and the Making of the American Warrior
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by investigative journalist Jasper Craven to discuss his new book, *God Forgives, Brothers Don’t: Inside the Violent, Hypermasculine World of America’s Military Schools*. The conversation ranges far beyond military academies to...
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The Ottoman March on Egypt 1915
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we examine the opening moves of the Ottoman Empire’s war against Britain – a desperate, audacious campaign to seize the Suez Canal that has been largely forgotten but which revealed the fragility of the British Empire and the resilience of the...
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Adoption, Colonialism, and the Korean War
*The history that this podcast episode explores involves harm and neglect to children and some listeners may find the details disclosed distressing. In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by Paige Towers to discuss her new book, What They Stole – a deeply researched...
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The Shortest History of Scotland – Nation, Union, and the Rise of Nationalism
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by cultural historian Murray Pittock to discuss his new book, The Shortest History of Scotland – a concise but richly detailed journey through two millennia of Scottish history, from the Picts to the present day. Scotland’s…
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Trump and Nixon in Beijing - an instructive comparison
In this episode of the Explaining History podcast, Nick sets the scene for an upcoming interview with historian Murray Pittock on The Shortest History of Scotland, reflecting on the current wave of nationalist politics across Scotland, Wales, and Ireland—and how these movements connect to wider...
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Master of Lies – Anthony Blunt, the Cambridge Spy Who Changed the Course of World War II
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by author Piers Blofeld to discuss his new book, Master of Lies: The Untold Story of Anthony Blunt, which re‑examines the most underestimated member of the Cambridge Spy Ring. Anthony Blunt was exposed as a Soviet agent in 1979 –…
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The Neocons Admit Defeat in Iran
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we examine a remarkable moment: the leading architect of the Project for a New American Century, Robert Kagan, admitting that the Iran crisis is a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions – and that America has effectively lost the war.** The...
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Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes – The Golden Age, the Fall of Communism, and the Crisis of Social Democracy
**In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we return to Eric Hobsbawm's magisterial overview of the 20th century, *Age of Extremes*, to explore the paradoxes that shaped our world – and the crisis that defines our present.** Hobsbawm argued that the "short twentieth century" – from...
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The Tsar's Generals and the Press – Russian Military Journalism in the Reform Era
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we explore a little‑known but revealing corner of Russian history: the military press during the reign of Alexander II. After the humiliating defeat in the Crimean War, it was clear that Russia's army – and the autocracy that sustained it –…
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Austerity Never Ended – The Cultural Politics of Thrift in Modern Britain
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we examine the enduring legacy of austerity – a policy that officially ran from 2010 to 2024, but whose cultural and political effects are still very much with us. The Labour government has made token gestures toward rolling back austerity –…
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The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel – Oil, Revolution, and the Birth of the Soviet State
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by author Douglas Brunt to discuss his fascinating new book, The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel – the story of the greatest oil magnate you've never heard of, and the turbulent Russian decades that swept him away. Emmanuel Nobel,...
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The Death of Britain's Two-Party System – A Century in the Making
In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, I examine the slow-motion collapse of the political order that has defined British politics for a century – and what is likely to replace it. The term "political earthquake" gets overused. What is happening in Great Britain is more like a...
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The Transnational Far Right – Hate, Vigilantism, and the Mainstreaming of Extremism
**In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by Wendy Via of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism – a former Southern Poverty Law Center staffer – to discuss a new report on the transnational activities of far-right and anti-migrant groups around the world.** We…
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The Gulf Crisis – Two Theories of American Decline
There are roughly two camps. One argues that there is an overarching grand plan behind America's actions in Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, and against Russia's shadow fleet – a coherent strategy to choke off China's industries and make Europe energy-dependent on the United States. The other, more...
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The New World Order and Its Unravelling – From Bush Snr to Trump
On 29th January 1991, President George H.W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress. America was at war with Iraq, having launched Operation Desert Storm to expel Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait. Bush's tone was sombre, measured—a contrast to the triumphalism of his State of the Union a…
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China's Transformation 1978-84
In the 21st century, China stands as a global economic powerhouse, a trajectory heavily influenced by the reforms initiated in 1978 under Deng Xiaoping. This episode delves into Deng's pivotal role, positioning him as the consequential figure bridging Mao Zedong's era and the present-day…
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Capitalism without Democracy
In this solo episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we step back from the daily news cycle to examine a question that has shaped the modern world: what is the relationship between capitalism and democracy? For decades, we have been told that economic freedom and political freedom are two…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
Nick Shepley
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Explaining History have?
Explaining History currently has 971 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Explaining History about?
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...
How often does Explaining History release new episodes?
Explaining History releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 971 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Explaining History?
You can listen to Explaining History on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Explaining History?
Explaining History is created and hosted by Nick Shepley.
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