[PATRONS]
Episode 17: The Balancing Act contains several fascinating nuggets, as the US did its best to balance the needs of its policy towards South Korea - the luring of its enemies there into a false sense of security by making the regime vulnerable - with its real strategic concerns if the North made use of it...
2018-03-25 22:25:22 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
PATRONS! Out now is episode 5 of 1956! Those supporting us at $5 and above can avail of the special perks which enable them to feast on this exclusive series – have you signed up yet? Why not join us at www.patreon.com/WhenDiplomacyFails and discover why 1956 has become one of our most popular se...
2018-03-23 00:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostHello my lovely Patrons! I just wanted to take this opportunity to say hi, and to ask how you are all doing. I am aware that I haven't checked in with you guys in a while, so I thought it'd make sense to offer up this update and let you guys know what I've been up to and what's going down with me.
First of all, all podding is ...
2018-03-22 12:19:58 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 16: Selective Perspective examines further the American policy towards South Korea in late spring 1950. We open the episode with the arrival of America's ambassador to South Korea John J Muccio (pictured) returning home, to plead in person for the things that Seoul desperately needed. While Muccio did t...
2018-03-20 23:27:38 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 15: Ignorance Is Bliss examines the behaviour of the US towards its South Korean ally. Since the American strategy was now to lure North Korea into attacking, we'll see in this episode exactly how determined the Truman administration was to chronically underfund and jeopardise the security of Seo...
2018-03-19 00:02:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In the final part of our conversation with Tomi, we talk through the process of telling his story. How hard was it, why did he feel compelled to speak after so many years of silence, and how does he feel about the current state of affairs in Europe today? These and so many other questions are lobbed in h...
2018-03-16 00:02:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Tomi's story continues, as he talks us through his arrival in Belsen, a place his family members knew nothing of, and expected would be their final destination. Tragically, as we'll see, this was to be true for some of them. Tomi brings us through his harrowing experiences of life in a concentration camp...
2018-03-14 00:01:59 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Today history friends we have something incredibly special lined up for you. All this week, we'll be letting loose three parts of an interview I did with Holocaust survivor Tomi Reichental. Obviously, I am incredibly excited to bring this to you, but I am also deeply indebted to Tomi for coming onto the ...
2018-03-11 23:29:44 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 14: The Race To Ruin examines the Asian theatre in spring 1950, and the different concerns which the North Koreans, Soviet and Chinese leaders grappled with. At the apex of these concerns was the alternative plan of Mao's, as Mao desperately wanted to invade Taiwan, and end the Chinese Civil War once and for ...
2018-03-05 00:16:44 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 1.4 of 1956 - The Eventful Year is out NOW!
Episode 4 – The People Are Revolting examines the immediate storm caused by Khrushchev’s denunciations of Stalin in late February. Above all, the greatest ingredient in this storm was that of confusion. Soviet officials didn’t know what to tell the assem...
2018-03-01 22:11:17 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
What an exciting time! The third episode of PART ONE of 1956 is out NOW! What does this mean? Err... see below!
Episode 1.3 – "Do We Have The Courage To Tell The Truth?", opens with a presentation of the scene which greeted Khrushchev as he performed that incendiary speech over 24-25th of February 1956. It wa...
2018-02-28 22:44:46 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 13: A Useful Bombshell examines the immediate reactions to the Sino-Soviet Alliance in the US. Now that their wedge strategy had been torpedoed, and the Truman administration had failed to save China again, the question remained as to what Dean Acheson could do next. Under pressure from foreign a...
2018-02-25 00:02:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 2 follows on from where our first episode left off. Here, the power struggle between the Soviet Union’s top men is in full swing, and power plays, character assassination, genuine assassination and even more tactics besides distinguish this period of post-Stalin Soviet history. The end result ...
2018-02-23 11:12:23 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In this episode we’ll meet these figures – the so-called ‘collective leadership’ of the Soviet Union, which included such heavy hitters as Molotov, Malenkov, Lavrenti Beria, Anastas Mikoyan and a sometimes crude, always blunt figure by the name of Nikita Khrushchev. The story of what would come after St...
2018-02-23 00:10:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
1956 is divided into two parts, the first tackles the question of life after Stalin, the second examines the run up to the Suez Crisis. Here in our introduction to Part 1, we'll see what we're dealing with when we attempt to delve into a world that had just lost its most dominating personality. Could the Soviet...
2018-02-23 00:05:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
IT'S HERE AT LAST!
1956 - The Eventful Year is a brand new series designed to bring you closer to the events of this incredible year in history. While on the surface, 1956 may appear like any other year of the 20th century - perhaps with less to offer than many other candidates - it is in fact rich with intrigu...
2018-02-23 00:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
**REMEMBER, to those of you at the $5 level and above, 1956 - The Eventful Year starts this FRIDAY, 23rd Feb!**
In Episode 12, A Treaty of 'Friendship', we examine Mao Zedong's visit to Moscow reaching its conclusion. The long awaited treaty, so long feared in the US, was concluded on 14th February. Yet, while ...
2018-02-19 00:02:03 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
This is a VERY detailed episode, and can be best divided into three parts.
1) Explaining the different NSC reports and papers, and how they were reconciled as new developments affected a change in US foreign policy.
2) Stalin's decision to walk out of the UN Security Council, and why he did it!
3) Ach...
[PATRONS]
Episode 10: Sino-American Talks Part 2 concludes our take on where the Sino-American diplomacy led as 1949 became 1950. It provides a crucial bit of background to how the US reacted to the actual signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty, so make sure you have a listen in, and as always, be sure to let me know what you...
2018-02-11 23:55:32 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Yay! We've finally had a Q & A, where you guys sent me a variety of lovely questions and I did my best to answer! Within are such questions as:
What part of the KW do you find most fascinating? What have been your top 3 topics you have covered in order from 1-3? How do you decide wha...
2018-02-08 23:09:05 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 9: Sino-American Talks Part 1 introduces us to the OTHER side of Chinese diplomacy between 1949-50; that involving the US, and how Washington attempted to wrest some benefit out of the rapidly changing situation in China, as the Republican/Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek suffered succes...
2018-02-07 00:19:43 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 8: Sino-Soviet Talks Part 4 is the final episode examining the scene in Moscow, where the defining alliance between the Chinese Communists and the Soviet Union was signed. It took a great deal of compromise...or wait, no it didn't. It required a lot of trust...no wait, that's not right either. Em...
2018-02-05 00:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Episode 7: Sino-Soviet Talks Part 3 picks up in this developing story, as the Chinese and Soviets cautiously move ever closer to one another in world affairs. Stalin's mission was clear. He welcomed Mao Zedong to Moscow in December 1949, in the midst of rumours that the Sino-Soviet bloc were keen to furnish some kind of...
2018-01-31 00:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
IMP: Liu Shaoqi is Liu 'Shao-Chi' - NOT Liu 'Shao-Kwee'. Apologies for the mispronunciation! Love me anyway?
Episode 6: Sino-Soviet Talks Part 2, continues the story from where we left off last time. The Chinese communists launch their final great offensive of the civil war against the Nationalists from A...
2018-01-29 00:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 5: Sino-Soviet Talks Part 1 examines, as you may have guessed, the detailed and complex Sino-Soviet relationship, as we build towards the signing of the Sino-Soviet alliance in February 1950. Much like Stalin and Mao had much to do before that alliance was signed, so we have much to cover before ...
2018-01-24 00:01:59 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 4: The Cat's Mao looks at Mao Zedong, the man, the myth, the legend, the disgusting, horrible war criminal and mass murderer who...ahem. Sorry about that. Mao Zedong remains a controversial figure to this day. Some believe China would never have recovered in the manner that it did, and that China would never ...
2018-01-22 00:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Patrons! Episode 3 of the Korean War is out now for all Patrons at the $2 level and above - just like all episodes in the Korean War, this latest episode comes to you AD FREE! Yay!
Episode 3: The Brittle Curtain, examines the actual situation Comrade Stalin faced when he considered his options in t...
2018-01-19 00:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In Episode 2: The Force of Peace, we examine the founding moments of the United Nations, where the idea for it came from, why it was established and how it developed as an institution in the 1940s to have a leading role in the post-war world. The UN, as we'll see, was quite effective when its aims didn't...
2018-01-17 00:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
Episode 1: America Dawns, looks at the situation which greeted US policymakers between 1945-50. As an episode it serves as a good roundup of all we've learned in the Cold War Crash Course, but a simple summary episode THIS IS NOT!
We delve into the mindset behind the Truman Doctrine, ask what the goals of...
2018-01-15 00:01:59 +0000 UTC View Post
[PATRONS]
In the final episode of this miniseries, we look at the several crises which accompanied the answering of the German question. The Berlin Blockade, as well as the Prague Coup, provided key pieces of evidence in the Western mind that Stalinism was expanding its reach through the use of intimidation and br...
2018-01-12 00:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
