Episodes
(Bonus) The Japanese program to develop nuclear weapons was conducted during World War II. Like the German nuclear weapons program, it suffered from an array of problems, and was ultimately unable to progress beyond the laboratory stage before the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender in August 1945.
Published 11/11/22
(Bonus) The aftermath of World War II was the beginning of a new era for all countries involved, defined by the decline of all European colonial empires and the simultaneous rise of two superpowers; the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US). Once Allies during World War II, the US and the USSR became competitors on the world stage and engaged in the Cold War, so called because it never resulted in overt, declared total war between the two powers but was instead characterized by...
Published 11/11/22
(Bonus) The Demobilization of the United States armed forces after the Second World War began with the defeat of Germany in May 1945 and continued through 1946. The United States had more than 12 million men and women in the armed forces at the end of World War II, of whom 7.6 million were stationed abroad. The American public demanded rapid demobilization and soldiers protested the slowness of the process. Military personnel was returned to the United States in Operation Magic Carpet. By...
Published 11/11/22
(Bonus) The Uranverein (English: "Uranium Club") or Uranprojekt (English: "Uranium Project") was the name given to the project in Germany to research nuclear technology, including nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors, during World War II. It went through several phases of work, but in the words of historian Mark Walker, it was ultimately "frozen at the laboratory level" with the "modest goal" to "build a nuclear reactor which could sustain a nuclear fission chain reaction for a significant...
Published 11/11/22
(Bonus) The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the actual bombs. The Army component of the project was...
Published 11/11/22
(Bonus) Operation Unthinkable was the name given to two related possible future war plans by the British Chiefs of Staff against the Soviet Union in 1945. The plans were never approved or implemented. The plans were created by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in May 1945 and developed by the British Armed Forces' Joint Planning Staff in May 1945 at the end of World War II in Europe. [1]
Published 11/11/22
(Bonus) The Soviet atomic bomb project was the classified research and development program that was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during World War II.
Published 11/11/22
S15-E20 Topics: Key Turning Points in the War Reviewed, Lessons from the War, Consequences of the War, Beginning of the Cold War. The following links allow you to subscribe: iTunes and Apple Podcast, Amazon Music/Audible, Castbox.fm, Deezer, Facebook, Gaana, Google Podcast, iHeartRadio, Player.fm, Radio Public, Samsung Listen, Stitcher, TuneIn, Twitter, Vurbl, and YouTube. Automatically available through these podcast apps: Castamatic, iCatcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RSSRadio, and more. ...
Published 11/11/22
(Bonus) During active American involvement in World War II (1941–45), propaganda was used to increase support for the war and commitment to an Allied victory. Using a vast array of media, propagandists instigated hatred for the enemy and support for America's allies, urged greater public effort for war production and victory gardens, persuaded people to save some of their material so that more material could be used for the war effort, and sold war bonds. Patriotism became the central theme...
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) Britain re-created the World War I Ministry of Information for the duration of World War II to generate propaganda to influence the population towards support for the war effort. A wide range of media was employed aimed at local and overseas audiences. Traditional forms such as newspapers and posters were joined by new media including cinema (film), newsreels, and radio. A wide range of themes was addressed, fostering hostility toward the enemy, support for allies, and specific...
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) The 'home front' covers the activities of the civilians in a nation at war. World War II was a total war; homeland production became even more invaluable to both the Allied and Axis powers. Life on the home front during World War II was a significant part of the war effort for all participants and had a major impact on the war's outcome. Governments became involved with new issues such as rationing, manpower allocation, home defense, evacuation in the face of air raids, and response...
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) Military production during World War II was the arms, ammunition, personnel, and financing which were produced or mobilized by the belligerents of the war from the occupation of Austria in early 1938 to the surrender and occupation of Japan in late 1945. The mobilization of funds, people, natural resources and material for producing and supplying military equipment and military forces during World War II was a critical component of the war effort. During the conflict, the Allies...
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) In the period just before and during World War II, propaganda in Imperial Japan was designed to assist the regime in governing during that time. Many of its elements were continuous with pre-war themes of Shōwa statism, including the principles of kokutai, hakkō ichiu, and bushido. New forms of propaganda were developed to persuade occupied countries of the benefits of the Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, to undermine American troops' morale, counteract claims of Japanese...
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi policies.
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) The Squander Bug was a World War II propaganda character created by the British National Savings Committee to discourage wasteful spending and consumption. Originally designed by freelance illustrator Phillip Boydell for press adverts, the character was widely used by other wartime artists in poster campaigns and political cartoons. It is one of the few propaganda campaigns from World War II to be fully documented from the original concept sketches to the finished adverts.
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) Rosie the Riveter is an allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who joined the military. Rosie the Riveter is used as a symbol of American feminism and women's economic advantage.
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war films often end with them. The themes explored include combat, survival and escape, the camaraderie between soldiers, sacrifice, the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and the moral and human issues raised by war. War...
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) Women in the Second World War took on many different roles during the War, including as combatants and workers on the home front. The Second World War involved global conflict on an unprecedented scale; the absolute urgency of mobilizing the entire population made the expansion of the role of women inevitable, although the particular roles varied from country to country. Millions of women of various ages were injured or died due to the war.
Published 11/04/22
S15-E19 Topics: Involvement of Civilians at the Homefront for each Nation at War, Propaganda Messaging, Use of Movies to Influence Public Opinion. The following links allow you to subscribe: iTunes and Apple Podcast, Amazon Music/Audible, Castbox.fm, Deezer, Facebook, Gaana, Google Podcast, iHeartRadio, Player.fm, Radio Public, Samsung Listen, Stitcher, TuneIn, Twitter, Vurbl, and YouTube. Automatically available through these podcast apps: Castamatic, iCatcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts,...
Published 11/04/22
(Bonus) The attack on Pearl Harbor[nb 3][10] was a 0surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 8:00 a.m., on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The United States was a neutral country at the time; the attack led to its formal entry into World War II the next day. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as...
Published 10/28/22
(Bonus) Throughout the Second Sino-Japanese war (1937–1945), Japanese dissidents and Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) joined the Chinese in the war against the Empire of Japan. An IJNAF A5M fighter pilot who was shot down on 26 September 1937, had along with other captured Japanese combatants, become convinced to join the Chinese side, and helped the Chinese break Japanese tactical codes and other information that provided a huge intelligence windfall for the newly-established cryptanalyst...
Published 10/28/22
(Bonus) During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes on the West Coast because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage. As the war progressed, many of the young Nisei, Japanese immigrants' children who were born with American citizenship, volunteered or were drafted to serve in the United States military. Japanese Americans served in all the United States Armed Forces branches, including the United...
Published 10/28/22
(Bonus) This is a list of campaigns during the Pacific War. Flags indicate the country, or countries, winning the offensive.
Published 10/28/22
(Bonus) Naval historians such as Eva Mawdsley, Richard Overy, and Craig Symonds concluded that World War II's decisive victories on land could not have been won without decisive victories at sea. Naval battles to keep shipping lanes open for combatants' movement of troops, guns, ammunition, tanks, warships, aircraft, raw materials, and food largely determined the outcome of land battles. Without the Allied victory in keeping shipping lanes open during the Battle of the Atlantic, Britain could...
Published 10/28/22