Category: Podcasts
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The origins of the Cold War
This podcast aims to look at three key areas – why the alliance between the USA and the USSR broke down in 1945, how Stalin take control of eastern Europe in 1945 and America’s reaction to it, and the consequences of the Berlin Blockade. The podcast opens with a short explanation of the deteriorating relationship…
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Brief introduction to the Yalta Conference
Attended by the “Big Three” Allied leaders, the conference saw United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin meet to discuss the government of post-war Europe.
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Brief account of USA’s first ever nuclear test in the Manhattan Project
The 16th July 1945 marked the start of the atomic age when the USA detonated the first nuclear bomb under the codename ‘Trinity’.
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A short account of the bombing of Hiroshima
On the 6th August 1945, the USA dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima from the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay.
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Churchill and the ‘Iron Curtain’ speech
On the 5th March 1946, Winston Churchill described the post-war division of Europe as an “iron curtain” in his “Sinews of Peace” address at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.
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The origin of the ‘Containment’ policy
On the 24th September 1946, Clark Clifford and George Elsey presented a report to President Truman in which they recommended “restraining and confining” Soviet influence.
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The end of the Berlin Blockade
This short podcast presents an overview of how and why Stalin chose to end the Berlin Blockade.
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The foundation of the German Democratic Republic (DDR)
On the 7th October 1949 the German Democratic Republic, otherwise known as East Germany, was founded in the Soviet occupied zone of Germany.
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The USSR’s first atomic test
On the 29th August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon codenamed RDS-1 and nicknamed First Lightning.