WDF examines how wars broke out, how they were concluded, and their consequences. Expect juicy diplomacy, sneaky intrigue, fascinating characters, and incredible drama. By Dr Zack Twamley, qualified history nerd.
Current Series: The July Crisis
Patreon Series: The Age of Bismarck
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An eventful fortnight indeed, as the delegates crowd around the table to read the latest on the German peace treaty, the dominions offer their views, the Germans seem to be scheming, and the Russians remain mysterious. Still, despite the setbacks and mistrust, the lies and disappointments, one could be forgiven for wondering - is this peace at last? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
75 Years ago, our ancestors made a brave step towards the liberation of France from the most terrible of tyranny. Now, with the considerable help of Dr Peter Caddick-Adams, historian, journalist, author, reservist and more, I delve into this event, using the recently released book Sand and Steel - a New History of D-Day by the author as my guide. We get into so much detail here, and a huge thanksss must go out to Peter for being so swell and coming onto the show - I had a ball talking with him! ...
Join me and other history friends on Flick - a great app for history friends and important conversations! My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! The incredible story of the Paris Peace Conference addresses that all important question of: should they not really have been finished this madness by now?...
Join me and other history friends on Flick - a great app for history friends and important conversations! My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! After weeks of waiting, Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau finally broke radio silence on 29th May 1919, when he communicated the full extent of Germany's answe...
Join me and other history friends on Flick - a great app for history friends and important conversations! My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! The last few days of May 1919 were a weird time in the allied camp. Despite the fact that it was absolutely expected that Germany was about to send 'elabor...
Join me and other history friends on Flick - a great app for history friends and important conversations! My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! There was nothing simple about the allied policy towards Russia. The adventures of William C. Bullitt and a failed conference at Prinkipo were all the alli...
Join me and other history friends on Flick - a great app for history friends and important conversations! My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! By the last week of May 1919, the focus in the allied camp had switched from Italy to Germany...for the most part. It was known that the Germans would have...
In episode 16 of the game, we visit four distinct scenes, where a great deal of drama goes down. Lloyd George has some words for the British Empire Delegation; four allied figures meet to try and address their differences; the Austro-German party urge action in the creation of some peace treaty which will actually end the war, and in the American delegation, the fallout from Woodrow Wilson's stroke continues to paralyse policy, as Poles and Frenchmen look on. It's an episode packed with developm...
Join me and other history friends on Flick - a great app for history friends and important conversations! My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! The aftermath of the Greek landing was one thing, but there was no ignoring the reception which the peace treaty received in Germany either. The Big Three,...
Join me and other history friends on Flick - a great app for history friends and important conversations! My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! It's high time we considered the American angle once again. After several weeks of work, one would imagine that the American delegation and the American Pr...
After so many weeks of preparation, it is finally time to journey to Warsaw where the Council for Russian Freedoms presents its mission. Accompanied by volunteer forces from all over the world, the message is clear - the extinction of Bolshevism and the rescuing of Russia. However, beneath of the surface of the good intentions and proud speeches, lurks dark rumours, doubts and further conspiracy... ***** The Delegation Game is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread t...
Are you ready for this? After a long time teasing you all, it's time I dropped some incredibly exciting news on the world. This news has the potential to change history podcasting FOREVER...sort of, but first and foremost, it means big changes for you and I. I hope you'll have a listen to the first half of this show to hear my news and get to grips with what I'm all about. Pat yourself on the back and say a huge thankssss with me, for seven wonderful years of history podcasting! Who would have t...
My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Use the code WDF to get 5% off your ticket! OTD 100 years ago, the switch was finally pulled, and Greek soldiers were landed in Anatolia for the first time in centuries. The cause was the city of Smyrna, that centerpiece of Greek culture and history which, Greek premier Venizelos claimed, was eager to we...
My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! The story of Greece comes under our microscope at long last. Here we are introduced to a fascinating vision, yet another example of what might have been. Greater Greece was a project which appealed to many people outside the realm of Greece itself, and in this episode we will get to grips with the origin...
The President Marshall arrives in London to take his seat alongside the big three in the Council of Eight, as a very exhausted SIR Alistair Tancred accompanies him. Awaiting Foch in London are several developments; the Minor Council continues to quarrel, the League of Nations is under severe threat, and the concerned nations prepare themselves to contribute men to the cause of Russian freedom, after a rocky start... ********** The Delegation Game is possible because of your support and interest ...
My agora friends and others are going to be in New York for a special conference on 29th June - meet Mike Duncan, Kevin Stroud, David Crowther and more! Search Intelligent Speech Conference now! Somehow, we managed to cram an hour of content in an episode that examines the 8-10 May 1919! That's because in that episode, a great deal happened which requires our attention, so sit down and relax as we talk about...Italy again??!! Well yes, but other issues too. How would the Germans respond to the p...
On this day 100 years ago, the Germans were finally presented with the treaty had been under construction for nearly five full months. What would they think of it? That remained to be seen, but in the process of handing this treaty to them, the German delegation, represented by Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, would be given a chance to speak while seated, before the entirety of the plenary conference on afternoon of 7th May 1919. It was a scene which the allies had never expected to behold, but a...
In our longest episode to date (and hopefully ever) we examine the incredible story of the first week of May 1919, by delving into primary sources never before used on a podcast, and rarely used in books! This delivers to us a narrative rich in detail and plainly, in length, but it is a necessary chapter to absorb in our story simply because it is so fascinating. The Italians, as is commonly known, walked out of the Peace Conference in the last week of April. Therefore, a reasonable history enth...
The German delegation had arrived in Paris, but despite the confident exterior, Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau would have known full well that all was not well back home. Germany was tottering on the edge of the abyss, and nowhere was this danger more acute than in the traditionally safe, conservative heartland of the Empire - Bavaria. What had led this second state of Germany to veer so far to the left, and so far from its old roots? Was there any hope for Bavaria, or was it destined to be anoth...
The 30th April was a strange day. It was barely a microcosm in the grand scheme of the Paris Peace Conference, and it was wedged awkwardly between the Italian walkout and the German arrival, not to mention the madcap adventures of the drafting committee, as hundreds of overworked printers and technicians worked to get the Treaty finished within 48 hours - the intended deadline at this stage. It is little wonder that the big three were busy then - they held no fewer than FIVE meetings on the same...
At long last, the German delegation has arrived in Paris, and resides in the exact same hotel where in 1871, the French government was forced to kowtow to Bismarck. What a coincidence! Leading the delegation was Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, a Wilhelmian German official of the old order, so it seemed. Brockdorff-Rantzau was the German Foreign Minister, and was utterly determined to get what he believed was Germany's just deserts - a peace treaty based on the Fourteen Points. Anything less than ...
OTD 100 years ago, perhaps the most infamous international organisation in history was officially blessed by the plenary conference of the Paris Peace Conference. This made it essentially impossible to ignore that institution, or to fail to bake it into the final Treaty of Versailles. And so it was done. Yet, at the time, on that eventful day, and in that stuffy room where the minor and major nations debated the pros and cons of the vision, there could be no way of predicting what this League of...
As the Conference at London works towards several compromises, we tune in to some new arrivals, some storm conference scenes, and a weighted meeting between the President Marshal, Ferdinand Foch, and the delegation of British, Swiss and Spanish delegates sent to meet him. They would arrive in Foch's office uncertain of precisely what to expect, but they would leave with yet another proposal... ********* The Delegation Game is possible because of your support and interest - make sure to spread th...
It's time we cleared the air about reparations and war guilt, arguably the two most controversial elements of the Treaty of Versailles. Here, making use of studies long since ignored or forgotten, we unwrap the reality of the Germans were actually faced with, what the infamous articles actually said, and why the Germans determined, rather than face their mistakes, to make up a whole load of stuff about how unfair their lot was! It's a stunning tale of propaganda and deliberate duping, and may be...
Here we take stock of the situation by the last week of April 1919 by focusing our microscope on two apparently unrelated, but hugely important issues – specifically the future of the Rhine, and the status of the city of Danzig. These two issues of the Rhineland and Danzig were intrinsically linked with the outbreak of the Second World War, and it is thus important in our narrative to establish where they came from. As we will learn here, not only did these two issues provide Hitler with differe...
On 24th April 1919, Italy left the Paris Peace Conference. This stunning development was a long time coming, and was a natural result of the behaviour of the big three. Notwithstanding the justness of Italy's demands, these demands had brought her into the war, and now that it was plain the allies would not listen, Vittorio Orlando felt he had little choice other than to call the allied bluff. It was a decision that had been predicted for some time, and though they had tried to avoid this rift w...
We finally turn our attention to Italy in this episode history friends, where the relationship of Vittorio Orlando with his peers in the big five comes under our microscope. What were Italy's demands? Why was Italy upset with how its interests had been received? Were these interests fair, or unjust altogether? How do we balance our innate repugnance at Italy's expansionist demands with the fair point that without those promises made to her, 500,000 of her men would still be alive, and 900,000 un...
Hello dear listeners, this is a jack of all trades episode, which serves several purposes: It explains what the Suez Crisis was, and why you should be interested in it. It examined each one of the episodes, providing audio previews for most of them It announces our Q&A episode due on 18th May - our 7th birthday, and I need your questions! It serves as a call to arms, for history friends everywhere, to support this show in whatever way you can, in the run up to that birthday. The best way to ...
Episode 12 of the game sees our focus hone in on one eventful day, 19th April 1919, where three separate meetings were held, and where dreams were debated and dashed. The Japanese put forward their long anticipated racial equality proposal - which you will have to vote for - and the dominions made their cases before a packed plenary council meeting. With Poincare present, as the Premier of France or shill of Foch depending on your perspective, the stage was set for some memorable exchanges and w...
You can order Tim's book here! Something very special for you indeed history friends! A mere days away from launch, the lovely Tim Bouverie joins us for a fascinating chat about his monumental book, Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War , available in all good book stores! To say this book is monumental is to do it an injustice - in fact, I would go as far as saying, if you read any book on the build up to the Second World War in your life, you must read this. Just like I ...
