In the summer of 1947, the British Raj relinquished its hold over the Indian subcontinent. In its wake, two new nations were created: India and Pakistan. The hastily-drawn border between the countries slashed through communities and bisected entire provinces, triggering one of the largest forced migrations in human history. In the first episode of a multi-part series, we examine the twilight years of the British in India, as well as the forceful personalities who helped loosen its colonial grip. From Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to the elegant Earl of Mountbatten, we’ll begin assembling the cast that that will be forced to grapple with the looming crisis. Sources: Akbar, M.J. Tinderbox: The Past and Future of Pakistan. Tharoor, Shashi. Nehru: The Invention of India. Tharoor, Shashi. Inglorious Empire: What The British Did To India. Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. Guha, Ramachandra. Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World. Sarila, Narendra Singh. The Shadow of the Great Game. Charles Rivers Editors. The Punjab. Charles Rivers Editors. British India. Puri, Kavita. Partition Voices: Untold British Stories. Malhotra, Aanchal. Remnants of Partition: 21 Objects From A Continent Divided. Von Tunzelmann, Alex. Indian Summer. Zakaria, Anam. The Footprints of Partition. Ahmed Akbar. Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity. Urvashi, Butalia. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. White-Spunner, Barney. Partition. Lawrence, James. Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India. Hamdani, Yasser Latif. Jinnah: A Life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On September 1st, 1983, a South Korean commercial airliner inexplicably drifted 200 miles off course into restricted Soviet airspace. In response, a Soviet fighter plane intercepted the aircraft, fired two missiles, and shot it down, killing all 269 people on board. In this standalone episode, we examine one of the most enduring outrages of the Cold War, a mystery that baffled investigators and inflamed political animus for more than a decade. SOURCES: Degani, Asaf. Taming HAL: Designing Interfaces Beyond 2001. Westad, Odd Arne. The Cold War: A World History. 2017. Service, Robert. The End of the Cold War. 2015. Downing, Taylor. 1983: Reagan, Andropov, And A World On The Brink. 2018. Dobbs, Michael. Down With Big Brother. 1997. Hersh, Seymour. The Target Is Destroyed. 1986. Dallin, Alexander. Black Box: KAL 007 and the Superpowers. 1985. https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/public/digitallibrary/dailydiary/1982-09.pdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
After weeks of uncertainty and fear, the Great Crash finally arrives on October 24th, 1929. While America’s financial infrastructure burns, Jesse Livermore makes $100 million in a single week. Wall Street’s great cheerleader, Sunshine Charlie Mitchell, schemes and maneuvers to puff up the bull market and preserve his legacy. Amidst the wreckage of the Great Depression, a scrappy immigrant lawyer named Ferdinand Pecora leads a Federal investigation into Sunshine Charlie and National City Bank that shakes the very bedrock of American financial law. SOURCES: Ahamed, Liaquat. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World. 2009. Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s. 1931 Blumenthal, Karen. Six Days in October. 2002. Charles Rivers Editors. Jesse Livermore. 2021. Charles Rivers Editors. Wall Street. 2020. Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Great Crash 1929. 1955. Galbraith, John Kenneth. A Short History of Financial Euphoria. 1990. Geisst, Charles R. Wall Street: A History. 1997. Klein, Maury. Rainbow’s End. 2001. Morris, Charles R. A Rabble of Dead Money. 2017. Nations, Scott. A History of the United States in Five Crashes. 2017. Parker, Selwyn. The Great Crash. 2008. Perino, Michael. The Hellhound of Wall Street. 2010. Rubython, Tom. Jesse Livermore: Boy Plunger. 2016. Thomas, Gordon. Morgan-Witts, Max. The Day the Bubble Burst. 1979. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this special featured episode of History Daily, host Lindsay Graham gives an atmospheric retelling of the events of December 2nd, 1956. On that day, the communist revolutionary Fidel Castro launched the Cuban Revolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As economic disaster looms in the Fall of ‘29, the American public is blissfully unaware, entranced by stratospheric share prices and the sunny proclamations of Wall Street cheerleaders. Jesse Livermore, the infamous “Boy Trader”, follows his hunches and prepares for the coming catastrophe. The Federal Reserve, rudderless and impotent after the untimely death of its leader Ben Strong, sits on its hands. “Sunshine” Charlie Mitchell, chief executive of the country’s largest bank, injects fresh life into the boom as the stock market bubble inflates to dangerous heights of make-believe. SOURCES: Ahamed, Liaquat. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World. 2009. Allen, Frederick Lewis. Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s. 1931 Blumenthal, Karen. Six Days in October. 2002. Charles Rivers Editors. Jesse Livermore. 2021. Charles Rivers Editors. Wall Street. 2020. Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Great Crash 1929. 1955. Galbraith, John Kenneth. A Short History of Financ...
One of the worst financial disasters in history unfolded on Wall Street in late October of 1929. Within a week, 30 billion dollars had disappeared into thin air, leaving the global economy in tatters and heralding the beginning of a worldwide Depression. But what exactly happened? And why? In Part 1 of this 3-Part series on the Wall Street Crash of 1929, we discover how the American public became fatally infatuated with the stock market during the “Roaring 20’s”; and how one debauched day trader – Jesse Livermore – saw the whole thing coming. SOURCES: Ahamed, Liaquat. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World. 2009. Blumenthal, Karen. Six Days in October. 2002. Charles Rivers Editors. Jesse Livermore. 2021. Charles Rivers Editors. Wall Street. 2020. Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Great Crash 1929. 1955. Galbraith, John Kenneth. A Short History of Financial Euphoria. 1990. Geisst, Charles R. Wall Street: A History. 1997. Klein, Maury. Rainbow’s End. 2001. Morris, Charles ...
Some revere it as an art form, others revile it as a blood sport, but no matter where you stand, few traditions stir up strong emotions quite like the centuries-old ritual of bullfighting. Born in the villages of rural Spain, refined in the crowded arenas of Seville, and fetishized by wandering aficionados like Ernest Hemingway, the “corrida de toros” holds a special place not only in Spanish cultural life but in human history. Beneath the pomp and pageantry, will we find senseless animal cruelty? Or a transcendent reflection on the human condition? SOURCES: Bailey, C. (2007). “Africa Begins at the Pyrenees”: Moral Outrage, Hypocrisy, and the Spanish Bullfight.Ethics and the Environment. Bentley, Logan. (1962). “What The Horns Couldn’t Do”. Sports Illustrated. Colenutt, Mark. Spanish Bull: A Provocative Guide to Bullfighting. 2014. Conrad, Barnaby. The Death of Manolete. 1958. Dozier, Thomas. (1955) “The One Who Lived”. Sports Illustrated. Gamado, Ignacio. Discovering the W...
It’s 1992. The 40thArmy is long gone and the Soviet Union has collapsed, but war still rages across Afghanistan. As the Afghan communist regime crumbles, Ahmed Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s forces clash in Kabul. While America turns its back and the Mujahideen turn on each other, new threats arise and threaten to sweep the old generation of freedom fighters away – The Taliban and Osama bin Laden. (Part 4 of Ghosts in the Mountains) SOURCES: Ahmadi-Miller, Enjeela. The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan. 2019. Alexievich, Svetlana. Zinky Boys. 1989. Ansari, Mir Tamim. Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan. 2012. Barfield, Thomas. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. 2010. Borovik, Artyom. The Hidden War. 1990. Braithewaite, Rodric. Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-1989. 2011. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to 2001. 2004. Dobbs, Michael....
As the CIA wages a covert proxy war against the Soviet 40thArmy, the Mujahideen are showered with billions of dollars and cutting-edge weaponry. An old animosity between two prominent Mujahideen commanders – Ahmed Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar - turns into a bitter, deadly rivalry. Meanwhile, Soviet reformers led by Mikhail Gorbachev attempt to extricate the USSR from Afghanistan with a shred of dignity intact. After the Soviet withdrawal, the world turns it back on Afghanistan as a civil war rages between the Mujahideen factions – and the Taliban emerges. SOURCES: Ahmadi-Miller, Enjeela. The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan. 2019. Alexievich, Svetlana. Zinky Boys. 1989. Ansari, Mir Tamim. Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan. 2012. Barfield, Thomas. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. 2010. Borovik, Artyom. The Hidden War. 1990. Braithewaite, Rodric. Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-1989. 2011. Coll, Steve. ...
The Soviet 40thArmy invaded Afghanistan in the closing days of 1979. They would not leave for another nine years. Exhausted and frustrated by their inability to decisively crush the elusive freedom fighters in the mountains – the Mujahideen – the Soviets turn to atrocity and criminal violence to achieve their objectives. Meanwhile, adrenaline-seeking journalists and idealistic Western reporters illegally sneak into the war zone to uncover the truth behind the war. SOURCES: Ahmadi-Miller, Enjeela. The Broken Circle: A Memoir of Escaping Afghanistan. 2019. Ansari, Mir Tamim. Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan. 2012. Barfield, Thomas. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. 2010. Borovik, Artyom. The Hidden War. 1990. Braithewaite, Rodric. Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-1989. 2011. Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to 2001. 2004. Dobbs, Michael. Down with Big Br...