History As It Happens

This is the third episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945.

In 1942, the Japanese seemed unstoppable in the Pacific, and the Germans steamrolled toward Stalingrad. Their victories proved ephemeral. And, in defeat, the Axis powers took millions of innocent people with them. This human drama is captured in historian Peter Fritzsche's new book, 1942, which bridges the gap between memory and history. Common American memories of righteous victory obscure the complexities, for this war was many wars in one. There were wars of national liberation, waged by people who'd been subjugated by the British and French Empires. And the U.S. was at war with itself, fielding a segregated army while throwing Japanese-American citizens into concentration camps.

Recommended reading:

1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe by Peter Fritzsche

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This is the second episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945.

Most wars do not end in total victory. They usually end at the negotiating table after years of indecisive combat. What made the Second World War different? Was the Allied formula of unconditional surrender counter-productive? In this episode, acclaimed war historian and podcaster James Holland breaks down the arguments for and against unconditional surrender, concluding that FDR made the right call at the Casablanca Conference in 1943. The Axis powers of Germany and Japan bore the responsibility for prolonging the war to the bitter end, taking millions of lives with them.

Further reading/listening:

Victory '45: The End of War in Eight Surrenders by James Holland and Al Murray

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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This is the first episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945.

No individual bore more responsibility for plunging Europe into another world war than Adolf Hitler, who was obsessed with reversing Germany's defeat in 1918 and getting rid of all the Jews within his reach, remaking the racial map of Eurasia in the process. Eighty years after his death, Hitler's horrendous legacy continues to influence global politics, shaping our reactions to, or justifications for, war and cruelty. In this episode, the eminent military historian Antony Beevor discusses how Hitler was able to convince other statesmen he was a man of peace before he sent Europe to the depths of hell.

Recommended reading:

The Second World War by Antony Beevor

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Since 1945, has there been an antiwar U.S. president? Is it even possible to be an antiwar president when one has at his disposal history's most powerful war machine and is expected to maintain American primacy? President Donald Trump began his second term promising peace in the world, but after six months, the structures of empire and his unforced errors as a negotiator have thwarted progress. In this episode, historian Stephen Wertheim breaks down why the ideology of primacy impedes a more restrained U.S. foreign policy.

Recommended reading:

Trump is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind by Stephen Wertheim (New York Times)

Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy.

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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For half a century, the Cold War defined global politics. Contested by two superpowers with opposing ideologies and interests, it touched nearly every part of the globe. It threatened nuclear war, and brought incalculable devastation to its battlefields – from Korea to Vietnam to Afghanistan and beyond. Could all the tension and violence have been avoided? Did the U.S. triumph or did the Soviet Union surrender? Where can we find Cold War continuities as the world unravels today? In this episode, historians Vladislav Zubok and Sergey Radchenko address these questions, which remain as relevant as ever, 30 years after the end of the Cold War. This episode was inspired by Zubok's new book (see below).

Recommended reading:

The World of the Cold War, 1945-1991 by Vladislav Zubok (2025)

To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power by Sergey Radchenko (2024)

Zubok teaches history at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Radchenko teaches history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. They were born in the Soviet Union.

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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Has Haiti passed the point of no return? Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in gang violence since last October, according to the U.N. Gangs control an estimated 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as a Kenya-led security mission remains undermanned and outgunned. Government services are collapsing, and people are desperate for food. The country hasn't had a president since 2021. There is little appetite among Western nations for a major intervention to restore order in a country where the U.S. once invaded with relative frequency. Those days are history. In this episode, retired diplomat Keith Mines explains why Haiti appears to be trapped in an eternal crisis.

Keith Mines recently retired after a 38-year career in public service, spanning the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Foreign Service, and as Vice President for Latin America at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he managed programs in Haiti and chaired the Haiti Working Group in Washington. He served in Haiti from 1995-1997.

He is the author of Why Nation-Building Matters: Political Consolidation, Building Security Forces, and Economic Development in Failed and Fragile States.

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has contended with five U.S. presidents, from Bill Clinton in 2000 to Donald Trump today. Each American leader had the stated aim of improving U.S.-Russian relations by the time he left office. None truly succeeded. Why? In this episode, Jeffrey Engel and David Kramer examine the past 25 years of structural causes and the internal processes within Russia that contributed to the conflict.

Historian Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.

David J. Kramer is the executive director of the George W. Bush Institute and is a leading expert on Russia and Ukraine. He worked in the U.S. State Department during the eight years of Bush's presidency.

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One hundred years ago, in July 1925, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was arrested for teaching evolution. John Scopes' guilt was never in doubt, but his sensational trial was the center of national attention, pitting modernists against traditionalists, the defenders of Darwin's science against Christian fundamentalists. In this episode, historian Michael Kazin recounts what happened inside the courtroom and why it still matters. The culture wars of the early twentieth century echo in our society today, as the Democratic Party has lost rural America.

Further reading:

The Trial of the Century is 100. Its Lessons Could Save the Democrats by Michael Kazin (New York Times)

A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan by Michael Kazin (2006)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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Is President Donald Trump augmenting or undermining the sources of American power? Trade wars against U.S. allies, an immigration crackdown, and slashing the federal workforce are but three ways the administration's approach to exercising power could ultimately erode it. In this episode, renowned political theorist Robert Keohane argues that "the continuation of Trump's current foreign policy would weaken the United States and accelerate the erosion of the international order that since World War II has served so many countries well." Is this the end of the American Century? Or was it already dead and buried?

Recommended reading:

The End of the Long American Century by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations

Joseph Nye, a scholar, strategist, and public servant, died on May 6, 2025.

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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President Trump's executive order to restore "truth and sanity to American history" targets esteemed institutions such as the Smithsonian and the National Park Service. It accuses them of promoting "a divisive ideology that reconstrued America's promotion of liberty as fundamentally flawed." In this episode, historian Kevin Levin, who writes the Civil War Memory newsletter on Substack, explains what changes visitors might see at revered battlefields like Gettysburg National Military Park, the site of the largest battle of the American Civil War.

Further reading:

National Park Service Directed to Implement Trump's Executive Order by Kevin Levin (Substack)

Go to historyasithappens.com to learn more.

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