History Cafe

Rereleasing series with greatest international following for those whose podcast platforms don't show playlists per seriesSynopsis: 28 October 1962: by holding his nerve Kennedy defuses the crisis in just 13 days. He says it’s over although he’s unable to verify whether Khrushchev ever withdraws his missiles or not. The last missiles do indeed leave Cuba on day 48 of the crisis but for very different reasons.

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Rereleasing our series with greatest international interest for those whose podcast platforms don't do playlists per seriesSynopsis: 22 October 1962: President Kennedy goes on prime-time TV and announces a blockade around Cuba to prevent more Soviet missiles reaching the island. But US sailors call the so-called ‘quarantine’ nothing but ‘grand theatrics.’ Not a single Soviet ship is stopped by the US Navy. What was going on?

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Rereleasing our series with the largest number of international fans, to help those whose podcast platforms don't provide playlists per series:Synopsis: 15 October 1962. Soviet nuclear missile sites are discovered. It’s only three weeks before the mid-term elections. Kennedy decides that to negotiate publicly with Khrushchev would be a disaster at the polls; as would ignoring them which is what his allies advise him to do. So, as Noam Chomsky puts it, the President chooses ‘to play Russian Roulette with nuclear missiles.’

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Rereleasing our series with greatest international following for those whose podcast platforms don't do series playlists:Synopsis: The Cuban Missile Crisis begins not because Castro is a dangerous communist but because he is NOT. Khrushchev tells his ruling council: ‘The only way to save Cuba is to put missiles there’ - not only to prevent an American invasion, but also to keep Fidel Castro sweet.

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Rereleasing our series with the greatest international following for those whose podcast platforms don't enable playlists per series. Do contact us on @historycafepod if you are enjoying our broadcasts:Synopsis: 1959: The first country the new revolutionary president of Cuba visits is the United States of America. And he’s a big hit. The students at Princeton carry him on their shoulders. Castro wants a trade deal with the American government. So why does Kennedy fight the presidential election of 1960 on getting tougher than the Republicans with Cuba?

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Re-releasing our series with widest international appeal in order for those podcast platforms that don't enable series playlists.Synopsis: We have the memo to President Kennedy dated Day 2 of the crisis with his own security chiefs clarifying that 'these missiles do not significantly alter the balance of power.' So why does October 1962 develop into the closest we’ve ever come to nuclear war?

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Rereleasing our most popular series for those who can't find our playlists for each series on their podcast platforms:Synopsis: Who won the Battle of Britain? For good strategic reasons Churchill claimed victory. But the Germans, who saw the eight months of the Blitz as part of the same campaign, achieved much of what they intended.

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Re-releasing our most popular series for those who struggle to find it without playlist functions on their podcast platforms:Synopsis: The Battle of Britain was never as close as the popular story has it. The RAF was too well organised and supplied. But is that why the Luftwaffe switched to bombing London? Or was there another reason?

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Our most popular series being re-released in broadcast order for those who can't find it!Synopsis: Churchill talks up the threat of invasion, even though it looks impossible. ‘I might as well send my men straight into a sausage machine,’ writes the German Chief of Staff. But invasion preparations still go on. Who is bluffing who?

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Our most popular series re-released here in order, especially but not exclusively (!) for Apple podcast listeners because Apple don't do playlists:Synopsis: Britain is gripped by fear of invasion. Government leaflet 'If the Invader Comes' calls for pepper and ‘a sharp knife to kill them if necessary.’ Churchill goes on BBC and says ‘we await undismayed by the impending assault. Perhaps it will come tonight.’ So why in private is Churchill saying he doubts the invasion would ever take place?

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