History Talk, the history podcast from Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

Welcome to Season Two of Prologued, where we're doing a deep dive into the history of the Global War on Drugs over the past century.

On the season premiere, we explore the idea of the "modern" War on Drugs waged by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and 1980s.

As we will see, the development of the US drug war was deeply informed by experiences abroad...and to understand why the War on Drugs drags on, we have to trace those experiences back in time and across the globe.

Host:

Brionna Mendoza (@brionna_mendoza)

Guests:

Michelle Paranzino (@aucontrarian)

Sarah Brady Siff (@SarahBradySiff)

Aileen Teague (@AileenTTeague)

Matthew R. Pembleton (@mattpembleton)

Isaac Campos (@isaac_campos)

Alexander Aviña (@Alexander_Avina)

Want to learn more about how history shapes our world today? Connect with us!

Twitter: @ProloguedPod and @OriginsOSU

Instagram: @OriginsOSU

Facebook: @OriginsOSU

Website: origins.osu.edu

Email: [email protected]

Show Description

Prologued is a serial podcast from Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective that performs in depth discussions of historical roots that have been lost, ignored, or misconstrued, resulting in modern society being confused by the current course of events. With the help of esteemed scholars, each season will re-construct the history of a major issue society is facing, in an effort to not only explain how we got here, but to reveal a path forward.

World War II was a total war—a mobilization of nearly all human and natural resources. That meant it was also a war that shaped and was shaped by nature.

Written by Thomas B. Robertson. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Audio production by Cody Patton, Laura Seeger, and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/nature-world-war-ii-operation-husky-environmentalism-defense-industry

The region of western Ukraine makes up just a small percentage of the territory and population of present-day Ukraine, but has historically played an outsized role in the 20th century struggles for control of eastern Europe.

Written by Kathryn David. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Audio production by Svetlana Ter-Grigoryan, Laura Seeger, and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/west-ukraines-war-stories-new-chapter.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit https://origins.osu.edu.

On July 21, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on an entirely different world. His famous words crackled across 238,900 miles of space and electrified those listening back home on Earth: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Written by Lisa Ruth Rand. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Audio production by Cody Patton, Laura Seeger, and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/apollo-11-moon-landing-Armstrong-Aldrin-1969-mars.

The Second Opium War not only forced that narcotic drug deep into China’s politics, public health, and economics but also cemented the country’s status as both a prize and a battleground for Euro-American imperialist powers.

Written by Miriam Kingsberg Kadia. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Audio production by Svetlana Ter-Grigoryan, Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/second-opium-war.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/read/second-opium-war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone to extraordinary lengths to commemorate the Second World War. Even though the war ended over 77 years ago, Putin has made World War II memory central to contemporary Russian national identity.

This talk will explore how war remembrance serves Putin’s interests, including with regard to his war in Ukraine.

Panelists:

David L. Hoffmann, College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor, Department of History, The Ohio State University

Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, The Ohio State University

This talk is a presentation by the Clio Society in the Ohio State University Department of History.

A transcript of this episode is available at: https://origins.osu.edu/index.php/listen/history-talk/world-war-ii-memory-putins-russia

It is undeniable that some individuals do change the course of history through sheer force of will – not to mention a remarkable degree of luck. Such a person was Liu Bang, who rose from obscurity to be crowned emperor of China 2215 years ago on the 28th of February, 202 BCE.

Written by Benjamin Breen. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Audio production by Cody Patton, Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/february-2013-liu-bang-peasant-rebel-emperor

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Follow us on Twitter: @HistoryTalkPod, @ProloguedPod and @OriginsOSU, and Facebook: @Origins OSU

An in-text version of this episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/february-2013-liu-bang-peasant-rebel-emperor

The United States was a nation forged in the ideological fires of a democratic revolution to overturn monarchy and imperial control. Yet many American leaders and citizens ever since have denied or rejected a foreign policy guided by ideology.

Why? If ideas and ideologies help us to order and explain the world, often serving as rationales for (in)action as well as explanations for success or failure, how does the history of U.S. foreign relations appear differently when viewed through the lens of ideology? In short, how has and does ideology drive U.S foreign relations?

Panelists:

Christopher McKnight Nichols, Professor of History and Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies at The Ohio State University. An Andrew Carnegie Fellowship Award winner and Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer, Nichols is a frequent public commentator on U.S. politics and foreign policy. Nichols is the author or editor of six books, including most recently Ideology in U.S. Foreign Relations: New Histories (2022).

Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), Associate Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, The Ohio State University.

An in-text version of this podcast episode can be found at: https://origins.osu.edu/listen/history-talk/how-does-ideology-drive-us-foreign-relations

Süleyman, who would be known to the west as “the Magnificent,” began his reign as sultan of the Ottoman Empire in September 1520.

Written by Colin Jude Murtha. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/suleyman-suleiman-the-magnificent-ottoman-empire

When the Second World War (WWII) ended in 1945 and the rest of Europe was beginning to rebuild itself, Greece entered into a second war, more vicious than that fought against the Axis powers.

Written by Amikam Nachmani. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.

The author dedicates this video in memory of Prof. Andre Gerolymatos (1951-2019).

A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/march-2016-greek-civil-war-1946-1949.

Audio production by Svetlana Ter-Grigoryan, Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Follow us on Twitter: @HistoryTalkPod, @ProloguedPod and @OriginsOSU, and Facebook: @Origins OSU