All Saints Day 1954

Attempts by the French Government to introduce reforms in Algeria are ruined by the French Administration who rig elections.  Many Algerian Muslims see violence and fighting for the independence as the only way forward.  The Algerian War of Independence begin on All Saints Day (November 1st) 1954, in a series of coordinated attacks.  A biograph of militant Algerian Nationalist leader and later the First President of Algeria, Ben Bella.

To be published on Saturday 5th December.

French Citizens and French subjects

In 1830 France began the conquest of Algeria.  European settlers came to live in Algeria, they would be known as the Pied Noir, their number would grow to over a million, they were French citizens with the right to vote.  Not so the eight million Algerian Muslims who were subjects without the right to vote.  This episode tells the story of Algeria up to 1945 and includes the Allied invasion of Algeria in 1942.  A biography of moderate Algerian nationalist Ferhat Abbas.  In 1945 there would be a Muslim revolt in and around the town of Setif.

to be published on Saturday 28th November.

Starting on Saturday 28th November, I will begin a ten part series on the Algerian War of Independence to be released on a weekly bases.  The Algerian War of Independence saw the Algerian Muslim population fight for their independence from France.  The war last eight years from 1954 to 1962, at least three hundred thousand people died. During the war the French Army staged two military coups against their own Government.  When the war ended a million European settlers fled Algeria.

Iran 1953

Mossadegh had been elected as Prime Minister of Iran and he had nationalised the Iranian Oil Industry, much to the anger of the British Government.  He would be overthrown in a coup in 1953, that is often portrayed as the bringing down of a democratic elected Government by the American CIA and British Secret service but as this one off episode shows it was more complex than that, and his own abuse of power helped bring about his downfall.  A biography of Mossadegh is included..

There have now been more than a quarter of million downloads of this podcast, which given that it deals with a niche subject, the military history of wars between 1945 and 1965, is good.  It started off with the Korean War, known as the forgotten war in season one and has gone on to deal with wars even less well known.

This is a podcast series on the wars involved in the Cold War between 1945 and 1965. Unlike other Cold War podcasts this is mainly a military history podcast rather than a political history. Each episode is twenty minutes long.

Season One

This was a sixty-eight-episode military history series on the Korean War, giving the background to war, the North Korean invasion of South Korean. The United Nations defence of the Pusan perimeter and the Inchon invasion. The Chinese intervention into the war and the stalemate of the last two years of the war.

Season Two

This was a twenty-part episode on the First Indochina War between the Communist Viet Minh fighting the French Army for independence for Vietnam. The war ending in the French Army defeat at the battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Season Three

A ten-part episode on the Malay emergency as Communist guerrillas fought the British Army in Malaya. This was followed by a four-part series on the Indonesia Confrontation when Indonesia tried to invade North Borneo.  A final episode deals with the Communist revolts in the Philippines and Burma.

Season Four

Season Four deals with the Cold War with a ten-part episode on the Greek Civil War and a ten-part series on the Hungarian Revolution. There were two episodes on the Trieste crisis and single episode on the communist take over of East Europe, the Berlin airlift, the attempt to overthrown of the Albanian Communist Government and the East Germen People Revolt.

Season Five

Season Five starts in September 2020 and will deal with the First Arab-Israel War, the Algerian War of Independence, the Suez crisis of 1956 and well as single episodes on the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya, events in Iran in 1953, the Congo crisis and the North Yemeni civil War.

Consequences

The peace talks between Israel and the Arab states which ended the First Arab – Israeli War in 1949.  Why Stalin’s friendship with Israel quickly ended.  Hundreds of thousands of Jews are forced to leave the Arab states and move to Israel.  Why the First Arab – Israeli War created dissent with the Egyptian Army officer class towards King Fakour which would eventually led to the downfall of his reign in 1952.  a biography of King Fakour.

To be published on Saturday 14th November

Sinai and Gaza

The Israeli Army capture the Western Negev and then invade the Sinai but the British Government threatens war if the Israelis did withdraw from the Sinai, so Prime David Ben Gurion agrees to do so.  The Israeli Army then attacks the Western part of the Gaza strip cutting off the Egyptian Army in Palestine, forcing the Egyptian Government to agree to peace talks to end the war.  A biograph of Yitzhak Rabin, the then Director of Operation on the southern front and latter Prime Minister of Israel.