As Iranian nuclear ambitions force their way back onto America’s agenda, it’s worth looking at the story of North Korea, the original ‘madman’ nation that bullied its way to the nuclear table.
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Producers:
Alex Miller, Poppy Damon and Bobby Moriarty
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Buy tickets for SAPIR Debate“Is Donald Trump Good for the Jews?” at sapirjournal.org/sapirdebate.
Listen to Unpacking Israeli History
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1:00:48
The Opium War: The Original Trade War
It’s been two weeks since President Donald Trump declared war on the global economic system his predecessors painstakingly built up since 1945. Then he partially reversed course, paused most of the tariffs, and focused on China. In this episode, we dive into the last time the world’s most populous country was in a trade war with the world’s richest country. What do the British Empire’s Opium Wars of the 1800s tell us about America’s pending economic divorce with China?
Go to groundnews.com/BreakingHistory to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and stay fully informed on today’s biggest news stories.
Buy tickets for the first SAPIR Debate: “Is Donald Trump Good for the Jews?” at sapirjournal.org/sapirdebate.
Producers:
Alex Miller, Poppy Damon and Bobby Moriarty
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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55:06
Orientalism: How One Book Fueled 50 Years of Campus Unrest
Pro-Palestine protests have been a feature of Columbia's campus since October 7. Now, Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to the university: get control of your campus or lose $400 million in Federal funding. But the target of the measures wasn't just security, but the Middle East Department too, which Columbia has agreed to place into five years of 'academic receivership'.
This week we take a deeper look at the ideology behind the unrest. One protester’s placard stuck out, it read: “Why make me study Said if I’m not allowed to use it?”. The placard was referring to academic Edward Said and this question gets to the very heart of the Columbia protests and the anti-Israeli sentiment felt on many American campuses today.
Edward Said was the author of a book called Orientalism that changed American universities forever. You can’t understand the Gaza protests without understanding Orientalism. But just how much is this radical 1970s academic text influencing contemporary thinking about the Middle East?
If you liked this episode of Breaking History, Listen to Unpacking Israeli History.
Producers:
Alex Miller, Poppy Damon and Bobby Moriarty
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50:45
Luigi Mangione & The History of Bourgeois Terrorism
Luigi Mangione appears in court this week. He stands accused of murdering a healthcare CEO in cold blood. It’s not the first time a well heeled winner has been celebrated for his embrace of political violence. Today we look at the West German woman who paved the way. We dive into the phenomenon of breaking rad.
Eli Lake tells the story of Ulrike Meinhof and the infamous Red Army Faction.
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And a note from our sponsors:
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Credits:
Our interview with Bettina Rohl was translated into English and read by Anna-Carolin Augustin.
Our voice actors were Constantine Gregory and Priscilla Hagen.
Producers:
Alex Miller, Poppy Damon and Bobby Moriarty
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46:55
How A Strange Group of Heroes Defeated Russia
Ronald Reagan’s speech in front of the Berlin Wall in 1987 is legendary for its six simple words: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
And two years later the wall fell. In another two years, the Soviet Union came crashing down. Many factors led to these moments. Among them: the failures of communism, the bravery of dissidents, and America’s role in challenging the “evil empire,” at least that’s what Reagan called it.
The dissidents—many languishing in gulags—heard America. They heard President Reagan. And many lived long enough to see their tyrants topple. One of them even went on to lead Czechoslovakia, the country that jailed him. His name was Václav Havel.
In today’s Breaking History, Eli Lake argues that Havel’s experience as a playwright and dissident helps explain how plain truths defeat communist lies.
Eli also compares Reagan's Cold War politics with Trump’s approach to Vladimir Putin. This comparison is more pertinent than ever after the showdown in the oval office on Friday.
Before any talks, Trump and his team made it clear that Ukraine would not get back the territory stolen by Putin. Trump excluded Ukraine from the negotiations, and accused Volodymyr Zelensky of being a dictator—a comment he now denies.
Then, on Friday, Zelensky showed up to the White House to sign the critical minerals deal. The deal would give the U.S. access to half of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in perpetuity. In exchange, Zelensky wanted security guarantees. Trump said no.
The Romans would recognize this as tribute. The Mafia would call it protection money.
Eli unpacks all of this and so much more.
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Sometimes the news moves so fast, you have to look closely to know if you’ve seen it before. And that’s what this show is about. Breaking History breaks down the news, by breaking down history. We cover everything from LBJ and the Roman Republic to Donald Trump and the chaos at Columbia. This twice a month show from The Free Press delivers the best historians, authors, and reporters by mining the archives of human experience to figure out the present. George Santayana wrote, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Tune in to Breaking History to resist the repetition.
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