Episodes
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When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, it seemed possible to many in the West that the United States would lead the world into a new era of universal liberal democracy. But in 2001, the September 11 attacks by the terrorist group al-Qaeda prompted the United States to begin wars in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. The mistakes made in Iraq damaged the reputation of the United States and weakened its ability to preserve stability in the world. Its intervention in Iraq also spurred the growth of the Islamic State, responsible for violent attacks in Iraq, Syria, and Africa.
Violence, civil war, and persecution have led large numbers of refugees from the Middle East and Africa to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Their arrival has provoked some resistance, and a number of ultranationalist groups have sprung up in the United States and Europe. The migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is partly the result of violence and instability in a number of Latin American countries, such as civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala.
Violence and human rights abuses have plagued Sub-Saharan Africa for decades. Many occur in the Global South, and critics have connected the economic problems there to the region’s history of imperial exploitation by countries in the Global North. One of these problems is the resource curse, or the difficulty of responding to domestic needs faced by resource-rich countries.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/15-4-ongoing-problems-and-solutions
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
By the 1990s, computers had become commonplace in developed countries, though fears about their potential impact on privacy grew with the rise of the internet and social media. Easy access to social media over smartphones helped young protestors in Tunisia and Egypt organize to challenge their governments. The movement spread across the Middle East in the form of the Arab Spring. Some nations such as China have since blocked the use of many social media platforms.
Medical scientists have made great strides in curing and preventing diseases. Vaccines eliminated smallpox around the world and came close to eliminating polio. But new illnesses arose, including Ebola virus and HIV/AIDS. Since it was identified in the 1980s, treatments have emerged to make it a manageable disease for many rather than a lethal one, though in the developing world, it is still a huge problem. The most recent challenge to world health, the COVID-19 pandemic that began in December 2019, demonstrates how both globalization and technological developments affect life in the twenty-first century.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/15-3-science-and-technology-for-todays-world
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
Missing episodes?
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In the 1950s and 1960s, some in developed countries began responding openly to the environmental problems they saw around them, including those caused by the Green Revolution. Scientists like Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, gave legitimacy to these concerns, and many people became environmental activists working to promote change. They and the environmental groups they created spoke of the need to address global warming and climate change, the dangers of nuclear energy, deforestation, the ozone hole, and many other problems. These efforts were occasionally met with resistance, not just from those who survived by exploiting natural resources in their own developing countries, but also from workers, like loggers and others, in developed countries. By the 1980s, international groups like the United Nations were also calling for action. Specific measures like the Montreal Protocol were followed by the UN’s ambitious 2015 Paris Agreement to limit warming. But achieving international agreement about how best to handle the problem of climate change remains a struggle.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/15-2-debates-about-the-environment
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
In the aftermath of World War II, countries began to open trade and communications around the world. In Europe, the EEC or Common Market eventually grew into the EU. In Asia, countries worked together to create their own trading blocs like ASEAN and APEC. Canada, Mexico, and the United States signed the NAFTA treaty, later replaced by USMCA. All these trading blocs and organizations have made it easier for MNCs to operate around the world, leading to a rise in the standard of living for many developing countries.
But MNCs are often criticized for their profit-driven approach, which can create lasting problems in developing countries, sometimes made worse by efforts to encourage these nations to privatize their public utilities. The poorest groups are also most commonly exploited by MNCs that contract with large factories or sweatshops in developing countries. Wealthy corporations like Apple and Nike have frequently been criticized for profiting from the labor of poorly paid workers in unsafe environments in places like China and Bangladesh.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/15-1-a-global-economy
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
In the 1980s, communism began to loosen its grip on parts of the world in which it had once been dominant. The Soviet Union found itself divided by the need to provide for its citizens at home, maintain control over its satellite states in Eastern Europe, fight a war in Afghanistan, and respond to the buildup of nuclear and conventional weapons that took place during the administrations of U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to strengthen the Soviet Union through perestroika and glasnost proved unsuccessful. When the Warsaw Pact nations sought independence in the late 1980s, the Soviet Union was unable to respond as it once had, and faced with liberation movements in its own republics, the USSR disbanded in 1991. Although China did not turn its back on communism, the death of Mao allowed Deng to institute reforms that introduced elements of capitalism to the Chinese economy.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/14-5-a-new-world-order
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The Cold War was marked by global tensions. In Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc tested Moscow’s resolve to maintain control as their citizens pushed for greater freedoms and an end to Soviet domination. Rebellions in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia were quickly crushed by the USSR. The United States attempted to stem the tide of communist expansion in both Latin America and Asia as it intervened in Guatemala, Cuba, and Vietnam. At times, as in Berlin in 1961 and Cuba in 1962, the United States came perilously close to military conflict with the Soviet Union. By the late 1960s, however, a split between the USSR and China gave the United States greater opportunities to maneuver on the world stage. As the Western and Eastern Blocs faced off against one another in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, in Africa the inhabitants of British, French, Belgian, and Portuguese colonies were fighting for their independence.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/14-4-global-tensions-and-decolonization
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
Not all nations chose to align themselves with the United States or the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In Europe, Yugoslavia chose to remain outside the Soviet orbit even though it was a communist country. Many former European colonies became members of the Non-Aligned Movement, which sought to find a path to development that did not require becoming a satellite of either of the superpowers. Among the leaders of this movement were Indonesia, India, and Egypt, which still all found themselves accepting aid from the United States, the USSR, or both. Egypt, however, was drawn closer to the Soviet Union because of Western support for Israel and the belief that Western powers were thwarting its plans to become the leader of the Arab world.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/14-3-the-non-aligned-movement
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong defeated the Guomindang (GMD, the Nationalists) led by Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) and founded the People’s Republic of China, which the United States refused to recognize. Communism spread elsewhere in Asia as well. In 1950, the communist leader of North Korea invaded South Korea and called on the Chinese to help him defeat South Korean and UN forces led by the United States. Communists also assumed power in North Vietnam after Vietnam was divided following a war of independence with France. The United States, in an effort to stop the further spread of communism, supported South Vietnam as it had South Korea, while China and the Soviet Union gave aid to North Vietnam. Within China itself, people struggled to industrialize the nation under Mao. Many died in the resulting famine and in the Cultural Revolution that followed.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/14-2-the-spread-of-communism
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
Following World War II, the two remaining superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union—entered the Cold War, an ideological contest in which each side competed for supremacy through the use of economic aid, military assistance, technology, and propaganda. U.S. foreign policy was focused on containment, preventing the influence of the Soviet Union and the ideology of communism from spreading beyond Eastern Europe. A major test of each nation’s resolve to defeat the other came with the Soviet Union’s blockade of West Berlin in 1948–1949. The United States emerged victorious and with its Western Bloc allies formed the mutual defense organization known as NATO. The Soviet Union responded by forming the Warsaw Pact with the Eastern Bloc countries of Eastern Europe.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/14-1-the-cold-war-begins
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
Even before the end of the war, the Allied powers were confident that victory would come. In a series of meetings, Allied leaders arranged the postwar world they envisioned, including by deciding how Germany would be divided. In the Pacific theater of war, the showdown between the United States and Japan concluded with the dropping of the first nuclear bombs, first at Hiroshima and then at Nagasaki. In the aftermath of the conflict, it was clear just how much had been lost. Tens of millions of people had died. Nazi and Japanese war criminals were put on trial. The governments of several countries were in shambles. But rebuilding did begin, in Japan starting with a new constitution and a new focus on demilitarization and human rights.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/13-4-out-of-the-ashes
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The war had massive effects for those on the home front, whose lives changed drastically as rationing and shortages became commonplace. Many nations had to mobilize their efforts to keep industry running and materials reaching the troops on the front lines, which brought women into offices and factories in new numbers. The focus on science and technology brought innovations such as radar, early computers, and medical advancements into military applications. Not least was the Manhattan Project’s work on atomic energy, which led to the construction of the first nuclear weapons.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/13-3-keeping-the-home-fires-burning
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The United States and Great Britain engaged Hitler in actions in North Africa throughout 1942. The Allied successes there and in Italy helped destabilize Mussolini’s fascist government in Rome, and he was removed from power in 1943. On the eastern front, the Soviet Union fought protracted battles against the Nazis, with significant losses of civilian and military lives.
The United States continued to move against Japan’s holdings throughout the Pacific and was able to retake numerous islands from the Japanese. These losses, especially at the Battle of Midway, called into question the military control of the Japanese government. New concerns arose in areas like India, where anti-British sentiment was growing. For some time, the Nazi government had been working toward the extermination of the Jewish people and of others it deemed undesirable. The Holocaust claimed the lives of millions of people in Europe.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/13-2-theaters-of-war
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
As the 1930s unfolded, it became clear that peace would not last for long. Japan’s advances through China and its violent attack on Nanjing showed that its military-dominated government would continue to press aggressively for more territory.
The rise of fascism in Italy and Germany continued unchecked. The Nazis were able to manipulate the situation to their diplomatic advantage and gain British and French acquiescence to the takeover of Austria and the Sudetenland (in Czechoslovakia) before any war began. The outbreak of World War II unveiled the Nazi military juggernaut, with several European countries quickly falling to Nazi control and Britain becoming an embattled country that sought new support and assurances from the United States. The Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific in 1941 made the United States a full participant in the global war.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/13-1-an-unstable-peace
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The years following World War I left many democratic yearnings unfulfilled around the globe. African Americans in the United States were able to seize new job opportunities and greater mobility, but they still faced marked racism and limitations. Efforts toward self-rule in Ireland made substantial progress but were also tainted by violence. The promise of greater democracy in China was subsumed by civil war. In Latin America, the hope of greater equality among social classes was frustrated by political instability and the first appearance of more authoritarian leaders. Many aspects of Western society wound their way around the globe via the new technologies of mass media. Peoples around the world clearly wanted change, but implementing it sometimes proved exceedingly difficult.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/12-5-resistance-civil-rights-and-democracy
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The Treaty of Versailles created new countries and new governments and encouraged many groups’ desire for independence. However, independence did not come without struggle. European powers hoped to retain their hold over resource-rich regions around the world through the colonial or mandate system. Still, many Jewish people celebrated the promise of a Jewish homeland, while rising nationalism in Africa began to reshape the politics and geography of that continent. The struggle for independence in India took both violent and nonviolent forms as leaders chafed against British rule.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/12-4-old-empires-and-new-colonies
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The Great Depression of the 1930s was an economic downturn unparalleled in modern history. The interconnectedness of the world’s economies became clear as countries around the globe suffered the effects. While no single event caused the Great Depression, few people were left unscathed. Nations tried innovative ways to provide for their people, enacting work-relief programs, food programs, and new economic policies to bring their economies back under control. While many programs helped mitigate the pain of the Depression, none fully solved it, and some people embraced new political parties that offered different solutions. In the case of Italy and Germany, these new parties and politicians exploited the decade’s economic instability for their own ends in a grab for greater power.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/12-3-the-great-depression
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The Bolsheviks’ effort to wrest control of Russia did not go unchallenged, as evidenced by the civil war that unfolded after World War I. Though ultimately successful in consolidating power, throughout the 1920s the Bolsheviks continued to disagree among themselves about the proper application of communist principles. The power vacuum left after Vladimir Lenin’s death allowed Joseph Stalin to emerge as the leader of the new Soviet Union. Stalin’s Five-Year Plans brought not only more centralized economic control but a more authoritarian government that compelled obedience, no matter the resistance or the impact, including death and famine. Life in the Soviet Union became more structured and rigid as the government asserted control over all aspects of civilian life. Anyone even remotely suspected of disloyalty faced imprisonment or death.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/12-2-the-formation-of-the-soviet-union
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
A period of significant change followed World War I. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles fully blamed Germany for the war and sought to punish it by assessing reparations of more than $33 billion and physically shrinking the country. New countries emerged through the redrawing of Europe’s maps. Massive physical rebuilding was necessary in former combat areas in Europe, while the United States emerged as a major player in world politics and a creditor nation on the brink of prosperity. The economic repercussions of the treaty proved devastating in Germany, where economic instability and mistrust of the new government opened the door for the rise of the Nazi Party. In Asia, Japan was growing in both political and military power, positioning itself as a force throughout the Pacific. Yet in the 1920s and 1930s, hope still prevailed that no such conflict would ever occur again, underscored by international efforts to both prevent war and intervene in aggression before it rose to the status of war.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/12-1-recovering-from-world-war-i
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
In 1905, the Russian people rose in rebellion after the government’s killing of peaceful protesters. Tsar Nicholas II allowed the creation of a legislature called the Duma, but he was still not ready to share power with the people. The tsarist government was unable to mount a successful war effort, however, and the tsar was forced to abdicate in 1917. The Bolshevik Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin the following year brought promises of peace, land, and bread to the Russian people.
In 1918, with Russia exiting the war, Germany threw its armies into action in the west, but food shortages and general unrest in the Central powers meant that early victories could not be sustained. The arrival of U.S. troops in mass numbers in Europe helped propel Allied victories by the second half of 1918 and pushed Germany to the brink of collapse. The abdication of the Kaiser and an armistice with a new civilian government in Germany brought an end to the fighting in November.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/11-5-the-war-ends
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. -
The war was so all-encompassing that governments had to find new ways to manage the supplies and support for the war, usually by taking tighter control of industrial output through new legislation. Women entered new types of work such as munitions manufacture to fill the gaps left by male workers now fighting in the military. Those on the home front found themselves confronting food shortages and sometimes civil unrest as people began questioning their government’s competence to fight the war. Such questioning was often met with harsh penalties. Other political challenges also arose, such as the Irish Nationalists striking out against British rule in the 1916 Easter Rising.
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/11-4-war-on-the-homefront
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.
This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.
The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction
Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. - Show more
