James Holland

Which started obviously in 1937.

But I think it's really useful for us and for anyone who's listening to this and listens to the podcast regularly to see the Second World War in its context.

why it came about, some of the conditions which prompted and led to the road to war, and some of the consequences.

And I think one of the things that really has struck me is that the democracy that we've been enjoying since 1945 here in the West is a progressive form of democracy that was laid out first by Roosevelt and then by Truman, and which has been adopted by the West kind of across the board.

And obviously all of this is, you know, this system which we've been living since 1945 here in the West has slightly been tested in recent years.

Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada has been talking about the rupturing of the world order and all the rest of it.

So what was that world order and how did it come about?

And I think this is a really good moment in our history to kind of look at that and to consider this and to see the Second World War where it sits in that wider context.

So that's the point of this series.

And actually, we'll start with 1947, because let's just set the stall.

What's going on?

Why is Truman making that speech on the 12th of March, 1947?

And then we're going to go back to actually before the First World War, have a look at the First World War, have a look at the rise of politics and the political system in the United States.

what follows the peace of the First World War and how the conditions for what becomes the Second World War come about.

And I think all of it is all really meaty, juicy stuff.

Then we're going to have a look at the war itself and some of the big themes, which we've touched on time and time again in the podcast.

But let's lay it out in a kind of really clear way.

And then we'll look at the immediate aftermath and how we've got to where we are today.

So that's the plan.

And I'm hoping people will find this very interesting, to have this kind of broad sweep and have this wider context for where we are now and where the Second World War sits.