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The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor mooted the political division between interventionists and isolationists in the United States. America was now united like never before.

In the Pacific, the Japanese offensive pressed on.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 4 in F minor
Composed in 1878 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The US Army and Navy installations in and around Pearl Harbor were caught completely off guard by the Japanese attack.

This attack was only one in a series of attacks on Malaya, the Philippines, and several US-controlled Pacific Islands.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 3 in E♭ Major
Composed in 1804 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The Japanese government lost patience with the negotiations with the Americans, who stubbornly insisted that a withdrawal from China be part of any peace agreement.

The Japanese continued the talks anyway, because they provided useful cover as the Imperial Navy planned its attack on Pearl Harbor.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 5 in C minor
Composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The name “Panama” is believed to have come from an indigenous language and to mean something like “abundance.”

The two fundamental facts about the nation of Panama are its abundance of wildlife, and that it is located where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans come closest together.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Himno Istmeño” [The national anthem of Panama.]
Composed in 1903 by Santos Jorge. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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Japan was bogged down in an endless war with China and, in the view of its political and military leaders, surrounded by hostile nations in an increasingly unsafe and unstable world.

The Japanese signed a non-aggression agreement with the USSR, but increasingly believed the survival of the Empire required that it seize the resources of the Southwest Pacific, which would mean war with the UK, the Netherlands, and especially, the United States.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Matsurika“
Traditional. Public domain.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The rasputitsa, the mud season, forced a pause in the 1941 German offensive. Afterward came a narrow window of opportunity, when the capture of Moscow might have been possible.

But despite the string of defeats it faced in the previous five months, the Red Army of December 1941 was a much more effective force than it had been in June 1941.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean“
Composed ca. 1843. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The Nazi government in Berlin had a plan in place for the administration of occupied Russia (and the other Soviet states) before Operation Barbarossa had even begun.

The plan called for the starvation, relocation, and mass murder of the current inhabitants of the region. They were to be replaced with Germans.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Elegy No. 2
Composed in 1877 by Franz Liszt. Public domain.
Performed by Mauro Tortorelli and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC-BY 3.0 Deed license. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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In a couple of weeks, the German Army had advanced through eastern Poland, the Baltic States and Belarus and was entering Russia.

Army Group Center reached Smolensk, halfway to Moscow, in early July, but it took a month to take the city. The Red Army, despite its huge losses, was not collapsing as expected, but rather growing stronger, and it was becoming increasingly doubtful that the USSR could be defeated by winter.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Night on Bald Mountain
Composed in 1867 by Modest Mussorgsky. Public domain.
Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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On June 22, 1941, Germany began a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union. It was, and still is, the largest military operation in history.

The attack took the Soviet government by surprise, despite the warning signs, and the first weeks of the invasion saw a collapsing Red Army and a rapid German advance.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Transcendental Étude, No. 8
Composed in 1852 by Franz Liszt. Public domain.
Performed by Shuwen Zhang, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The Dust Bowl becomes one of the worst ecological disasters in history. Charles and Anne Lindbergh endure the kidnapping and murder of their infant son.

Lindbergh became the principal spokesperson for the America First Committee, which opposed any US involvement in the war in Europe. Several of the most visible members of the committee, Lindbergh included, displayed Nazi sympathies.

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• Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Livin’ the Dream”
Composed by Stephen Brannan. Public domain.
Performed by Wild Blue Country of the United States Air Force Academy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Panama”
Composed in 1912 by William H. Tyers. Public domain.
Performed by the Dixie Players of the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.