317: The Winter War

Mark Podcast

A Soviet T-26 tank advances into Finland during the Winter War.

With France and Britain at war with Germany, the Soviet Union was free to do as it pleased in the East.

When Finland refused to consider allowing Soviet military bases on its soil, the USSR invaded. Most thought Finland would quickly collapse, as Poland had just two months earlier, but in Finland the outcome was different.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Maame” (The informal national anthem of Finland.)
Composed in 1848 by Fredrik Pacius. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme


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.

316: Nazism Unleashed

Mark Podcast

The Polish town of Wieluń, near the German border. The Luftwaffe bombed it on the first day of the war, despite the absence of any legitimate military target.

First Germany, then the USSR, invaded Poland in September 1939.

Even the Germans were surprised how quickly the Polish defense collapsed. The occupation of Poland allowed the Nazi Germans and the Soviet Communists the freedom to do with the nation and its people as they pleased.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Komm, süsser Tod” (“Come, Sweet Death”)
Composed in 1736 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Public domain.
Performed Laurindo Almeida. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme


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.

315: Lessons Learned IV

Mark Podcast

This memorial stone stands outside the building in which Adolf Hitler was born. The text translates as: FOR PEACE FREEDOM/AND DEMOCRACY/NEVER AGAIN FASCISM/MILLIONS OF DEAD GIVE WARNING.

That the Great War would lead to a Great Depression was probably inevitable. That the Great Depression would lead to another world war was not.

Before we dive into the narrative of the Second World War, we pause to consider what lessons can be drawn from the Jazz Age.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Violin Concerto in G minor, “Summer”
Composed in 1723 by Antonio Vivaldi. Public domain.
Performed by the Modena Chamber Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme


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. Photograph by Jo Oh, used pursuant to a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

314: Here We Go Again

Mark Podcast

Soon after Germany’s surprise occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, Adolf Hitler set his sights on Poland, relying on the “tried-and-true method” (his words) of protesting alleged mistreatment of minority Germans in that country.

Hitler believed that the leaders of France and Britain would be too cowardly to go to war, but he understood it was a possibility. Still, he believed Germany was better prepared for war than were the Allies. Here we go again…

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Funeral March from Siegfried
Composed in 1871 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme


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.

313: What Guarantee Is There?

Mark Podcast

General Secretary Josef Stalin meets with German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in Moscow in August 1939 to negotiate a non-aggression agreement.

Following the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, Adolf Hitler immediately set his sights on Poland, intending to use the same tactics he had used against Czechoslovakia: the “tried and true” method, as he put it.

In Moscow, the Soviet government sought an alliance with France and Britain aimed at containing Germany, but the three nations could not overcome their mutual distrust. So Stalin chose instead to cut a deal with the Germans.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Sabre Dance
Composed in 1942 by Aram Khachaturian. Public domain.
Performed by Markus Staab, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme


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.

312: It Don’t Mean a Thing

Mark Podcast
Duke Ellington and his orchestra perform “Take the ‘A’ Train” in the 1943 film Reville with Beverly.

Electronic amplification allowed singers to sing more softly, by simply getting closer to the microphone, producing a more intimate sound. This style, known as “crooning” soon dominated popular music.

Hollywood musicals of the 1930s, and especially Fred Astaire, popularized dancing and dance bands, which led to the creation of “big bands” and swing, a new style of jazz music.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“My Blue Heaven”
Composed in 1927 by Walter Donaldson and George A. Whiting. Public domain.

Closing Theme


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.

311: We Shall Not Forget You

Mark Podcast

Spanish Nationalist demonstrators march through Salamanca, bearing portraits of Francisco Franco, as spectators offer Roman salutes.

By the beginning of 1938, it was clear that the Spanish Nationalists were likely to win the civil war. Only the USSR came to the Republic’s aid, but the Soviet aid favored pro-Soviet Communists at the expense of anti-Soviet elements in the Republic.

The Republicans continued to hold out hope that Britain and France would come to their aid, but those countries were more interested in maintaining peaceful relations with the Nationalists’ allies, Germany and France.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Rapsodie Espagnole
Composed in 1908 by Maurice Ravel. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra, directed by Barbara Schubert, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme


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.

310: A Switch in Time

Mark Podcast

The U.S. Supreme Court building was completed in 1935. Before that, the Supreme Court met in the Capitol.

Two weeks after his second inaugural, Franklin Roosevelt announced a plan to restructure the Federal courts. The plan was received without enthusiasm, even by fellow Democrats in Congress.

It would be the first of several missteps that would end Franklin Roosevelt’s remarkable series of political victories.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Those Crazy Cats

Closing Theme


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.

309: The Golden Age of Radio

Mark Podcast

Jack Benny.

Early radio mimicked the forms of live entertainment, particularly concerts, theatre, and vaudeville. By the late 1930s, these forms evolved into distinctively broadcast forms. Classical music concerts gave way to popular music, especially dance bands. Theatre became radio drama. And vaudeville comedy developed into humor about domestic life, becoming the situation comedy.

These forms became the template for broadcast entertainment on radio, and later television, for the rest of the twentieth century.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Closing Theme


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.

308: And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor

Mark Podcast

The airship Hindenburg bursts into flames while attempting to land in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937.

Advertising agencies as we know them today emerged around the turn of the twentieth century. At first, they placed ads in newspapers and magazines, and were reluctant to move into the new medium of radio.

But in the United States, the attitude toward advertising on radio went from hostile to cautious to enthusiastic in about ten years. By the late 1930s, advertisers all but controlled American radio.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Closing Theme


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. Radio commercials for Pepsodent, Bromo-Seltzer, and Signal Oil included in this episode are believed to be in the public domain, or in the alternative, that their inclusion here constitutes fair use. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.