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Hitler was quite popular in Germany in the early years of his rule. He got sacks of fan mail and drew crowds wherever he went. Documentarian Leni Riefenstahl’s films of the Nuremberg Rallies were hugely successful.

In 1936, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin, and the Nazis used the occasion to showcase the “new Germany.”

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla” from Das Rheingold
Composed in 1876 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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Over the first 13 years of Mussolini’s rule, and whatever its domestic policies, Italy’s international policies were conventional, and pursued with conventional diplomacy.

In 1935, that began to change. No doubt inspired by Hitler’s success in flouting international norms and getting away with it, Mussolini chose to pursue a war against Ethiopia.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Concerto in E Major, “La Primavera” from “The Four Seasons”
Composed in 1723 by Antonio Vivaldi. Public domain.
Performed by John Harrison, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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Nazi Germany was initially cautious in imposing limits on the rights of Jewish people and other “non-Aryans” in Germany. Hitler and his government cared about their international image, as they sought to negotiate their way out of the limitations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.

By 1935 though, with rearmament under way and the Allied powers unwilling to challenge Germany’s resurgence, landmark legislation was passed defining the terms under which a person was or wasn’t a “true” German. Those who were deemed non-Aryan were defined as subjects of the state, but not citizens of it.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Composed in 1868 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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The first electoral test of Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration was the 1934 mid-term election, and it was a resounding vote of confidence.

Afterward, Roosevelt would promote another set of new programs, the Second New Deal.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Shenandoah”
Traditional. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Academy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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When the nations of Spanish South America won their independence from Spain, they were left with a number of boundary disputes with one another, and with Portuguese Brazil.

During the 19th century, it took negotiation, and a few wars, to sort out those disputes. By the early twentieth century, only one border question remained unsettled: the Chaco Boreal, claimed by both Paraguay and Bolivia. In 1932, they would go to war over the territory.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“National Anthem of Paraguay”
Unknown composer. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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Animator Walt Disney was among the first to embrace the use of sound in an animated film, in 1929’s Steamboat Willie.

The effect was remarkable. Sound did even more to enhance animation than it did for live-action film. Soon after, Disney was the first to make use of full-color animation. By 1940, animated short films were an established, and popular, medium of entertainment.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Overture from Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)
Composed in 1816 by Gioachino Rossini. Public domain.
Performed by The Davis High School Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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Animated drawings, in the forms of flip books and zoetropes, were already familiar to Westerners in the late 19th century.

The introduction of silent motion pictures made possible silent animated films, but the large number of individual drawings needed to make even a short animated film was daunting. In the early years of the medium, its pioneers focused on methods for streamlining the process and reducing the artistic labor required.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Medley of music by Johann Strauss, Jr.
Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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When Adolf Hitler first became chancellor, German foreign policy didn’t change much for the first two years, as Hitler was focused on securing his domestic political position.

This began to change in 1935, when Germany publicly acknowledged that it was rebuilding its army and air forces beyond the levels permitted in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany withdrew from the World Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations, and in spring of 1936, moved German soldiers into the Rhineland.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Fantasie” from Siegfried
Composed in 1871 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

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Adolf Hitler spent the first year and a half of his chancellorship increasing and consolidating his power.

In the summer of 1934, he unleashed the “Night of the Long Knives” campaign of murders of people he deemed a threat to his rule. Most of them were his own supporters, including conservative allies and the leadership of the SA “brownshirts.”

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• Transcript.

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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

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