HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2023-11-08T16:10:23.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: A brief history of Memorial Day in the USA
items: Peter Caddick-Adams on genocide and the laws of war
items: Peter Caddick-Adams on generals killed on the battlefield
items: Peter Caddick-Adams on the history of neutrality and what it would mean for Ukraine
items: Peter Caddick-Adams on the echoes of history in the Russia-Ukraine war
items: How to win a 20th-century battle
items: Churchill and D-Day: did the prime minister oppose the Normandy landings?
items: Exclusive podcast: Peter Caddick-Adams on whether D-Day could have failed
items: D-Day: everything you wanted to know
items: The road to D-Day: getting ready for action

A brief history of Memorial Day in the USA
type: item
date: 2023-05-29T09:24:06.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
description: Memorial Day, a day when America honours its war dead, is observed on the last Monday in May each year. In 2023 it will be commemorated on 29 May. Here, historian Peter Caddick-Adams explores the origins of this national holiday, which date back to 1868…
encoded: What is the meaning of Memorial Day? The United States has several days on which it recognises members of its armed forces, past and present. This is partly on account of its huge population (roughly 330 million), but also because America acknowledges its veteran community as coming from six uniformed services: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. Currently, its regular and reserve components total around 0.75 per cent of the population – more than two million men and women. With an average enlistment period of around 15 years, a far larger percentage of the US population have links with serving military or veterans than most other countries. What does America commemorate on Memorial Day? Serving personnel are recognised on Armed Forces Day, observed on the third Saturday of May each year, while former service members are commemorated on Veterans Day, a national holiday which falls on 11 November. The most significant time, when America pauses to reflect on their fallen (also a national holiday), occurs on Memorial Day. What are the origins of Memorial Day? Initially, widespread recognition of American war dead occurred on Decoration Day, initiated in 1868 in the aftermath of the American Civil War (1861–65), and eventually fixed for 30 May every year, the unofficial start of the summer vacation season. The recent graves of the 600,000 who fell in battle were decorated with flags, flowers and wreaths. In turn, this had evolved from unofficial ceremonies that had sprung up in many states, during and after the Civil War, including observance in the old Southern Confederacy. After President Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, and the subsequent creation of the US National Cemetery System for Union war dead the same year, the formal and nationwide practice of visiting and decorating graves gained popularity. This was further encouraged by guidebooks to the cemeteries, incorporating military history, published by various powerful women’…

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Peter Caddick-Adams on genocide and the laws of war
type: item
date: 2022-04-19T15:08:35.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Column
description: “Even if the possibility seems remote at present, there is no reason to think that the Russian politicians and military figures behind the awful events unfolding on a daily basis in Ukraine will not, one day, be brought to justice,” writes Peter Caddick-Adams
encoded: The war in Ukraine has turned very dark in ways few of us expected. Credible reports are pouring in of abuse of civilians, including torture, rape, looting, and executions (which Russia denies). Unlike many recent hostilities, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by Vladimir Putin’s official declaration of war, phrased in the language of a “special military operation”, but warlike in every aspect. The international response has included a call from leading jurists, policymakers, and intellectuals to create a special tribunal to hold top figures in the Putin regime accountable for their crimes of aggression. However, even before the atrocities uncovered in Bucha and elsewhere, Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), had opened a wide-ranging war crimes investigation. This was in response to a referral by 39 countries, including the United Kingdom. This will be the first time that such a judicial process has opened while the conflict concerned is still in progress. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2022/04/Karim-Khan-ICC-e3e397a.jpg" width="8192" height="5464" alt="Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), visits a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine" title="Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), pictured centre, visits a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on 13 April 2022, amid Russia's military invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)" /> The ICC, an international body permanently established in The Hague, Netherlands, was established in 1998 and began sittings in 2002. It replaced the ad hoc courts which tried the Second World War aggressors at Nuremberg and Tokyo, and more recent trials against the perpetrators of abuse in Rwanda and Bosnia. In recent years, a total of 46 people have been indicted by the ICC, including individuals from Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Libya, Ivory Coast, and the Democra…

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Peter Caddick-Adams on generals killed on the battlefield
type: item
date: 2022-04-06T11:54:26.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: First World War
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Column
description: “Russian general casualties in Ukraine today are significantly higher – whether seen as a proportion of all Russian generals or as a percentage of the 200,000-strong army they command – than the Allied commitment in 1939–45,” writes historian Peter Caddick-Adams
encoded: The world has been agog at the number of Russian generals killed in Ukraine over the last few weeks. This appears to be the tip of the iceberg, for “at least 15 senior Russian commanders have been killed in the field,” according to Markiyan Lubkivsky, a spokesperson for the Ukraine Ministry of Defence. The total was later amended to 16, including five named colonels and four lieutenant colonels. By 27 March 2022, Ukrainian officials said the total number of Russian generals lost in battle was confirmed at seven. Russia has not confirmed this, and the tally has not been independently verified. But the seven Russian generals believed to have been killed include three army commanders: Andrey Kolesnikov, of the 29th Combined Arms Army, killed on 11 March; Andrey Mordvichev, leading the 8th Army, who died in a Ukrainian raid on his command post at Kherson airfield; and Yakov Rezantsev, general of Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army, killed in another airfield strike, apparently on 25 March. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2022/04/Yakov-Rezantsev-8dfa5cb.jpg" width="4630" height="3087" alt="2H699MF STAVROPOL, RUSSIA - NOVEMBER 14, 2021. Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, Commander of Russia's Southern Military District 49th Combined Arms Army (R front), takes an annual international Russian geography test, Geographical Dictation, at the Stavropol Presidential Cadet School. Geographical Dictation has been held annually since 2015 by the Russian Geographical Society to promote the knowlegde of geography and interest in the geography of Russia. Dmitry Akhmadullin/TASS" title="STAVROPOL, RUSSIA - NOVEMBER 14, 2021. Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, Commander of Russia's Southern Military District 49th Combined Arms Army (R front), takes an annual international Russian geography test, Geographical Dictation, at the Stavropol Presidential" /> In addition, four other generals are reported killed, according to western sources. On 26 February, Magomed Tushaev, a Chech…

Peter Caddick-Adams on the history of neutrality and what it would mean for Ukraine
type: item
date: 2022-03-29T14:03:38.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: 21st Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Column
description: “It will not be enough for Ukraine simply to announce neutrality – as nations like the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium found to their cost in the 20th century, declaring neutrality and it being respected are two different matters,” writes historian Peter Caddick-Adams
encoded: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said his government is prepared to consider adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal with Russia. But what would neutrality mean for Ukraine, and which other countries in history have adopted a neutral status? Peter Caddick-Adams investigates… The world looks on in horror as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues. Each day takes fresh lives, often of the innocent, unable to defend themselves as their homes are ground to dust. Russia is resorting to destroying infrastructure – schools, hospitals, maternity centres, factories, shopping centres, power stations, television masts – as a way of putting pressure on Kyiv to capitulate. The refugees themselves, their humanitarian aid corridors and online information, have all been ‘weaponised’ to become instruments of terror by the Kremlin. This explains the relentless attrition of all these sectors and people. Moscow’s message is clear: ‘Do as we say, or we’ll make the suffering even worse’. Russian Federation aggression is also directed at the wider world, demanding that it refrain from intervention, and applies further pressure on President Zelensky to cave in. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2022/03/Ukrainian-president-Zelensky-295a91e.jpg" width="1920" height="1080" alt="Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky" title="A screen grab captured from a video showing the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky speaking about the talks to be held in Turkey between Ukraine and Russia, 28 March 2022. (Photo by Ukrainian Presidency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)" /> Zelensky, the actor-turned-president who is playing the role of his life, is a clever man. He has courted and won the hearts of much of the planet but has also put out peace ‘feelers’. One card he has placed on the table is to end Ukraine’s attempts to join Nato (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and promise not to seek membership in the future. Instead, he has focused…

Peter Caddick-Adams on the echoes of history in the Russia-Ukraine war
type: item
date: 2022-03-15T17:42:17.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: General Modern
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Column
subject: Second World War battles
description: “The language, tactics, and even the weapons of the Russia-Ukraine war hark back to the 1940s,” writes Peter Caddick-Adams
encoded: Spread over 25 acres on a hill overlooking the Dnieper River near the heart of Kyiv in Ukraine is the Museum of the Great Patriotic War. It tells the story of the Soviet Union’s struggle with Nazi Germany. Among the quiet halls, stuffed full of weapons, clothing, equipment, artwork, models, and propaganda, are tanks and guns. Lots of them. And anti-tank obstacles called ‘hedgehogs’. These are lengths of angle-iron, welded or bolted together, which the Germans also put on the Normandy beaches to halt the Allies in 1944. In a bizarre exodus, these Ukrainian hedgehogs have been recalled to duty. Migrating out of their museum and onto the streets of Kyiv, complete with plaques, identifying them as museum exhibits, they have been recycled to do the job for which they were first designed in 1941. All through Ukraine, citizens are digging trenches and filling sandbags, in another mirror to the 1940s. Although the attackers are now the Russians, and some of the defenders’ anti-tank missiles attacking them will be German-made, there are many echoes of history in this bitter war that none thought would ever happen. This is a conflict whose very parameters have been set by history. Vladimir Putin has attempted to justify his invasion with references to a “fascist coup” in Kyiv. It is a throwback phrase to the Great Patriotic War (as the Second World War is often called in Russia), but meaningless in the current context. The Russian leader has also alleged “genocide” being practiced on ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking citizens, but this is also untrue. The term is defined as the ‘systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group’. If anything, people in the the breakaway Luhansk and Donetsk provinces which comprise the Donbas region had been conducting their own intimidation of non-Russians. If the language of the Russia-Ukraine war harks back to the 1940s, then so do some of the weapons. Read next| War crim…

How to win a 20th-century battle
type: item
date: 2021-09-03T11:02:01.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Second World War
subject: Period
description: What are the tactics that ensured success in wars and battles of the Second World War and other conflicts? And what mistakes were sure to mean defeat? Historian Peter Caddick-Adams considers the lessons that can be learned, from managing resources and troops to harnessing the unexpected…
encoded: At every level of war, a winning formula needs to include an easy-to-understand, clearly defined aim. At the strategic level, it might be to defeat Germany. At a lower level, such an objective could be to capture the city of Berlin, as Soviet premier Joseph Stalin ordered his two subordinates, Marshals Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev, in April 1945. Tactically, it might be to take or hold Pegasus Bridge in Normandy, capture a hill like Monte Cassino, or sink a ship, such as the Bismarck. The more complicated the aim, the more scope for confusion and ‘strategic drift’. But for every campaign, there are several factors and tactics to bear in mind. Here are eight lessons learned from history… Raise morale However well-equipped a force, troops must believe in what they are doing, that their cause is just and that they will win. The huge French conscript army in 1940 outnumbered the Germans but were fearful of a replay of the First World War and its massive casualty bill, as were its politicians. Thus, within six-and-a-half weeks the Wehrmacht, with no such doubts and fanatical belief in their nation’s policies, had defeated their adversaries. Morale is about digging deep in a moment of crisis, and persevering – as did exhausted RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain, sailors manning the Atlantic and Arctic convoys, or the citizens of Malta – the most bombed place on earth – believing they would somehow survive. Keep your opponent guessing During the first half of the Second World War, the Germans retained the initiative, choosing when and where to strike – whether this was in Poland, Norway, France, North Africa, Yugoslavia, Greece, or the Soviet Union. The side that chooses offensive action first (properly sustained) gains an advantage, forcing their opponent to react rather than develop their own plans. In this way, warfare is like chess, as British commanders found to their cost in the Western Desert, hampered by General Erwin Rommel, who seemed always to be one step a…

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Churchill and D-Day: did the prime minister oppose the Normandy landings?
type: item
date: 2020-11-26T15:00:07.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy D-Day and the Normandy Campaign course
description: The Normandy landings were a resounding success for the Allies. Codenamed Operation Overlord, 'D-Day' (6 June 1944) was the largest seaborne invasion in history and marked the beginning of the campaign to liberate north-west Europe from German occupation. But what did British prime minister Winston Churchill make of the plans? Was he, as some have suggested, opposed to D-Day?
encoded: Here, military historian Peter Caddick-Adams explores Churchill’s anxieties about the planned assault on Nazi-occupied France and explains why he gained a reputation in American wartime eyes of being against Operation Overlord until the last minute… On 15 May 1944, at St Paul’s School, Hammersmith – General Montgomery’s temporary London headquarters – Winston Churchill attended a final D-Day briefing with King George VI and scores of Allied commanders. As Dwight D Eisenhower recalled in Crusade in Europe: “During the whole war I attended no other conference so packed with rank as this one. This meeting gave us an opportunity to hear a word from both the King and the Prime Minister. The latter made one of his typical fighting speeches, in the course of which he used an expression that struck many of us, particularly the Americans, with peculiar force. He said ‘Gentlemen, I am hardening toward this enterprise’, meaning to us that, though he had long doubted its feasibility and had previously advocated its further postponement in favour of operations elsewhere, he had finally, at this late date, come to believe with the rest of us that this was the true course of action in order to achieve the victory.” Read more | D-day: why the training was deadlier than the assault The undisputed ‘hardening’ quote was published in Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe of 1948, when the former prime minister was out of office, and illustrated the depth of American scepticism of Churchill’s commitment to invading Normandy. It heralded a narrative that has endured to this day, that Winston Churchill was against landing in Normandy. It is an incorrect understanding of history, though the prime minister was to blame for the confusion. <img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2019/05/GettyImages-50372111-6354a25-e1717067924263.jpg" width="619" height="413" alt="General Dwight Eisenhower reviews troops shortly before the Normandy invasion, British Army senior officer B…

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Exclusive podcast: Peter Caddick-Adams on whether D-Day could have failed
type: item
date: 2020-08-15T05:14:08.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: 20th Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy D-Day and the Normandy Campaign course
description: In this lecture recorded at BBC History Magazine’s 2019 History Weekends, historian Peter Caddick-Adams explores the key threats to the assault of 6 June 1944
encoded: In this lecture recorded at BBC History Magazine’s 2019 History Weekends – and available exclusively on HistoryExtra.com – historian Peter Caddick-Adams explores the key threats to the assault of 6 June 1944, a high-risk strategy that had just one chance of success. Listen to more podcasts exclusive to HistoryExtra.com Discover more learning from week two of the HistoryExtra Academy course on D-Day and the Normandy Campaign HistoryExtra Academy video lecture: Planning for D-Day – watching time 16 mins The road to D-Day: the masterplan – reading time 9 mins Podcast: Peter Caddick-Adams on whether D-Day could have failed – listening time 1 hour In defence of Monty: James Holland on the Allied commander's D-Day decisions – reading time 9 mins Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt: the big three’s war of words – reading time 9 mins

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D-Day: everything you wanted to know
type: item
date: 2020-04-19T11:46:38.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Everything you wanted to know about history (podcast series)
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy D-Day and the Normandy Campaign course
description: Military historian Peter Caddick-Adams responds to listener queries and popular search enquiries about one of the defining episodes of World War Two
encoded: In the latest of our new series tackling the big questions on major historical topics, military historian Peter Caddick-Adams responds to listener queries and popular search enquiries about one of the defining episodes of World War Two. Check out the rest of the series: Episode 3: Miles Russell answers the big questions about Roman Britain Episode 2: Tracy Borman takes on questions about the Tudors Episode 1: Marc Morris tackles some of the big questions about the Normans Discover more learning from week one of the HistoryExtra Academy course on D-Day and the Normandy Campaign Video lecture: The Decision, with Taylor Downing – watching time 11 mins Churchill and D-Day: did the prime minister oppose the Normandy landings? – reading time 8 mins Barbarossa and Britain – reading time 9 mins When and why did the US get involved in WW2 – reading time 9 mins

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The road to D-Day: getting ready for action
type: item
date: 2019-06-03T15:04:54.000Z
creator: Peter Caddick-Adams
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy D-Day and the Normandy Campaign course
description: As their plans to liberate Europe gathered pace, the Allies knew that every stage of the invasion would have to be carried out with razor-like precision. Soon, thousands of troops were being put through rigorous training exercises – some of which turned out to be as deadly as the real thing. By historian Peter Caddick-Adams
encoded: Land: Before the troops could leave Britain’s shores, they would have to conquer Devon first On the eve of the invasion, the build-up of troops in the British Isles was so large, servicemen joked that Britain was only being kept afloat by the number of barrage balloons attached to her. Indeed, a total of 2,876,600 soldiers, sailors and airmen were awaiting the call in southern England, and key to their success on D-Day would be the fact that each and every one of them had experienced far longer and more meaningful combat preparation than their opponents across the Channel. However, as US infantry divisions underwent extensive training along the coast of Devon, accidents were not uncommon. Many of the exercises were necessarily dangerous, involving live artillery, mines and machine gun fire. Captain Charles R Cawthon remembered the sad fate that befell one member of his platoon, who triggered a mine laid in the dunes: “There was a blinding flash and a clap of sound, and he disappeared as if by a magician’s sleight of hand. The illusion terminated in pieces of anatomy plopping into the sand around us.” D-day: why the training was deadlier than the assault D-Day: a resounding success for the Allies D-Day: 24 hours that changed the world Another American officer, Second-Lieutenant Wesley R Ross, recalled: “The day before we left for the marshalling area, we lost Melvin Vest, who was killed when a quarter-pound block of TNT exploded in his hand. I bundled up Vest and hustled him by truck to a nearby hospital, but he died of shock four hours later from extensive damage to his hands, legs and groin. This was a gut-wrenching disaster, and the fact that he was such a neat guitar-playing soldier and so well liked by everyone, made it even more of a tragedy.” When the time finally came to head across to Normandy, large crowds of locals lined the streets to wish the departing men both goodbye and good luck, sensing this time that the troops would not be returning. Omaha beach-b…

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