HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: Home of Britain’s bestselling history magazine and award-winning podcast
date: 2025-02-28T10:54:04.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: The rise of the Nazis and the importance of heeding warnings
items: Timeline: the rise and fall of the Third Reich
items: “The reverberations lasted for generations” | Matthew Gabriele and David M Perry on the civil war of Charlemagne's grandsons
items: Why did Hitler choose the swastika as a Nazi symbol?
items: “We need to understand the Nazis as human beings”: Richard J Evans on the motivations of Hitler’s followers
items: Why did people kill for Hitler?
items: What was the Erfurt Latrine Disaster?
items: Operation Bagration 1944: the perfect victory on the Eastern Front
items: From the USA's 'good war' to Britain's 'great hurrah': how is D-Day remembered around the world?
items: "Hitler slept through D-Day", plus four other facts about the Normandy Landings you might not know...

The rise of the Nazis and the importance of heeding warnings
type: item
date: 2025-02-20T17:05:39.000Z
creator: Laurence Rees
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
description: “The idea that there’s a widespread movement to learn from history or to understand it meaningfully is false.” Laurence Rees explains to Danny Bird how studying the history of the Nazi regime yields warnings – but that frighteningly few people are interested in learning from the past
encoded: Danny Bird: The subtitle of your book is ‘Twelve Warnings from History’. What prompted you to write this now? Laurence Rees: My interest has always been in mentalities: why people think the way they do, how they justify their actions, and what makes them believe they are right. This focus has shaped my career much more than, say, an interest in military history. Though I respect such pursuits, my background in documentary journalism has always pushed me toward understanding people’s decisions: why do people think what they do? I’ve been fascinated by these questions since the 1990s. Over time I began delving deeper into psychology and neuroscience to better understand mentalities, particularly those of the Nazis. This new exploration wasn’t driven by a sense that the world needed my book; rather, it grew from a broader interest in the human condition. That condition remains relevant regardless of current events. My 1997 BBC documentary The Nazis: A Warning from History drew on the German philosopher Karl Jaspers’ injunction: “That which has happened is a warning.” I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of history as a source of warnings, not lessons. Lessons suggest rigid rules – such as the claim that Winston Churchill’s opposition to Adolf Hitler proves that appeasement is always wrong. Yet Churchill appeased Stalin, so are there in fact occasions where appeasement is permissible? Read more | Did appeasement cause the Second World War? Warnings, however, are clearer. They function like a doctor’s advice that if you keep smoking, you’re more likely to develop lung cancer. It’s not a certainty, but it’s a valuable caution. This approach has guided my study of history – seeking warnings that can illuminate the human condition and help us navigate the present. When trying to understand the mentality of past eras, are eyewitness testimonies more helpful than archive research? I wouldn’t say that one approach is necessarily more valuable than the other. Having started i…

CPA0031867-e5fe6d8.jpg
width: 4979
height: 3317

Timeline: the rise and fall of the Third Reich
type: item
date: 2025-01-27T16:45:18.000Z
creator: Roger Moorhouse
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
description: Historian Roger Moorhouse charts the rise and fall of Nazi Germany, from the end of the First World War to the Third Reich's collapse in 1945
encoded: 1918-1919: The end of the First World War and the birth of the Weimar Republic 9 November 1918: The German monarchy collapses as Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and a new republic is established under the leadership of Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). 11 November 1918: Germany signs an armistice, effectively ending World War I. January 1919: The constitution of the new German republic is drafted, establishing a democratic parliamentary system, under a presidency. However, the new republic faces immediate challenges from extremist movements on both the left and right-wings, and due to unrest in Berlin, the constituent assembly for the new republic was held in the city of Weimar – thereby giving it its name. HistoryExtra Academy | Nazi Germany This six-part video course covers everything you need to know about Nazi Germany, guided by historian, author and broadcaster Laurence Rees Find out more 1919-1923: The Weimar Republic and economic instability January 1919: The German Workers' Party (DAP), is established in Munich by railway worker Anton Drexler. It would be the precursor to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), later known as the Nazi Party. June 1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed, officially ending the war. It imposes harsh terms on Germany, including reparations, territorial losses and a controversial “war guilt” clause, fostering widespread resentment among the German populace. September 1919: Adolf Hitler joins the DAP after attending a party meeting. February 1920: Under Hitler’s growing influence, the NSDAP presents its manifesto – the “25-Point Program” - which includes demands for the abolition of the Treaty of Versailles, the expansion of Germany’s territory, and the establishment of an authoritarian regime. July 1921: Hitler assumes leadership of the NSDAP, becoming its most prominent figure. Autumn 1923: Hyperinflation, resulting from the printing of money to finance the war, begins to seriously undermin…

03-Hitler-Vienna-March-38-GettyImages-825515560-08f0ea2.jpg
width: 4717
height: 3682

“The reverberations lasted for generations” | Matthew Gabriele and David M Perry on the civil war of Charlemagne's grandsons
type: item
date: 2025-01-23T12:18:07.000Z
creator: Dr David Musgrove, FSA
subject: Early medieval
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Medieval battles
description: David Musgrove talks to Matthew Gabriele and David M Perry about the ninth-century civil war among Charlemagne’s grandsons, which shook the empire to its core and reshaped Europe
encoded: David Musgrove: Let’s begin with the battle of Fontenoy in AD 841. What happened there and why was it so important? Matthew Gabriele: Fontenoy is nowadays just a small village lying a little south-west of the city of Auxerre in central France. Even in the 840s, it wasn’t particularly significant. But it was there that a civil war erupted between the grandsons of Charlemagne, who were fighting about the fate of the Carolingian empire. After the death of their father, Louis the Pious, on 20 June 840, the three surviving brothers gathered at Fontenoy. Lothar, the eldest and the Frankish co-emperor, was trying to stitch the partitioned empire back together; his younger brothers, Louis the German and Charles the Bald, had their own claims. Lothar was joined by his nephew, Pepin II of Aquitaine, the son of another brother, also Pepin, who had died in 838. The three brothers and their nephew basically argued about the form that the empire should take. Should it be coherent and unified under Lothar, or would Charles and Louis be able to function as independent kings in their own domains? This dispute boiled over into a massive, bloody battle fought on 25 June 841. For most medieval battles, we have just a sense of where and when they were fought. For this clash, though, we have very specific details of the day and the time when the battle started, as well as the location. That’s because – as we argue at the start of our new book – it was so horrifying for everybody involved. It shook the empire and its participants to their core, creating reverberations that lasted for generations. What’s the backstory to the dispute? Matthew Gabriele: The Franks rose to power in the fifth and sixth centuries when, after interacting with the Romans for a long time, they were finally able to establish their own realm. The resulting empire was ruled for several centuries by a dynasty called the Merovingians. They were supplanted in 751 in a coup d’état by high nobles who started a new dynasty…

AKG255807-85bd797.jpg
width: 2180
height: 1452

Why did Hitler choose the swastika as a Nazi symbol?
type: item
date: 2025-01-16T07:00:00.000Z
creator: Jonny Wilkes
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Evergreen
description: By the early 1920s, the swastika, an ancient religious symbol, had been adopted by Adolf Hitler to represent the German Reich. How did it become the symbol of the Nazi party?
encoded: The swastika is today synonymous with Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime; a red and black symbol of the Second World War. But this hasn't always been the case – the swastika existed as a symbol long before it was adopted by the Nazis, and the symbol's story is longer and more complex than you might expect. So how and why did the Nazis use the swastika, and what is the ancient origin of the symbol made infamous by Hitler? Why did Hitler choose the swastika? When Adolf Hitler began his rise to power and looked for a symbol to encapsulate his movement, the Nazi Party and a strong future for Germany, the swastika became the clear choice. German antiquarian Heinrich Schliemann had grown obsessed with finding Troy, the lost city of Greek mythology, and in 1868 he set out with his copy of The Iliad to search the Mediterranean. Schliemann's search led him to the mysterious mound of Hisarlik on the Aegean coast of Turkey. There, during the 1870s, Schliemann unearthed layers of civilisations dating back thousands of years, and declared the oldest to be Troy. The city of legend had been found – although it turned out to be a different layer than the one Schliemann thought – as well as a cache of jewellery, bronze, silver and gold. Yet in the ancient ruins he made another fateful discovery: some 1,800 depictions of a symbol that resembled a cross with bent arms: the swastika. News of Schliemann’s sensational excavations spread far and wide, quickly followed by the swastika, which became a ubiquitous sign, visible throughout Europe and North America. At the same time, however, the swastika’s long history saw it become a favourite of German nationalists, who subscribed to a warped theory that they had descended from an ancient ‘master race’ known as the Aryans. This belief persisted into the 20th century, growing more pernicious until it appealed to Adolf Hitler, the leader of the burgeoning Nazi Party. Hitler understood the power of an image and knew it would give the Nazi ideals an his…

GettyImages-155360320-230187b.jpg
width: 600
height: 413

“We need to understand the Nazis as human beings”: Richard J Evans on the motivations of Hitler’s followers
type: item
date: 2024-11-21T15:06:45.000Z
creator: Sir Richard J Evans
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Fascism
subject: Holocaust
description: Adolf Hitler and those at the top of the Nazi hierarchy are universally denounced as monstrous aberrations. But, as Sir Richard J Evans stresses, separating them from the lessons of human history is the last thing we should be doing at a moment when democracy is under attack
encoded: A little over two decades ago, the first volume of my history of the Third Reich was published. My aim was to produce a comprehensive study encompassing the origins and rise of the Nazi Party, the transformation of Germany under Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship, and the events and impacts of the Second World War. It was, of course, a major undertaking and, after the third and final volume was published in 2008, I moved on to other topics. But a commission to contribute to a nine-part television series, BBC Two’s Rise of the Nazis, shown from 2019 to 2022, prompted me to take a fresh look at the Third Reich and its crimes. What struck me forcibly, given the biographical orientation of the TV series, was that I knew relatively little about the individuals involved in Nazism and the Reich – and, specifically, very little about their personalities and motivations. For decades, German historians in particular had avoided biography, long tainted by its indirect association with the ‘great man’ approach to history – or, as they called it, personalisierende Geschichtsschreibung (‘personalising history-writing’). Read more | Fake news and Nazis: Richard J Evans on the spectre of conspiracies The rise of ‘perpetrator research’ Yet in recent years, a massive amount of new documentation and research has been published about the leading Nazis. What historians describe as ‘perpetrator research’ has been at the forefront of scholarship since the turn of the century, and has yielded innumerable fresh insights. A 12-volume edition of Hitler’s speeches before his seizure of power was completed in 2003. The final volume of the diaries of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels appeared in 2008. The diaries of self-proclaimed Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg were published in 2015. The second volume of SS chief Heinrich Himmler’s appointments diary, discovered in an obscure Russian archive, came out in 2020. And many other sources have come to light documenting the thoughts and actions of what…

https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2024/11/AKG1902952web-281b4c1-e1731337503220.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

Why did people kill for Hitler?
type: item
date: 2024-10-14T16:08:55.000Z
creator: Rob Attar
subject: 20th Century
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
description: Professor Richard J Evans explores the motivations of those who governed and supported the Third Reich
encoded: Why were so many Germans prepared to participate in the crimes of the Third Reich? It's a question that has exercised historians and the wider public for decades, and now, in his new book, Hitler's People, Professor Richard J Evans seeks to provide an answer. In this episode, he speaks to Rob Attar about what drove people – from lowly functionaries to Hitler himself – to engage in acts of mass murder. View Green Video on the source website

Vod-RJ-Evans-WL-8b905da.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

What was the Erfurt Latrine Disaster?
type: item
date: 2024-09-05T07:52:37.000Z
creator: Danny Bird
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Death
description: Dozens of nobles from across the Holy Roman Empire met for crisis talks on a summer’s day in 1184, but the proceedings ended up in the toilet. It wasn’t because they failed to resolve the dispute: they literally ended up in the toilet
encoded: The words ‘latrine’ and ‘disaster’ should give a clue as to how between 60 and 100 members of the Holy Roman Empire aristocracy succumbed to a spectacularly foul demise. Gathered in 1184 in an ancient church in Erfurt, the ageing floor beneath their feet suddenly gave way, sending them plunging into the building’s noxious cesspit below. Many drowned in liquid excrement, others were fatally wounded in the fall, while several nobles were asphyxiated by the evil-smelling odour. Read more | A brief history of the toilet: wiping, washing – plus, who invented the flush? Where did the Erfurt Latrine Disaster unfold? In July 1184, King Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, who was ruler of Erfurt and the future Holy Roman Emperor, convoked a ‘Hoftag’, or informal assembly. It is thought to have been within the Petersberg citadel at Erfurt (in modern-day Germany). The gathering aimed to address a dispute between the Archbishop of Mainz, Conrad of Wittelsbach, and Ludwig III, Landgrave of Thuringia. The precise origins of the two men’s bitterness have been lost to history, but land disputes were common gripes. This was also a time of political tensions among the empire’s patchwork of bishoprics, princedoms and myriad city-states. Determined to mediate and resolve the feud, Henry summoned dozens of aristocrats and high-ranking officials from across the empire to attend a meeting. What happened at the meeting that led to the disaster? The Hoftag commenced on the morning of 26 July, with many delegates arriving the day before, but it was not long before disaster struck. The ancient wooden floor of the church collapsed under the combined weight of the nobles, and they were sent plummeting to the floor below. Here was the building’s foetid cesspit. Medieval latrines, primitive and often perilously constructed, were a far cry from the luxuries of modern sanitation, often amounting to nothing more than large pits where sewage was gathered. Erfurt was about to give a stark lesson in …

GettyImages-148852097-CMYK-22e8256-e1725472640129.jpg
width: 620
height: 413

Operation Bagration 1944: the perfect victory on the Eastern Front
type: item
date: 2024-06-20T11:56:28.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
description: Iain MacGregor tells the story of the Operation Bagration, a large-scale Soviet offensive against Nazi Germany launched in support of the Normandy Landings...
encoded: The 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy – D-Day, on 6 June 1944 – was commemorated earlier this month. It was an epic operation in men, machines, and planning. But the beginning of the great assault on Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ was not just a military success, it had been one supported with subterfuge on a grand scale. To confuse German military intelligence, fake armies, radio communications and orders of battle were created to convince Hitler that the allies were planning to cross the English Channel to attack the Pas-de-Calais. Operation ‘Fortitude’ would deceive and force him to divert precious German units guarding Normandy prior to D-Day. While all eyes were on the battle in France, another bigger assault on the Third Reich began, just over two weeks after D-Day. It was the offensive Joseph Stalin had promised to Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt at the Tehran Conference in 1943; a spectacular assault on the eastern front that would destroy all hopes Hitler had of keeping the Red Army at bay in 1944. The so-called Operation Bagration would see the Red Army race across eastern Europe. Within a matter of weeks, Soviet tanks were positioned outside the gates of Warsaw. Historically, it was a pivotal moment in the Second World War that all but guaranteed Nazi defeat in the ruins of Berlin ten months later. The build up Since Adolf Hitler’s gamble to launch the greatest land invasion in history on 22 June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa), the fighting on the eastern front had been brutal – almost a war of extermination. Hitler’s grand plans of conquest had been stopped by the Russian winter and the limitless supply of fresh Soviet troops that would replace each titanic defeat the Germans enjoyed in the first year of the war. Though several million Red Army troops had been killed or captured – and millions more civilians killed or imprisoned under German occupation – by the summer of 1944, the tide had turned in Joseph Stalin’s favour. Read more …

TA162C-cb99673.jpg
width: 4962
height: 3452

From the USA's 'good war' to Britain's 'great hurrah': how is D-Day remembered around the world?
type: item
date: 2024-06-05T09:03:11.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: Second World War battles
description: On 6 June 1944 a massive Allied invasion force descended on Normandy in France. In recent decades, ‘D-Day’, as this event is commonly known, has been the subject of persistent commemoration, with major anniversaries – like the 50th in 1994 and the 75th in 2019 – marked with televised international ceremonies. But does everyone commemorate D-Day the same way? Or does the memory of the Allied invasion look different depending on exactly who is doing the remembering?
encoded: This June, on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, there will be ceremonies in Normandy and heads of state will deliver speeches. And while these speeches will undoubtedly emphasise Western unity, they will also reveal that over the years D-Day has come to mean different things to different nations over the years... D-Day in the United States: a good war D-Day looms especially large in American memory of the Second World War. American forces played a key role on 6 June and when news of the landings broke back home President Roosevelt took to the radio to lead the nation in solemn prayer. In later years, Cold War tensions only further consolidated American commitment to D-Day. Here was an eminently ‘useable’ story of freedom versus tyranny. This was certainly the subtext to the popular Hollywood film The Longest Day (1962), which depicts an American-led armada descending on the French coastline in a heroic quest to bring liberation to the oppressed. American interest in the legacy of D-Day further intensified in the late 20th century. President Ronald Reagan gave a celebrated speech during the 40th D-Day anniversary in 1984. Speaking from Pointe du Hoc in Normandy, scene of a fierce D-Day battle involving American Army Rangers, Reagan recalled the landings as a heroic endeavour in which “the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history”. In the 1990s, the D-Day histories of Stephen Ambrose – which often focused on the valour of ordinary American soldiers – sold in enormous numbers and Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster Saving Private Ryan (1998) met with critical and commercial acclaim. In 2000 a National D-Day Museum was opened in New Orleans (since re-named the National World War II Museum), followed a year later by the dedication in Bedford, Virginia, of a National D-Day Memorial. Today, 6 June’s position in the American memory of the Second World War remains unrivalled. It is remembered as the battle which perfectly encapsul…

GettyImages-492905065-05e864a.jpg
width: 2119
height: 1414

"Hitler slept through D-Day", plus four other facts about the Normandy Landings you might not know...
type: item
date: 2024-05-23T15:43:27.000Z
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Second World War
subject: HistoryExtra Academy
subject: HistoryExtra Academy D-Day and the Normandy Campaign course
description: Historian and broadcaster Taylor Downing shares five surprising facts about the biggest amphibious landing in military history
encoded: Planning for D-Day started earlier than you might imagine At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, Churchill and Roosevelt made the decision to set up a unit to start planning for an invasion of northern Europe. Major-General Sir Frederick Morgan was put in charge. Bright, able to consider unorthodox ideas, Morgan also had experience of working with Americans on the invasion of North Africa, Operation Torch. Initially, he had only a team of five to start planning for the biggest amphibious operation in history. But this rapidly expanded and General Ray Barker joined to represent the US in this combined operation. They were given offices in a corner of Norfolk Square in London’s West End, which were soon packed with British and American planners. Read more | Churchill and D-Day: did the prime minister oppose the Normandy landings? They had to decide ‘where’ and ‘how’ an invasion would take place – the ‘when’ had been agreed at Casablanca, spring 1944. They studied thousands of postcards sent in of coastal scenes from Bergen in Norway to Bordeaux in south-west France. A team of photo-interpreters was sent from RAF Medmenham to study a growing mass of aerial photos, not just to pinpoint German defences but to assess the steepness of beaches and the shoreline’s ability to support armoured vehicles. Many areas were quickly ruled out – Norway was too rugged; the dunes on the Danish and Dutch beaches were too difficult to cross; and south-west France was beyond fighter cover. The choice soon came down to two possible landing zones: the Pas-de-Calais and Normandy. Hundreds of thousands of enslaved people built Hitler's defensive Atlantic Wall The Germans knew an Anglo-American invasion would eventually come, but they did not know where or when. Building defensive fortifications along the French Channel coast began in 1942. It was a vast building operation to construct major defences from Norway to south-west France. Much of the construction work was carried out by the …

HEXA-D-Day-WK3-Leads-Landing-d929243.jpg
width: 620
height: 413