Interwar 12 America: The Scopes Monkey Trial, Sacco & Vanzetti framed

A departure from our normal historical narration: Dave reacts to contemporary USA headlines and politics with a view to American Interwar history. A short review of the whole history of the USA, to wrap up our series on the Interwar US… before we return to form to cover Interwar Germany.

The sordid and criminal US occupation of Haiti 1915-1934 with resistance heroes like Charlemagne Peralte, occupiers like Smedley Butler, a young FDR who hoped he’d be remembered as a “Haiti man”… US racial obsessions and atrocities. And Haiti’s anomalous and scrupulous payment of the debts imposed on it, making it a paradise of American financial … Continue reading "Interwar 16: The US Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934"

A roundup of Interwar US imperialism in four Central American countries

We go way back, at first, to the rise and fall of the filibustering William Walker, who wanted to be king of Nicaragua. You’ll meet Smedley Butler as well, but this episode on Interwar Nicaragua focuses on the rebel leader who dared to fight the American occupation, Augusto Sandino, who fought from 1927-1933 and has … Continue reading "Interwar 14: Sandino battles the Americans for Nicaragua, 1927-1933"

In the Interwar years America invaded many Central American and Caribbean countries. The major ones included Haiti, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. We start with the DR, 1916-1924, who nonetheless managed to get the Americans to withdraw.

A showdown over evolution at the Scopes Monkey Trial. A frame-up of Sacco and Vanzetti. A pair of Interwar trials define America in this period.

Back when we covered the US Civil War, we talked about how the US ultimately un-did the Reconstruction. But undoing the Reconstruction went on and on, and the Tulsa Race Massacre (formerly known as the Tulsa Race Riot) was a major moment of the destruction of a prosperous Black community. The history, the aftermath, the … Continue reading "Interwar 11: The Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921"

Continuing our series on Interwar America including Indian Reservations, Black Labor, the Garveyite Movement, and the KKK.

A little bit of everything as we take two hours to start to paint a picture of Interwar America.

After the Cossack Coup, a power struggle between rivals leads to Reza Khan rising to the top. He defangs an American financial mission, jails and executes his rivals, plunders the tribes, makes a personal bank, and becomes not only Shah, but in Gholi Majd’s words, “the largest private landowner… in all likelihood in the recorded … Continue reading "Interwar 8: The rise of the first Reza Shah Pahlavi"