Curated playlist
Aftermath of World War II
- Cold WarWhy was the Cold War called a war when the two superpowers never fought each other directly?
- Tehran ConferenceStalin let a gift sword fall to the floor at the 1943 Tehran Conference. Churchill had just presented it.
- DecolonizationDecolonization began in 1775 when the American Revolution rose against the British Empire.
- Free Territory of TriesteThe Free Territory of Trieste lasted only seven years, yet people still argue over its legal status.
- Potsdam AgreementThe Potsdam Agreement was a communiqué, not a peace treaty, yet it shaped Germany until 1990.
- Potsdam DeclarationCollecting the Potsdam Declaration leaflets was illegal in Japan. American bombers dropped over 3 million of them.
- Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to GermanyThe Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany was signed in Moscow on the 12th of September 1990. Most people know it by a shorter name, the Two Plus Four Agreement. The two were West Germany and East Germany. The four were…
- Decolonisation of AsiaAsia's decolonization stretched from Dutch Formosa's fall in 1662 to Timor-Leste's independence in 2002.
- Potsdam ConferenceMid-conference at Potsdam in 1945, British voters replaced Winston Churchill with Clement Attlee.
- CominformIn June 1948, Cominform expelled Yugoslavia's communist party. Eight parties voted unanimously against Tito's party.
- Chinese Civil WarTwo generals kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in 1936 because he kept fighting Communists instead of Japan.
- Korean WarThe UN approved force in Korea because the Soviet Union was absent. It had boycotted the Council since January 1950.
- Iron CurtainWinston Churchill did not coin the phrase iron curtain. Queen Elisabeth of Belgium used it first, in 1914.
- Aftermath of World War IIBritain introduced bread rationing after World War II ended. It had never done so during the war itself.
- Greek Civil WarShots rang out at a march of at least 200,000 people in Athens in 1944. It began the Greek Civil War.
- Treaty of Paris between Italy and the Allied PowersItaly's 1947 peace treaty ordered all its submarines scuttled. It also banned new battleships and aircraft carriers.
- Victory over Japan DayA sailor grabbed a woman in Times Square and kissed her when Japan's surrender news broke.
- Trust Territory of the Pacific IslandsThe Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands split into four separate jurisdictions between 1986 and 1994.
- KresyKresy, Polish for "edge," once covered nearly half of interwar Poland. Poles were only a third of its people.