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WDF examines how wars broke out, how they were concluded, and their consequences. Expect juicy diplomacy, sneaky intrigue, fascinating characters, and incredible drama. By Dr Zack Twamley, qualified history nerd. Current Series: The July Crisis Patreon Series: The Age of Bismarck Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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1956 - The Eventful Year is the latest history podcast project from Zack Twamley, the podder responsible for When Diplomacy Fails. 1956 is a series which examines the fascinating incidents, personalities and struggles that characterised this eventful year. It is my task and my pleasure to give you all several sample episodes from this exciting new series, where everything from the Hungarian uprising to the Suez Crisis, and many more incidents besides rocked the world and the year. For full a ...
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Austria-Hungary finally delivered its ultimatum to Serbia nearly four weeks after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The journey had been incredibly slow, and the outcome was nothing like the fait accompli its statesmen had originally envisioned, but Austria had officially taken the bold step towards war. What did this infamous ultimatum contain…
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On 20 July, the French President, Premier, and other statesmen docked at Kronstadt, aboard the fittingly named France. It began a tremendous spectacle of Franco-Russian cooperation, just as rumours were swirling of Austria's nefarious intentions. The allies could not know for sure what Vienna was planning, but they could send some strongly worded w…
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#19: 19-22 July 1914 - Finalising Fatalism
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As the French sailed for St Petersburg, the Austro-Hungarian government gathered in Vienna for a meeting of historic importance. It was here on 19 July 1914 that the infamous ultimatum to Serbia was finalised, but also the question of what kind of war Austria expected to fight. Shockingly, the question of Russian intervention barely registered. The…
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As the French President and Premier made their way to Russia, on board the France, they tried their best to keep up to date with what was happening outsides the confines of their vessel. Troubling rumours were not hard to come by, but they could not be wholly ignored. The Central Powers kept up a front of ignorance, even luring Sazonov into a false…
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With the Austro-Hungarian government on the same page at long last, it remained to follow through with the ultimatum. To Berchtold, this meant moving as quickly and as secretly as possible, so that once the ultimatum arrived in Serbia, Europe would be presented with a fait accompli. The Germans were similarly anxious, and emphasised the necessity o…
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#16: March-June 1914 - The Entente Part 3
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In our final episode looking at the Entente, we bring our story up to the eve of the July Crisis. How had past lessons influenced the way Russia and France interpreted the world by spring 1914? Was war certain? Had new military reforms so affected the balance of power that war was now inevitable? What did the position of Britain mean for the two al…
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#15: Jan-March 1914 - The Entente Part 2
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In our second installment of this Entente analysis, we look at the Liman von Sanders crisis. By late 1913, a new crisis in Russo-German relations centred on the status of General Liman von Sanders, appointed to command the 1st Army Corps at Constantinople. To the Germans, this was a useful way to assert their influence in the Ottoman Empire and reb…
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In this first of three episodes, we look at the pre-war position of the Entente! Before we bring our narrative further, it would be useful to turn our attention to what came before. The Franco-Russian alliance was formed in 1894, and over the next twenty years, the two allies experienced their share of ups and downs. Even as new crises shifted the …
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As Belgrade burned with rage following the death of Ambassador Hartwig, Berchtold was on the verge of his greatest triumph. After several intense weeks of pressure, Stefan Tisza seemed finally to be seeing the light. A combination of factors, including German pressure, agitation from his subordinates, fear of Romania, outrage at Serbia, and probabl…
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Now that German support had been acquired, and the delivery of an ultimatum to Serbia was virtually guaranteed, Berchtold had one final mission - to persuade the Hungarian Premier Stefan Tisza of the necessity of war. This was easier said than done, since Tisza had good reasons for resisting calls for a war which he believed was unnecessary and dan…
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#11: 7 July 1914 - Joint Council Meeting
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By 7 July 1914, Austria-Hungary's leading officials gathered in Vienna. The key item on the agenda was what to do about Serbia, but an unspoken item amounted to what to do about Hungary. With German support for the punitive strike on Serbia now assured, all that remained was for the Habsburg government to maintain a degree of unity at such a crucia…
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#10: 6 July 1914 - Saving Austria-Hungary
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With the blank cheque secured, Austria had received its ally's blessing to pursue a punitive strike against Serbia - what would happen next? The morass of questions surrounding this development deserve greater examination, but you may be wondering, just how widespread was the pro-war party in Vienna? How many officials believed that only war with S…
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#9: 5 July 1914 - Drafting the Blank Cheque
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Among all the controversies of the July Crisis, perhaps few compare to Germany's decision to provide Austria-Hungary with a 'blank cheque' for whatever policy it intended to adopt towards Serbia. In fact, word from Berlin suggested that the German government was impatient, and wanted Austria to strike Serbia as soon as possible. But, did this repre…
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#8: 1-4 July 1914 - 'Are You Certain of Germany?'
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Now that Vienna had decided to use war against its Serbian neighbour, the mission became one of guaranteeing German support. As we discuss in this episode, in Austria's estimation it was far from certain that Berlin would give this support. The record of diplomatic crises and cooperation in recent years suggested that Germany might even try to cont…
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With the shots heard round the world, how would Austro-Hungarian statesmen react to the news that the heir to their throne had been murdered in Sarajevo? In fact, as we see here, Austrian patience towards Serbia had been so exhausted by 1914 that a violent, warlike response was virtually inevitable. At least, Habsburg Foreign Minister Count Berchto…
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#6: 28 June 1914 - Assassination in Sarajevo
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On 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb terrorist. What followed was the July Crisis, as Austria-Hungary attempted to gain a measure of justice, or even revenge. No story of the July Crisis is complete without beginning here, but considering its infamy, what is there left to learn about this assassinatio…
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#5: The Balkans and Other Wars (1911-1913)
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In this teeny tiny episode, we look at the Italian invasion of Libya and the Balkans Wars! But first, get a load of these links! Do you want ad-free episodes with scripts attached, and bonus content? Support us on Patreon and you can suggest July Crisis episodes! Join our Facebook group as we make our way through this fascinating series! Click here…
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#4: The Bosnian Annexation Crisis (1908-1909)
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In our second background episode, we cover the Bosnian Annexation Crisis from 1908-1909! But first, get a load of these links! Do you want ad-free episodes with scripts attached, and bonus content? Support us on Patreon and you can suggest July Crisis episodes! Join our Facebook group as we make our way through this fascinating series! Click here t…
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In our first background episode, we look at the formation of the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. But first, get a load of these links! Do you want ad-free episodes with scripts attached, and bonus content? Support us on Patreon and you can suggest July Crisis episodes! Join our Facebook group as we make our way through this fascinating series! …
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How do historians explain the outbreak of the First World War, and how have these views changed over the last century? Were they influenced by new perspectives, new motives, or new source materials? How have they influenced our current understanding of the war's origins, and what impact have they had on the 'mainstream' view of why war broke out? I…
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Welcome history friend, to this exciting new series! 110 years to the day since Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, and a decade on from our July Crisis Anniversary Project, I believe there has never been a better time to jump back into this world. This is a brand new series, and I have been working on it for some time now. In this episod…
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After nearly forty episodes, and many fantastic discoveries, what can we learn from this incredible year in history? Was it a turning point for the decolonising Europeans, or simply a signal that the United States was now the top dog? Was it truly damaging for the Soviets, or did the Hungarian chapter simply confirm what many had assumed - that onl…
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Here we finish 1956, with the final episode in the series wrapping up Eden's story, and the Conclusion episode, wrapping up this eventful year. The Prime Minister, once so revered, had irreparably damaged his reputation by acting as he did in the Suez Crisis. While on paper the record stated that Britain and France had acted with the most noble of …
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.20: Americans And Soviets
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Episode 2.20: Americans & Soviets examines the involvement of the Cold War’s primary protagonists in the Suez Crisis. At long last, we bring the events in Hungary full circle with events in Egypt, and assess whether Anthony Eden’s crimes doomed Hungary after all. In short, we bring everything full circle in 1956. What the events of this year demons…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.19: Not All Heroes Wear Capes
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1956 Episode 2.19 examines Eden efforts to completely redefine what the Suez Crisis had meant, and what Britain’s role in the crisis had been. From the afternoon of 6th November, with a ceasefire in the air, a UN Emergency Force still had to be negotiated. Eden could claim that British and French forces were sticking around in Egypt only for the pu…
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