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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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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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.21: From Eden
47:22
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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
34:17
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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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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.18: The Art Of Backing Down
35:08
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1956 Episode 2.18 brings us to a critical point in the narrative, where Anthony Eden decided that a ceasefire was in fact favourable after all! So just what had changed? Thanks to Harold Macmillan, Eden was persuaded that the economic situation in Britain was close to breaking point, and the Treasury Secretary greatly inflated the figures to ape a …
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.17: Britain Knows Best
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1956 Episode 2.17 looks at Anthony Eden’s furious efforts to shape the debate on the British intervention in Egypt in the first few days of November, 1956. Our story on 5th November where, just as British and French paratroopers were landing on Port Said, the British Government was fighting its own battle in the House of Commons. Selwyn Lloyd, the …
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.16: My Canadian Friends
32:41
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1956 Episode 2.16 introduces the fascinating Canadian element into our story. Eden’s efforts to control the discussion continued, as the Prime Minister sought to make the British people see things wholly his way. To some extent he would succeed, but much like his French counterparts, it was proving immensely difficult to control what people thought…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.15: Foiled Abroad
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1956 Episode 2.15 resumes the story of Anthony Eden and his struggle to implement the once perfect plan upon his unwilling nation. Having been challenged passionately at home by a disbelieving political nation in the last episode, here we see this suspicion and fear transplanted to Britain’s supposed allies, and to the United Nations. It was within…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.14: Attacked At Home
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1956 Episode 2.14 takes us to the scenes facing Anthony Eden in Britain in the final days of October. Having orchestrated an Israeli-Egyptian war, the plan now was to issue an ultimatum, and for Anglo-French forces to swoop into Egypt to separate the two belligerents. Such a noble act, Eden believed, would cloak the fact that Britain and France wer…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.13: When A Plan Comes Together
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1956 Episode 2.13 examines the final moments of peace between 25-29 October, as the conspiracy to attack Egypt and make it look like an accident developed further. In Britain, the focus was on the legal argument still, even despite the clear problems which Britain’s legal advisors in the Foreign Office had in painting any British attack on Egypt as…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.12: Collusion And Delusion
33:27
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1956 Episode 2.12 takes us to the 22-24 October 1956, where the war plan that would create the Suez Crisis was created, developed and signed by Britain, France and Israel in an unassuming Parisian suburb. This process was, of course, far from straightforward or guaranteed to produce a result. It required the French reassuring both the Israeli and B…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.11: A Protocol For War
32:17
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1956 Episode 2.11 finally takes us to that controversial moment when Britain, France and Israel began to move closer together. The Sevres Protocol was neither developed nor signed in a day, and in the first two weeks of October, negotiations critically important to the later conflict were underway. At first, Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd hoped to …
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.10: Israeli Sneaky
30:26
30:26
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1956 Episode 2.10 takes us to the Commonwealth, seen as so vital to British interests, but fracturing over the question of the best course of action to take against President Nasser. The Canadian, Australian and NZ governments were all uneasy at the prospect of war, and some, like the Canadian Foreign Minister Lester Pearson, advocated a diplomatic…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.9: The Fix Is In
37:54
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1956 Episode 2.9 looks at that moment which has become infamous in history – the collusion between Britain, France and Israel. We are almost ready to see these sneaky meetings take place, and for the infamous agreement take shape, but first, it is worth investigating another important and underrated angle of the Crisis. The key element of the Suez …
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.8: Deception As Policy
34:03
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1956 Episode 2.8 examines the increasingly secretive plotting which took place behind the scenes in early autumn 1956. While Eden worked feverishly to make the conflict he desired come together, the countless variables continued to haunt him. We see here a glimpse of a common theme which will occupy us later on – the use of legal arguments to suppo…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.7: Blind Intrigue
34:35
34:35
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1956 Episode 2.7 examines the steps which led towards the military intervention in Egypt, by placing the British behaviour in its imperial context. In spring 1955, Britain remained a premier power in the Middle East, while American representation in that theatre was not particularly impressive, save for the commercial connections which American cit…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.6: The Entente Rides Again!
28:07
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1956 Episode 2.6 looks at the increasingly close cooperation between Britain and France in light of the signal defeat of Western imperialist ambitions in Egypt. We open our episode with a defining scene – President Nasser’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal. The nationalisation of the Canal was not the moment that the world flocked to condemn Nasse…
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1956 Episode 2.5 looks at British commitments in the Middle East, and how setbacks there could massively drag down ideas of British ‘prestige’ in that region. What did the French have to fear from Colonel Nasser, and how did this tie in with later Anglo-French agreements? The answers can be found here. Also of note in this episode is the moment whe…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.4: Britain Bitten
38:18
38:18
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1956 Episode 2.4 examines Britain's embarrassing and dissatisfying efforts to try and make Egypt see sense. Here we see what kind of Government Anthony Eden led, and how he shook it up, or failed to shake it up, after he assumed the premiership in spring 1955. Anthony may have deserved his turn, but he would quickly exhaust the sense of goodwill he…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.3: Egyptian Conniption
34:06
34:06
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1956 Episode 2.3 examines British views of Suez and Nasser's new Egyptian regime. As the British government underwent a change and waved goodbye to great old men like Churchill, it was clear at the same time that this new government had no intention of changing its imperial tune. Egypt was a place to be held onto, not relinquished; Nasser was a fig…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.2: Suez, A Life
34:49
34:49
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A French investment opportunity, an ancient idea, and a British masterstroke - discover in this episode how the Suez Canal became so monumentally important for British imperial interests in the latter 19th century, and how this interest was then carried over into the 20th century. After years of defending and expanding their stock in Suez, it was h…
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1956 - The Suez Crisis #2.1: Bitter French Pills
28:57
28:57
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In this episode, we will examine the painful post-war experience of France, why it was so reluctant to let go of its colonies and how this caused it more damage in the long run. As an integral, but largely forgotten player in the Crisis, understanding the French angle is essential for us. On many occasions, the fractured French government would be …
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1956 Part Two: The Suez Crisis Introduction
19:05
19:05
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1956 now enters its second season, and we are confronted with several pressing questions. How did the British, French, Israelis and Americans become involved in Egypt, and how did these events affect what was ongoing in Hungary? The incredible spectacle of these two simultaneous crises, both caused by very different forces, and hosting very differe…
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1956 Episode 1.15 examines the final moments of Imre Nagy, as the Soviet noose tightened around him. But the Kremlin was not safe yet. Of particular concern to Moscow and to the Hungarians was the stance of Yugoslavia, as its embassy in Budapest provided asylum to Imre Nagy and 40 other individuals responsible for guiding and leading the momentaril…
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