A History of Europe Key Battles

How Ramsay McDonald, Britain's First Labour Prime Minister ended up demonised by his own party, accused of betrayal to the movement.

Stanley Baldwin, of the Conservative Party, became Prime Minister for the second time in 1924 and rejoined the Gold Standard. Also, the Wall street Crash, and society trends in 1920's Britain - technological advances and the growth of suburban towns

Picture: Tyldesley miners outside the Miners Hall during them1926 General Strike

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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The 1920s in Britain witnessed great social change. It was also a watershed in the political history of the country with the first Labour Government of 1923-1924

Picture: Ramsay MacDonald

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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The 1920s was a key decade in British history, marked by the struggle to cope with post-war challenges, and the transition away from a society led by aristrocats. A key figure was Liberal leader, Prime Minister David Lloyd George (pictured)

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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International negotiations lead to the Kellogg-Briand pact, bringing hope for eternal peace in Europe. However, Germany suffers the double blow of its most able statesman Gustav Stresemann, together with the economic fallout of the Wall Street Crash. Political instability leads to President Hindenburg choosing his own cabinet and so sideline parliament. Hitler's Nazi party break through in elections in September 1930 

Picture: Gustav Stresemann signing the Kellogg-Briand pact

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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President Ebert dies of illness, prompting a presidential election, which is won by the former WW1 military commander Paul von Hindenburg. International negotiations continue, culminating in the Treaty of Locarno, in which France, Germany and Belgium agreed never to attack each other again. Germany joins the League of Nations, and Hitler re-asserts his authority over the National Socialist Party.

Picture: President Paul von Hindenberg

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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Post World War One Germany Struggles to pay the reparations demanded in the Treaty of Versailles.

Picture: President Ebert asked Gustav Stresemann, leader of the DVP party, who formed a government coalition in 1923

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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The early years of Adolf Hitler as he becomes politically active and joins the Nazi party. Meanwhile the Weimar Republic struggles with harsh post-war conditions and attempted uprisings from both the Left and Right.

Photo: German police sent to put down a left-wing rebellion known as the March Action

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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After World War One, political upheaval in Germany leads to the overthrow of the German monarchy and establishment of a new republic based in the town of Weimar.

Photo: Proclamation of Weimar Republic, 9 November 1918.

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Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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Mussolini consolidates his control of Italy, using a combination of intimidation, violence and occasional compromise to establish an authoritarian regime. He introduces a number of projects to boost Italy, including strengthing the currency, agricultural refor, after-work clubs and family planning, with mixed results. He also embarked on an expansionist foreign policy.

Picture: Mussolini with the fascist youth

Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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After World War One Italy suffered social unrest due to economic hardship and nationalism. Benito Mussolini led a new Fascist movement which took power in the March on Rome in October 1922

Picture: Benito Mussolini

Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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A delegation from Ireland meet the British and make an agreement for Irish autonomy but makes a compromise to keep under under the British Crown.

The Irish break into two sides, one supporting the treaty, one opposing it and demanding full independence and a republic. The ensuing Irish Civil War left a bitter legacy.

Picture: Bombing of the Four Courts

Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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The Irish form a shadow government in opposition to the British, with their own courts and tax collections. Meanwhile, Irish volunteer fighters wage guerilla warfare against the British police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary.

Picture: West Connemara Flying Column

Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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In January 1919 a group of recently elected Sinn Fien MPs gathered in Dublin. There they proclaimed the establishment of an Irish Republic and adopted a ‘Declaration of Independence’, which asserted Ireland’s right to be a sovereign nation. I describe here the background to the Irish people's struggle for independence from the United Kingdom, including the Easter Rising 1916.

Picture: Royal Irish Constabulary

Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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An overview of the situation across Europe after World War One. The Treaty of Versailles. The post-war division of territories. The German Revolution and the question of financial reparations.

Picture: The heads of the "Big Four" nations at the Paris Peace Conference, 27 May 1919. From left to right: David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson

Opening Music: The Charlston. End Music by Nico Vettese

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Conclusion of the Turkish National Struggle 1919-1922. Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk, leads the Turkish Nationalists against the armies of Greece.

The Battle of Sakarya River between the Turks and Greeks is a key battle of European history and shapes of the future of their respective countries.

Picture: Inferno of Smyrna

Music: The Charlston

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Turkish National Struggle 1919-1922

The Ottoman Empire emerges defeated from World War One. The Entente Allies impose harsh conditions in the armistice whereby the Ottomans lose most of their territory including parts of Anatolia. However, Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk, raises an army to oppose the Allies

Picture: Mustafa Kemal and Turkish soldiers

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As background to the Turkish National Struggle, this episode describes the events in the Caucasus Mountains in World War One, - conflict between Russia, the Ottoman Empire, the Germans, and nationalist groups of Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

Separately I talk about Greece's involvement in World War One.

Picture: Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and Enver Pasha, Minister of War for the Ottoman Empire

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The Ottoman Empire in World War One - the fights for the Suez Canal, Gaza, Jerusalem and Arabia between the British and Turks

Picture: General Allenby enters Jerusalem

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In 1920 the Polish and Soviet Russian armies clashed in a series of battles across a wide area of eastern Europe including Ukraine and Lithuania.

The Soviets advanced deep into Poland and reached the gates of Warsaw, with the aims of capturing the city and., more widely, exporting their revolution across Europe.

Picture: Polish soldiers in the Battle of Warsaw 1920

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The Polish Army make a pre-emptive strike against Soviet Russia. They invade the eastern borderlands, and take large amounts of territory, especially in Ukraine, but they fail to break the Russian army. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians attempt to form an administration in Kyiv

Picture: Vladimir Lenin rallying his people to the war

Intro Music: The Charlston

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While Western Europe's borders were settled post World War One, fighting still raged elsewhere on the continent. The most significant was the Polish Soviet War, which raised issues such as the clash of ideologies, the Soviets’ attempt to export their revolution, the future of Europe itself.

It was a conflict that spanned a large area, from Lithuania and Ukraine in the east to Warsaw in the west.

Picture: Josef Pilsudksi with soldiers

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The Bolsheviks face numerous opponents across Russia, and struggle to gain control of all lands of the old Tsarist Empire.

The White anti-Bolsheviks make a plan to move on Moscow 

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Picture: By Hoodinski - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16761719

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Civil War rages across Russia from the north in Murmansk, across the Trans-Siberian Railway to the Far East, as well as in Ukraine and the Caucasus. However, the anti-Bolshevik fail to cooperate effectively

Picture: Tsar Nicholas II with this family 1913 (murdered by the Bolsheviks in July 1918)

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The new Bolshevik regime quickly gains control of most of former Russia Empire, but meets stiff resistance in the periphery including Finland, the Caucasus and Ukraine.

They sign a peace treaty with Germany at Brest-Litovsk and withdraw from the First World War

Picture: Volunteer Army Infantry

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- Introduction to the new series on the Interwar Years

- A recap of Russia's involvement in the First World War

- The February 1917 Revolution and Provisional Government 

- Lenin's Bolsheviks seize power in the October Revolution 

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The Battle of Lake Peipus or 'The Battle on the Ice' was fought on 5th April 1242 between a coalition of western crusaders led by the Teutonic Knights against an army from Novgorod, Russia, led by Alexander Nevsky. The conflict was made famous by a Soviet film of 1938 directed by Sergei Eisenstein.

This is the fifth and final part of a set of episodes on the Medieval Baltic and the Northern Crusades

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Alexander Nevksy appointed Prince of Novgorod, a Russian city with its own unique culture and proud history.

Lead up to Battle of Lake Peipus 1242

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Livonia in the 12th century was threatened by invasion from all sides; Danes, Swedes, Germans, Poles and Russians. Key events in the episode;

1201 - Founding of Riga (capital of modern day Latvia) by Bishop Albert

1219 - Capture of Tallinn (capital of modern day Estonia) by Denmark in the legendary battle of Lyndaniss

1236 - Defeat of a military order, the Sword Brothers, by a band of Lithuanians at the Battle of Saule

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