Author: Charles River Editors
Narrator: Bill Caufield
Unabridged: 8 hr 15 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 10/18/2023
Genre: History - Europe
It’s easy to forget how young Italy was when Benito Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883. It is hard to conceive a territory with such a long and ancient history was once young and troubled with constant conflict and instability. Similar to Germany, Italy was unified in 1861, but contrary to its northern cousin, its previous history was one of separation. Italy had no great romantic idea of a “Great Germany,” keeping it unified even during the wars between city-states. Benito Mussolini was born and raised in a highly volatile environment where ideas already considered extreme by most contemporary observers, such as Socialism, would undergo a deep and violent transformation. Mussolini would ride that wave to power, and he would hold it for decades as he opportunistically tried to strengthen Italy's position and empire. That would lead him to foreign interventions in Africa, and eventually an alliance with Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler, ultimately costing him everything and devastating his country throughout World War II.
It is often claimed that Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany through democratic means, and while that is a stretch, it is true that he managed to become an absolute dictator as Chancellor of Germany in the 1930s through a mixture of politics and intimidation. Ironically, he had set such a course only because of the failure of an outright coup attempt known as the Beer Hall Putsch about a decade earlier.
The Spanish Civil War has exerted a powerful impact on the historical imagination. Without question, the conflict was a key moment in the 20th century, a precursor to World War II, and an encapsulation of the rise of extremist movements in the 1930s, but it was also a complex narrative in and of itself, even as it offered a truly international theatre of war. Ultimately, the forces of reaction, led by General Francisco Franco, triumphed, and after his victory in 1939, Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist for 36 years.
Few are those that have not heard of the fearsome Vikings and their daring exploits. These Northern seafarers, the scourge of the Middle Ages, left their mark on the world’s history in a grand fashion. Courageous, defiant, and driven by the de...
About empty thrones, a lot can be said. Throughout history, both ancient and near modern, a lack of an heir and the sudden death of a beloved monarch always meant trouble. When the position of a king is up for grabs, a lot of eager hands come forwar...
A great nation needs a great leader. Just like a ship needs a capable captain, so does a proud and sovereign nation need a competent king to lead it through the tumultuous waves of history. Alas, history taught us that capable leaders are ...
Yeats is widely regarded as one of the most important English-language writers of the 20th century. A hero of the pen rather than the sword. A Nobel Prize winner for Literature and a two-term senator of the Irish Free State, Yeats lived a full, acti...
The French Revolution of the late 1790s was one of the critical events in the history of Europe. It was the defining moment - a historic landslide that ushered the world into a new, completely different epoch. Alas, all such changes come at a great ...
The perfect St. Patrick's Day gift, and a book in the best tradition of popular history -- the untold story of Ireland's role in maintaining Western culture while the Dark Ages settled on Europe. Every year millions of Americans celebrate St. Patric...
Much can be said for a nation as proud and ancient as Wales. It is a nation that reaches far back into the shadows of history, from where it struggled to retain its freedom and proud culture. Of Celtic and Brittonic origins, the Welsh people were al...
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Celts, then pay attention...Today, the word Celtic means so many things. To most of us, it means something related to Ireland. We think of intricately designed Irish crosses, four-leaf clovers, ...
The history of the Scottish nation is full to the brim with glorious heroes and epic struggles. Throughout the centuries of its fight for independence, Scotland gave birth to some truly exceptional men and women, who went above and beyond the call o...