The Rest is History Episode 406 The Nazis in Power: Hitler’s Road to War (Episode 3) War was at the centre of Hitler’s project. He downplayed it at first by focussing on his internal enemies and promulgating the popular theory of lebensraum or “living space”. Although suspicious of him, the army went along with this. But international treaties and the enforced demilitarization in the Ruhr put him in a weak position to wage war. Quite frankly, the Nazi government was broke. The government spent money building factories and autobahns, all of which had an undisclosed military purpose. Britain and the allies were softening too, recognizing that the war reparations were too harsh, and Britain undermined the Allies stance by allowing a navy. Hitler pulled Germany out of the League of Nations and the Geneva Convention on Disarmament, and called yet another plebiscite (which he won) to authorize his actions. He signed a 10 year non-aggression pact with the Poles, and decided to introduce conscription and increase the army size to 500,000 (even though under the Versailles Treaty it was supposed to be limited to 100,000). Although the Allies were displeased, these measures were very popular in Germany, although there were food shortages. Hitler decided to send the Army into the Rhineland, and the British and French did nothing. By 1936 Hitler started to see himself as the Messiah, rather than the John the Baptist figure he had purported to be before. By November 1936 he formed the Axis with Italy and Japan, and on 9 November 1937 a meeting was held to plan to annex Austria.
The Rest is Classified Episode 123 Kim Philby: Communist Double Agent in London Kim Philby’s moment in the sun has finally arrived: he has been recruited by MI6 and asked to join the anti-communist division. With access to intelligence beyond his wildest dreams, this is Philby’s chance to show the Russians what he’s made of. After lapse in security meant that all the existing agents in Germany had had their cover blown, he was given responsibility for locating Nazi spies, especially in Spain and Portugal, where he had contacts. He was by now separated from Mitzi, and had a new woman Aileen Furse with whom he would have four children. In the summer of 1943, MI6 shifted operations to London, where they were located closer to the American secret service and Philby cultivated a friendship with James Jesus Angleton who was later to become one of the founders of the CIA. Once the Soviet/Nazi pact fell apart, Philby’s Soviet handlers were now Allies, and it was easier to pass papers from UK, US and Germany to them. Still Moscow was wary of him- was he a double agent? Was his information too good? The Soviets couldn’t believe that the UK wasn’t spying on them. By 1944 Philby was back in the Soviet’s good books, and the British decided that, really, they should be spying on Russia. Irony of ironies, Philby was given the job as head of Section 9, the anti-Soviet section, and the US was told that any information should be handed direct to Philby!
Journey Through Time Episode 67 The Spanish Civil War: The Death of Democracy By 1939 Franco declared victory, and many Republican fighters fled to France, where they joined the Resistance and especially the Free French Movement. By now there was the convergence of the Spanish Civil War and Nazism. Orwell had by now become well known, Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls and Gellhorn honed her journalism by reporting on civilian experience. The genre of ‘war reporting’ became more prominent and romanticized. The International Brigade and Lincoln Brigade were treated with suspicion as McCarthyism became stronger. After WW2, Franco’s Spain got a bit of a free pass, and with its anti-Soviet stance was courted for nearly the whole 40 years of the dictatorship. This willed blindness which only came to an end with the third generation that wanted to know more about what happened during the Spanish Civil War. The war is still contested in Spain, where archaeology is uncovering events and graves that people intentionally forgot. Moving to current events, the presenters David Olusoga and Sarah Churchwell ask: When is it too early to fight totalitarianism? Is Ukraine in the 21st century what Spain was in the 20th century?
Witness History Triumph of the Will: A Nazi propaganda film (9 March 2026) Leni Riefenstahl, once described as Adolf Hitler’s favourite filmmaker, gave several interviews where she denied that her films were propaganda and distanced herself from the Nazis. It had been arranged that she would film the Nuremberg rally of 1933, but Goebbels complained about her inclusion. The following year she was invited to film again, and she claims that she needed to be persuaded to do so, because she was inclined to refuse. There were 170 film crews at the four-day event, and it took 7 months to edit the resulting film. She saw it as an artistic challenge, and indeed she did use pioneering techniques, especially involving movement, in the film. She was arrested and charged after the war she was found to be a “fellow traveller” but was not charged with war crimes.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 