We found 10 episodes of The Year That Was with the tag “american history”.
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Radical and Agitator: William Monroe Trotter and the Fight for Justice
February 17th, 2020 | Season 1 | 59 mins 9 secs
1919, african-american history, american history, lynching, race riots, radicals, red summer, season1, spanish flu
William Monroe Trotter was among the richest, best-educated, and most-well-connected African-American men in the United States--and he dedicated every ounce of his privilege into helping his fellow black Americans. By 1919, he had fought with the elder statesmen of his community, been arrested in protests over "Birth of a Nation," and denounced Woodrow Wilson's racial policies to president's face. But 1919 would bring one of Trotter's greatest challenges: he would need to learn how to peel potatoes.
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There Is No Justice Here: The Red Summer of 1919
January 21st, 2020 | Season 1 | 57 mins 55 secs
1919, african-american history, american history, bolsheviks, lynching, race riots, radicals, red summer, reds, season1, wobblies
A constant threat of violence hung over the lives of African Americans in the early 20th century, an unrelenting terror that served to deter economic progress and enforce a racist social order. But 1919 was different: violence spread out of the south into northern and midwestern cities and took the form of random, terrifying riots. But the response of African-American leaders in 1919 was also different. They decided enough was enough. The time had come to fight back.
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Reign of Terror: The First Red Scare
December 19th, 2019 | Season 1 | 1 hr 1 min
1919, american history, bolsheviks, labor, radicals, red scare, reds, season1, wobblies
Americans felt under attack in 1919 as a series of riots, strikes, disasters, and bombings hit the country. After radicals attempted to blow up the house of Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, he decided enough was enough. It was time to stop the Red Menace using any means possible. But would Americans tolerate the loss of their civil liberties in the pursuit of Bolsheviks?
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Pie in the Sky: The Wobblies and the Fight for Labor
December 10th, 2019 | Season 1 | 58 mins 56 secs
1919, american history, i.w.w., labor, season 1, wobblies
The I.W.W. was a tough, militant, radical union, and its very existence terrified business owners, factory bosses, and the entire U.S. government. Since its founding, the law had been out to get the Wobblies. In 1919, as a record number of Americans went on strike for better wages and working conditions, would the union be able to help them? Would the union even survive?
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Send All Available Personnel: The United States and the Great Molasses Flood
November 26th, 2019 | Season 1 | 59 mins 19 secs
1919, american history, labor, molasses flood, season 1
The Purity Distilling Company molasses tank dominated the North End of Boston, standing 50 feet tall over the surrounding tenements. Residents of the area were accustomed to the sight of tank oozing syrup from its seams and making strange rumbling noises from its depths. And one day in January 1919, life changed forever for Bostonians when the walls of the tank suddenly, inexplicably failed. Was it negligence? Or a vicious attack by anarchists?
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No Cause for Panic: The Spanish Flu Pandemic
October 15th, 2019 | Season 1 | 43 mins 8 secs
1919, american history, history, india, ireland, season 1, spanish flu, world history
The emergence of the flu virus that swept the globe between 1918 and 1920 was entirely unexpected, but the resulting pandemic can't be called an entirely natural disaster. Governments made decisions that made the flu much, much worse, and those decisions would have long-lasting consequences--and leave between 50 and 100 million dead.
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Eggshells Loaded with Dynamite: Allied Intervention in the Russian Revolution
October 8th, 2019 | Season 1 | 20 mins 24 secs
1919, american history, history, russian history, russian revolution, season 1, world history
In 1919, thousands of American soldiers fought Russian troops on Russian soil--despite the fact President Woodrow Wilson had promised to allow Russia to determine its own political future. Why did the Allies rush to land troops in eastern Siberia and along the Arctic Ocean? And why have we forgotten all about it?
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A Gladiator's Gesture: Art after the Great War
September 24th, 2019 | Season 1 | 42 mins 46 secs
1919, american history, art history, dada, european history, return to order, season 1, surrealism, world history
In 1919, two competing art movements went head-to-head in Paris. One was The Return to Order, a movement about purity and harmony. The other was Dada, a movement about chaos and destruction. Their collision would change the trajectory of Western art.
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Burdened with Glorious Purpose: Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations
September 10th, 2019 | Season 1 | 37 mins 54 secs
1919, american history, episode 2, league of nations, paris peace conference, season 1, woodrow wilson, world history
Woodrow Wilson believed he and he alone could end war--forever. His plan for the League of Nations would usher in an era of eternal peace. So it really hurt the president's feelings when not everyone agreed with his vision.
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Our Fathers Lied: The Origins of World War I
September 5th, 2019 | Season 1 | 37 mins 46 secs
1919, american history, bonus episode, kaiser wilhelm ii, season 1, woodrow wilson, world history, world war i
In August 1914, the world's most powerful nations stumbled into the most devastating war the world had ever known. But why? We examine the origins of the Great War as if it were a bar fight--an analogy that makes more sense than you might imagine.