1638: The Search for Order: Absolutism

In this episode of our series on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict we examine the period of the British Mandate, essentially the moment when the split between the Jewish and Arab communities of Palestine began to become more permanent.  On the one hand, increased Jewish migration combined with the development of Jewish institutions like the Histradrut (labor union) and Haganah (defense organization) provided the basis for an independent Jewish state - eventually Israel.  On the other hand, Arab economic growth and political development made the case for accepting Jewish refugees less persuasive.  Further driving the two sides apart were periodic episodes of violence such as the Nebi Musa riots (1920) and the Waling Wall riots (1929).  In the end, these moments of violence and the general political inertia proved stronger than any of the attempts to bind the communities together in a single state.  
 
 Topics covered in the episode (with jump links) include:
 Intro (0:50); the Peace Process in Palestine (8:46); Complexities of Palestinian politics (14:11); emergence of Palestinian society (30:30); the 3rd and 4th Aliyot (37:53); emergence of a Jewish statelet (40:30); the League of Nations' Mandate (47:01); the Haganah (55:25); the Irgun, Etzel and Lechi; the Histradrut (1:15:20); missed chances (1:20:21); violence (1:25:32)

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

This episode explores the history of Israel/Palestine during the First World War - a time when divisions between the local Jewish and Arab communities began to harden. On the one hand, both peoples suffered under the strain of the war and repression under the Ottoman governor Jamaal Pasha. On the other hand, the war brought together Zionist and British policy goals, culminating in official British support for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine (the Balfour declaration). 

Specific topics covered include (click on the number to jump to that section):

Intro (0:50); Start of the war (1:59); Hussein of Mecca and the Arab Revolt (8:35); Chaim Weizmann and the Balfour Declaration (17:11); effect of the war on the local population (30:40); The Jewish Legion (50:56); consequences of the war for identity (1:04:16); postscript: Faisal, Greater Syria, and the origins of Jordan and Saudi Arabia (1:07:20); conclusion (1:116:19)

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

In this second episode, we start to explore the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, starting with the initial wave of large-scale Jewish migrations in the early 1880s. The episode highlights the complexity of identities in the region, including the multi-faced relationships between Ottoman, Arab, Palestinian and Jewish/Muslim/ Christian belonging. We'll explore the critical role played by the Ottoman Empire in the story, including the passage of the 1858 Land Reform Act that lies at the heart of the conflict over the land. In the end, we'll see how the current friction between the two groups was not inevitable, but how historical forces set the two peoples of separate paths of national development in the years before World War I.

To jump to a specific section:

Intro (0:50); Ottoman Palestine and Identity (5:28); Origins of Zionism (36:30); Origins of Palestinian National Identity (52:39); Palestine in the 1880s (1:10:33); The First Aliyah (1:17:41); The Second Aliyah (1:26:31); the Kibbutz (1:40:20); modern Hebrew (1:42:00); Arab perceptions of Zionism (1:47:25); violence and the Jewish response (1:54:16); conclusion (2:06:26)

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

In this episode, the first of several on the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we reflect on some of the dominant narratives being used to understand the current crisis in Israel/Palestine.  Topics include the complicated nature of politics and identity in the region, flaws in both the decolonization and anti-Semitism narratives, the lack of Palestinian agency and failures of Palestinian leadership, problems with Wilsonian notions of national rights to territory and much more. 

The perils of selective historical narratives (4:42)
Complications of the conflict: other actors in the story (9:30)
Varieties of Palestinian experience, politics and identity (16:43)
Varieties of Israeli politics and identity (28:28)
Problems with the anti-colonial narrative (37:32)
A refugee story?  (1:02:28) 
Problems with the anti-Semitism/"Jew-hatred" narrative (1:07:43)
The lack of Palestinian agency (1:18:15)
Failures of Palestinian leadership (1:22:14)
Dehumanization and social theory (1:31:02)
Problems with Wilsonian notions of national territory (1:37:57)
Israeli and Palestinian history: a mirror image? (1:45:22)

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

A brief discussion of books to help you understand the causes of the current crisis in Ukraine.  Topics covered include: Intro & significance of the topic (0:50); Honorable mentions: Timothy Snyder (8:58); Anne Applebaum (15:02); #1 Ukraine and Russia: From Civilized Divorce to Uncivil War (17:39); #2 Gates of Europe: a History of Ukraine (24:16); #3 The Man Without a Face: the Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin (30:32).  

To find links to these books and more check out our blog: https://historyoffthepage.com/3_books_ukraine/  and/or check out other episodes in our series on Modern European History including episodes on the causes of the war and the Soviet Union.

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

 Fascism.  The name has long been understood as the antithesis of  democratic society.  In this episode - the first of several exploring  the topic, we examine the rise of fascism in Italy in the early 1920s.   Topics covered include: the Intro (0:50), What is Fascism (14:58),  Italian Nation-building (25:39), Italy in World War I (32:32), Postwar  Italy (42:30), Gabriele D'Annunzio (1:05:48), Benito Mussolini  (1:14:36), the March on Rome (1:21:46). 

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

Before 1900, few Europeans associated sexual preferences or desires with identity. One engaged in a variety of sexual acts with various partners, some licit (like your spouse in order to procreate), some illicit (outside of wedlock, a prostitute, someone of the same sex, etc.). But generally speaking the idea one was homo or heterosexual did not yet exist. How and why sexual preferences evolved into identities is the subject of this episode. Among other things, topics discussed include the politicization of sex and the body in the late 19th century (17:27), the Eulenberg Affair in 1907 and the role of scandal in driving identity awareness (19:58), the rise of sex researchers such as Magnus Hirschfeld (35:39), and postwar reactions to the new public face of homosexuality (46:15). Also see important clarifications at (5:21), or skip the intro here (0:50).

Point of clarification: the episode describes trends taking place from about 1890-1930. Public displays of male homosexuality became increasingly prominent in urban centers after 1890, becoming more common after 1918. So like many of the modernity-related phenomena we've discussed, one can find traces of these developments that predate the war.

find out more on our website www.historyoffthepage.com or support us on https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

 Continuing on the theme of change and modernity, this episode focuses on the evolution of gender expectations across the beginning of the Twentieth Century. In particular the episode charts the emergence of the "New Woman," who began to behave in more masculine ways than her Victorian auntie: she was slender and athletic, was openly sexual, and lived for her own pleasure rather than the needs of her family. Most importantly, she also became a powerful consumer, frequenting department stores to buy things she wanted and to be attended to by men. The episode ends with a brief discussion of the fashion designer Coco Chanel, who in so many ways embodied this new ideal of femininity. Topics covered include: Intro (0:50), Victorian ideals of gender (17:12), the first feminists (26:36), the impact of the Great War (37:04), postwar political victories (51:27), woman as consumer (59:28), changes to marriage (1:06:44), and sexual behavior (1:14:57), and lastly Coco Chanel (1:24:37).

find out more on our website www.historyoffthepage.com or support us on  https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

After a nice summer History Off the Page returns for season 3!   This short update talks about future episodes in the upcoming season (1:03), ways to support the show (6:12), Spotify's new Q&A feature (8:27), book and movie recommendation "shorts" (9:10) and Instagram reels (10:39).

links:
Instagram: www.instagram.com/history_off_the_page/
Patreon: patreon.com/historyoffthepage 
Twitter/X: @HistoryOTP 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryOffThePage

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.

In the first half of this episode (Part I) we discussed how new inventions like the airplane restored Europeans' faith in the power of science, rationality and more broadly European civilization.   In the second part of the episode, we explore similar trends related to the invention of the automobile and the radio.  Topics covered include: Intro (summary of previous episode) (0:50), meaning of the car (1:50), Benz, Daimler and the first cars (14:53), Henry Ford and the Model T (33:03), the meaning of radio (54:13), Hertz, Marconi and the invention of radio (57:39)

For more information on History Off the Page, check out our website www.historyoffthepage.com! Or you can support the show via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/historyoffthepage?fan_landing=true.