Historical Thoughts and Interpretations

Jan 24 2025 51 ep. 39 mins 232
Historical Thoughts and Interpretations Podcast artwork

In this blog Christian Basar analyses historical events or ideas one may encounter in the historiographical field. Though this podcast will cover many different topics, Basar’s main interests lie in military and Russian history. Thanks to Zoxo for the great logo design! Find his work on Instagram and Twitter @zoxonline

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Comparing the Ethics of Kant and Plato

Jan 24 2025 19 mins  
In this episode we look at the ethics from Ancient Greek philosopher Plato and the 18th-century Prussian thinker Emmanuel Kant. How did they differ in how they defined right vs. wrong action? What categories do their ethics fall into?

Impressions of Recent Events in South Korea and Syria

Dec 08 2024 20 mins  
It is the 50th episode! In this much shorter, much more "shot out of the cannon" episode, I give my personal impressions of President Yoon Seok Yeol's attempt at a coup in South Korea, as well as the recent fall of the Assad government in Syria. For the latter, I focus on some of the implications for Russia. Here are some other sources that may give more background information: Sou

Outlining British Columbia’s Educational Ideology

Nov 27 2024 30 mins  
In this episode, we will look at the educational changes in British Columbia, which launched a new curriculum in September 2016. We will look at what changed, the rationales for such changes, criticisms, and how politics can affect education. Sources: “A Framework for Classroom Assessment.” British Columbia Ministry of Education. Accessed November 21, 2023. https://curriculum.g

New World: Origins and Effects of Political Change in Pre-Modern Europe

Jan 30 2024 26 mins  
In this episode, we look at some of the factors and effects of centralization in pre-modern European states such as England, Spain, and the Ottoman Empire. We also briefly analyze why the German-centered Holy Roman Empire failed to centralize effectively.

Series Introduction - Different Forms of Communism

Jan 24 2024 39 mins  
This episode is a little different in that I just introduce a series that I am planning to develop. In this series, I will look at, compare, and contrast different types of communism. Communism, like so many other broad topics in history, is not a monolith. There is variation and change, and there are many different manifestations of communist ideology, with the most well-known one

The USSR in Portuguese Africa

Apr 28 2023 99 mins  
In this episode, I interview Professor Natalia Telepneva. She is a Lecturer in International History at the University of Strathclyde. Her specialty is the Cold War-era Soviet Union and socialism, with a specific focus on Africa. And today we will discuss her first book, "Cold War Liberation: The Soviet Union and the Collapse of the Portuguese Empire in Africa, 1961-1975," in which

Loyalist Life after Resettlement in Canada

Jan 11 2023 18 mins  
In this episode we will take a very brief look into the lives of British Empire Loyalists after they moved to what remained of British North America after the Thirteen Colonies won the American Revolutionary War. What prompted Loyalists to leave the Thirteen Colonies? What issues did they face in what is modern Canada? How did the British government respond? Please note: at about 1

A Review of Catherine Merridale’s ”Ivan’s War: The Red Army 1939-45”

Oct 31 2022 15 mins  
In this episode I give a short review of Catherine Merridale's excellent book "Ivan's War: The Red Army 1939-45." The book brought the Soviet WWII experience to light in the Western market, which has usually been filled with war stories from Western Allied sides or even the Germans.

History: Science and Fiction (Reupload)

Oct 17 2022 36 mins  
[Re-uploaded October 24, 2022]: In this episode, I go a little bit beyond what I discussed in the last entry. Last time, I used Hayden White's literary framework to try and categorize an old Russian history textbook. Today I critique White's framework a bit further. I also talk more broadly about two types of historical works - historical research and historical fiction. I argue th

Russian History in Textbook Form: A Theoretical Analysis of ”A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond”

Oct 10 2022 52 mins  
Today I analyze one of my old Russian history textbooks, A History of Russia, the Soviet Union, and Beyond: Sixth Edition, 2002, written by David MacKenzie and Michael W. Curran. I use the literary framework of Hayden White to categorize the textbook, and I give some of my thoughts on it.