Historical Thoughts and Interpretations

Jan 30 2024 48 ep. 40 mins 223
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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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.

CJ from Cool History Bros: A Discussion about Confucianism

Sep 13 2022 95 mins  
In the podcast's second episode with a guest, we sit down with CJ Leung, who hosts the "Cool History Bros" Channel on YouTube. "Cool History Bros" presents deep topics in Chinese and East Asian history and literature in a lighthearted way, and it is a great resource for learning about the region's history. Today on the podcast, CJ talks with us about Confucianism, which is more com

Orthodox Brotherhood: Russo-Serb Relations regarding the Yugoslavian Civil War

Jul 27 2022 44 mins  
Welcome to the 40th episode of the podcast! Thank you for all of your listening and support. It has been great, and I look forward to producing many more episodes for your listening. In this episode, we will look into Russian-Serb relations during the Breakup of Yugoslavia. We will look into some shared history and memory, but we'll especially see how the common faith of Orthodox C

”Civilization” in Leo Tolstoy’s ”Hadji Murad”

Jun 29 2022 6 mins  
In this (very short) episode, we will look into Leo Tolstoy's thoughts about what makes a "good civilization" as he expressed in Hadji Murad, which was his short novel about the Imperial-era Russian wars in Chechnya.