🎧 The Rise and Fall of The Berlin Wall
Archive of Dan Snow's History Hit 🎧
•
51m
The Berlin Wall was an icon of the Cold War and a physical embodiment of the divide between East and West. Its rise and fall was a microcosm of the conflict and its fall marked the beginning of a new post-Cold War world.
Today on the podcast Dan is joined by two eyewitnesses to the wall to hear first-hand its physical and psychological impact. First Dan speaks to Sir Robert Corbett. His military career was book-ended by the wall as his first command as a young officer in the Irish Guards was in Berlin during the 1960s and one of his last major commands before retiring was as the last Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin. He describes the tension and challenges of operating in Berlin and the ever-present possibility of conflict between the two sides. He also provides an eye-opening account of how the euphoric moment of the wall coming down was also a moment of grave danger and could have led to serious violence without his careful diplomacy.
Secondly, Dan is joined by Margit Hosseini. She grew up in the city and witnessed events of the 1950s and 60s as the wall went up before leaving to live in London. She remembers her experiences of what it was like to be surrounded by the wall as it went up and to witness family's, including her own, be divided by its ominous presence.
Up Next in Archive of Dan Snow's History Hit 🎧
-
🎧 The First Astronomers
For thousands of years indigenous Australians, the longest living culture on Earth, have been fascinated by the stars. In this episode Kamilaroi man and ANU astrophysics graduate Peter Swanton shines a light on the great depth of knowledge indigenous Australians associate with various constellati...
-
🎧 Colonel Gaddafi and Libya
Even after his overthrow and bloody death in 2011, Colonel Gaddafi still looms large over Lybia but there is much more to the history of this important and often misunderstood country. It is the 16th largest country on Earth, its capital Tripoli is closer to London than Athens is and Britain's re...
-
🎧 Bar Kokhba: Hadrian's Worst Nightmare
In AD132 began the bloody struggle over who would rule a nation. The clash of two ancient cultures was fought between two strong-willed leaders, Hadrian, the cosmopolitan ruler of the vast Roman Empire, and Shim’on, a Jewish military leader who some believed to be the ‘King Messiah’.
During the ...
