検索キーワード： 制作 "Charles River Editors" 20世紀

In the wake of World War II, the European continent was devastated, and the conflict left the Soviet Union and the United States as uncontested superpowers. This ushered in over 45 years of the Cold War, and a political alignment of Western democracies against the Communist Soviet bloc that produced conflicts pitting allies on each sides fighting. By the 1960s, East Germany was pushing for a solution to the problem of an enclave of freedom within its borders. West Berlin was a haven for highly-educated East Germans who wanted freedom and a better life in the West.

People may know what's going on in Syria today, but how did Syria get to where it is today, at the forefront of the Arab Spring? The history of Syria in the last century is one of turbulence, violence, and political intrigue, with local religious sects battling for control of the land while foreign powers vied to maintain influence over the region. What resulted was a toxic and twisted mess that has precipitously affected the entire region, from Israel and Lebanon to Iran and Iraq.

People love mysteries, which is a good thing since history is so replete with them. This is especially true among seafaring people, and of all the mysteries of the deep, few rise to the level of the Mary Celeste. In many ways, it is a story more suited for an episode of The X-Files than it is for any history book. There is the unlucky ship that began her sailing career under a cloud of bad fortune and accident.

The most iconic images of the First World War are of the war on land. But part of that same generation faced a very different war, one that was just as important in deciding the fate of Europe. This was the war at sea. Here, events took place that would draw America into the war, providing the Allies with a new pool of manpower and so ensuring that the scales of the conflict tipped in their favor. At sea just as much as on land, this was a war that would shape the future of the world.

The KGB is one of the most famous abbreviations of the 20th century, and it has become synonymous with the shadowy and often violent actions of the Soviet Union’s secret police and internal security agencies. Aside from the KGB, the 20th century’s most notorious spy agency was the Stasi, which was instrumental in the history of East Germany. In an era of totalitarian countries dominated by repressive state agencies, the Stasi stood out for its size, and the sheer breadth and depth of its surveillance.

The Kurds: The History of the Middle Eastern Ethnic Group and Their Quest for Kurdistan examines the group and the contentious issues surrounding them. By delving deeper into their ethnic, religious, and political history, it is possible to understand the larger issues of statelessness and the striving for independence. At the same time, the relationships between the Kurds and the ruling regimes of the day have changed and altered the political landscape in the Middle East.

On August 1, 1945, a month before the formal end of World War II, the British War Office announced the disbanding of a small, eclectic unit, the Long Range Desert Group. Since its founding five years earlier, in June 1940, the LRDG had pioneered and refined the concept and tactics of deep penetration, covert reconnaissance in the North African desert, and later as a more varied special forces operations unit in the Aegean, Italy, and the Balkans.

In the decades after the Apollo program, American space shuttles flew over 130 missions and successfully completed over 98 percent of them, but unfortunately, the two most famous missions were the ones that ended tragically aboard the Challenger and Columbia. The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: The History and Legacy of NASA’s Most Notorious Tragedy chronicles the disaster from the origins of the Challenger mission to what went so terribly wrong.

The 17th century was marked by multiple pro-democratic revolutions exploding in both hemispheres. In Europe and its neighbors to the east, border-changing wars were fought incessantly. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the underlying premises of political, governmental and social structures within several European and Asian states were shaken to the core after centuries of royalty and one-family rule. By the onset of World War I, royal families began to experience a long, slow decline, with some quietly fading into the status of national symbols and others experiencing political overthrow. Some were horrified by the suddenness of a changing public, while others barely noticed.

British India ultimately covered some 54 percent of the landmass and 77 percent of the population. By the time the British began to contemplate a withdrawal from India, 565 princely states were officially recognized, in addition to thousands of zamindaris and jagirs, which were in effect feudal estates. Kashmir: The History and Legacy of the Indian Subcontinent’s Most Disputed Territory chronicles the remarkable history of the area and the influence it has had over the centuries.

In early June 1967, the Israelis captured Jordanian intelligence that indicated an invasion was imminent, and at 08h10 on June 5, 1967, the Israel Broadcasting Authority aired an Israeli Defense Force communique. "Since the early hours of this morning", it read, "heavy fighting has been taking place on the southern front between Egyptian armored and aerial forces, which moved against Israel, and our forces, which went into action to check them."

The Cristo Redentor is far more than just a princely statue or a tourist trap for urban explorers and adrenaline addicts. As one of the masterminds behind the statue once described the masterpiece, it is a "monument to science, art, and religion." Christ the Redeemer: The History and Legacy of the Western Hemisphere’s Most Famous Christian Monument chronicles the events leading up to the monument's conception, its construction, and the great architects and engineers behind the majestic monument.

Why is North Korea so starkly different from its neighbors when nothing more but mere borders separate them? A tyrannical lineage secured by nepotism. An entire nation indoctrinated by chilling, mindboggling propaganda, molded by fear and forced ignorance. Mass purges doled out seemingly on whims, without fair trials. Unparalleled paranoia and cold-blooded assassinations left and right. An impoverished sphere of barren wastelands inhabited by malnourished masses.

Despite the fact the border between North Korea and South Korea remains tense, and former President Bill Clinton once branded it the "scariest place on Earth," more than 7.5 million tourists have visited the notorious demilitarized zone for one reason or another. There, they gazed upon a treacherous but evidently intriguing strip of land, guarded by estranged brothers with a chilling array of weapons directed at one another at all times.

The KGB is one of the most famous abbreviations of the 20th century, and it has become synonymous with the shadowy and often violent actions of the Soviet Union’s secret police. In fact, it is often used to refer to the Soviet state security agencies throughout its history. Whether it’s associated with the Russian Civil War’s excesses, Stalin’s purges, or even Vladimir Putin, the KGB has long been viewed as the West’s biggest bogeyman during the second half of the 20th century.

When people think about the Second World War, they seldom think in terms of silence and small acts. This was a war in which the industry of entire nations was rearranged to feed fighting, and it was fought on a scale in which battles could include hundreds of thousands of combatants. Whole cities and populations were destroyed, with millions of casualties occurring at places like Leningrad.

In the years preceding the height of the European Holocaust’s worst atrocities, Adolf Hitler, the new Chancellor of Germany, confronted the world with a moral test. His early experiment of allowing Jews to seek homelands elsewhere came to define his future course of action toward the Jewish population of the continent. The acidic hatred he bore for the Jewish presence in European society was clear enough, but the leader of the Nazi Party could not precisely gauge the international community’s likely response to a campaign of extreme abuse directed against his own citizens.

The Palace of the Soviets was an unrealized project for the construction of a high-rise administrative building in Moscow to be used for sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and mass demonstrations. The height of the Palace of the Soviets, together with the 100-meter statue of Vladimir Lenin, would be 415 meters. The palace was to become the center of the new Soviet Moscow and the tallest building in the world, symbolizing the victory of socialism. This audiobook examines the grand designs envisioned by the USSR, and how the horrors of war indefinitely scrapped the project.

In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party took absolute control of Germany, and his new regime was known as the Third Reich (Third Empire). The first Germanic empire had been the Holy Roman Empire (800-1806), and the second was the German Empire (1871-1918). Hitler was determined the new Reich be more impressive and longer-lasting than any that had gone before, and the Nazis soon began referring to the Tausendjähriges Reich (“Thousand-Year Reich”).

On November 29, 1943, as the Allies’ primary leaders met in Tehran, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin his idea for the organization that would become the United Nations. The American president suggested that the active arm of the organization be “the Four Policemen”: the U.S., USSR, UK, and China. Stalin agreed with much of the framework in principle, but asserted that China likely would not possess the strength after the war to assist.