1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. You have 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,119 Speaker 1: seen seemingly any movie in the last few months, at 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: least where we live, You've probably seen at least one 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: really tear jerking trailer for the movie Dunkirk, just being 7 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: described as an epic action thriller. It's about the Dunkirk evacuation, 8 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: also known as Operation Dynamo or the Miracle of Dunkirk, 9 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: unless perhaps you live in France, in which your name 10 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: for it is probably not so audatory. Yeah. I have 11 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 1: seen that trailer several times in imax huh, and it 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: seems so very stressful, And the early reviews I have 13 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: seen so far say like it starts stressful and stays 14 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: stressful that I'm like, I don't know what I'm gonna 15 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: need some help to get through this one somehow or 16 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,800 Speaker 1: another well, and I don't know about other it's tuned 17 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: to the key of making me cry. Well every time 18 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: I have seen it in the theater, I have started 19 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: tearing up. And I was worried about whether we would 20 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: be able to keep our composure through an episode on it. 21 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 1: But this took me so long to research. It took me, 22 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: in fact, four times normal. So at this point I 23 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: feel like I've been inoculated. You have you have done 24 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:24,800 Speaker 1: Kirk desization tears. So this upcoming movie is at least 25 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: the second major motion picture dedicated just to this story. 26 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: It's appeared in fiction as well, including an Atonement. There 27 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: is a British TV drama about it, many books, and 28 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,720 Speaker 1: this attention is really not surprising. On top of World 29 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: War Two being a hugely, hugely popular setting for both 30 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: fiction and nonfiction, it also has lots of details that 31 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: make for a really compelling and harrowing story, like a 32 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: fleet of hundreds of little ships crossing the English Channel 33 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: to rescue stranded soldiers. But the retellings usually focus on 34 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: that dramatic rescue, with the Allied troops either already cut 35 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: off or at the edge of disaster. That leaves a 36 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: whole lot out, including how the Allied forces got into 37 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: such a predicament which had a huge part of the 38 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: British Expeditionary Force stranded and in serious danger. And in 39 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:13,959 Speaker 1: one spot, every time I would see the trailer, I 40 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: would be like, but y'all, how did you get into 41 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: this fix? How did all these people end up on 42 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: the beach? Ye? So today we're going to talk about 43 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: the lead up to World War Two and it's relentless 44 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: progression into France in May of nineteen forty, and then 45 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: the next time we were going to look at this 46 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: evacuation itself, including the sacrifices that had to be made 47 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: to evacuate so many people, and a brief caveat that 48 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 1: even at two episodes, there are tons of details we 49 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:40,920 Speaker 1: are not getting into. Two of the books that were 50 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: part of the research for this, one of them was 51 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: about three hundred pages long, and the other one was 52 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: about seven hundred pages long, And the seven hundred page 53 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,679 Speaker 1: one included twenty one maps at the end detailing all 54 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,560 Speaker 1: of the various troop movements and things that happened. If 55 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,839 Speaker 1: maps like that are what you are really into, you 56 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: may find this too general, um, but that's it would 57 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: be just an unending list of movements and town names 58 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: and generals and names of units. I would find that 59 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: hard to follow while listening to I imagine others would also, 60 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: And we haven't really done a recap on the beginnings 61 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: of World War two on our show, and particularly for 62 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: our US listeners when you learn about it, this tends 63 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: to be glossed over with more attention spent on the 64 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: Holocaust and on the United States involvement in the war. 65 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: So we're gonna start there. Historians marked numerous points after 66 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:35,800 Speaker 1: the end of World War One in nineteen eighteen as 67 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: the start of World War Two, and really the terms 68 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: of the Treaty of Versailles that ended the war played 69 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: their own part in setting the stage for another one. 70 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: And when it comes to the war in Western Europe, 71 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: and especially the part of the war that we're talking 72 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: about today, most timelines put it at Germany's invasion of 73 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: Poland on September one, nineteen thirty nine. But even that 74 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: starting point really requires more explanation than just Germany invaded Poland. 75 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: Germany had faced huge economic and military consequences under the 76 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: Treaty of Versailles, some of which contributed to Adolph Hitler's 77 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: rise to power when we talk about that rise to 78 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: power in more detail in our episode on the Night 79 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: of the Long Knives, But briefly, in addition to restricting 80 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: the German military, the treaty distributed German and German occupied 81 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: land to other nations and required Germany to pay reparations. 82 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: These reparations and Germany's handling of them aren't really easily 83 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: summarized in just a sentence, but they contributed to hyper 84 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: inflation of the nation's currency and other serious economic fallout. 85 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: World War One had also been devastating outside of Germany. 86 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:46,200 Speaker 1: Other nations involved had suffered enormous and sometimes catastrophic social, economic, 87 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 1: and human costs. These costs were so high that much 88 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 1: of the rest of the world was incredibly hesitant to 89 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 1: embark on another massive war, even as the after effects 90 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: of World War One and the Great Depression both contributed 91 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: to the rise of fascism in multiple nations. In particular, 92 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: Britain and France were the two nations both most likely 93 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: and most able to resist Germany, but they were reluctant 94 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 1: to do so. Neville Chamberlain, prime Minister of Great Britain 95 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,480 Speaker 1: from nineteen thirty seven to nineteen forty, followed a policy 96 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: of appeasement when it came to Britain's response to Nazi Germany. 97 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: In the mid nineteen thirties, Germany took a number of 98 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,040 Speaker 1: actions that were supposed to be prohibited under the Treaty 99 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: of Versailles and other international agreements. For example, the treaty 100 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: had set strict limits on the German military and forbidden 101 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: it to unite with Austria, but between nineteen thirty five 102 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: and nineteen thirty eight, Germany annexed Austria and began rebuilding 103 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: its military might, which other nations reluctantly allowed. In the 104 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: face of ongoing German aggression. Britain and France also made 105 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: guarantees to other nations regarding their own security. One was Czechoslovakia, 106 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: which was forced to seed some of its territory to 107 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,440 Speaker 1: Germany under the Munich Agreement in September of ninety eight, 108 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: and as part of this agreement, Britain and France had 109 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,880 Speaker 1: guaranteed the integrity of the remaining Czechoslovakian territory, But when 110 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: Germany invaded that territory in mid March of nineteen thirty nine, 111 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,600 Speaker 1: Britain and France did not intervene. They did, however, make 112 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:17,799 Speaker 1: a similar guarantee of Poland's border later in the month, 113 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: so when Germany invaded Poland on September one, nineteen thirty nine, 114 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: Hitler was making a gamble. Britain and France had given 115 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: Poland their guarantee, but they hadn't stopped the German move 116 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: into Czechoslovakia after making a similar guarantee. After so many 117 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 1: years of appeasement, it seemed likely that a German invasion 118 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:41,000 Speaker 1: of Poland probably wouldn't provoke much of a response. Hitler 119 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: thought that if it did start a war, he could 120 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: probably win it quickly, with Britain being reluctant to take 121 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: action and France not strong enough to win without the 122 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,360 Speaker 1: aid of the United Kingdom. Instead, though both France and 123 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on September three, 124 00:06:55,680 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty nine, Britain began deploying the British Expeditionary Force 125 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 1: the following day. The Air Force and the Navy were 126 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: involved as well, but a lot of today's story is 127 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: really focused on the army. By late September, more than 128 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: one fifty thousand British troops had made their way to France, 129 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: with reinforcements arriving in April of nineteen forty. Poland, however, 130 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: was quickly overrun. Germany had secretly signed a non aggression 131 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: impact with the Soviet Union, which also invaded Poland on 132 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:29,040 Speaker 1: September Apart from the short lived and ineffective Star Offensive 133 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: in Western Germany, Poland couldn't get much actual backup from 134 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: Britain or France. Warsaw surrendered on September, with Poland's government 135 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: fleeing to Romania. The Soviet Union and Germany then divided 136 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 1: Poland between them from October nineteen thirty nine to May 137 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: nineteen forty. In spite of their declarations of war, there 138 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: just wasn't a lot of military confrontation on the ground 139 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: between Nazi Germany and the United Kingdom in France. There 140 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: were definitely other engagements that went on during this period. 141 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: The Soviet Union, for example, invaded Finland in November of 142 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: nineteen nine in what came to be known as the 143 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: Winter War, but in terms of Britain, France, and Germany, 144 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: things were relatively quiet. Britain came to call this period 145 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: the Phony War because of its overall lack of activity, 146 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: while Germany called its sits kreeg a sitting still counterparts 147 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: to Blitzkrieg, the famously intense style of lightning war that 148 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: became synonymous with Germany's World War Two strategy. Britain, expecting 149 00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: to be attacked, prepared for it, distributing gas masks and 150 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: implementing air raid precautions. On the home front, the Allies 151 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,079 Speaker 1: blockaded the German coastline and Britain dropped pamphlets over Germany 152 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: decrying the evil of the Nazi regime. Britain and France 153 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: also both built up their military strength, and what was 154 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: primarily a defensive measure and not an offensive one, Allied 155 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,839 Speaker 1: forces attempted to create an unbroken defense down the Maginot Line, 156 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: which was a series of concrete forts, barriers, turrets, and 157 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 1: other armaments that stretched the whole length of France's border. 158 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,559 Speaker 1: With many imagine o line was supposed to be impenetrable, 159 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: and building up and manning its fortifications was a big 160 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: focus during these months. However, when blitz Creek returned in 161 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 1: May of nineteen forty, it didn't come to the Marginea Line, 162 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:18,559 Speaker 1: and we'll get into that. After a quick sponsor break. 163 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: At the start of World War Two, France had what 164 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,680 Speaker 1: may have been the strongest army in Western Europe. I 165 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,360 Speaker 1: say may have been because there are lots of discussions 166 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: about exactly how to define strength and who was the 167 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: strongest by whatever measure is being discussed. But on the whole. 168 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: Many of the troops that Britain deployed to the continent 169 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: in late nine in early nineteen forty to assist the 170 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: French force were ill equipped and poorly trained. This was 171 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: not the fault of the soldiers themselves. After the end 172 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: of World War One, Britain had gradually disarmed itself, so 173 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: once it needed to deploy troops to France, essentially everything 174 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: was behind, from recruiting the soul there's themselves to staffing 175 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,960 Speaker 1: the factories that would be needed to clothe and arm them. 176 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 1: Even the decision to commit defensive troops in continental Europe 177 00:10:08,440 --> 00:10:11,440 Speaker 1: came fairly late. That was made in February of nineteen 178 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: thirty nine, once Britain and Germany were at war with 179 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: one another. The rapid speed of deployment also meant that 180 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,079 Speaker 1: many of the British force weren't just lacking the finer 181 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,720 Speaker 1: points of their training, they were missing out on key 182 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: parts of what they needed to know. A large number 183 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,319 Speaker 1: of Britain's anti tank platoons, for example, had not been 184 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,959 Speaker 1: trained on how to use their anti tank weapons before 185 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: arriving in France. They had to figure it out for 186 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: themselves from the manuals. Once they were already there, and 187 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: even though the recency of World War One meant that 188 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: there were lots of men who had fought in it 189 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: serving as officers in the British Expeditionary Force, a lot 190 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: of their knowledge had just become obsolete in the face 191 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,559 Speaker 1: of changing military technology. And this idea comes up a 192 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 1: lot more often in terms of World War One, when 193 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: machine guns and other advances in weaponry outpaced pretty much 194 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: everything else, leading to ruling years of trench warfare. But 195 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: this was also a problem in the Second World War. 196 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: Militaries had become far more mechanized and motorized, but many 197 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: of the men in charge of the British and French 198 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: forces had not yet adapted to putting those advances to use. 199 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 1: In other words, failure to adapt to the machine gun 200 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: and other advances contributed to World War one's years long stalemate, 201 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 1: and failure to adapt to increasingly mobile armored tanks and 202 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,599 Speaker 1: other vehicles contributed to World War two's crushing defeat of 203 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: France and other nations at the hands of Nazi Germany 204 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: at the very beginning of World War Two. Ideally, that 205 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: eight month phony war would have been used to train, 206 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: not just to supplement the training of the British troops 207 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: who had been recruited and deployed so quickly, but also 208 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 1: to train the British and French militaries to work together. 209 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: And while there was some training and plenty of building 210 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:56,000 Speaker 1: defenses and fortifications, this time really just wasn't used very productively. 211 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: For the entire period of World War Two that we're 212 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: talking about today, the relationship between the British and French 213 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: forces was marked with miscommunications, missed opportunities in fighting, in 214 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: an increasing sense of bitterness toward the other. Multiple sources 215 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: also note that brothels, which were far more available in 216 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: France than in Britain, led to an epidemic of sexually 217 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 1: transmitted diseases within the British fighting force. Germany, on the 218 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:24,680 Speaker 1: other hand, knew that there was no way it could 219 00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:27,679 Speaker 1: win a drawn out war, so it did not waste 220 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:31,200 Speaker 1: the quiet months of sits green Instead, it planned a 221 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: coordinated and incredibly effective attack on multiple nations that played 222 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: out essentially simultaneously. Germany first invaded Denmark and Norway on 223 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: May nine. Denmark's leadership knew that it didn't have the 224 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: strength to resist German attack and surrendered almost immediately In Norway, 225 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: the situation was far more complicated, with the nation at 226 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: first mustering a defense with British aid and then finally 227 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: being defeated in June after Britain removed most of its 228 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: force to France on May tenth. The next day, the 229 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: situation became far worse, with Germany invading Luxembourg, the Netherlands, 230 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,079 Speaker 1: and Belgium, with the Luftwaffe also bombing some Allied locations 231 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 1: in France, all on the same day. Luxembourg had tried 232 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: to remain neutral, and when Germany invaded, they offered little resistance. 233 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,679 Speaker 1: The nation's government fled and Germany placed it under military administration. 234 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:27,680 Speaker 1: In the Netherlands, Germany strategically deployed paratroopers to capture bridges 235 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: deep within the nation and make way for a land invasion. 236 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:33,440 Speaker 1: Although the Dutch destroyed some of the bridges ahead of 237 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,520 Speaker 1: the German advance, it wasn't enough to completely stop them, 238 00:13:36,559 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 1: and by the twelfth of May, so just two days later, 239 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: German tanks were closing in on Rotterdam. Wilhelmina, Queen of 240 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,760 Speaker 1: the Netherlands, fled with her government to England on May thirteenth, 241 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,079 Speaker 1: and on the fourteenth, the Dutch army surrendered to Germany. 242 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:53,840 Speaker 1: Belgium had received intelligence of an incoming attack, but suffered 243 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:55,960 Speaker 1: from a bit of the boy who cried wolf syndrome. 244 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: In January, a German plane carrying secret documents d tailing 245 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: and invasion had crashed in Belgium, leading to preparations for 246 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: an incoming attack, but the dates and the plans came 247 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: and went without incident. An invasion had seemed imminent at 248 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: other points as well, so by May tenth some still 249 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: thought it was yet another false alarm. German forces once 250 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: again took forts and bridges, using airborne troops to make 251 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: way for a ground assault. It did not take long 252 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: at all for German tanks to break through the Belgian front, 253 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: and this led Belgian troops to fall back through central 254 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: and northern Belgium and for the nation to look to 255 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: France and Britain for aid. This actually became a point 256 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: of frustration within the Allied nations. The Allied command had 257 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: wanted to position a front through Belgium in the first place, 258 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 1: which would have meant far more troops already there and 259 00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: possibly of much quicker defense against the German invasion. But 260 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: like Luxembourg, Belgium had tried to remain neutral. It only 261 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,960 Speaker 1: allied with Britain and France after this May tenth invasion, 262 00:14:58,640 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: and all of this may to an action took place 263 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: on Winston Churchill's first day as Prime Minister of the 264 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: United Kingdom, following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain, whose policies 265 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,480 Speaker 1: of appeasing Nazi Germany clearly had not worked. We noted 266 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 1: before the break that the most heavily fortified part of 267 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: France was the magine No Line, which ran alongside the 268 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,040 Speaker 1: border it actually shared with Germany. When France had built 269 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 1: the magine No Line, it had been reluctant to similarly 270 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: fortify its border with Belgium, since doing so would have 271 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: made it look like France didn't see Belgium as trustworthy. 272 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: So by invading Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands, Germany now 273 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 1: had a means to get to a part of the 274 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: French border that was, at least comparatively speaking, undefended. Germany 275 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: had also, in this multi pronged invasion game, far more 276 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: access to the English Channel and the North Sea, and 277 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: what followed became known as the Battle of France. And 278 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: we're going to talk way more about it after we 279 00:15:55,600 --> 00:16:03,920 Speaker 1: first paused for a sponsor break. I'm sure this is 280 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: far from universal, but having grown up in the United States, 281 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: most of the focus on World War Two in history 282 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: class started with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the 283 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: United States entry into the war without much attention at 284 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: all spent on nineteen forty and ninety one, and a 285 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: very popular perception in the United States is basically that 286 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: the German army suddenly arrived on the outskirts of Paris, 287 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: and Paris immediately surrendered without a fight. While Germany's takeover 288 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: of France was swift and devastating. I mean, I can't 289 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: stress this enough. There were many many mistakes made in 290 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: the effort to drive Germany back. This was really a 291 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: six week ordeal in which Germany repeatedly overran any stand 292 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: that France attempted to make, not just some spontaneous knock 293 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 1: at the door to Paris followed by rolling over like 294 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: a puppy. Yeah, which is often how France's characterized in 295 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: the war. And it's completely it's really wrong, over simplified 296 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 1: and falls well. I especially remember it coming up during 297 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: the Iraq War and when people in the United States 298 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: were angry that France didn't support the war in Iraq 299 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: and started making up things like freedom Fries. Yeah uh, 300 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:16,199 Speaker 1: and it's like it's this. We're going to talk in 301 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:18,359 Speaker 1: more detail about how that's not how that went down. 302 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: After Germany's invasion of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Britain 303 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,399 Speaker 1: and France, along with other Allied troops, began planning to 304 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,639 Speaker 1: push toward the River Dial in central Belgium to repel 305 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: the German force. And this push was on the whole successful, 306 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 1: but it wasn't what needed to happen to actually resist Germany. 307 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 1: The German presence in Belgium was a diversion, and Hitler 308 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,360 Speaker 1: was using it to draw the Allies focus, while Germany 309 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 1: instead invaded France through the Ardenne on the River Muse. 310 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: The Ardenne are a forested, hilly area well to the 311 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: southeast of where the Allies moved most of their best troops. 312 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:00,920 Speaker 1: Because it was such difficult to rain, it wasn't considered 313 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,439 Speaker 1: to be a very likely spot for an invasion, so 314 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,920 Speaker 1: consequently it wasn't particularly well defended. By placing a far 315 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,159 Speaker 1: more visible force in Belgium, Germany had set a trap, 316 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 1: and England and France had fallen into it. This meant 317 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: that when the German force broke through the Arden, instead 318 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: of facing the strongest elements of the British and French armies, 319 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,000 Speaker 1: it instead faced a smaller French force that had been 320 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:27,600 Speaker 1: left behind is a defense, along with some British air support, 321 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: not the much stronger and generally better equipped force that 322 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 1: had been moved towards the northwest into Belgium. Germany had 323 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: another advantage over Britain and France as well. At the 324 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:41,439 Speaker 1: start of the war, the Allies had more tanks in 325 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: Western Europe than Germany did, but Germany had clustered its 326 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: tanks into their famous Panzer divisions, which combined both tanks 327 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 1: and infantry. France had some armored divisions as well, but 328 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: they weren't nearly as numerous as Germany's were. So where 329 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,600 Speaker 1: Germany had tanks, it generally had more were of them 330 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: than the Allies did, which made a German tank assault 331 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: incredibly hard to defeat. These Panzer divisions were also empowered 332 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: to basically act on their own, pressing advantages where they 333 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,560 Speaker 1: saw them and pushing ahead of the rest of the 334 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: German force. This was not an idea that the Allied 335 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 1: military command was used to at all. It made the 336 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: German force far more nimble than the Allies, who were 337 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: still largely thinking of warfare as a series of huge 338 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: assaults followed by pauses to regroup and strategize. These smaller 339 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:33,680 Speaker 1: Panzer units acting on their own consequently caused huge disruption 340 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:38,360 Speaker 1: and confusion among the Allied commanders. From May fifteen to seventeen, 341 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,920 Speaker 1: France tried but failed to muster a counter offensive that 342 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,680 Speaker 1: could push back the German invasion. The French Ninth Army 343 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,439 Speaker 1: first planned to make a stand about forty kilometers or 344 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: twenty five miles west of the Meuse River, that could 345 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:53,520 Speaker 1: not get enough troops in place and time to do it. 346 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:56,560 Speaker 1: They tried again farther to the west, and once again 347 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,359 Speaker 1: couldn't get a large enough force in place to really 348 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 1: stop the German advance. Both times, Germany just outpaced the Allies, 349 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,119 Speaker 1: with the Panzer divisions pushing ahead of the planned defensive 350 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: position before the Allies could even establish a foothold there. 351 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:15,080 Speaker 1: In some cases there were even fortifications that had already 352 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,200 Speaker 1: been built, but there was no one there to man them. 353 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: In terms of the French Army, Compounding a lack of 354 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: trained men where they were needed was a lack of leadership. 355 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: On May Maurice Gamblin, the French military's commander in chief, 356 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:32,040 Speaker 1: received word that German troops were moving into a position 357 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:34,640 Speaker 1: that would allow them to take the capital of Paris. 358 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:37,439 Speaker 1: He didn't have nearly enough troops in the area to 359 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:40,400 Speaker 1: fend off such an attack, so he informed French Premier 360 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:45,120 Speaker 1: Paul Rain of the impending threat. Ray No immediately decided 361 00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,960 Speaker 1: to relocate the capital, but soon new intelligence arrived that 362 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,440 Speaker 1: Paris wasn't in danger after all, so Rain first announced 363 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,639 Speaker 1: that the move of the capitol had just been a rumor, 364 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:59,879 Speaker 1: and then after that debacle, replaced Gamla with General Maxim Wigga. 365 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,919 Speaker 1: Wagon was at that time stationed in Syria, and he 366 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,120 Speaker 1: wasn't able to get to Paris until May nineteen. In 367 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: that interim, the French military, which was in the middle 368 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,000 Speaker 1: of a war, basically had no commander in chief. Wigan 369 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: himself had been part of the Allied Command during World 370 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 1: War One and his strategic outlook was much more suited 371 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:23,920 Speaker 1: to that time than this newly mobile fighting force, including 372 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,639 Speaker 1: panthers that were acting on their own, so once he 373 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: actually got there, the direction that he gave was often 374 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: not really something that could be put into practical use. 375 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: During that three day leaderless window, the German force continued 376 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 1: to press north and west. They reached Amya, which very 377 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: roughly speaking, is north of Paris, about halfway to the 378 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,399 Speaker 1: border with Belgium, and they did that on May nineteenth. 379 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: The next day they continued to push west to Abeville, 380 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: to the northwest of Amon, which was about twenty kilometers 381 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:56,160 Speaker 1: or twelve miles from the coast, and advanced units made 382 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: it all the way to the English Channel. With this 383 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 1: push towards the coast, the German army had physically divided 384 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 1: the Allied forces, cut through their supply lines and their 385 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 1: communication lines, and started to surround them. Then the German 386 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: German army turned north, pressing toward and ultimately taking the 387 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: port of Calais. Kela was not only the closest port 388 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: to the island of Great Britain, but was also the 389 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: port that the Allies logically would have been using to escape. 390 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:25,680 Speaker 1: So the situation at this point was desperate and it 391 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: was about to get worse, And we're going to talk 392 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: about that the next episode. Yeah, I liked it so 393 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: many maps of France. There are so so many individual 394 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: towns and details and movements. Uh, you could go on 395 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,359 Speaker 1: for pages and pages and pages about yes and again, 396 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,440 Speaker 1: I think that's one of the reasons that we don't 397 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: usually get the story of what led up to the 398 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 1: whole dunkirk yeah moment, because it's too hard to unferral 399 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 1: all of the threads. I found lots of things that 400 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 1: basically described it as German invaded everywhere and then we 401 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: had to evacuate, which is simplistically speaking, or you know, 402 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: the seven hundred pages of details, fine fine details. Do 403 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: you have a little bit of listener mayor I do 404 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: before I get into the listener mail and have a 405 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:24,160 Speaker 1: quick correction about Catalina Darrouso. At one point I said 406 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:29,920 Speaker 1: that she was near La Plata, Argentina, that should have 407 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: been Bolivia. Uh, that there are La Platas in both 408 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: of those places. One of them was established two d 409 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:44,120 Speaker 1: years after Catalina died, and that was what I said 410 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,760 Speaker 1: in error. She was there ahead of her time, the 411 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,880 Speaker 1: original hipster well in her in her autobiography, she often 412 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:54,119 Speaker 1: names cities and towns without necessarily saying that she had 413 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: crossed a border into some where um, and so sometimes 414 00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: when I was trying to write the outline, I would 415 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,920 Speaker 1: try to track down a which nation was she in 416 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: at that point? And that is a case where I 417 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: got it wrong. So apologies for that error. Uh, and 418 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 1: I have a listener mail my listener mail, I think 419 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:18,119 Speaker 1: this person's name is pronounced Porsha. If that's not, I apologize, 420 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,159 Speaker 1: and Porsche it steered Holly and Tracy. Recently, I settled 421 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,560 Speaker 1: into a several hours long drive for work and made 422 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,200 Speaker 1: sure to have my go to podcast downloaded for the drive. 423 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:29,560 Speaker 1: Much to my delight, the most recent episode for the 424 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,119 Speaker 1: podcast was about the Kiahoga River. I both grew up 425 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,160 Speaker 1: along the banks of a river, North Kuyahoga, and am 426 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,479 Speaker 1: in the first year of having landed the job position 427 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: of curator and Special Collections librarian in a library that 428 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:46,159 Speaker 1: specializes in the inland waterways of North America, meaning that 429 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: my days revolve around caring for archival materials related to 430 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 1: the subject, researching subject, presenting two interested parties, and generally 431 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:56,440 Speaker 1: doing what I can to preserve and promote the history 432 00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:59,640 Speaker 1: of America's rivers. I thought you handled the subject well 433 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: and have any corrections, and in fact was informative to 434 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: even me, as the fires have not yet required much 435 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 1: of my research attention and were, as you stated, not 436 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: phenomenally huge news in the world of people familiar with 437 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: the rivers. I was away from the office for an 438 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,160 Speaker 1: extended work trip and made a mental note to look 439 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: up what other episodes we have done on rivers and 440 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: when I got back that I might have forgotten about. 441 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: When I finally remembered you, I noticed that the most 442 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: recent episode was again about the river or a river, 443 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,240 Speaker 1: this one about the S S. Eastland on the Chicago River. 444 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:32,560 Speaker 1: It was then that I realized that the majority of 445 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:36,159 Speaker 1: episodes you've done about rivers are related to disasters, wrecks, 446 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:40,960 Speaker 1: and generally negative moments I empathize. Steamboat rex certainly make 447 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,600 Speaker 1: a more captivating history than an uneventful cargo delivery, and 448 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: I received many more questions about them than most other 449 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: aspects of riverboat life. If you've never heard of it, 450 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: I recommend looking up the Arabia Steamboat Museum in Kansas City, 451 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: staple of my childhood, having grown up on the Missouri 452 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: River just outside Kansas City. An entire zoum devoted to 453 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:04,199 Speaker 1: the recovered cargo of an eighteen forty six wreck known 454 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: as Tut's Tomb of the Missouri River. Often, these wrecks 455 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 1: and disasters are most predominantly colored people's impressions of inland waterways, 456 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: with perhaps the most notable exception of Lewis and Clark. 457 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: In fact, the lives of river men and women have 458 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,680 Speaker 1: a rich history of economy, art, music, and their own 459 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,000 Speaker 1: distinct culture. For example, did you know that there used 460 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: to be floating brothels Islands of River pirates recipes that 461 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,640 Speaker 1: specifically called for river water and steamboat races, the most 462 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 1: famous of which, in eighteen seventy spanned almost four days 463 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,120 Speaker 1: and set a speed record that has yet to be beat. 464 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: And in fact, there is still an annual Great Steamboat 465 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,760 Speaker 1: Races part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. And these are 466 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,200 Speaker 1: truly just craping the surface. I'm not sure where this 467 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:44,879 Speaker 1: is going. I think I just wanted to share a 468 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: bit of my professional passion with someone, and this was 469 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:51,160 Speaker 1: a better opportunity than my beleaguered partner who patiently listens 470 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: to me talk his ear off about my work nearly daily. 471 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,679 Speaker 1: I hope your listeners will be inspired by what they 472 00:26:57,720 --> 00:26:59,920 Speaker 1: hear to look into river history and be as Dell. 473 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,200 Speaker 1: I did as I am every day to learn more, 474 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,200 Speaker 1: and then a portion ends with an episode suggestion. So 475 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 1: thank you so much for sending us this lovely note. 476 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,199 Speaker 1: I did not deliberately picked two episodes in a row 477 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: that were about things that happened on rivers, but they 478 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,920 Speaker 1: were both a byproduct of working on this episode, which, 479 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,399 Speaker 1: as I said at this time, turned out to be 480 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,920 Speaker 1: much harder than expected, and so on multiple consecutive weeks, 481 00:27:24,359 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: I got to a point where I I knew this 482 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 1: could not be done in time to record it, and 483 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: so I had to put it aside for something else, 484 00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 1: and it had to specifically be something else that had 485 00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,080 Speaker 1: a straightforward enough narrative that I could do it in 486 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,400 Speaker 1: the remaining time that I had. So that is how 487 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: we came to have two things on rivers in a row. Yeah, 488 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: they're The documentation is usually a little easier to find 489 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 1: on a river disaster than on some of our more 490 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: esotic topics. Well, Dunkirk has too much documentation. That's part 491 00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: of the problem. Uh So we will continue with the 492 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,639 Speaker 1: evact creation of Dunkirk next time. If you would like 493 00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:04,639 Speaker 1: to write to us, we are at History Podcast at 494 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,160 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. On all of our social 495 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: media we are under the name missed in History, so 496 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: that's Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Pinterest, Instagram, all of those Missed 497 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,080 Speaker 1: in History. You can come to our parent company's website, 498 00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:18,479 Speaker 1: which is how stuff works dot com to find all 499 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: kinds of information about rivers and boats and big wars, 500 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:24,920 Speaker 1: lots of that kind of thing. You can come to 501 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: our website, which is missed in History dot com for 502 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:29,440 Speaker 1: show notes on all the episodes HOLLYE and I have 503 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,840 Speaker 1: ever done, uh an archive of every episode. Ever, that 504 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: archive is highly searchable, uh so you can look for 505 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:39,400 Speaker 1: things that may interest you from our back catalog. We 506 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: can do all that in a whole lot more at 507 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com or miss in history dot com. 508 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 509 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com