Posted on 03/11/2017 8:02:39 AM PST by Berosus
I have been a minor participant on FR since 2004, but this is the first time I have ever started a thread. For the past eight months I have recorded a podcast on Southeast Asian history, and I thought some other Freepers would be interested in hearing it, especially when I cover twentieth century events like World War II and the Vietnam War. Although the podcast is hosted on Blubrry.com, you can also access it from iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and four other websites.
As of March 2017, I have seventeen episodes online, and because I have been going in chronological order, I have covered prehistoric, ancient and medieval events so far; currently the narrative is up to the year 1600. When I started, I checked the military history podcasts available, and found there isn't a podcast on the Vietnam War yet. If that is still the case when I reach the mid-twentieth century, my podcast will become the official Vietnam War podcast. Listen and enjoy!
As promised, Episode 37 is now available! In the last episode you heard about Japan invading China, occupying French Indochina, and bombing Pearl Harbor. Now this episode covers the 1941 Japanese invasion of Thailand, Malaya, and Singapore. Are you ready?
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/30612207/episode-37-japan-strikes-the-fall-of-malaya-and-singapore/
I really enjoy your podcast. Thanks for keeping us updated!
Yesterday Dan Carlin, the “Godfather of history podcasting,” presented his latest contribution, and now my latest podcast episode is available! The podcasters I hang out with do not speak evil of each other’s work, so go ahead and plan your day around listening to Dan’s episode (I certainly will), but I will be happy if you listen to mine, too.
Episode 38 continues on the topic the podcast has been covering since the year began — World War II in Southeast Asia. This time we will see the Japanese invasion of the Philippines begin, but it won’t finish in this episode; resistance to the Japanese is far tougher here than it was in Malaya and Singapore. And this episode will also give the biography of the American commander, Douglas MacArthur, up to 1941, because he will be a key figure in the war from this point on.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/31051079/episode-38-the-battle-for-the-philippines-part-1/
Normally I upload new episodes of my podcast on the 1st and 16th days of each month, but because February is the shortest month, I am giving you the second episode a day early. For Episode 39 we will see how the Japanese conquered most of Indonesia, an area the Dutch had dominated for more than three centuries, in only three months.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/31432346/episode-39-japan-goes-south/
This episode is a break from the narrative usually presented. Recently I was interviewed by Stephanie Craig for another podcast, History Fangirl, to give the historical background behind Thailand and Bangkok. On the page hosting this episode is a link to the interview on HistoryFangirl.com; check it out to learn about the other places Stephanie has visited.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/31825716/episode-40-the-history-fangirl-interview/
In case you haven’t heard, on March 6, 2018, the number of downloads this podcast has received reached 100,000! Yes, in the twenty months since the podcast was launched, people have listened to or downloaded episodes 100,000 times. Thanks a million to every one of you!
The latest episode finishes what we started in Episode 38, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II. Although the Japanese win again, as they have in other recent episodes, it takes them five months to conquer the islands, because both the Americans and Filipinos were united in resisting them.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/32381944/episode-41-the-battle-for-the-philippines-part-2/
This year three holidays fall on April 1: April Fool’s Day, Easter and Passover. Now you have another reason to celebrate; Episode 42 is available! This episode
begins coverage of the Burma campaign, a nasty jungle war that would go on between Japan and the Allies for the rest of World War II in the Pacific. Today we will see
the Japanese conquest of Burma (modern Myanmar), from December 1941 to May 1942. The conquest did not take five months because of Allied resistance, as was the case
in the Philippines, but because of the rugged terrain and the size of the territory that was to be occupied.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/32857124/episode-42-the-retreat-through-burma/
Your podcast was mentioned by Laszlo Montgomery in his China/Vietnam podcast part one.
Thank you for the heads-up, Sawdring! I have been listening to another Chinese history podcast, and that one hasn’t mentioned my podcast yet.
To everyone else, the episode I uploaded today is a diversion from the narrative the podcast has been following lately. When Japan conquered Southeast Asia in early 1942, it gained access to the Indian Ocean, and the Japanese ventured into that ocean afterwards. This episode looks at what followed: the invasion of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the bombing of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), and a battle between the British, French and Japanese for Madagascar. Although this area is not in Southeast Asia per se, I believe you will find the stories interesting, because they are really obscure to those people who don’t live around the Indian Ocean. That includes me; I did not hear any of this in school! Now listen and enjoy.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/33248802/episode-43-the-indian-ocean/
Today marks a new month, and you know what that means — it’s time for a new episode! This time we have an overview of what life was like for those in Southeast Asia, during the years when Japan ruled the region (hint: most of it is bad.)
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/33638227/episode-44-life-under-the-japanese/
Though I am out of town this week, Episode 45 is now available for your listening pleasure. This is another World War II episode that is not set in Southeast Asia, but next to it. Today we begin the long jungle war in New Guinea, as the Japanese stage their first invasions of the world’s second largest island. Meanwhile to the southeast, in the Coral Sea, Japanese and American aircraft carriers meet. The result is a crucial battle, halting the Japanese advance toward Australia from the sea.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/34022877/episode-45-the-new-guinea-campaign-part-1/
The podcast is back, after a month-long break! Here we continue the coverage we started in the previous episode, about World War II in New Guinea. This time we will see the crucial turning point in the conflict between the Japanese, Australians and Americans.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/34806469/episode-46-the-new-guinea-campaign-part-2/
With today’s episode, the podcast finishes covering World War II in New Guinea. Although the war turned in the Allies’ favor in 1942, the struggle here would go on until the war ended everywhere else. The Allies find out that in every territory occupied by Japan, it is at least twice as hard to drive the Japanese out, as it was for them to invade the territory in the first place. Also, today is the second anniversary of the podcast’s launching. Happy birthday, podcast!
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/35213942/episode-47-the-new-guinea-campaign-part-3/
Looks like I have a driving trip to MA and many parts in between, and these new episodes will come in handy.
I also enjoyed the HistoryGirl podcast, nice diversion.
Episode 48 of the podcast is finally up! Originally I was planning to have it finished by July 16, but several factors came together to make it late, from a week-long
trip out of town to a fierce storm that has knocked out power in my home city. Still, I did not rush the recording, because as they say, haste makes waste. I have learned that if I get it right the first time, I won’t have to redo it later.
Anyway, with this episode the podcast returns to Southeast Asia during World War II. This time we look at what happened in Burma, modern-day Myanmar, from the middle of 1942 until early 1944.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/35739771/the-forgotten-war-in-burma-part-1/
Because the previous episode of the podcast came out a week late, I put the pedal to the metal and got Episode 49 done in twelve days, so I’m starting to catch up!
Today we look at the climax of World War II in the China-Burma-India theater. Here in 1944, Japan invaded India, and launched its last offensive in China, while the American general Joseph Stilwell led a campaign to take back northern Burma.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/36026358/episode-49-the-forgotten-war-in-burma-part-2/
Thank you for the update. I’m still listening and enjoying the podcast. I’ve got a load of episodes I need to catch up on still.
The podcast is back on schedule! We are now caught up; today’s episode went up on the day it would have been uploaded if the last two episodes hadn’t been late.
This episode begins a series on the battles fought in the Philippines during 1944 and 1945, pitting the Americans and Filipinos against the Japanese. Here we will see General Douglas MacArthur land the US 6th Army on the island of Leyte, thereby keeping the promise he made two years earlier. Then the entire Japanese Navy will gather in the waters around Leyte to stop the landing, resulting in the biggest naval battle in all of World War II. Finally we will see the first use of Japan’s desperate last tactic, kamikaze planes.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/36290291/episode-50-the-liberation-of-the-philippines-part-1/
Today the podcast takes a break from the usual routine, and you will hear me answer the questions which you the listeners sent in over the past month or two. Listen and enjoy!
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/36623452/episode-51-question-and-answer-session-1/
This episode continues, but doesn’t quite finish, what we started in Episode 50, the American campaign to liberate the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur’s troops take the central islands of Leyte and Mindoro, then land on the main island, Luzon. The campaign culminates with the terrible battle for Manila in February 1945.
https://www.blubrry.com/hoseasia/37748238/episode-52-the-liberation-of-the-philippines-part-2/
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