Living Through History

Almost a quarter of a century after the first intervention, the Marines return to the Lebanese beaches, to Tripoli and above all to Beirut, first to facilitate the exit of the PLO fighters and then to try to reduce friction between the many souls of the civil war Lebanese. Peacekeeping, however, is a dangerous profession, especially if on the other side you have to deal with a new militarized reality determined to attack the foreign presence. On a cool autumn Sunday, the French Marines and paratroopers will see Lebanon transform into a second and more tragic Vietnam.

A paradise on earth, marvelous beaches, breathtaking landscapes, the castles of the Crusaders, multicultural traditions, and banking wealth likened to the "Switzerland of the Middle East." Lebanon in the early 1970s truly had everything to fulfill anyone's dreams, even those of a bankrupt like Felice Riva, who, after squandering the assets of the Vallesusa textile group, chose to enjoy golden hiding under the shade of the famous cedars, sipping cocktails on the terrace of one of the many luxury hotels overlooking the Corniche, Beirut's waterfront that for decades rivaled the French Riviera. Yet even the most beautiful paradise can turn into hell on earth. It takes little to unleash devastation, sometimes just a pretext. Or a quick shootout.Living Through History,where we embark on a captivating journey through the events, people, and stories that have shaped the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of modern history, exploring pivotal moments, cultural shifts, political revolutions, and technological breakthroughs that have defined our contemporary world. With expert interviews, firsthand accounts, and deep dives into archives, Living Through History offers a fresh perspective on the recent past, revealing the fascinating and sometimes surprising connections between yesterday and today. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about how we got to where we are now, this podcast will inspire your curiosity and deepen your understanding of the modern era.Script: Federico BettuzziProduction: Giovanni Zorzi

On January 31, 1968 according to the lunar calendar, the Year of the Monkey begins. And perfectly embodying the cunning and genius attributed in the Far East to this symbolic animal, General Võ Nguyên Giáp prepared a terrible surprise for the American, Australian and South Vietnamese soldiers: instead of the usual truce for the Tet anniversary, little after midnight a massive offensive starts which sees the regular troops from the North invading the regions close to the border. For months there was bitter fighting, in Hue and Khe Sanh in particular, marking a turning point in the Vietnam conflict.Living Through History,where we embark on a captivating journey through the events, people, and stories that have shaped the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of modern history, exploring pivotal moments, cultural shifts, political revolutions, and technological breakthroughs that have defined our contemporary world. With expert interviews, firsthand accounts, and deep dives into archives, Living Through History offers a fresh perspective on the recent past, revealing the fascinating and sometimes surprising connections between yesterday and today. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about how we got to where we are now, this podcast will inspire your curiosity and deepen your understanding of the modern era.Script: Federico BettuzziProduction: Giovanni Zorzi

The Munich Massacre was a terrorist event that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics, in Munich, West Germany. A commando from the Palestinian socialist terrorist organization Black September broke into the accommodation intended for Israeli athletes in the Olympic village, immediately killing two athletes who had attempted to resist and taking nine other members of Israel's Olympic team hostage. A subsequent rescue attempt by the German police led to the death of all the kidnapped athletes, five fedayeen and a German policeman.While the shooting was still in progress, a statement was issued announcing the release of all the hostages and the killing of the terrorists. Due to time zone reasons, Israeli newspapers went to press with this news. Subsequently, an official of the International Olympic Committee announced that: "The initial news was far too optimistic."Living Through History,where we embark on a captivating journey through the events, people, and stories that have shaped the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of modern history, exploring pivotal moments, cultural shifts, political revolutions, and technological breakthroughs that have defined our contemporary world. With expert interviews, firsthand accounts, and deep dives into archives, Living Through History offers a fresh perspective on the recent past, revealing the fascinating and sometimes surprising connections between yesterday and today. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about how we got to where we are now, this podcast will inspire your curiosity and deepen your understanding of the modern era.Script: Federico BettuzziProduction: Giovanni Zorzi

A brilliant architect, student of great designers, initially apolitical, Albert Speer became a member of Hitler's inner circle in the 1930s. Initially as a designer of the sets for the ocean parades, then as a renovator of large public buildings, Speer was entrusted with the role of reconstructing and remodeling Berlin as the future world capital of Nazism and then of leading the German industrial production machine. Behind him he left the memory of his sketches and models, the discordant declarations in Nuremberg, books of memory but also a daughter who, with deeds and not with words, demonstrated that the best way to close the accounts with the past it means turning the page.Living Through History,where we embark on a captivating journey through the events, people, and stories that have shaped the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of modern history, exploring pivotal moments, cultural shifts, political revolutions, and technological breakthroughs that have defined our contemporary world. With expert interviews, firsthand accounts, and deep dives into archives, Living Through History offers a fresh perspective on the recent past, revealing the fascinating and sometimes surprising connections between yesterday and today. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about how we got to where we are now, this podcast will inspire your curiosity and deepen your understanding of the modern era.Script: Federico BettuzziProduction: Giovanni Zorzi

Living Through History,where we embark on a captivating journey through the events, people, and stories that have shaped the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of modern history, exploring pivotal moments, cultural shifts, political revolutions, and technological breakthroughs that have defined our contemporary world. With expert interviews, firsthand accounts, and deep dives into archives, Living Through History offers a fresh perspective on the recent past, revealing the fascinating and sometimes surprising connections between yesterday and today. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about how we got to where we are now, this podcast will inspire your curiosity and deepen your understanding of the modern era.Script: Federico BettuzziProduction: Giovanni ZorziHe defined himself as the last true Stalinist in Europe. From his youth studies in France in the 1930s onwards, Enver Hoxha shaped his political life around absolute faith in the Georgian dictator, to the extent of modeling the new independent Albania as a carbon copy of Stalin's USSR. Resistant to change, intentionally isolated, Hoxha left his country with a rich arsenal, hundreds of thousands of bunkers, state atheism, persecutions, human rights violations, and a reputation difficult to shake off. That of being Stalin's last faithful follower.

Living Through History,where we embark on a captivating journey through the events, people, and stories that have shaped the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of modern history, exploring pivotal moments, cultural shifts, political revolutions, and technological breakthroughs that have defined our contemporary world. With expert interviews, firsthand accounts, and deep dives into archives, Living Through History offers a fresh perspective on the recent past, revealing the fascinating and sometimes surprising connections between yesterday and today. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about how we got to where we are now, this podcast will inspire your curiosity and deepen your understanding of the modern era.Script: Federico BettuzziProduction: Giovanni ZorziFrank Herbert's imagination gave birth to the universe of Dune, with its cycle of novels and various derivative films. But the writer didn't invent everything from scratch: drawing from documented historical events like the Mahdist uprising of the late 19th century, Herbert simply transposed events, battles, intrigues, and characters from historical reality into a new dimension, that of fantasy. In this video, we retrace the story of the Mahdi, of Sudan, of Gordon Pasha, and of Lord Kitchener, and how they were transformed into the houses of the Landsraad and in the creation of a planet, Arrakis, modeled with its populations on ancient feudal Sudan.

Mercenaries, fortune soldiers, fighters without a flag—there are different ways to define those who fight for compensation. After the end of the Second World War, the decolonization of Africa increasingly witnesses conflicts, uprisings, and coups. In newly independent Belgian Congo, two men, two mercenaries, Bob Denard and Jacques Schramme, meet to decide whether and how to rebel against the new president of Congo, Mobutu.Living Through History,where we embark on a captivating journey through the events, people, and stories that have shaped the world in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join us as we unravel the intricate tapestry of modern history, exploring pivotal moments, cultural shifts, political revolutions, and technological breakthroughs that have defined our contemporary world. With expert interviews, firsthand accounts, and deep dives into archives, Living Through History offers a fresh perspective on the recent past, revealing the fascinating and sometimes surprising connections between yesterday and today. Whether you're a history enthusiast or simply curious about how we got to where we are now, this podcast will inspire your curiosity and deepen your understanding of the modern era.Script: Federico BettuzziProduction: Giovanni Zorzi