WWII/post WWII history youtube recommendations

[ben5575]

My daughter is learning about the end of WWII, the Berlin Wall, the rise of communism and no doubt moving into the cold war.

I have a general interest in the subject so have had a good conversation with her about the highlevel stuff - the race for Berlin, nuclear weapons, rockets, arms race, planes (naturally) leading through the 80's to the fall of the Berlin wall and the historical context for what's currently happening in Ukraine and Israel.

Having given her the bigger picture (and to my amazement not bored her stupid), she keen to do further reading (youtube!) to fill in the blanks.

Does anybody have recommendations for channels or better, specific vids that she can look at please? She's clever and genuinely interested so she doesn't want the tiktok version, but likewise she doesn't have a beard either. The Operations Room is about the right pitch - informative but engaging. Sadly that's about battles (sadly not really her thing) rather than history.

Any recommendations please for the end of WWII and the immediate aftermath? I can filter a channel to specific videos - as you know you only get so many chances to spark an interest with teenagers.

[generationx]

Take a look at Mark Felton Productions for a diverse range of subjects.

[oddball1313]

The ‘we have ways of making you talk’ podcast is excellent, tons of material so she can filter through and listen to what topics interest her most and help also dispel some of the myths such as the nazis being brilliant and everything they made was amazing etc. I think the shows are now on youtube (just checked - 457 to pick from)

[ben5575]

Whilst I personally like 'we have ways' it's very self indulgent and aimed more at us old blokes, rather than 14yo girls

Looking for something higher level that provides an overview through good story telling. Needs to be tight and around 15 mins per ep. She can drill down in to specifics if she finds them interesting.

[Earthdweller]

generationx said:

Take a look at Mark Felton Productions for a diverse range of subjects.

+1

He has some particularly interesting videos re the use of the German army/navy and even SS units post war and the building of the border force and then new German army with even one of Hitler’s generals becoming head of NATO


Really fascinating stuff

[Dog Star]

There’s a chap called Andy McAloon who does some (to me at any rate) cracking videos about the Berlin Wall, the transit from W Germany from Magdeburg through checkpoints Alpha and Bravo from the point of view of his Cold War service as well as stuff about listening posts etc. fascinating channel. Not sure if a 14 yo would find it as interesting as me.

[MrBrightSi]

There are 2 i'd recommend:

The Cold War - channel that does a lot about the political world post ww2

World War Two - Indie Nidel (spelling?) The guy who did the 1 video per week of ww1 has gone and done 1 video per week of ww2, brilliant stuff, condensed but covers all of the fronts as well as what was happening within the countries not being fought in.

Edit - For yourself i'd look at Liveth Forevermore, very similar to the operations room and about conflicts/combat that is often overlooked such as somali pirates mistakenly attacking a Spanish warship for example

[nobrakes]

Bookmarked!

[gotoPzero]

For modern stuff..

If you want from the horses mouth not really "history" but real stories from maybe 1980 to 2010 then my suggestion is to watch the interviews Shawn Ryan does.

He himself is a bit tin foil hat these days but he has interviewed some of the very best and they usually do get into stuff thats quite interesting.

His interviews with the following are good you will have to search them as he has 100s of videos a lot is guff.
DJ Shipley
Jason Redman
Mike Glover
Mike Ritland
Marcus Luttrell
Eddie Gallagher
Rob Oneill
Tu Lam

The Team House is another good channel.

[towser]

I listen to the Cold War Conversations podcast which is very good and have just noticed they also have a Youtube channel.

Edited by towser on Friday 12th January 09:03

[Gerard Thibault]

Not sure about youtube recommendations but if finances and time allow a trip to Berlin would be a great opportunity to nurture this interest. Both the Checkpoint Charlie museum and the Ministerium fur Stadtssichergeheit (Stasi HQ) are great museums and packed full of the wider historical/political context. There is also a good museum detailing everyday life under communism.

There are also some great little breweries dotted around the place which might not be just what your daughter wants, but definitely go for coffee and cake on the top floor of KDW.

[john_1983]

Gerard Thibault said:

Not sure about youtube recommendations but if finances and time allow a trip to Berlin would be a great opportunity to nurture this interest. Both the Checkpoint Charlie museum and the Ministerium fur Stadtssichergeheit (Stasi HQ) are great museums and packed full of the wider historical/political context. There is also a good museum detailing everyday life under communism.

There are also some great little breweries dotted around the place which might not be just what your daughter wants, but definitely go for coffee and cake on the top floor of KDW.

Would echo this. I went to Berlin to learn more about the Cold War etc, and it's a fascinating place - I've been back numerous times. Walking along Bernauer Str is effectively a free open-air museum all about the Wall; the DDR museum mentioned above is brilliant too. You really take it in when you're there, more than through videos/books etc.

I've also found Berlin to be relatively inexpensive for a capital city, a lot cheaper than London for example for food/drink.

Just be warned about getting too into it, I've ended up buying a Trabant

[generationx]

I have family who live near Berlin so have been several times. It’s a great city, and we had a brilliant New Year a couple of years ago. So much to see and do including those mentioned above.

[ben5575]

OP here.

Settled on these from the GeoHistory Channel in the first instance which provide an accessible (I enjoyed them myself!) highlevel overview of:

USSR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUvpE_8A9kU
NATO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NlhfoFK9PI
The Cold War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jv4QbIoQ8

From that she can choose to drill into specific incidents and some of the channels recommended above.

Thanks for the recommendations

[jet_noise]

oddball1313 said:

The ‘we have ways of making you talk’ podcast is excellent, tons of material so she can filter through and listen to what topics interest her most and help also dispel some of the myths such as the nazis being brilliant and everything they made was amazing etc. I think the shows are now on youtube (just checked - 457 to pick from)

I'm up to ep. 50!
Agree very good but viewer discretion is advised (/America) for (perhaps) a young person.
For anyone who hasn't yet engaged:
Can be sweary Think Collecting Cars on WW2.
Personable enthusiastic presenter amateur (Murray) + expert (Holland).
Visits & interviews with individual subject/location people. Including some of the few still left who were there.

[dirky dirk]

WW2historyhunter,

he gos out with his lad and looks around and about for relics with his lad

[RicksAlfas]

Apologies for what might be a daft post, but make sure you show her a map of where Berlin is, because my son couldn't believe that it was so far East!
He had assumed that the border between East and West Germany ALSO formed the Berlin Wall.

[DodgyGeezer]

RicksAlfas said:

Apologies for what might be a daft post, but make sure you show her a map of where Berlin is, because my son couldn't believe that it was so far East!
He had assumed that the border between East and West Germany ALSO formed the Berlin Wall.

It'll probably blow his mind were he to see pre-WWI Germany's borders then