We delve into some Irish history with Prof Liam Kennedy. Liam has published a myriad of books on Irish history. We look closely at his 2020 book "Who was responsible for the Troubles".

These are some of the questions we try to answer:

• What is a brief definition of the Troubles?
• What period are we looking at?
• Is Ireland part of the UK?
• What is at the heart of the violence of the Troubles?
• Which events led up to the Troubles?
• How did the division/partition of the island of Ireland come about?
• Why are the Troubles often described as a religious conflict?
• How does Irish English differ from British English?
• What are the roots of the ancient Gaelic language? What does it sound like?
• How did markers like Catholicism and Protestantism perpetuate divisions?
• Why does this division not extend to the Irish rugby team?
• Which events between the 1920s and 1960s laid the foundation for the Troubles?
• What was the nature of the Civil Rights Movement in Ulster?
• How successful was the Civil Rights Movement in bringing about equality in Northern Ireland?
• How did the IRA differ from the provisional IRA?
• Did the Republic of Ireland support the provisional IRA?
• What was the international extent of the Troubles?
• Why is December 1969 considered a turning point in the start of the Troubles?
• What was the nature of the conflict during the Troubles? What were Bloody Sunday and Bloody Friday?
• Who is responsible for starting/perpetuating the Troubles?
• Who were the leaders of the IRA?
• Why is the role of regional paramilitary groups so obscure?
• Why can't the Troubles be seen as a binary conflict?
• How did the Good Friday Agreement come about?
• How did Brexit change the dynamic on the island of Ireland?
• Who is the new IRA?

Please send your questions and suggestions to highschoolhistoryrecap@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @WilliamHPalk or @C_duPlessis.

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Have you ever heard about the East Bank Location Massacre on 9 November 1952? Neither have we. Dr Mignonne Breier joins us to talk about her book Bloody Sunday in which she uncovered the gruesome details of this massacre that upends the conventional apartheid narrative.

Here are some of the questions we consider:

• Why do so few people know about the East Bank Location / Duncan Village Massacre?
• How was it possible to hide the murders of 200 people?
• Where is East Bank Location?
• Was it just geographical isolation or a purposeful cover-up?
• What is the story behind the East Bank Location / Duncan Village Massacre?
• What was the involvement of the ANC in arranging the meeting? Why didn't they expose the massacre?
• Who was Sister Aidan? Did her murder exacerbate events?
• How were the people of East Bank Location / Duncan Village killed?
• How does Bloody Sunday (the East Bank Location / Duncan Village Massacre) change the apartheid narrative?
• How would this massacre have changed people's perceptions of apartheid if they had known about it?
• Why did the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) fail to uncover the massacre?
• Why did protesters' families not report their loved ones' deaths to the police?
• Why did Mignonne choose the title "Boody Sunday"?
• How should we memorialize the Duncan Village Massacre of 1952?
• Why were the deaths of the people of Duncan Village dismissed?
• How did seven years of research change Mignonne's perception of South Africa's past?
• How does this story become part of the "conventional" apartheid narrative?
• What is Mignonne's advice to young people?

You can email Dr Mignonne Breier at mignonne.breier@gmail.com or find her on Twitter @MignonneBreier.

Send your questions and suggestions to @WilliamHPalk or @C_duPlessis.

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In this episode, we get our hands dirty with some military history. Prof Timothy Stapleton of the University of Calgary joins us to discuss South Africa's turbulent past. We look at wars from the earliest colonial times to the end of apartheid.

These are the questions we try to answer:

• What is Prof Timothy Stapleton's connection to South Africa?
• Why do humans go to war?
• Is warfare irrational?
• How does the approach of the military historian differ from that of the ordinary historian?
• Do military historians glorify warfare?
• How are South African wars best categorised?
• Is there a unifying factor or golden thread to South Africa's military history?
• How did the British colonisation of the Cape Colony tip the balance of power?
• Did the Zulu kingdom manage to build a standing army?
• Which of the South African wars deserves its own movie?
• What is the link between the Mineral Revolution and warfare in South Africa?
• How significant was the South African War (Second Anglo-Boer War) in shaping modern-day South Africa?
• How did World War I divide South African society?
• Did the Second World War play into the creation of the apartheid state?
• When and where did the apartheid wars take place?
• Why are historians reluctant to talk about the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale?
• How did warfare bring about the end of apartheid?
• Are there any major security threats for the people of the African continent?
• To what extent does foreign intervention contribute to warfare in Africa?
• Where in Africa can we expect an upsurge in violence?

You can email Prof Timothy Stapleton at timothy.stapleton@ucalgary.ca.

Find us on Twitter @WilliamHPalk or @C_duPlessis.

Click on the link below if you want to support the show. Thanks for listening!

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