Conflicted: A History Podcast
Untangling history’s greatest controversies. Every month, we take a hard look at the historical conflicts that raise difficult questions, stoke controversy, and send our moral compasses spinning.
Hiroo Onoda & The Surrender of Japan
In 1974, a Japanese soldier named Hiroo Onoda emerged from the Philippine jungle, unaware that World War 2 had been over for nearly 30 years. During those three decades, Onoda waged a murderous guerilla insurgency against the residents of Lubang island, leaving a trail of corpses and broken lives in his wake. Meanwhile, the defeated Empire of Japan was undergoing a radical transformation that would reshape the trajectory of East Asia. In this standalone episode of Conflicted, we weave these two parallel stories together into an examination of the nature of loss, persistence, and hope.
SOURCES:
Ballinger-Fletcher, Zita. “Was Hiroo Onoda a Soldier or Serial Killer?” History Net. May 2 2023.
Betuel, Emma. “73 Years Later, The A-Bomb Trees Still Grow in Hiroshima” Inverse. Aug 6 2018.
Buruma, Ian. Year Zero. A History of 1945. 2013.
Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. 1999.
Gallicchio, Marc. Unconditional: The Japanese Surrender in World War II. 2020.
Harmsen, Peter. War in the Far East: Asian Armageddon 1944-1945. 2021.
Onoda, Hiroo. No Surrender: My Thirty Year War. 1974.
Paine, S.C.M. The Japanese Empire. 2017.
Spector, Ronald. In The Ruins Of Empire. 2007.
Toll, Ian W. Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific 1944-1945. 2020.
Walker, Brett L. A Concise History of Japan. 2015.
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Podcast Episodes
The Partition of India – Part 2: Two Blind Eyes
As the British Raj crumbles, old animosities begin to stir in the subcontinent’s communities. Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru face a formidable new adversary in the form of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who calls for the cre…
The Partition of India – Part 1: End of Empire
In the summer of 1947, the British Raj relinquished its hold over the Indian subcontinent. In its wake, two new nations were created: India and Pakistan. The hastily-drawn border between the countries slashed through com…
Human Error: The Destruction of KAL Flight 007
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The Stock Market Crash of 1929 – Part 3: The Music Stops
After weeks of uncertainty and fear, the Great Crash finally arrives on October 24th, 1929. While America’s financial infrastructure burns, Jesse Livermore makes $100 million in a single week. Wall Street’s great cheerle…
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The Stock Market Crash of 1929 – Part 2: Age of Illusion
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The Stock Market Crash of 1929 – Part 1: To The Moon!
One of the worst financial disasters in history unfolded on Wall Street in late October of 1929. Within a week, 30 billion dollars had disappeared into thin air, leaving the global economy in tatters and heralding the be…
Gore: The Brutal History of Bullfighting
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Ghosts in the Mountains: The Mujahideen Civil War (Part 4)
It’s 1992. The 40th Army is long gone and the Soviet Union has collapsed, but war still rages across Afghanistan. As the Afghan communist regime crumbles, Ahmed Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s forces clash in Kabu…
Ghosts in the Mountains: The Soviet-Afghan War – Part 3
As the CIA wages a covert proxy war against the Soviet 40th Army, the Mujahideen are showered with billions of dollars and cutting-edge weaponry. An old animosity between two prominent Mujahideen commanders – Ahmed Shah…
