{"podcast":{"title":"Explaining History","slug":"explaining-history-7091240","podcast_index_feed_id":7091240,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/55836c0e-56ef-4a51-a7cc-9055cd2a39c7","website_url":"http://www.explaininghistory.org","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/60f6d9ac4a4aff65190f9c27/1767646091904-a5aed489-f452-4f74-af70-c7f8364b8d92.jpeg","author":"Nick Shepley","episode_count":943,"summary":"How do we make sense of the modern world? We find the answers in the history of the 20th Century. For over a decade, The Explaining History Podcast has been the guide for curious minds. Host Nick Shepley and expert guests break down the world wars, the Cold War, and the rise and fall of ideologies into concise, 25-minute episodes. This isn't a dry lecture. It's a critical, narrative-driven conversation that connects the past to your present. Perfect for students, history buffs, and anyone who wants to understand how we got here. Hit subscribe and start exploring. Join us at Explaining History for daily modern history articles and news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-02T06:17:10.575854+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-7091240"},"episode":{"title":"The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel – Oil, Revolution, and the Birth of the Soviet State","slug":"the-lost-empire-of-emmanuel-nobel-oil-revolution-and-the-birth-of-the-soviet-state","published_at":"2026-04-29T16:05:43+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-7091240/the-lost-empire-of-emmanuel-nobel-oil-revolution-and-the-birth-of-the-soviet-state","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-7091240","url":"http://explaininghistory.org","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/explaininghistory/e/69f22c5613ce2999f4118f61/media.mp3","summary":"In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by author Douglas Brunt to discuss his fascinating new book, The Lost Empire of Emmanuel Nobel – the story of the greatest oil magnate you've never heard of, and the turbulent Russian decades that swept him away. Emmanuel Nobel, nephew of the more famous Alfred (inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes), built an oil empire that by 1900 had surpassed Standard Oil. His Nobel Brothers Petroleum Company dominated the oil fields of Baku (modern-day Azerbaijan), introduced the world's first oil tanker, and supplied the Tsar's military with fuel as the Russian army mechanised. He was, for a brief window, the most important oil man on the planet. But Emmanuel was more than an industrialist. He was an unusually enlightened employer in a brutal industry – building schools and housing for his workers, who proudly called themselves \"Nobelites\". His benevolent practices protected him during the 1905 revolution, when Rothschild's operations were targeted. Yet even his fortune and influence could not survive the seismic forces of the First World War and the Russian Revolution. Douglas traces the Nobel family's journey from Sweden into the Russian Empire, the grandfather's bankruptcy and reinvention, the technical genius of Ludwig Nobel, and Emmanuel's transformation of Baku from a backward oil field into a global powerhouse. We explore the modernising reforms of Tsar Alexander II and Finance Minister Sergei Witte, the shift from kerosene to gasoline as the internal combustion engine took root, and the geopolitical scramble for oil that made Churchill declare petroleum \"more important than food\". The conversation then turns to revolution. Douglas reveals Nobel's desperate final years – writing to British lea…","meta_description":"In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by author Douglas Brunt to discuss his fascinating new book, The Lost Empire of Emmanuel…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2307,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/explaining-history-7091240/episodes/the-lost-empire-of-emmanuel-nobel-oil-revolution-and-the-birth-of-the-soviet-state/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-7091240/the-lost-empire-of-emmanuel-nobel-oil-revolution-and-the-birth-of-the-soviet-state.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}