{"podcast":{"title":"HISTORY This Week","slug":"history-this-week-186536","podcast_index_feed_id":186536,"rss_url":"https://rss.amperwave.net/v2/feed/audacynetwork/history-this-week","website_url":"http://www.historythisweekpodcast.com/","image_url":"https://images.castfire.com/image/661/0/0/0/0-8382930.jpg","author":"The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios","episode_count":326,"summary":"This week, something big happened. You might have never heard of it, but this moment changed the course of history. A HISTORY Channel original podcast, HISTORY This Week gives you insight into the people—both famous and unknown—whose decisions reshaped the world we live in today. Through interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, each episode will give you a new perspective on how history is written. Stay up-to-date at historythisweekpodcast.com and to get in touch, email us at historythisweek@history.com.HISTORY This Week is a production of Back Pocket Studios in partnership with the History Channel.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-08T18:20:34.640440+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536"},"episode":{"title":"The Berlin Airlift and the Birth of the New World Order (Part 2)","slug":"the-berlin-airlift-and-the-birth-of-the-new-world-order-part-2","published_at":"2026-05-11T08:31:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536/the-berlin-airlift-and-the-birth-of-the-new-world-order-part-2","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536","url":"http://historythisweekpodcast.com","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/tracking.swap.fm/track/v9Uiw3bGr54f6BVZKSyc/pscrb.fm/rss/p/serve.castfire.com/audio/8247108/8247108_2026-04-14-053208.192.mp3?rssID=6398","summary":"May 12, 1949. After eleven months under Soviet blockade, the people of West Berlin flood into the streets to celebrate. The lights are back on. The autobahn is open. The siege is over. But just months earlier, West Berlin seemed doomed. Surrounded deep inside Soviet-controlled territory, more than two million Berliners are suddenly cut off from food, fuel, electricity, and supplies after Joseph Stalin seals the city’s borders. Many fear the Western Allies will abandon Berlin altogether. Instead, American and British leaders gamble on something unprecedented: supplying an entire city by air. In this episode, how the Berlin Airlift became the largest sustained airlift in history—and the first major showdown of the Cold War. Along the way: the flamboyant American commander known as “Howlin’ Mad” Howley, Soviet attempts to break the city’s spirit, pilots landing in near-zero visibility every few minutes, and the high-stakes crisis that helped create NATO and reshape the postwar world. Special thanks to Giles Milton, author of Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World . You can find the rest of the books we used to research this episode at historythisweekpodcast.com .","meta_description":"May 12, 1949. After eleven months under Soviet blockade, the people of West Berlin flood into the streets to celebrate. The lights are back on. The autoba…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1695,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-this-week-186536/episodes/the-berlin-airlift-and-the-birth-of-the-new-world-order-part-2/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-this-week-186536/the-berlin-airlift-and-the-birth-of-the-new-world-order-part-2.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}