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Dive into our latest "La Posta di Dentro la Storia" mailbag episode! We tackle your burning questions about history, geopolitics, and even favorite strategy games—plus, get a sneak peek at upcoming channel news. Don’t miss the behind-the-scenes fun and thoughtful answers! Subscribe for more history deep-dives and let us know in the comments what you enjoyed most! #history #geopolitics #mailbag #community #channelnews

👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@dentrolastoria

0:00 - Introduction and Channel Updates
1:38 - Mailbox: Ukraine and Poland Historical Context
2:56 - Ukrainian Nationalism and Historical Background
6:18 - Mailbox: North Korea, US Policy, and Geopolitics
9:21 - Mailbox: Régis Debray and Political Transformations
12:37 - Mailbox: Italian Demographic Crisis Discussion
16:13 - Suggestions: Maps, Games, and Video Improvements
22:30 - Conclusions, Newsletter, and Upcoming Events


Category

📚
Learning
Transcript
00:00Dear friends, welcome back for another edition of La Posta de Dentro, La Storia, our virtual mailbox.
00:08Here we feature some of the emails you have sent me in recent months concerning your questions about the channel,
00:15about our content, as well as questions simply of a historical nature.
00:19I remind you once again that to write to the mailbox, you need to send an email to the address
00:26fbatuzzi at dentrolastoria.net, specifying in the subject of the email, La Posta de DLS.
00:38I'm asking you this because it helps with filtering.
00:41Then, when it's time to record the video, and read your emails, and select the most interesting ones, because you
00:49always send me so many, I can't read them all.
00:52Some are just emails where you simply thank me, or you compliment me, or other things.
00:58And I thank you anyway for your attention, but I prefer not to read all of these, because otherwise, you
01:04understand, it becomes a video full of mutual thanks.
01:08So I select the most interesting content.
01:11It was a long break.
01:13Giovanni and I took it during the summer period, but we still kept you company with exclusive videos in July,
01:19some re-edited videos in August, and the new edition of Shorts, which have now been around for a few
01:25months.
01:25We are carrying on with it, and I see that it's giving you plenty to think about, and sparking a
01:31lot of interest.
01:31It's really stimulating you, and don't worry, we'll definitely continue, because we see that you really like it.
01:38Anyway, let's move on to the mailbox, and let's start with Gianni Sacco, who writes to us.
01:44Good morning, Federico and Giovanni.
01:46As always, I send you my greetings.
01:49I remind you once again that you are geniuses, like Gardel, as they would say in Argentina.
01:54This email is dedicated to the next episode of DentroLestoria's Mailbag.
01:59I just watched this Sunday's video, that is, the latest mailbox episode of DentroLestoria, we're talking about June.
02:06I promise that this time, my email will be quick, but I have two questions.
02:11You can choose which one to answer, either one of them, or both.
02:15First question.
02:16Yesterday I was reading, and by yesterday I mean back in June, I was reading a Ukrainian newspaper with a
02:22translator.
02:23Obviously, that Poland has withdrawn the order of the White Eagle from Zelensky, and that he would have returned it.
02:30This is because Zelensky supposedly named a unit of the Ukrainian army in honor of the Ukrainian insurgent army,
02:37which allegedly massacred many Poles in the 1940s.
02:41If that's the case, I think Zelensky was wrong.
02:44So how did this story go?
02:46Did the massacre really happen?
02:48And why would Zelensky be interested in naming a unit of his army after murderers?
02:53So let's answer this question first.
02:56There's something that came from Gianni, and I'm telling you, the famous narrative that the Ukrainian regime is a Nazi
03:04regime.
03:04We've already talked about it.
03:05It's a narrative that was fabricated to justify the Russian invasion.
03:09It's not a Nazi regime, but it is a nationalist regime, no more and no less than other nationalist regimes,
03:17like the one Viktor Orban had in Hungary until a few months ago.
03:21Putin's regime as well, which is an extreme nationalism, precisely,
03:25where you can't even make a legitimate criticism of the leadership or the conduct of the war.
03:31Because in that case, you are immediately arrested and accused of various crimes,
03:36all of them imaginary, against the Russian state.
03:40In Ukraine, the nationalist drive didn't just lead to the creation of the Azov Battalion or other combat units,
03:50overzealous, sometimes even fired up by old-school Nazi rhetoric drawn from the past.
03:55Ukraine, since the Holodomor of the 1930s, has had a troubled relationship,
04:00not to say difficult, not to say combative, with Russia,
04:05even before independence between 91 and 92,
04:10even before the signing of the agreements that initially led to the guarantee of unity and independence of Ukraine,
04:18in exchange for the nuclear weapons it was holding.
04:21All this, over time, leads to a difficult consideration, but one that must be addressed.
04:27Ukraine was born, the current Ukraine, as a union of three entities,
04:32the actual Ukrainian entity, the historically Polish component,
04:37the territories that were annexed in the autumn of 1939,
04:42as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by the Soviet Union
04:46and incorporated into two Soviet republics at the time,
04:50that of Belarus and that of Ukraine.
04:52For example, the area of Lviv, also known as Lvov, whatever you want to call it,
04:57is an area that was Polish in the past.
05:00And the population, even though it has Ukrainian origins,
05:03is a population that first lived through the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
05:08and then a period in Poland,
05:11so it experienced a different atmosphere
05:13and was shaped culturally, socially, and politically in a different environment.
05:18Then there are the eastern regions, which, as we well know, are Russophile and Russian-speaking.
05:22They are the mining regions.
05:24By bringing these three entities together, they created the current Ukraine.
05:28Ukraine already existed before,
05:30but the current Ukraine is a union of different identities
05:33to pursue a cause that is, first of all, political and then military.
05:39The Zelensky government has revived a tradition,
05:41that of Ukrainian nationalism from the 1940s,
05:44a nationalism that, as you will see, in a few days there will be a video
05:48that will also address this topic.
05:50It was extremely controversial because it initially chose to side with Hitler
05:54during Operation Barbarossa, and then it backtracked.
05:58The nationalists realized that Hitler didn't need real, equal allies.
06:04He only needed slaves, and so they rebelled.
06:07And you know very well what happened to those who rebelled during Nazism.
06:11We will talk about it in more detail anyway, in the video that will air in a few days.
06:17Let's move on to the second question.
06:19Speaking of what would have happened if,
06:21what would have happened if,
06:23I watched a documentary the other day on National Geographic Latin America,
06:27which was about the Kim nuclear family in North Korea.
06:30My question connects this to current events.
06:33Why didn't the United States intervene in North Korea in the 1990s,
06:37after the fall of communism, like they did now with Iran?
06:40Since Kim Jong-il, finding himself without his communist allies,
06:43that's when he decided to arm himself with nuclear weapons.
06:46I mean, why Iran now and not North Korea back then?
06:49Gianni, actually the Korean regime, we're talking about North Korea,
06:53has always been supported, not since the time of the Soviet Union,
06:57but by China, Mao's China initially.
06:59Just think about the fact that at the beginning of the 1950s,
07:04the Korean War saw not the Soviet Union participating,
07:07which actually, in protest, temporarily withdrew from the UN,
07:11but China, China at that time, didn't have a UN seat,
07:14because the UN seat for China still belonged to Chiang Kai-shek and the nationalists.
07:19It would only be in the 1970s that the seat would go to mainland China.
07:24The Kim family's regime has always been able to rely on its Chinese neighbor.
07:31Then, as time went by, and with the evolution of the international situation,
07:35they also opened up to present-day Russia.
07:38But at the time, the United States, we're talking about the 1990s,
07:42were more focused on other scenarios.
07:45The first scenario was the control of the post-Soviet nuclear arsenal,
07:49because the big fear was that the ongoing sale of conventional weapons
07:54from what was left of the Soviet arsenals could also involve nuclear weapons.
08:00That was the first danger.
08:02Then there were other concerns that involved the Horn of Africa.
08:05Think about Black Hawk Down, about the intervention in Somalia, about Restore Hope.
08:10Then there was the Saddam case, because at the beginning of the 2090s,
08:14the invasion of Kuwait and everything that followed put the spotlight on Iraq,
08:19which was no longer that loyal and quiet ally in the Persian Gulf.
08:24It had become a, Iran was always being monitored,
08:27and, finally, the era of Islamist terrorism had arrived, which we know well.
08:34For these reasons, and also because of the Chinese support, which has never failed,
08:39Washington has never considered an intervention in Korea.
08:42Also because that famous border on the parallel, that demarcation line, is a UN line.
08:48Crossing it means going against the UN, not recognizing its jurisdiction.
08:53For a country like the United States, which has a permanent seat on the Security Council with veto power,
08:59crossing that line, which is not only physical, in this case, on land,
09:03but also a political line, can have repercussions,
09:06such that it could cause the country to lose standing,
09:09to give up a good part of its prestige,
09:11and even risk having its own allies turn against it.
09:14That's the reason.
09:15Anyway, Gianni, I thank you for your email, which was very, very interesting,
09:20and, among other things, stimulating.
09:23Then I get an email from Franco, who is one of our most loyal, most consistent followers,
09:28who writes to me,
09:30Good morning, Federico.
09:31Who exactly is Regis Debray?
09:34Because I like to pronounce it the French way.
09:36What role did he actually play in contemporary history?
09:40A philosopher, friend of Che Guevara,
09:42theorist of the revolution in South America, especially in Bolivia.
09:45Then, after Che Guevara died, taking Ho Chi Minh's tactics as a model,
09:49in the 1980s, he abandoned communism and became a Gaullist.
09:53I think that these French people don't know how to place him.
09:57Is it right to consider him the Feltrinelli of France,
10:01regardless of whether he was wealthy or had influential backers?
10:04Well, jop dot dot, there was only one Feltrinelli.
10:07He was lucky enough to inherit the publishing house from his family,
10:11and so clearly the wealth and comfortable life that came with it,
10:14and everything else we know about.
10:16But to define Regis Debray, some call him Regis, but I don't call him Regis,
10:21as the Feltrinelli of France,
10:23it's a forced comparison, as a figure, as a comparison.
10:27You can't really say it like that.
10:28The fact of having abandoned the struggle,
10:31the idea of revolutionary struggle in South America,
10:35and communism to embrace the new Gaullism,
10:39the new Gaullism, that which was later embodied,
10:42first by Chirac, many have forgotten about Chirac,
10:44and then by Sarkozy, is simply a sign of the times.
10:47If we look at French politics,
10:49let's say from the second half of the 1950s,
10:52how many political shifts of allegiance have we seen?
10:55How many political figures have reconsidered their own ideas,
10:59and have shifted their positions, their ideas, their strategies,
11:03even their seats in Parliament?
11:05Sometimes there are so many.
11:07We have seen new parties appear, others disappear.
11:10Some transform, others be transformed.
11:13We have seen the internal war in the national front between father and daughter.
11:17Because as you were told,
11:19we have seen Francois Hollande remain a socialist,
11:22but argue with other socialists,
11:24even with Ségolène Royale,
11:25who was his partner, life companion.
11:27We have seen Sarkozy change
11:29and move from Chirac's neo-Gaullism
11:32to a French nationalism,
11:35but with an eye on Europe
11:37and with sympathies for Washington
11:39that were not even too hidden.
11:42It was said that de Gaulle didn't really have much sympathy for Washington.
11:45In short, we have seen many transformations.
11:48Honestly, I'm not surprised by these, let's call them conversions.
11:52Because if we look at politics,
11:54even in our own country, we've seen just as many.
11:56Think about a Fabrizio Cicchito,
11:58who goes from socialism,
12:00even if it was Craxi's socialism,
12:02to Forza Italia.
12:03Think about Moro's daughter,
12:05who was born and raised in a Christian Democrat environment
12:09and then swings between the far left and the far right.
12:12It's a bit strange how that works, isn't it?
12:14Or think about those radicals,
12:15who grow up in the shadow of Pinela
12:17and then go somewhere completely different.
12:19And we've had so many of them.
12:21It's normal.
12:22It's the game of politics.
12:23And Regis de Bray is just one of many.
12:25Honestly, I'm not really surprised by these kinds of people anymore.
12:28But calling him the French Veltrinelli is maybe a bit of a stretch.
12:31What do you think, Franco?
12:33Anyway, thanks for your email.
12:35Then Gianandrea wrote to me.
12:37Gianandrea.
12:38Gianandrea writes to me.
12:39Good morning, Federico.
12:41And again, congratulations on the channel.
12:43This time, my curiosity is about the Italian population,
12:46where the birth rate keeps dropping
12:47and the demographic pyramid is now upside down.
12:50Historically, have there already been societies that had the same problem?
12:54If so, which ones?
12:55Were they able to reverse the trend?
12:57Or did they become extinct?
12:59So this is the question that should mainly be asked to experts
13:03in population history.
13:05The reversal of the demographic pyramid has no clear precedent,
13:09at least in our contemporary era, it must be said.
13:12But it's a phenomenon that unfortunately concerns many,
13:17maybe too many, countries nowadays.
13:21And it's a phenomenon that has specific roots, specific reasons.
13:25It's a phenomenon that is based on a welfare state
13:30that can't meet the needs of young citizens
13:34and especially young couples
13:36that deals with the difficulties,
13:39even economic ones, of young people.
13:42To find a stable job,
13:43to have a salary that allows them to plan
13:45the birth and the growth of a family unit.
13:49This is the reason why many young people
13:51either struggle or delay
13:53or give up on leaving their parents' home
13:57because it's difficult to have a place of their own.
14:00It's already difficult to get a rental contract
14:03at a reasonable price.
14:05Buying a house without someone's help,
14:08specifically the parents,
14:09assuming the parents can handle this effort,
14:11is even more difficult.
14:14Then, starting a family doesn't just mean
14:16the simple act of reproduction.
14:18So having a child or more children.
14:20It means making sure they receive care,
14:22first and foremost,
14:23as well as food and education.
14:26Raising, bringing up,
14:27sending a child to school,
14:29and taking care of a child today
14:31comes with very high costs.
14:33That's why many young people prefer to wait.
14:36And sometimes they wait so long
14:38that they realize they can no longer handle
14:40the responsibility of fatherhood or motherhood.
14:43Not just for biological reasons.
14:45And I'm mainly talking about women.
14:47I'm mostly talking about social reasons.
14:50Unfortunately, the reversal of the demographic pyramid
14:53can only be reversed again
14:57and brought back in another direction,
14:59only with targeted policies.
15:03These are policies that lead to re-evaluating
15:06the importance of young people above all.
15:09Their need to have something truly solid behind them
15:15to be able to count on something in the future
15:18that can give them the necessary support at any time.
15:21Because we think about the unexpected events
15:24that are always just around the corner.
15:26So having a stable salary,
15:28having a secure job position,
15:30having a safety net
15:31that allow you to be more at ease,
15:34even when facing an uncertain future,
15:37makes it possible to have children.
15:39Not without careful thought,
15:41but with a clear plan.
15:43In the absence of all this,
15:44reversing the demographic pyramid is impossible.
15:47It's really impossible.
15:48It's clear that we'll have a country
15:50that is increasingly older,
15:51and this will lead to other imbalances.
15:54Think, for example, about pensions.
15:55The difficulty in coping with the increase in retirees
15:58when the active population,
16:00those who contribute to the social security funds,
16:02is constantly decreasing.
16:03It will be a big problem.
16:05A problem that already exists today,
16:07and that, I'm afraid, in 20 or 30 years
16:10will become very difficult to solve.
16:13If we want to do something,
16:14it has to be done now.
16:16I'll finish with one last email,
16:18which covers two different topics,
16:19but really caught my attention,
16:21and I'll explain it to you now.
16:23Valerio Caglieri wrote to me and said,
16:25I've been following you for a while.
16:27I discovered you by chance.
16:28I devoured all your past videos,
16:30and I wait, more or less patiently,
16:32for the new ones.
16:33I take this opportunity to thank you.
16:35I'll skip a part here.
16:36I wanted to make two suggestions.
16:38I hope they will be received positively.
16:40The first, a significant lack in Italian education,
16:43obviously based on my experience,
16:44on the experience of those I've met in my life,
16:47is geography.
16:48You could consider enhancing your videos
16:49with maps and locations of the places you talk about.
16:52Maps from that era would also be interesting,
16:54maybe with updated borderlines.
16:56For example, the video about the Java Sea.
16:59Where is it?
16:59Where did the battle take place?
17:01The forces involved?
17:02What territory did they occupy?
17:04Clearly, you can look into it on your own,
17:06with the resources available in 2026.
17:10But I think that adding this information,
17:12even just visually,
17:14could be an interesting improvement.
17:15Thanks.
17:16I'll bring this up with Giovanni.
17:18He's the one who handles the editing.
17:19It could be a good idea to
17:21take advantage of current technologies,
17:24to enhance our videos with some geography sections.
17:31So, to show the history we cover on a map,
17:35so that even those who don't know certain areas by name,
17:40maybe, obviously, they know where Indonesia is,
17:43but they don't know where the Java Sea is,
17:45or the Sunda Strait.
17:47Even I, until I studied,
17:50didn't know where these seas or these passages,
17:52these stretches of water were located.
17:55Or the definition of borders,
17:57that change, change depending on wars
17:59or adjustments through international treaties,
18:02can be, yes, additional elements to include.
18:06With Giovanni,
18:08maybe I'll consider the possibility of
18:10including in our videos,
18:12some frames,
18:14some excerpts of maps,
18:16even updated ones.
18:17It could definitely be something.
18:19The second suggestion.
18:20I noticed that your sponsor is mainly .NordVPN,
18:24but in the past,
18:25I've occasionally noticed
18:26World of Battleship as well.
18:28I was wondering if you have ever considered
18:30or know about the video game
18:31Art of Iron,
18:33a strategy game set in World War II
18:35and fairly accurate,
18:36even with some small,
18:38but definitely interesting historical details.
18:40One particular feature
18:41is the ability to alter the course of history
18:44by making different choices
18:45from what actually happened.
18:47It's an option that creates an alternate history,
18:49like some of those explored in your videos.
18:51In Italy that turns to communism,
18:53a fascist regime that doesn't ally with Germany,
18:56survives World War II,
18:57and so on with other nations.
18:59By the way,
19:00a collaboration with them
19:01would also be useful as visual support
19:03for what was mentioned in the first suggestion.
19:05So, I have to confess something to you.
19:08On my computer,
19:09I have,
19:10even today,
19:11every now and then,
19:12in my free time,
19:13I turn it on and play it.
19:15It's an old version of Art of Iron,
19:17the second one.
19:18So, it was the evolution,
19:20if I remember correctly,
19:21of Doomsday Armageddon.
19:23I agree with you that it's something
19:25very entertaining,
19:27fun,
19:27and educational at the same time,
19:29because it allows us to understand
19:31certain mechanisms.
19:32because this video game,
19:35for those who don't know it,
19:36is a historical management game.
19:38It's not a typical shooter.
19:41In fact,
19:41it has almost nothing to do with shooters.
19:44It's just,
19:45well,
19:46just,
19:46so to speak.
19:47A game where
19:48you have to take control
19:50of an entire country,
19:51the politics,
19:53the economy,
19:54society,
19:55industrial development,
19:56and lead it,
19:57guide its politics,
19:58forge alliances,
19:59and negotiate international treaties.
20:01If you decide to go to war,
20:03you can conduct military operations,
20:05developing military technologies,
20:07building the various weapons,
20:09deploying the troops.
20:10In short,
20:11it's a game
20:12where you manage everything.
20:14I really like it,
20:15I have to say.
20:16Yes,
20:17I also had fun
20:18in different scenarios.
20:19For example,
20:20transforming Italy,
20:21which starts,
20:23obviously,
20:23you started,
20:24I remember,
20:25at the time,
20:26in 1936,
20:28on the 1st of
20:29January 36.
20:31Over time,
20:32you could turn it
20:33into a democracy,
20:34without going through war,
20:36or,
20:37make it join the Allies,
20:38or even keep it neutral,
20:40and then intervene
20:41after everything was over
20:43in the post-war period.
20:44In short,
20:45there was
20:46everything and more.
20:48Or you could,
20:50take control of Spain
20:51at the beginning of
20:5236,
20:53when the Civil War
20:55hasn't started yet.
20:56Fight the Civil War,
20:57and perhaps lead the Republic
20:59to victory,
21:00or even lead the Soviet Union
21:02towards a democracy.
21:04So,
21:05abandon communism,
21:06Stalinism,
21:07and become
21:08a social democracy.
21:09Or to turn the United States
21:11into a fascist dictatorship,
21:13bringing to the presidency
21:14someone outside
21:15the two main parties,
21:16the Democratic
21:17and the Republican,
21:18that is.
21:18Charles Lindbergh,
21:19who had Nazi sympathies.
21:21It has been tried.
21:22In short,
21:23there are many,
21:24many,
21:24many possibilities.
21:26A collaboration?
21:27I don't know.
21:28On the internet?
21:30I don't know.
21:31For heaven's sake,
21:32if I remember correctly,
21:33the developer is Paradox.
21:35We could always propose
21:36a collaboration to them.
21:38Maybe they'll say no,
21:39that they're not interested.
21:40But,
21:41yes,
21:42actually,
21:43I
21:44like the game.
21:45I think you like it too.
21:47I don't know how many
21:48of our followers
21:48also follow us on
21:50of Iron.
21:51So,
21:51they know Hearts of Iron.
21:53They've played
21:54the various versions
21:55of Hearts of Iron
21:56because there's not just
21:57the latest one,
21:58number four,
21:58but there's also
21:59three,
22:00two,
22:00and one.
22:01Who knows?
22:01Maybe,
22:02thanks to this video,
22:03and especially thanks
22:04to your suggestion,
22:05someone will come forward
22:06and say,
22:07yes,
22:07I played it too.
22:09I liked it too.
22:10And so on,
22:11and so on.
22:11Anyway,
22:12to conclude,
22:13he says,
22:14that said,
22:14I thank you a second time
22:15at the risk of being
22:16redundant
22:17for the work you do
22:18and for keeping us company.
22:20And thank you,
22:21Valerio,
22:22because it was a nice email
22:23that gave me the chance
22:25to give some suggestions,
22:27especially technical
22:28and practical ones,
22:29to Giovanni.
22:30Now we'll see how
22:31to organize things a bit.
22:32I still have many,
22:33many,
22:34many other emails,
22:35but time is running out.
22:37So I thank you again
22:38for your attention.
22:39I remind you
22:40that the mailbox
22:41is active.
22:42Just write to the address
22:44f.batuzzi,
22:46double T,
22:47double Z
22:48at
22:49dentrolastoria.net
22:50specify in the subject
22:53the mail for DLS.
22:55Otherwise,
22:56we can't read
22:58your emails.
22:59And I'll see you
23:01next month
23:02with the mailbox again.
23:03With our videos,
23:04we're preparing some
23:05really interesting ones.
23:07With our shorts,
23:09because I see that
23:10you're enjoying the shorts too,
23:12their little daily gems,
23:14and with other news.
23:16Let me give you a sneak peek
23:17at just two of them.
23:18I can tell you
23:19that for a few months now,
23:21the Assostoria Association
23:22has been active,
23:24an association
23:25that brings together
23:25passionate historians.
23:27And of course,
23:28I'm part of it too.
23:29If you want to know more,
23:30we've sent the details
23:31for joining
23:31in our monthly newsletter,
23:32by the way.
23:33In a few days,
23:34the October newsletter
23:35will also arrive.
23:36If you haven't done it yet,
23:37you can request it.
23:38And remember
23:39that it's a free service.
23:40It doesn't cost anything at all.
23:41It arrives in your email inbox
23:43conveniently.
23:44You can read it
23:45whenever you want.
23:46And then,
23:46on December 10th,
23:48I can already tell you,
23:49I will once again
23:50be a guest
23:51at the Thursdays of Culture
23:53by Fondazione Casamarca
23:54at Cade Carresi
23:56in Treviso.
23:57It's a Thursday,
23:59Thursday,
23:59December 10th
24:00at 6 p.m.,
24:02so late afternoon.
24:04And,
24:05I will address a topic
24:06that has already been featured
24:08in a couple of videos
24:09on the channel.
24:10But I bet that you will
24:11like it even more
24:12because I will share with you
24:14some extra details
24:15that I haven't covered yet.
24:17So,
24:17I'll see you
24:18in the next videos
24:19at the next live events as well.
24:22And what else can I say?
24:23Have a great day, everyone,
24:25and see you
24:26very,
24:27very soon.

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