April 7, 2021 • 12 mins
On this day in 1994, the Rwandan military and Hutu militia groups began killing Tutsis and moderate Hutu politicians, inciting a genocide that lasted 100 days. / On this day in 1963, Tito was proclaimed president for life of the newly renamed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all, Eve's here. We're doubling up today with two
events in history on with the show content warning. Today's
episode is about genocide and it contains mention of murder
and rape. Hi again, Welcome to this day in History
class where history waits for no One. The day was
(00:26):
April seven. The Rwandan armed forces and Hutu militia groups
called the Interra Homway and the Imposa Mugambi set up
rope blocks and went around to houses, killing tooth Seeds
and moderate Hutu politicians. The Hutus were the ethnic majority
in Rwanda and the tooth Seeds were the ethnic minority.
(00:48):
Tensions between the ethnic groups have been brewing for decades
after they were stirred by Belgian rule during Rwanda's colonial period.
That conflict came to a head in April nineteen ninety four,
when the Rwandan military responded to the killing of the
Rewandan and Burundi presidents with months of brutal murder. The
(01:09):
genocide would last one hundred days into July. Somewhere around
eight hundred thousand Rwandans were killed and millions more were displaced.
Hostilities between the Hutus and the two seas go back
decades before the Rwandan genocide. During the First World War,
Germany lost possession of Rewanda Urundi as the colony was known.
(01:32):
Rewanda Urundi then became a protectorate governed by Belgium. During
this colonial era, the Germans and the Belgians disrupted the
traditional relationship between the Hutus and the two Seas, which
allowed social mobility between the higher status tooth Sees and
the lower status Hutus. The Belgians began issuing identity cards
(01:53):
to people, labeling them by their ethnic group, and the
Belgians treated the two Seats like their favorite child, giving
them access to Western style education and using them to
enforce Belgian rule. But by the late nineteen fifties, the
Hutu political movement had gained ground. The Party for the
Emancipation of the Hutus formed, and the Hutus put out
(02:15):
a manifesto calling for more representation considering their majority status.
In November nineteen fifty nine, the Hutus rebelled against the
Belgians and Twotsies, killing hundreds and causing thousands to flee
to nearby countries. Over the next few years, the twot
Sies lost power while the Hutus gained it. Intentions as
(02:38):
well as ethnic violence increased. By the time Rwanda separated
it from Burundi and gained its independence from Belgium in
nineteen sixty two, hundreds of thousands of twosies have fled
to escape the ethnic conflict. With this newly instated Hutu
president and the Jutu government, the violence against twosies escalated.
(03:00):
On the other hand, tootsie refugees began to target and
attack the Hutu government and sadly that cycle continued with
twoth sees attacking Hutus to regain power, Hutus attacking and
retaliation for the tooth sees retaliatory violence, and more refugees
leaving the country for places like Burundi, Zaire which is
(03:23):
now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In the late nineteen eighties, the Rwandan Patriotic Front are
RPF formed. It was made of mostly Toothsie refugees, but
it did include some Hutus. In nineteen ninety, after the
RPF invaded Rewanda from Uganda, a civil war broke out.
(03:48):
The Rwandan army was training civilian militias. Hutu President juvenal
Habi ab Rimana and the RPF president signed a power
sharing accord, and the United Nations was sent to Rwanda
to monitor the peace agreement. But things weren't getting better.
The president stalled on creating a power sharing government and
(04:09):
officials efforts for peace were subverted by Hutu extremists bent
on killing Twotsies and moderate Hutus. By ninety four, there
were more than seven million people in Rwanda, which broken
down into ethnic groups, was about eighty five percent Hutu,
fourteen percent Tootsie and one percent Ta the ti Are
(04:29):
Pygmy people. On April six, n a plane carrying President
Habiar Rimana, seven staffers and three crew members was shot
down near the Keigali airport. It's not clear who shot
down the plane. Some people say leaders of the Rwandan
Patriotic Front are to blame, while others say who to
(04:50):
extremists were responsible. Regardless, this attack set off the genocide
of Tootsies and moderate Hutus that began. The next day,
radio broadcast blasted propaganda against the tut Sees. The Prime
Minister and ten of her peacekeepers were murdered. Belgian troops
were withdrawn soon after the massacre. Hundreds of thousands of
(05:12):
women were raped and hundreds of thousands were murdered and May,
the RPF took over the presidential palace and the genocide
ended in July when the RPF gained control of the country.
The First and Second Congo Wars developed in the aftermath
of the genocide. Trials for genocide suspects began in nineteen
(05:34):
and a local court system was established to address the
backlog of cases. The court system was eventually closed after
issues with this operation were raised, and the U N Peacekeepers,
us UK, Belgium, France and the rest of the international
community have been accused of not doing enough to stop
the genocide. There are hundreds of thousands of survivors and
(05:58):
many organizations have warmed to support them. The United Nations
named April seven the International Day of Reflection on the
n Rwanda Genocide. I'm Eaves Jeff Coote and hopefully you
know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
We love it if you left us a comment on Twitter,
(06:20):
Instagram or Facebook. At T d I h C Podcast,
thanks for showing up. We'll meet here again tomorrow. Hello,
(06:46):
I'm Eves and welcome to the Same History class of
podcast that flips through the book of history and tears
out a single page. The day was April seventh, nineteen
sixty three. The Yugoslav Parliament approved a new constitution and
(07:10):
Tito was proclaimed president for life of the newly renamed
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Tito was born Josip Bros
in Croatia. He took the name Tito later in life.
During World War One, he served in the Austro Hungarian
Army and he was in a prisoner of war camp
for a while after being captured by the Russians. He
(07:33):
later joined the Bolshevik Red Guards during the Russian Civil War.
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed in
nineteen eighteen. It included Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and most
of Croatian and Slovenia. In nineteen nine, it officially became
known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In nineteen Tito returned
(07:56):
to Croatia, which was then part of the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes. He soon became involved with the Communist
Party of Yugoslavia. In ninety eight, while he was in Zagreb,
he was sentenced to five years in prison for communist activities.
He was released in March of nineteen thirty four. By
nineteen thirty seven, he was appointed Secretary General of the
(08:19):
Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Despite the fact that Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin had been purging members of the Communist Party
of Yugoslavia, Tito rebuilt the Communist Party of Yugoslavia during
World War Two. It became a powerful political and military organization.
In nineteen forty one, the Axis Powers occupied and partitioned Yugoslavia,
(08:43):
Tito ordered the Communist Party to begin guerilla activity against
Axis forces. The resistance that he organized was called the
National Liberation Partisan Detachments, also known as the Partisans, but
civil war soon broke out between the Partisans, the Serbian
royalists known as the Chechniques, and the pro fascist Eustasia.
(09:05):
Despite this, by late nineteen forty one, the resistance movement
had liberated nearly half the country. By nineteen three, the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia's membership was at two hundred and
fifty thousand people. The allies chose to support the Partisans
rather than Yugoslavia's King Peter the Second. Tito's followers established
(09:27):
a communist government known as the National Liberation Committee, and
Tito was elected its president and field Marshal. In nineteen
forty five, Tito declared that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
had replaced the monarchy as the government of the country,
and he created a communist regime for Yugoslavia modeled after
(09:47):
the Soviet Union. From nineteen forty five to nineteen fifty three,
Tito acted as Prime Minister and Minister of Defense in
the government. He enacted a dictatorship that used the secret
Police force to remove opposition, and he declared a five
year plan to industrialize Yugoslavia, though he delayed collectivizing agriculture
(10:08):
because he thought that peasants may lead an uprising that
would cause mass starvation. And Tito also put into effect
a constitution that divided Yugoslavia into six republics plus the
regions of Kosovo and Voivodina. In addition to this, Tito
pursued an anti Western foreign policy. Tito faced serious conflicts
(10:31):
with Stalin, who expelled Yugoslavia from the International Association of
Communist Parties in ninety eight. He even ordered Tito's assassination,
but Tito had the support of the Yugoslav people, the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and the West. He soon began
to break up the central authority of the country's government
(10:51):
and economy and moved away from communist policies. He established
workers councils, transferred authority from the national government to local ones,
established new legal imprison systems, and started arresting fewer people
for political reasons. Tina was named President of Yugoslavia in
nineteen fifty three. A decade later, on April seventh, nineteen
(11:14):
sixty three, he was proclaimed president for life. He ruled
until his death in May of nineteen eighty. He was
replaced by a collective presidency. Tita's presidency was viewed as authoritarian,
and he repressed and purged his political opponents, but Yugoslavia
under his rule was considered the most liberal communist state
(11:34):
in Europe. Though he had overwhelming support in Yugoslavia and
other countries around the world, he left Yugoslavia with a
lot of overseas debt and growing ethnic tensions. I'm each
death Coat and hopefully you know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. Feel free to tell
me something new you learned about history by sending me
(11:57):
an email at this day at i heeart Media dot com.
You're also welcome to leave us a message on social
media on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. At t d i
h C podcast, thanks as always for listening to the show,
and we'll see you again tomorrow. For more podcasts from
(12:25):
I Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, y'all, Eve's here. We're doubling up today with two
events in history on with the show content warning. Today's
episode is about genocide and it contains mention of murder
and rape. Hi again, Welcome to this day in History
class where history waits for no One. The day was
(00:26):
April seven. The Rwandan armed forces and Hutu militia groups
called the Interra Homway and the Imposa Mugambi set up
rope blocks and went around to houses, killing tooth Seeds
and moderate Hutu politicians. The Hutus were the ethnic majority
in Rwanda and the tooth Seeds were the ethnic minority.
(00:48):
Tensions between the ethnic groups have been brewing for decades
after they were stirred by Belgian rule during Rwanda's colonial period.
That conflict came to a head in April nineteen ninety four,
when the Rwandan military responded to the killing of the
Rewandan and Burundi presidents with months of brutal murder. The
(01:09):
genocide would last one hundred days into July. Somewhere around
eight hundred thousand Rwandans were killed and millions more were displaced.
Hostilities between the Hutus and the two seas go back
decades before the Rwandan genocide. During the First World War,
Germany lost possession of Rewanda Urundi as the colony was known.
(01:32):
Rewanda Urundi then became a protectorate governed by Belgium. During
this colonial era, the Germans and the Belgians disrupted the
traditional relationship between the Hutus and the two Seas, which
allowed social mobility between the higher status tooth Sees and
the lower status Hutus. The Belgians began issuing identity cards
(01:53):
to people, labeling them by their ethnic group, and the
Belgians treated the two Seats like their favorite child, giving
them access to Western style education and using them to
enforce Belgian rule. But by the late nineteen fifties, the
Hutu political movement had gained ground. The Party for the
Emancipation of the Hutus formed, and the Hutus put out
(02:15):
a manifesto calling for more representation considering their majority status.
In November nineteen fifty nine, the Hutus rebelled against the
Belgians and Twotsies, killing hundreds and causing thousands to flee
to nearby countries. Over the next few years, the twot
Sies lost power while the Hutus gained it. Intentions as
(02:38):
well as ethnic violence increased. By the time Rwanda separated
it from Burundi and gained its independence from Belgium in
nineteen sixty two, hundreds of thousands of twosies have fled
to escape the ethnic conflict. With this newly instated Hutu
president and the Jutu government, the violence against twosies escalated.
(03:00):
On the other hand, tootsie refugees began to target and
attack the Hutu government and sadly that cycle continued with
twoth sees attacking Hutus to regain power, Hutus attacking and
retaliation for the tooth sees retaliatory violence, and more refugees
leaving the country for places like Burundi, Zaire which is
(03:23):
now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In the late nineteen eighties, the Rwandan Patriotic Front are
RPF formed. It was made of mostly Toothsie refugees, but
it did include some Hutus. In nineteen ninety, after the
RPF invaded Rewanda from Uganda, a civil war broke out.
(03:48):
The Rwandan army was training civilian militias. Hutu President juvenal
Habi ab Rimana and the RPF president signed a power
sharing accord, and the United Nations was sent to Rwanda
to monitor the peace agreement. But things weren't getting better.
The president stalled on creating a power sharing government and
(04:09):
officials efforts for peace were subverted by Hutu extremists bent
on killing Twotsies and moderate Hutus. By ninety four, there
were more than seven million people in Rwanda, which broken
down into ethnic groups, was about eighty five percent Hutu,
fourteen percent Tootsie and one percent Ta the ti Are
(04:29):
Pygmy people. On April six, n a plane carrying President
Habiar Rimana, seven staffers and three crew members was shot
down near the Keigali airport. It's not clear who shot
down the plane. Some people say leaders of the Rwandan
Patriotic Front are to blame, while others say who to
(04:50):
extremists were responsible. Regardless, this attack set off the genocide
of Tootsies and moderate Hutus that began. The next day,
radio broadcast blasted propaganda against the tut Sees. The Prime
Minister and ten of her peacekeepers were murdered. Belgian troops
were withdrawn soon after the massacre. Hundreds of thousands of
(05:12):
women were raped and hundreds of thousands were murdered and May,
the RPF took over the presidential palace and the genocide
ended in July when the RPF gained control of the country.
The First and Second Congo Wars developed in the aftermath
of the genocide. Trials for genocide suspects began in nineteen
(05:34):
and a local court system was established to address the
backlog of cases. The court system was eventually closed after
issues with this operation were raised, and the U N Peacekeepers,
us UK, Belgium, France and the rest of the international
community have been accused of not doing enough to stop
the genocide. There are hundreds of thousands of survivors and
(05:58):
many organizations have warmed to support them. The United Nations
named April seven the International Day of Reflection on the
n Rwanda Genocide. I'm Eaves Jeff Coote and hopefully you
know a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
We love it if you left us a comment on Twitter,
(06:20):
Instagram or Facebook. At T d I h C Podcast,
thanks for showing up. We'll meet here again tomorrow. Hello,
(06:46):
I'm Eves and welcome to the Same History class of
podcast that flips through the book of history and tears
out a single page. The day was April seventh, nineteen
sixty three. The Yugoslav Parliament approved a new constitution and
(07:10):
Tito was proclaimed president for life of the newly renamed
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Tito was born Josip Bros
in Croatia. He took the name Tito later in life.
During World War One, he served in the Austro Hungarian
Army and he was in a prisoner of war camp
for a while after being captured by the Russians. He
(07:33):
later joined the Bolshevik Red Guards during the Russian Civil War.
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed in
nineteen eighteen. It included Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and most
of Croatian and Slovenia. In nineteen nine, it officially became
known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In nineteen Tito returned
(07:56):
to Croatia, which was then part of the Kingdom of Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes. He soon became involved with the Communist
Party of Yugoslavia. In ninety eight, while he was in Zagreb,
he was sentenced to five years in prison for communist activities.
He was released in March of nineteen thirty four. By
nineteen thirty seven, he was appointed Secretary General of the
(08:19):
Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Despite the fact that Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin had been purging members of the Communist Party
of Yugoslavia, Tito rebuilt the Communist Party of Yugoslavia during
World War Two. It became a powerful political and military organization.
In nineteen forty one, the Axis Powers occupied and partitioned Yugoslavia,
(08:43):
Tito ordered the Communist Party to begin guerilla activity against
Axis forces. The resistance that he organized was called the
National Liberation Partisan Detachments, also known as the Partisans, but
civil war soon broke out between the Partisans, the Serbian
royalists known as the Chechniques, and the pro fascist Eustasia.
(09:05):
Despite this, by late nineteen forty one, the resistance movement
had liberated nearly half the country. By nineteen three, the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia's membership was at two hundred and
fifty thousand people. The allies chose to support the Partisans
rather than Yugoslavia's King Peter the Second. Tito's followers established
(09:27):
a communist government known as the National Liberation Committee, and
Tito was elected its president and field Marshal. In nineteen
forty five, Tito declared that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
had replaced the monarchy as the government of the country,
and he created a communist regime for Yugoslavia modeled after
(09:47):
the Soviet Union. From nineteen forty five to nineteen fifty three,
Tito acted as Prime Minister and Minister of Defense in
the government. He enacted a dictatorship that used the secret
Police force to remove opposition, and he declared a five
year plan to industrialize Yugoslavia, though he delayed collectivizing agriculture
(10:08):
because he thought that peasants may lead an uprising that
would cause mass starvation. And Tito also put into effect
a constitution that divided Yugoslavia into six republics plus the
regions of Kosovo and Voivodina. In addition to this, Tito
pursued an anti Western foreign policy. Tito faced serious conflicts
(10:31):
with Stalin, who expelled Yugoslavia from the International Association of
Communist Parties in ninety eight. He even ordered Tito's assassination,
but Tito had the support of the Yugoslav people, the
Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and the West. He soon began
to break up the central authority of the country's government
(10:51):
and economy and moved away from communist policies. He established
workers councils, transferred authority from the national government to local ones,
established new legal imprison systems, and started arresting fewer people
for political reasons. Tina was named President of Yugoslavia in
nineteen fifty three. A decade later, on April seventh, nineteen
(11:14):
sixty three, he was proclaimed president for life. He ruled
until his death in May of nineteen eighty. He was
replaced by a collective presidency. Tita's presidency was viewed as authoritarian,
and he repressed and purged his political opponents, but Yugoslavia
under his rule was considered the most liberal communist state
(11:34):
in Europe. Though he had overwhelming support in Yugoslavia and
other countries around the world, he left Yugoslavia with a
lot of overseas debt and growing ethnic tensions. I'm each
death Coat and hopefully you know a little more about
history today than you did yesterday. Feel free to tell
me something new you learned about history by sending me
(11:57):
an email at this day at i heeart Media dot com.
You're also welcome to leave us a message on social
media on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. At t d i
h C podcast, thanks as always for listening to the show,
and we'll see you again tomorrow. For more podcasts from
(12:25):
I Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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