I think that if you want to understand the world we live in today, it helps to understand the important events of history. In this series, we are going to look at major events, people, documents, places, books, and ideas that have shaped history, and thu
I'm going to make a quick confession to you here: The Battle of Britain is one of my three favorite parts of all of human history. The other two would be the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus, and then the American Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and the Constitution, all of that right as the US was being founded. And then this, the Battle of Britain. Why is this one one of my favorites periods? Well, it's got it all: a clear villain, a heroic underdog who fights valiantly, a moment when all seems lost, and then a sudden change of fortunes as the tide begins to turn. The battle of Helm's Deep, or the Battle of Minas Tirith - this has the same narrative arc. Plus, it has some of the most amazing airplanes that ever flew, which I will get to in a bit. The American war for Independence was cool, but they didn't have Spitfires or Messerschmitts. Neither did Minas Tirith. I guess Mordor did have the Nazgul on their flying lizards, but that's not quite the same. Anyway, this was one of those crucial turning points in history, where if it had gone differently, even by a small bit, our modern world would not be the same. It really was a pretty close shave. email: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
You might have noticed that I kind of used the same title twice in a row, which might seem like kind of lazy writing, but I really couldn't think of a better title to describe what is about to happen. Since Germany had such easy success in the blitzkrieg of Poland, Hitler decide that they could do it to France too. And basically, that's exactly what they do. In fact, they were maybe even more successful in France. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Ok, here we are, poised right on the edge of World War II. I'm going to try to not bog down as much as I did on the US Civil War, but I still have 9 episodes planned to cover World War II. Is that bogging down? I can't imagine doing it in less episodes than that. Too much interesting and important stuff is about to happen. Also, what happens during the war, including who wins which battles, who gains and loses territory, and what happens to governments during and after the war will make a big difference in our modern world. So to set the stage for all that happens geopolitically after the war, we have to look pretty closely at what happens during the war. Plus, World War II was kind of the last time that the world made any sense, and we'll need to talk about that at some point. Anyway, at the end of our last episode, we left about 106 German divisions poised along the Polish border. That's not an ominous sign, is it?Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well here we are, about to introduce one of history's most notorious villains. I'm talking about Adolf Hitler. He really is remembered as one of the worst, most dangerous people of all time. If you took a survey and asked most people ‘Who is the worst person who ever lived?' I bet Hitler would be the runaway winner. Also, if you asked people, ‘Who had the worst mustache of all time?' Yeah, Hitler, again. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
This episode, we're going to talk about the great depression. Last episode, we talked about the stock market crash of 1929, and mentioned that it was one of the causes of the Great Depression. The Great Depression left a very strong mark on the people who lived through it. We're getting to the point in history where a lot of us know people who have lived through the events that we're talking about. My grandparents, for example, lived through the Great Depression. My parents were born during it. If you know someone who lived through it, they will have very vivid memories of how hard things were for most people during that time. It shaped people's impressions of life, government, their country, and what mattered in life more than just about any other event of their lives. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
The 1920's was a very prosperous time for America, and for much of the world. As I mentioned last episode, during the 20's the American economy became the largest in the world. Yet postwar prosperity was precarious. Much of the American boom was a speculative affair. Fueled by optimism, and fueled by borrowing. Customers were urged to buy on credit or to borrow from the banks, and thus the banks earned large profits. The stock market was riding high. But at any sign of a credit squeeze or a loss of confidence, everything was likely to collapse. Demand would fall, goods would pile up, and prices would plummet. This was precisely what happened on “Black Thursday,” October 24, 1929, the day of the Wall Street crash. I'll talk about that in a minute, but first, I need to talk about one of the weirder things about the 1920's - prohibition. First of all, it's a weird word. Prohibition. Obviously, it refers to prohibiting something, but why did it come to be associated only with the prohibiting of making or selling alcohol? And why did America, a freedom-loving place, decide to outlaw AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, this one particular thing? We've never had an amendment that outlawed prostitution, or drugs, or corrupt politicians, or driving at night in traffic with your high beams on, though I might support that one. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, the war to end all wars was over. After a period after several months, the surviving soldiers began to return home. The Treaty of Versailles was signed, and Europe began to try to rebuild and re-organize. The political and social landscape of Europe was very different after the war. The Austro-Hungarian empire was gone, as was the Ottoman Empire. Lots of lands and peoples had seen their geographical boundaries re-drawn, some of which were logical, and some of which ended up causing more trouble down the road.Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
We've been here on World War I for seven episodes, if you count the 2 on the Russian and Soviet revolutions. See? I'm getting more concise. It took me 10 episodes to get through the American Civil War. This time, I tried to not get quite so bogged down in explaining the battles, even though that is one of the parts that is most interesting to me personally. But now I get to explain a few last battles in World War I, and then some about how WWI shaped our modern world. And the big battle that is going to really end the war is the German offensive of the spring of 1918. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, last episode, we left the chaos of the eastern front and the founding of the new country of the Soviet Union. In this episode, we're going back to France and Belgium and we're going to look at the turning of the tide on the Western Front. And do you know what turned the tide? Yep, several million farm boys from the United States. This isn't only going to change the war, it's going to change America's perception of itself. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
здравствуйте, еще раз, товарищи. добро пожаловать в советский союзFor Lenin, transforming a society from near feudalism to communism was a tall order. To do that, you have to change a capitalistic economy into a centrally controlled economy. You have to destroy private ownership of land, homes, and capital. You have to destroy institutions that supported the capitalist system, like schools, universities, and government offices. You have take full control of the media, and suppress any dissenting voices. You have to control the police, the jails, the judicial system, and the armed forces. It's a lot like what the democrats were trying to do under Joe Biden. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
здравствуйте, товарищи. добро пожаловать в русскую революцию.One of the weirder and more catastrophic side effects of the First World War was what happened to Imperial Russia. We're about to see not just one but two Russian Revolutions, and then several years of civil war within Russia, that is going to leave the whole country in shambles for many years to come, and is going to set up some of animosity that will lead to World War II, the Chinese Communist revolution, the Cold War, the Space Race, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. But before we get to all that, things are going to get really bad in Russia itself.And before I get to what I have to say about the Russian Revolution, I need to say that there's really no way that you can cover something as complex as the Russian Revolution in one 20 minute podcast, so I've broken this up into two revolutions, and two episodes. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
One of the unique aspects of World War I was simply the huge scale of the battles, with numbers of soldiers, sailors, and even airmen that the world had not seen in a long time. Some of the Roman battles back in the day involved over 100,000 men on each side. Way back in episode 8, on the Persian Wars, I mentioned that the Persian army under King Xerxes might have had as many as a million men. But World War I dwarfed even this. There were more than 5 million men on each side over the course of the war, and that was only on the western front, not counting the several million more involved on the eastern front and in other parts of the world. We're going to look at several of these big battles today, including the bloodiest one of the war, the Battle of the Somme, which is going to feature the single bloodiest day of the war, and is one of the deadliest battles in human history. In fact, if it wasn't for a couple of battles between Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II, the Battle of the Somme would be the deadliest, bloodiest battle in all of human history. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
World War I was a very different war than all the other wars fought before it. There main reason for this was that military technology had advanced incredibly quickly in the previous 50 years, as had manufacturing technology and capability. Because of the advances of the industrial revolution, factories could now turn out rifles and cannons by the thousands, and bullets and shells by the hundreds of thousands. And the weapons themselves could fire farther and more rapidly, and more accurately than ever before. Even though the technology of warfare had advanced dramatically, the strategy and tactics had not. We talked a bit about this in the episodes on the American civil war, but World War I took it to a whole new level. The real upshot of the changes in technology meant that an army that was well dug-in to a defensive position had a huge advantage over an army that was trying to attack them. Men in defensive positions were relatively safe, but men advancing over open fields to attack the defensive positions were incredibly vulnerable to artillery, machine guns, and even just plain rifle fire. The military leaders of WWI knew this, but they didn't really take it to heart until pretty late in the war. So we're about to go into about 4 straight years of brutal trench warfare on the western front. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Last episode, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian empire, all of Europe began to mobilize their armies, and move them to the borders of the countries around them. If you are the leader of a country, and your neighbor begins to mobilize an army right at your borders, what do you do? Well, of course you let them in and put them up in nice hotels in your big cities, and give them all free benefits and eventually the right to vote, right? Yes, of course you do. No, when your neighbor sends an army to your borders, you put your army at the border as well, to protect your citizens and your country. And that's what was happening all over Europe. And when two armies, who are trained to fight, are facing off against each other, it's pretty likely that they are going to fight. That's what they are there for. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
You know, we had an assassination last episode, too, didn't we? Well, this one is going to cause a lot more difficulty for the world, especially for Europe. Things are about to get really crazy. The first 45 years of the 1900's were just an amazing, crazy time to be alive. Someone born in 1900 would have been alive for two world wars, the Great Depression, the invention of nuclear weapons, the cold war, and if they had lived to be 70 years old, they would have seen the first moon landing. What an amazing time to be alive. If you survived.But before we can get to all that, we have to talk about a couple of other things first, including the tensions that are about to cause several huge wars. We need to talk about the crazy web of alliances that crisscrossed Europe that are going to lead to the first world war. But even before that, we have to talk about one of the most important inventions in all of human history. No, I'm not talking about the invention of podcasting, not yet anyway. I'm talking about - the Wright Brothers, human flight, and the invention of the airplane. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, welcome to the 20th Century! I'm sure a fair number of those of you who are listening to this were born in the 20th Century, as I was, and the rest of you were born in the 21st century. I know I've usually tried to refer to the centuries by their actual numbers, like the ‘1900's,' but now that we are entering the century that we've all lived in, I think it also makes sense to use the common designations that we often hear in the media today. So right now, we are in the 21st century, but many of us also have lived in the 20th century. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
And here we are! Episode 100!!! It's only taken us 100 episodes to cover the first 12,000 or so years of human history. I have a tentative plan to get us all the way to, well, today. It's going to take about 40 or so more episodes. Since this is our 100th episode, I thought I'd make this a sort of special episode, and instead of covering new ground, we could take a quick look back at everything that has happened so far. Well, not really everything, but kind of the big highlights. And maybe a quick peek at what we're going to cover from here.
Wow, episode 99. I like the symmetry of having episode 99 be a summary of the world in 1899. Last episode, we looked at the changes in technology, science, and worldview that occurred in the 1800's, and like I said, there was an enormous amount of change from 1800 to 1899. This episode, I want to summarize all the big stuff that happened in the 1800's, and give us a kind of starting point for the world as it goes into the 20th century. Or, as I prefer to call it, the 1900's. I want to sort of set the stage for all the things that are about to happen in the early 1900's.But first, let's do some summarizing of what happened in the 1800's. I'm going to go kind of regionally, by continent, starting with North America. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, look at that. We're finally coming to the end of the 1800's! Only two more episodes, then we'll be in the 1900's. It only took us 30 episodes to cover that 100 year period. I honestly have no idea how long it will take to cover the 1900's, as I haven't mapped that out yet. Guess I ought to get started on that, huh. Next episode, I'll review some of the history of the 1800's, and take an overall look at how the events of the 1800's shaped our modern world, but I felt like I needed to have a special episode just on the massive change in worldview that happened, particularly over the last half of the 1800's. That change in worldview was the result of the western world moving from what could be called a mostly Christian worldview to the world embracing what we now call Modernism. I'll get into a bit of a definition of that in a minute, but first, I want to make the point that this change of worldview is huge. It's a seismic shift of worldviews, perhaps the biggest shift in all of human history. The only other comparable shifts were the shift of the Roman Empire from paganism to Christianity, or maybe also the Middle Eastern and African shift from paganism to Islam. Those were big shifts, though they both took longer, and the process was perhaps a bit slower than the shift to modernism. And part of the story of modernism is exactly that - the pace of change. Things change over time, but in the modern era, things change much more quickly. It's harder for any individual person to adapt, because things are changing so much faster.
Last episode we talked about the robber barons, and the changes in technology and manufacturing that they exploited to become phenomenally rich. Part of that growth of riches was due to the expansion of the US as an exporter of stuff to the world. And as part of that expansion, the United States began to see itself as a legitimate world power, and began to seek to enforce its will on other countries. This had started back in Episode 73, with the Monroe Doctrine, as President James Monroe, the 5th President of the United States, said, in 1816, that the US would protect South and Central America from the interference of European powers. Now, in the late 1800's, the United States had begun to build its own battleships and other steam-powered naval vessels, and for the first time, the United States really began to project force upon other countries in the western hemisphere. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Last episode, we looked at the very last chance the south had to win the war outright. After Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the south's only chance was the election of 1864, and the hope that maybe the north would elect a new, anti-war government that would just let the confederate states go. But the federal government in Washington knew that risk too, and they needed to make sure that it looked like the north was clearly close to winning the war, so that Lincoln and the republicans would be re-elected. Vicksburg and Gettysburg had ended in early July of 1863. In November of 1863, Grant and Sherman won an important battle in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which gave the Union control of almost all of Tennessee, and opened up a pathway into Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
The dystopian surveillance state we live in today has been called by some people ‘Late-stage capitalism,' and is perhaps the inevitable result of the capitalist system. When the very rich gain so much money that they can control all the media, all the politicians, and have zero accountability for their actions, everyone else in the world suffers the loss of liberty, privacy, and the loss of their voice in the political arena of their cities, states, and country. We're in that stage now, but guess what? This isn't the first time capitalism has gone down this path. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, we talked last episode about the expansion of the British Empire during the 1800's, but there were a lot of other countries that were trying to build their empires as well. No one is going to be as good at it as the British, but a lot of other countries did try to get in on the imperialism action. So I should maybe take a moment to explain what imperialism is, first. Most countries have something like natural borders. Or there are sort of geographic limits to where people from one language or ethnic group live. For example, most of the Germans live in Germany. If you go west a bit from where the Germans live, you get to a whole other group of people, the Dutch. Or southwest, you get the French. Different languages, different tribal backgrounds, different cultures. Imperialism is the idea that the people in one ethnic or language group should basically attack and conquer some other group in another area, and take over that area and make it their own, part of their empire. So when you think about Napoleon, who called himself an emperor - it was his goal to take over most of Europe and make it all kind of French. Or at least, controlled by the French. That would mean that the German people would be controlled by the French, and the Polish people would be controlled by the French, and the Russian people, - well, we know how that turned out. It didn't end well for Napoleon. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
When we last looked at the British Empire, 15 !! Episodes ago, Queen Victoria was on the throne. And she still is. I mean, not today, today it's King Charles and his weird red official portrait, but I mean Victoria is still queen at this point in our timeline. We did kind of spend a lot of episodes focusing on the American Civil War, but we really didn't cover much time. I mean, it's only 1877 or so. This brings up an important topic - who did the British support during the Civil War? Well, technically, neither side. They had their own Empire to look out for.
When Lincoln died, Andrew Johnson became the President. Johnson was from the south, having been born in North Carolina. When he was 17, his family moved to Tennessee, which is where he grew up. He joined the Democratic Party, being a believer in states' rights, and served as a US Congressman, then the Governor of Tennessee, then a US Senator. He was the US Senator from Tennessee when Tennessee seceded from the Union, but he opposed secession, and he alone of all the southern senators stayed at his post in the US Senate. Once Tennessee was completely under Union control, Lincoln appointed him the military governor of the state. So as a sort of southern democrat, he was an odd choice for VP, in some ways, but Lincoln thought that it would help carry the northern democrats who were in favor of continuing the war. Luckily for Lincoln and Johnson, Sherman had captured Atlanta in September, just before the November elections, and so public support for Lincoln and the pro-war Republicans was strong. Adding Johnson ended up being helpful as well, as he took away votes from McClellan who had run as a Democrat. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, the Civil War is over. Mostly. The big battles are over, and though there are going to be a few more battles, everyone knows that the south has lost. The question on everyone's mind is, ‘What's going to happen now?' Is this going to be a smooth transition, or a rough one. Turns out, it's going to be kind of rough. And one of the reasons that it's going to be rough is what we are covering in this episode - Lincoln's assassination. What's also going to be rough is keeping this episode short, because besides history, my other favorite topic is conspiracy theories, and Lincoln's assassination is full of them. In fact, if I ever finish this podcast - this short walk - my next podcast will be on conspiracy theories, and I'll probably start right here, with the assassination of Lincoln. For the sake of brevity here, I'll stay to stick to the generally accepted story, which, oddly enough, includes a conspiracy as part of the story. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
At the same time that Sherman was burning his way through Georgia, but avoiding major battles, Grant was up in Virginia, trying to provoke major battles. In March of 1864, Lincoln had put Grant in charge of all the Union armies. General Meade was still the commander of the Army of the Potomac, so Grant took Meade and together they headed into Virginia to try to defeat Robert E Lee. Grant's goal was to draw Lee into a huge battle, and destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
The Union victory at the Battle of Antietam, well, the draw at Antietam that forced the South to stop their invasion of the north, was seen as a huge victory in the north, even though the actual battle that day was a draw. Both armies basically left the field shattered, but since McClellan didn't follow up and crush what was left of Lee's army, the Confederates were able to get back to Virginia, and reorganize. And guess what? They will be back. Lee's going to invade, again, soon, and that's going to take us to a battle that was even bigger and bloodier than Antietam. But first we need to head west, to the Mississippi, and back to our one Union general with a winning record, Ulysses S Grant. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
The war has been going pretty well for the south at the mid point of 1862, but the south has less men, less guns, less cannons, less of almost everything. Less manufacturing capacity, for sure. But time is sort of on the South's side. The longer that the Confederacy exists as its own country, the more people are likely to just accept it that way. And the longer the war drags on, especially if the North keeps losing, the more likely the Northern public is to stop supporting the war. Again, kind of like it was in the Revolutionary war, the South doesn't have to win, necessarily, it just needs to not lose, or at least not lose catastrophically, and it will keep existing. The North, on the other hand, needs to win decisively. And they haven't done that yet, they haven't really beaten and destroyed a Southern army, even though they won a few battles. The South is still fielding competent armies, and still continuing to exist. The North really needs a big win, to change the momentum of the war, and to change public opinion. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
At this point, in late 1861, the war is not going well for the Union. The early battles of the Civil War were mostly Union defeats, or at least draws where the Rebel army got away. There were not any definitive victories, that's for sure. And because of that, the Confederacy still existed. It was sort of like the American strategy during the Revolutionary war - as long as General Washington and the Continental Army still existed, the British hadn't won. Similarly, as long as the Confederacy still existed, the Union had not won. And this gave hope to the Confederates, and frustrated the people of the Union. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Last episode, we talked about the revolutions in Europe in 1848. The United States is about to have a revolution, I mean, another one, at least from a certain point of view. From another point of view, it's a rebellion. But we aren't quite there yet. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is accused by the Pharisees of driving out demons using the power of Satan. And Jesus, in a masterful double entendre, replies, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.' A house that is internally divided, he's saying, will not stand, it will collapse. Jesus' point was that if he was driving out demons by the power of Satan, well, that satanic house would be divided, and it would collapse. But he's also making the point that the house of Judaism, the house of the Pharisees, is also divided, as many people in Judea had begun to follow Jesus, but the Pharisees had not. The house was divided. And much later, in 1858, Abraham Lincoln, running for the US Senate, said, quoting Jesus, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”
Well, here we are, at war. Sort of. Shots were fired at Fort Sumter, but no one was actually killed in the battle. But now the battle lines are being drawn. Lincoln has asked for more volunteers, and the border states of Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and most importantly, Virginia, have chosen to leave the Union, rather than provide troops that would be used to attack the south. So both sides begin putting together armies. A lot of men volunteered initially, in part because they thought that this wasn't going to take long. Lincoln's request for new volunteers, for example, was only for a 90 day enlistment. People in both the North and the South felt like this war would be over in only a few months. Both sides overestimated their own battle prowess, and felt like they would be able to ‘whip' the other side pretty easily. But even more than that, both sides seriously underestimated the other side's resolve to fight. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, here we are, right at the brink of disaster. Things are about to get really busy. The United States is about to begin a unique, and very bloody, war. It's unique in that it was kind of the transitional war from old colonial warfare weapons and strategies, to new modern weapons and strategies. It's a bit of both, but it will start off, much more in the old colonial style. But it's going to end with ironclad ships, machine guns, revolvers, aerial reconnaissance, and total war. We'll get to all that as we go. Last episode, I mentioned that even before Lincoln was inaugurated as President, there were places in the South where there were forts that were controlled by troops that were federal, or Union troops. The US army had forts in several key places in the south. In some of those places, the commanders and troops were actually northerners, so their allegiance was to the federal government, rather than to the locals. We are going to get to the really well-known example of this, Fort Sumter, in a moment, but there were others as well. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, here we are, about to watch a house divide against itself. It's not going to be pretty. I have to say, as I start this episode, that I really feel like we're getting somewhere in this podcast. We're at the brink of war! I mean, we've been building up to the Civil War for a while now, and here we are, about to see the United States fall apart. The actual fighting is going to begin next episode, and I then think we are going to linger on the Civil War topic for a few episodes. I mean, we lingered on Rome for like 12 episodes, so there is a precedent. But don't worry, it won't be that long. Last episode, I talked about Kansas, John Brown, and the Dred Scott case, and now we are going to get to the events that really ended up dividing the country. And so we get to talk about John Brown. Again.Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Last episode, we looked at the massive flow of people that moved west along the Oregon Trail in the US, and I mentioned that it was part of one of the biggest migrations in history. Well, part of the reason that there were a lot of people migrating to the west was that there were a lot of people fleeing Europe during 1848. Why? Because there were revolutions happening all over Europe, and people were fleeing the tensions and fighting there. I'm going to let you in on a bit of a spoiler here: all the European revolutions of 1848 are going to fail. In fact, it's kind of a depressing story.Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
This past February, the San Francisco 49ers lost the super bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs, and that brings up the inevitable question, ‘What the heck is a 49er?' Why are they named that? I will explain shortly. You may also have wondered ‘why the heck do so many Mormons live in Salt Lake City, Utah?' Again, I will explain shortly. Before we get to San Francisco, we sort of have to go to Oregon, because, well, it's just a lot easier to get to than California, especially if you're in Missouri and planning on going there by foot. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Ok, just to be clear here, I'm talking about the Mexican-American war that happened from 1846 to 1848, not the current battle that is taking place on the US Mexico border. The US is evidently losing that current battle, which I guess is kind of payback for how easily the US won the war back in the 1840's. Evidently the cartels currently have a better strategy than the Republic of Mexico had back in the day.The Mexican American war, though it was short, does have a big impact on the world, in part because of the huge chunk of territory that America acquires, and in part because it was the beginning of the idea of civil disobedience. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, we're back in the United States after talking about Queen Victoria and the British Empire, and honestly, I think I'm going to have to spend more time talking about the British Empire and how it grew during the 63 years of her reign, because the British really did a lot of conquering and colonizing in that era. But that's going to have to wait for a bit, because for the next several episodes, I'm going to be looking closely at things going on in the United States. We have to take a look at the wild west, and the Oregon Trail, the California Gold Rush, and then we're going to bog down just a bit on the American Civil War and its aftermath, and I don't think we'll come back to jolly old England until after that. Because in the middle of the 1800's, until the late 1860's, there's just a whole lot of stuff happening in America that does, truly, shape our modern world. One of the biggest impacts that America had in the mid 1800's was on immigration. People from all over Europe took the giant risk of emigrating to America, lured by the offers of cheap or even free land in the open spaces of the American west. Between 1800 and 1850, more than 5 million people from Europe emigrated to America. Granted, that's only 2 years of immigration under the Biden administration, but back in the 1800's, it was a huge movement of humanity, something the world hadn't seen since maybe the massive migrations at the end of the Roman Empire. It was a lot of people moving to a new place in a short time. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Last year, in 2023, the longest reigning monarch in British history passed away. That monarch was Queen Elizabeth II, and she reigned for over 70 years. That, by the way, is the second longest of all the monarchs we have record of, that is, if you don't count the Sumerian List of Kings, which we mentioned back in Episode 2, which was about the Creation narratives of the ancient world. The longest reign was of Em-Men-Lu-Ana, who reigned for 43,200 years, according to the Sumerian list. According to modern history, the longest reign was Louis XIV of France, who reigned 72 years. But we digress.Elizabeth II was the longest reigning queen of Great Britain, but the second longest reign belonged to Alexandrina Victoria, who is better known as Queen Victoria. She reigned for 63 ½ years, from May 1, 1837 - January 22, 1901. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Sort of ironic that here we are talking about the time that Texas became an independent from Mexico, and became a republic, right at the same time that there's a big conflict right on the Texas - Mexico border, and Texas is apparently resisting the US federal government's efforts to open the border to whatever drug-smuggling and human trafficking invaders want to walk in. I'll have to come back to that in a bit. Anyway, this episode is about the Republic of Texas. Texas is not the only state to have been a Republic before it became a state. Vermont was also a republic, from 1777 to 1791, when it became the 14th state admitted to the Union. But no other country recognized Vermont as an independent country, however. Hawaii was also an independent country before it was annexed by the US government in 1898. Hawaii, by the way, did not want to be annexed. But we are talking about Texas. Texas has a bit of a unique history, and as you may have noticed, Texans are quite proud of it. So Texas gets its own episode, the only state that gets its own episode. Well, I guess you could count Athens, which was a city state, which got its own episode back in episode 9, but none of the other US states get their own episode. Sorry, Oklahoma. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
In this episode, we are going to talk about Andrew Jackson, who is one of the most interesting men to have ever been the President of the US. In fact, if it wasn't for his harsh treatment of the Indians, I mean, if he hadn't done that, he would be in the running for the most popular president ever. And by that, I don't just mean popular - there's a lot of things that he did as president that strongly agreed with the original principles that the US was founded on, principles that the Constitution tried to institutionalize, but that were often ignored by the growing federal bureaucracy in Washington. Which Jackson strongly opposed, which is why I guess I kind of like him. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
So I have to start this episode by saying the Congress of Vienna, well, it isn't a very dramatic moment. There's no battles, no great drama, no moment of someone standing on the Mons Sacre declaring that they will not rest until Europe has this treaty finished. It's not that kind of moment. But it a very important topic, and the agreements that will come out of the Congress of Vienna will shape Europe for the next 100 years or so. It was also responsible for temporarily shoring up the monarchies of Europe, but we'll get to that in a minute. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
In this episode, we are heading to South America, to take a look at the independence movement that started to happen there in the early 1800's. And the key person we need to talk about is Simón Bolívar. He is kind of the South American version of George Washington, although in a way that kind of sells Bolivar short a bit, because while Washington was one of the founding fathers of the US, Bolivar was THE founding father of south American independence. There are some other differences, too. Bolivar had a tendency to want to execute his enemies, that we don't really see with Washington. South American politics are different though, so Bolivar lived and worked in a much different environment. Most scholars still think the comparison is valid, and I agree. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
The new President, James Monroe, who was elected in 1816, did not want the European powers meddling in the New World, now that they were no longer distracted by Napoleon. So in Monroe's Inaugural Address, he said this: In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense.…With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States.He's basically making the point that the US had not, and would not, intrude on any of the European disputes between the European powers. He's also making the point that the US hasn't interfered with existing new world colonies, which, OK, that's not exactly true, but the US really hadn't yet done anything in central America or South America. We had interfered, a lot, with other colonies in North America, and some in the Caribbean, too. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
So by the beginnings of the 1800's, the United States was starting to solidify itself as an actual nation, and beginning to spread westward. But it was also beginning to spread eastward, in a way, because as an independent nation, it was developing a healthy trans-Atlantic trade network with the countries of western Europe and in the Mediterranean as well. This meant of course, ships sailing across the Atlantic ocean, carrying American cargo and American sailors. Our first problem with all this international commerce was the Barbary Pirates that I mentioned in episode 69, talking about Thomas Jefferson's first term as president. But scaring off the pirates wasn't the only problem for our shipping industry. Great Britain and France were fighting each other in the Napoleonic wars, and the US was trying to remain neutral. Part of the reason for being neutral was that the US wanted to try to keep trading with both Great Britain and also France, but neither of those countries wanted the US trading with the other. In other words, Great Britain didn't want the US trading with France, it only wanted the US to trade with themselves. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Ok, we are coming to the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. But it's not a clear transition this time. The Middle Ages basically ended with the beginning of the Enlightenment, though of course those two periods overlap as well. The new era we're moving into is known as the Industrial Age, which will last until our current era, the Digital age, which is also known as the age of idiots on Instagram. But throughout the Industrial age, Enlightenment values and ideas continued to dominate the worldview of most western societies. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Ok, I have to acknowledge at the start here that I should have probably put this episode about Franklin before Adams or Jefferson, surely before Napoleon, but I was trying to follow the general flow of history, and Franklin kind of transcends the flow, you know? He's undeniably one of the most important founding fathers, but at the same time, he doesn't ever become the lead actor on the stage in the same way that Washington, Adams, or Jefferson did. But Franklin played a role in all the big moments. As I mentioned in episode 64, there's only 6 people who signed both the Declaration and the Constitution, and the only one that really matters is - Benjamin Franklin. I mean, just to say that you signed both these docs makes you a kind of a big deal, but Benjamin Franklin, on top of that, is arguably one of the most famous and influential Americans, ever. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
I mentioned last episode that the only other Founding Father who could really rival John Adam's resume was Thomas Jefferson. And you could kind of say that everything Adams did, Jefferson did too, and did it, well, better. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Ok, we are back to the new world, after lingering in France for more than 50 years, so we've gone from France to America, and we've gone back in time just a bit, so we can catch up on what's been happening in America while France was enjoying a quick Reign of Terror. When we last left America, the United States had adopted its Constitution, and Washington was the President. John Adams is one of my favorite historical characters, in part because he just happened to have an absolutely awesome life at an absolutely awesome time to be alive, but also in part because he's kind of an anti-hero. He was brash, abrasive, deeply principled, a fantastic writer, very loyal to his friends, and extremely committed to duty. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, we're still in France. In this episode, we're going to talk about one of the most famous Frenchmen ever, Napoleon Bonaparte. But I should start by pointing out that Napoleon, who eventually will become the Emperor of France, was not actually, well, French. He was Corsican. He was born on the Island of Corsica, which is an island in the Mediterranean, between France and Italy. It's just north of the larger island of Sardinia. Ethnically, the Corsicans were mostly of Italian descent, rather than French. In fact, Napoleon's parents were descended from Italian nobility. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
Well, last episode I tried to summarize the French Revolution, and I realized that there is no way to cover it in just one podcast episode, so here we are in part 2. So in this episode, we're going to look at the part of the French Revolution that is known as the Reign of Terror, and how that will eventually lead to rise of a new emperor. Now, this is kind of obvious, but the American revolution didn't have a period known as the reign of terror. Like I said last episode, the two revolutions happened in very different environments, and they had very different enemies. The enemy of the American revolution was the British government, and the British army and navy. But the enemy of the French Revolution was, well, whichever Frenchman was against you, whether in policy or class or the type of pants you wore. So one of the reasons that the French Revolution has a reign of terror, is that different groups who held power were pretty ruthless about eliminating their enemies. Website: shortwalkthroughhistory.comemail: shortwalkthroughhistory@gmail.com
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
