AP European History
After WWII, the international community was ready for a global peacekeeper to come in and fix everything. Now, that's obviously me overstating things, but it is important to note that the formation of the UN looks a lot like the world taking a second swing at the League of Nations. As part of this new United Nations, respect for self-determination was heavily underscored. Buuuuuuut, as colonial powers disembarked, Cold War heavyweights jumped in the ring and wrestled for spheres of political and economic influence. It's almost like the Cold War was a new new imperialsim. Show notes: In the episode's image, you see then vice-president Richard Nixon on a visit to the Kremlin in 1959. He is speaking with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. It has been alleged that they are having a quiet disagreement over whose tie is more fashionable. Who did that alleging, I don't know. Maybe me. I used imgflp to make the episode cover art. I recorded the outro using Groovepad. I record the audio using a Fifine K669B microphone. I edit the audio using OcenAudio. I drew the Rich Birds logo using a pencil. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The Cold War wasn't very cold. No, the Americans and Soviets never fought a direct conflict, but plenty of American and Soviet-backed soldiers fought and died in proxy wars. Plenty of Americans and Soviets themselves fought and died. Why didn't the two sides just duke it out Rocky and Drago style? Nuclear weapons, plain and simple. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Themes can be pretty complicated, and a complicated war like WWII is filled with them. Conflicts like Human v. Human... Human v. Society... Human v. Technology... and so many more animate the art inspired by this most terrible war. What does that art say? Well, it depends. Today I'm going to look at a few themes in some lesser-known WWII films: 2018's Overlord, 2008's Flame and Citron, and 2004's Downfall. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
WWI had been billed as the war to end war...the war to make the world safe for democracy. Those hopes were dashed as the world sunk into financial depression, fascists rose to power, and millions more people died. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Here is a brief reason you should read more...and watch more tv. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The New Imperialism as it is sometimes called was motivated by power politics and money. I think those motives were thinly masked by the "moral" call to "moralize" and Christianize. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The term socialism is so often misused that it feels almost meaningless. Socialism is not communism, but communism is a form of socialism. Socialism can be revolutionary, but it can also be evolutionary. How about some utopian socialism? What about social democracy? Is anarchism socialism? Is Social Security socialist? Is public education? The fire department? Universal healthcare? Where do we draw the line? A few years after WWII, the United States was gripped by the "Red Scare." Senator Joseph McCarthy made lists of alleged Communists hiding in plain sight. Of course, we know those lists were fictional. Senator McCarthy fell from grace. But why were we so scared in the first place? And why is Communism conflated with Socialism? And why is Socialism a pejorative in many households? https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/10/07/in-their-own-words-behind-americans-views-of-socialism-and-capitalism/pp_2019-10-07_socialism-capitalism_0-01/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
With vaccines in the news thanks to the mRNA breakthrough, I thought it would be a good time to talk about Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch. They didn't like each other very much, but both men made immense contributions to the development of the germ theory. Medical science has developed well beyond the work of these two men, but the world is still in their debt. Along the way, I am going to reference John Snow (not of GOT fame), Joseph Lister, Florence Nightingale, Ottoman medical practices, and Sub-Saharan variolation. War has cost the modern world millions of lives. Modern medicine has saved millions. It's important not to lose sight of that fact. Source Links: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/conversations/downloads/vacsafe-understand-color-office.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407399/ https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/mapping-disease-john-snow-and-cholera/ https://theconversation.com/florence-nightingale-a-pioneer-of-hand-washing-and-hygiene-for-health-134270 https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/publications/youraba/2020/youraba-april-2020/law-guides-legal-approach-to-pandemic/ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170303163208.htm#:~:text=Globally%2C%20the%20vaccines%20developed%20from,more%20than%2010%20million%20lives. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Who doesn't love when one word has multiple definitions? It makes things so sophisticated...so subtle...so...confusing. Of course, those different definitions are often significant. Am I talking about the tree's leaves or am I sad when the gardener leaves? Am I going to ship my dog off to obedience school or am I taking a ship to Puerta Vallarta? What about when a word has multiple meanings based on historical context? What about when that same word has a number of very specific variants? That's when you need to focus. You need to listen. You need to be on your guard. What is the actual topic of discussion? What word am I thinking about? I'm thinking about liberalism. 21st century American? 19th century European? Classical? Economic? Social? Words have very specific meanings, and when we conflate ideas, we create a mess. Make sure you are able to define exactly what you mean and make sure you don't allow others to trick you by playing on their knowledge of multiple meanings. Words are one of the greatest human inventions, like many tools, they can be used as a weapon as well. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
In the last episode of 2020, I read you an essay I wrote. I tell you how to deal with a primary source. I acknowledge that even for a survey class, we are asked to cover A LOT. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Napoleon Bonaparte was the Corsican son of a minor noble who became an emperor. He was at once a man of the enlightenment and a ruthless despot. You might even call him an enlightened despot. He Tolerated different religions, Reformed laws, ruled with Absolute authority, and Patronized the arts (if you consider pillaging national treasures of conquered lands patronage). Napoleon was born great, made great by circumstance, both, neither, something we haven't thought up yet... Honestly, the "Great Man" debate makes about as much sense to me as the human nature debate. For my money, "both" is the horse I'm backing. Also, that horse doesn't have to be a man in my estimation...but the metaphors are starting to mix and I'm going to stop typing before this description gallops away from me. Hee hee. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
How society: deters, investigates, prosecutes, and punishes crime is one of the most important sets of policies a government will enact. At its core, the decisions a government makes regarding criminal justice are meant to protect its citizens. For too long society was marred by an arbitrary administration of justice. In fact, society grapples with these issues to this day. Mass incarceration and racial inequity spark protest movements, and prosecutorial decisions to seek (or not seek) the death penalty haunt politicians. Cesare Beccaria's seminal work On Crimes and Punishments remains staggeringly relevant over 250 years later. If I were to assign one book for this course, Beccaria's masterpiece would be the one. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The man responsible for arguably the most important invention in modern history was a terrible businessman. He was taken advantage of by "partners" and left basically penniless. So, maybe there is something to this whole uomo universale thing. If Gutenberg was as savvy as he was inventive, maybe his great, great, great...great...great ancestors would be rich. Maybe they are, but not because he gave them any money though. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
I compare the Thirty Years' War and the English Civil War. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
When I hear the word witch-hunt, I immediately think of Salem in the 1690s. But this hysteria wasn't confined to the North American English colonies. Europe experienced similar episodes of fear and paranoia. It's easy to view those sinking into the mire of fear, manipulation, and conjecture with derision. After all, authorities in Salem arrested a five-year-old girl named Dorothy Good for witchcraft. Can you imagine the tweets if that happened today? Try to fight the impulse to judge (or judge quietly). A variety of factors went into these witch hunts. And in case you were wondering, Dorothy Good was released without trial or punishment. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Why did Europeans want to explore? Why were the Portuguese so successful? What on earth is mercantilism? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
In this BONUS episode I point out a couple of pitfalls. First, the lands were already inhabited. Second, Europeans had already made it to North America. I promise you, someone will call you out if you don't take these two bullet points into account. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Whether you consider it a counter-reformation or an internal decision to clean house, the Catholic Church (as we can now call it) is making moves in the 16th Century. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Martin Luther is a unique figure in history. Born into what could be described as the burgeoning middle class, Martin Luther got the best education money could buy. Then he had a vision...of sorts. Hans Luther's promising young lawyer son became a monk, then a revolutionary, and then...a dad. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
When I think if the Renaissance, I think of the great painters. I think of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. I think of Leonardo's Mona Lisa. I think of Machiavelli, the Medicis, Florence! I don't think of trade. I don't think of printing. I don't think of corruption. But I should. Trade, printing, and corruption. It could be the 21st century if we changed "printing" to "social media." In this opening episode of Season 3, I'm going to focus my efforts on the BIG 3. That's what I'm calling them. You'll see why. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Note: the exception is not the rule. Just because Elizabeth I was queen doesn't mean women were being treated well. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
This episode goes into the conflict between religion and science. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The broad brushstrokes of the European economy and the development of labor --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
From peasants to the bourgeoisie to the nuclear family to the... --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
My attempt to connect the dots on the timeline a bit. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
End of Season 1 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Just the beginning...and a preview of things to come. To health and happiness. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
A brief look. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
The course of the war in Europe --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Brief overview of the Nazi rise. Also some info on the Spanish Civil War. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
Just like the title says...plus, some poetry! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
An overview of the powder keg that is Europe in the early 20th century. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
What do we do about the legacy of colonialism? --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
I go over the government/economy matrix and briefly talk about the Second Industrial Revolution. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
I try to explain the positive and negative aspects of nationalism. I talk about Italy, France, Germany, and a few others. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
I talk about nationalism, OVB, the Franco-Prussian War, and avoiding the Nazi comparison. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
This is an overview of the conservative reaction against the ideas and chaos of the French Revolution.
This podcast serves as a brief overview of the Industrial Revolution. Key ideas covered: reasons why Great Britain industrialized first, why continental Europe lagged behind, 19th century mechanization related to 21st century automation, famine in India and Ireland.
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