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News items read by Laura Kennedy include: New study finds first physical evidence for Roman era human-animal gladiatorial combat in Europe (details) (details) Ancient DNA shows Punic people had virtually no Levantine ancestors (details) Ancient DNA shows Punic people had virtually no Levantine ancestors (details) Mongolia's earliest pottery is 2,000 years older than previously thought (details) (details)
Artificial Intelligence Podcast Key Takeaways The key to understanding Ancient Rome is to understand that it was obsessed with the pastThe Romans were hyper-competitive and cared deeply about their status amongst their peers; their public competitiveness drove themOne of the secrets to Rome's success was its ability to absorb and integrate non-Roman ideas “If we were to write a realistic textbook of the Roman Empire, nine out of ten chapters should be details of what it was like to be a small-time family farmer, because that's what 90% of the people in the ancient world did.” – Gregory AldreteRoman law is perhaps the most significant legacy the empire has left on the modern world; about 90% of the modern world uses some derivation of it The Great Contradiction: Rome's very success made almost every group within Roman society deeply unhappy and boiling with resentmentCaesar succeeded in taking over the state as one man, but he could not solve the problems of ruling Rome as one person and appearing to function as a king Augustus is one of the most significant individuals in Roman history given he was the one who founded the Roman Empire; he led the transition from the republic to empirePublic speaking was an essential aspect of life in Rome; those who were great orators, such as Cicero, had a great advantage in seeking power and influence While Gladiators were considered low status – because they performed for others – many of them became wildly popular in Roman culture The Five Good Emperors period (96-180 CE) of Roman history is often seen as a high point in Roman history The five emperors were Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus AureliusEventually, the Roman Empire became too large to effectively govern; a state of constant civil war ensured, which created a vicious downward cycle for the overall Roman economy that left it poorer and more vulnerable to fragmentationDifferent historians attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to different things, citing the barbarians, Christianity, climate, disease, and moral decline Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgGregory Aldrete is a historian specializing in ancient Rome and military history. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep443-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/gregory-aldrete-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Gregory's Website: https://gregorysaldrete.com/ Gregory's Books: https://amzn.to/3z6NiKC Gregory's Great Courses Plus: https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/gregory-s-aldrete Gregory's Audible: https://adbl.co/4e72oP0 SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex ExpressVPN: Fast & secure VPN. Go to https://expressvpn.com/lexpod OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (08:38) - Ancient world (22:34) - Three phases of Roman history (25:24) - Rome's expansion (37:04) - Punic wars (45:36) - Conquering Greece (47:14) - Scipio vs Hannibal (50:21) - Heavy infantry vs Cavalry (53:57) - Armor (1:06:48) - Alexander the Great (1:12:49) - Roman law (1:22:29) - Slavery (1:30:09) - Fall of the Roman Republic (1:33:54) - Julius Caesar (1:38:33) - Octavian's rise (1:48:25) - Cleopatra (1:56:47) - Augustus (2:24:57) - Religion in Rome (2:49:03) - Emperors (2:56:10) - Marcus Aurelius (3:02:21) - Taxes (3:05:29) - Fall of the Roman Empire (3:22:41) - Decisive battles (3:46:51) - Hope PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips
Gregory Aldrete is a historian specializing in ancient Rome and military history. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep443-sc See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/gregory-aldrete-transcript CONTACT LEX: Feedback - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey AMA - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama Hiring - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring Other - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact EPISODE LINKS: Gregory's Website: https://gregorysaldrete.com/ Gregory's Books: https://amzn.to/3z6NiKC Gregory's Great Courses Plus: https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/gregory-s-aldrete Gregory's Audible: https://adbl.co/4e72oP0 SPONSORS: To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts: LMNT: Zero-sugar electrolyte drink mix. Go to https://drinkLMNT.com/lex Shopify: Sell stuff online. Go to https://shopify.com/lex AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks. Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex BetterHelp: Online therapy and counseling. Go to https://betterhelp.com/lex ExpressVPN: Fast & secure VPN. Go to https://expressvpn.com/lexpod OUTLINE: (00:00) - Introduction (08:38) - Ancient world (22:34) - Three phases of Roman history (25:24) - Rome's expansion (37:04) - Punic wars (45:36) - Conquering Greece (47:14) - Scipio vs Hannibal (50:21) - Heavy infantry vs Cavalry (53:57) - Armor (1:06:48) - Alexander the Great (1:12:49) - Roman law (1:22:29) - Slavery (1:30:09) - Fall of the Roman Republic (1:33:54) - Julius Caesar (1:38:33) - Octavian's rise (1:48:25) - Cleopatra (1:56:47) - Augustus (2:24:57) - Religion in Rome (2:49:03) - Emperors (2:56:10) - Marcus Aurelius (3:02:21) - Taxes (3:05:29) - Fall of the Roman Empire (3:22:41) - Decisive battles (3:46:51) - Hope PODCAST LINKS: - Podcast Website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast - Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr - Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 - RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ - Podcast Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 - Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/lexclips
Zooming straight into your hearts! The Notes: Will is intense and constipated! This one is for the dyslexics! Ollie checks in to remind us about death! Growing coke nails for Summer Youth Theatre! The Legend of the Brown Brine lives on! Whale earwax! Perfect for cave lubrication! Bifocal gang! International I-70! Salting the earth at the McDonalds bathroom! Pew pew Punic! The Stuckey's of the Italian Alps! The Invention of peanuts! Lack of peanuts lost the Punic Wars! Circus peanuts and colonialism! What kind of peanuts was Sauron feeding those oliphants! George Washington Carver could never! Coconut can go fuck itself! Contact Us! Follow Us! Love Us! Email: doubledeucepod@gmail.com Twitter & Instagram: @doubledeucepod Facebook: www.facebook.com/DoubleDeucePod/ Patreon: patreon.com/DoubleDeucePod Also, please subscribe/rate/review/share us! We're on Apple, Android, Libsyn, Stitcher, Google, Spotify, Amazon, Radio.com, RadioPublic, pretty much anywhere they got podcasts, you can find the Deuce! Podcast logo art by Jason Keezer! Find his art online at Keezograms! Intro & Outro featuring Rob Schulte! Check out his many podcasts! Brought to you in part by sponsorship from Courtney Shipley, Official Superfans Stefan Rider and Amber Fraley, and listeners like you! Join a tier on our Patreon! Advertise with us! If you want that good, all-natural focus and energy, our DOUBLEDEUCE20 code still works at www.magicmind.com/doubledeuce for 20% off all purchases and subscriptions. Check out the Lawrence Times's 785 Collective at https://lawrencekstimes.com/785collective/ for a list of local LFK podcasts including this one!
Content warning for discussion of genocide Episode music can be found here: https://uppbeat.io/track/paulo-kalazzi/heros-time Day 4 will take a deep dive into the Punic Wars and the Sacking of Carthage. The Fall of Carthage is widely considered to be the first recorded genocide in history and we will be looking at the hows the why and the whos of it all. Episode Notes below: Hey, Hi, Hello, this is the History Wizard and welcome back for Day 4 of Have a Day w/ The History Wizard. Thank you to everyone who tuned in for Day 3 last week, and especially thank you to everyone who rated and/or reviewed the podcast. I hope you all learned something last week and I hope the same for this week. This week we're going to be going all the way back to the purported origins of my field of study. This week we're going to be discussing History's first genocide… probably. Remember that genocide require intent to destroy a specific group of people, and the destruction of Carthage during the Third Punic war is the first time in history that was can demonstrate that intent, at least so far. As always we are not going to be diving right into the event itself. All history exists within specific cultural, national, and ethnic contexts. Genocide moreso than any other type of event. No nation just wakes up one day and suddenly decides to go on a mass murder spree. So what caused Rome and Carthage, two states that had been allies and friends for hundreds of years to suddenly fight three wars against each other and ultimately, in the case of Rome, wipe Carthage off the map? Following the Pyrrhic War and throughout the middle of the 3rd century BCE Rome and Carthage because the two preeminent powers of the Mediterranean. During this time Carthage would come to dominate southern Spain, much of the coastal regions of North Africa, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, and the western half of Sicily, in a military and commercial empire. Whereas Rome had subjugated almost the entirety of the Italian peninsula and finally driven the last Greek colonies off of the mainland. In 265 BCE a group of Italian mercenaries called the Mamertines appealed to both Carthage and Rome for aid after they had seized the city of Messana on the island of Sicily (modern day Messina) from the Kingdom of Syracuse. Carthage immediately entered the war, but on the side of Hiero II the King of Syracuse. The Romans, as Romans are wont to do, debated for a while about this. They didn't really want to go to war to support people who had stolen a city from its rightful owner, and as Carthage had already entered on Syracuse's side, entering the war at the Mamertine's request could lead to a war with Carthage. However, Appius Claudius Caudex filled his fellow senator heads, as well as the heads of the general assembly, with thoughts of booty and plunder. Many of the senators were already arguing that there was a strategic and monetary advantage to gaining a foothold on Sicily. The First Punic War officially began when the first Roman sandal made landfall in 264 BCE. By the way, in case you're wondering why it's called the Punic war, and not the Carthaginian War, Punicus was a term the Romans used to refer to the people of Carthage, hearkening back to their Phonecian origins. When the Romans landed Messana was under siege by the combined forces of the Carthaginians and the armies of Syracuse. Sources are unclear as to why, but first the Syracusans and then the Carthiginians withdrew from the siege. Rome's armies, under the command of Caudex marched south and put Syracuse under siege, but having only brought two legions with them they did not have the forces or supplies for a protracted siege. Immediately this war was looking to be a bad idea for Rome, as Carthage had nearly overwhelming naval superiority at the beginning of the war. Indeed it is somewhat shocking, at face value, that Rome was able to win the First Punic War as the majority of the 23 year long war was fought on, or very near the water. To try and counter the Carthiginians naval prowess the Romans introduces a device called a corvus to their ships. The corvus was a 4 foot wide and 36 foot long bridge that was attached to the front mast of a Roman quinquereme. It has a large, hooked spike attached to the underside of the front of the bridge and was used to attach Roman ships to Carthiginian ones and allow for swift boarding of enemy vessels. While the corvus did have some measure of success it made Roman ships very front heavy, made them far less maneuverable, and in heavy seas were practically useless. Now, Sicily was a nightmare for an attacking force. Its hilly and remarkably rugged terrain made moving large bodies of troops very difficult. The ground of Sicily heavily favored the defender. In fact, in 23 years of fighting on the island, only two full scale pitched battles were fought.The Battle of Agrigentum in 262, which was a Roman victory, and the Battle of Panormus, which was also a Roman victory. Agrigentum was a particularly interesting case. Both Roman consuls at the time Quintus Mamilius Vitulus and Lucius Postumius Megellus were in the field with 40,000 Roman soldiers. A large army has an even larger stomach though, and the consuls had two major problems. First, because of Carthage's naval superiority it was exceedingly difficult to keep their forces supplied by sea. And to compound those issues, neither consul had experience moving around armies of this size. So after seizing Agrirentum, right around harvest season. The consuls dispersed their men to the fields in order to harvest as much food as the possible could. And, of course, that was the moment that Hannibal Grisco (a different Hannibal than the one famous for marching elephants over the Alps) attacked the Roman forces. Rome's forces would rally after this initial assault and rout the Carthiginian forces before besieging and capturing the city, selling 25,000 people into slavery. The war was less direct after Agrigentum for a few years. Rome made failed attempts in Corsica, Sardinia, and Northern Africa. For several years the war followed a pretty simple pattern. Rome was superior on land. Carthage was superior at sea, and sieges sucked for everyone. In 265 BCE Rome gained two new consuls Marcus Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Vulso Longus. Both men, frustrated by the stalemate that was raging on Sicily decided to take the fight to Africa itself. After a series of relatively quick sieges of Aspis and Adys Rome had taken the city of Tunis, this put them only 10 miles away from Carthage itself. Carthage tried to sue for peace, but the terms that Regulus offered were so harsh that Carthage decided to fight on. Rome would actually suffer one of its largest defeats at Tunis, though it wouldn't come from a Carthiginian general. Rome lost to a Spartan mercenary commander Xanthippus. In 255 BC Xanthippus led an army of 12,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 100 elephants against the Romans and defeated them at the Battle of Tunis. Rome would lose much of its fleet and tens of thousands of allied soldiers in various storms around the Mediterranean. There was even a time, following the Battle of Phintias, that it looked like things were finally turning around for Carthage. However, by 248 Carthage only had control over two cities on the island, Lilybaeum and Drepana and both nations' coffers were nearly emptied. Carthage tried to get a 2000 talent (approximately 52,000 kilograms of silver) loan from Ptolemaic Egypt, but was denied. Rome turned to its wealthiest private citizens. Asking them each to build a single quinquereme and promising repayments from the reparations they would make Carthage pay after the war. It should also bear mentioning that Rome lost about 17% of its fighting age men over the course of this war. The consuls who finished off the war were Gaius Lutatius Catulus and Quintus Valerius Falto (Rome elected new consuls yearly). These two consuls defeated the last of Carthages fleet in the Battle of Aegates Island. After this battle was finished Rome continued to put pressure on Lilybaeum and Drepana until Carthage decided to sue for peace. The Treaty of Lutatius was signed and brought the First Punic War to its end: Carthage evacuated Sicily, handed over all prisoners taken during the war, and paid an indemnity of 3,200 talents over ten years. This wouldn't end Carthages' woes though. In 237 BC Carthage prepared an expedition to recover the island of Sardinia, which had been lost to the rebels (mostly foreign soldiers they were unable to pay fully after the war) In a fit of cruelty, the Romans stated they considered this an act of war. Their peace terms were the ceding of Sardinia and Corsica and the payment of an additional 1,200-talent indemnity. Weakened by 30 years of war, Carthage agreed rather than enter into a conflict with Rome again; the additional payment and the renunciation of Sardinia and Corsica were added to the treaty as a codicil. The tensions caused by THIS particular bit of tomfuckery would be one of the major determining factors in the start of the Second Punic War. The mark that the First Punic War made on history cannot be understated. It was not only the longest Rman war to date, but it was the most devastating maritime war of the ancient world. Over the course of it Rome built over 1000 ships and would use the skills they learned and honed in this war to rule the seas, virtually uncontested for the next 600 years. Following the First Punic War Carthage turned its eyes to the North. They knew they would need to expand their power base and accrue a much greater store of wealth if they were ever going to stand on equal footing with Rome again. The Italian Peninsula and the surrounding island were off limits, so they turned to Iberia. They would meet Rome again in Iberia, but in 226 the two powers signed the Treaty of Ebro, fixing the River Ebro as the border between the two empires. It's likely that Rome had no intention of maintaining the terms of this treaty as some few years after they established an alliance with the city of Saguntum, a city which existed within the Carthiginian sphere of influence. Hannibal (yes, that one, with the Elephants) saw this as an act of aggression from Rome and besieged the city of Saguntum, eventually seizing it after 8 months of siege. Rome sent Quintus Fabius Maximus to the Carthage senate with peremptory demands. When these were rejected, as Rome knew they would be, war was declared in the spring of 218 BC. The Second Punic War would last for 17 years and would, again, end in victory for Rome. The war got off to somewhat of an odd start. Both Rome and Carthage planned to invade the other, but neither side seemed to really know what the others were doing or where they would be. It's likely, given the way the previous war had gone, that Rome expected a naval attack from Carthage, and so they remained in the south putting together their plan to invade Africa again. Hannibal though had a different plan. He intended to swing up through Iberia, starting in modern Cartagena, cross the Alps, which he did in 15 days, and sweep down on Rome from the North. He successfully crossed the Alps with 20,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and an unknown number of elephants (he'd left Iberia with 37 of them, but it's unclear how many survived the crossing.) Hannibal then proceeded to dog walk the Roman army around Italy for the next two years. The only challenge he really faced was from Quintus Fabius Maximus, nicknamed Cuncator (the Delayer) by his contemporaries for his adoption of the Fabian Strategy. Well, his creation really. The strategy is named after him. The Fabian strategy employs hit and run tactics and seeks to avoid pitched battle. Fabian hoped to use this harrying tactic to enter into a battle of attrition, hoping that Hannibal would run out of supplies and be forced to leave or surrender. In 216 Rome elected two new consuls Gaius Terentius Varro, who advocated pursuing a more aggressive war strategy, and Lucius Aemilius Paullus, who advocated a strategy somewhere between Fabius's and that suggested by Varro. The Senate also authorized the raising of a double sized army, some 86,000 men. The largest Roman army in history at that point. Varro and Paullus lost most of their army in Rome's greatest military disaster, the Battle of Cannae. Some 67,500 Roman troops died in this one battle. This was almost the end for Rome. They almost lost the whole war in that one Battle. Hannibal was supported by Gaulish and Spanish mercenaries, he was up against military incompetents, and he was about to be joined by the King of Macedonia as an ally. In 215 Phillip V launched the First Macedonian War. It was time for Rome to bring back the one man who had stood a chance against Hannibal. It was time to bring back Fabius. Fabius became consul again in 215 BC and was re-elected in 214 BC. Rome, now more desperate than they'd been in a long time also drastically reduced its standards for soldiers. Enrolling slaves, criminals and those who did not meet the usual property qualification. By early 215 BC they were fielding at least 12 legions; by 214 BC 18; and by 213 BC 22. By 212 BC the full complement of the legions deployed would have been in excess of 100,000 men, plus, as always, a similar number of allied troops. The majority were deployed in southern Italy in field armies of approximately 20,000 men each. This was insufficient to challenge Hannibal's army in open battle, but sufficient to force him to concentrate his forces and to hamper his movements. For 11 years after the Battle of Cannae, the war was raged across Southern Italy in a constant give and take as Carthage captured Roman cities, only for them to be recaptured. The fighting in Italy was fierce and seemed to be going mostly in Hannibal's favor, but Italy was not the only theatre of this war. The Iberian Theatre could best be described a a holding action for the first several years. As Rome sought to hold Carthiginian forces in Iberia and prevent them from reinforcing Hannibal by crossing the alps again (although Hannibal's brother Hasdrupal was able to cross the Alps with 35,000 additional troops). Scipio Africanus was ultimately successful in Iberia, clearing it of Carthiginian control. He almost lost control of the region when the Iberian leaders sought to fight against the Romans who they had just fought with against the armies of Carthage. They'd expected Rome to leave after defeating Carthage here, but Rome wouldn't give up land it held and sent Claudius Nero over to stabilize the situation. This left Iberia under Roman control and Italy fighting for its life against Hannibal and Hasdrubal. In a move of some desperation and no little boldness Rome decided to finally launch its invasion of Africa in 204 BCE led by the famed Scipio Africanus, and after defeating Carthage in two major battles, Carthage elected to sue for peace and recall Hannibal and his brothers from Italy. Rome and Carthage entered into peace negotiations. The Roman Senate ratified a draft treaty, but because of mistrust and a surge in confidence when Hannibal arrived from Italy, Carthage decided to take one last stab at achieving victory. Thus did the Battle of Zarna begin. Hannibal tried to use a charge of 80 elephants to break Rome's lines, but Rome was able to turn the charge back and the elephants wound up devastating their own forces. The new peace treaty dictated by Rome stripped Carthage of all of its overseas territories and some of its African ones. An indemnity of 10,000 talents of silver was to be paid over 50 years and hostages were taken. Carthage was forbidden to possess war elephants and its fleet was restricted to ten warships. It was prohibited from waging war outside Africa and in Africa only with Rome's permission. And so there would be peace for 50 years. Sort of, but not really. Carthage finished paying off their indemnity in 151, 50 years after the end of the Second Punic War and was, once again, economically prosperous. They were, really, no military threat to Rome anymore, but many Roman senators refused to believe that. Most famous of which was the senator Marcus Porcius Cato, also known as Cato the Censor. Cato had been part of an assembly sent to Carthage in around 153 BCE and notes how wealthy and prosperous it seemed. He was famous for ending all of his speeches before the senate with the phrase Ceterum (autem) censeo Carthaginem esse delendam ("Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed"), which is often shortened to merely Carthago delenda est (Carthage must fall). In 149 BCE Rome sent its armies to Carthage, under the pretext of a punitive expedition because Carthage was allegedly engaging in illicit military operations. The Third Punic War, which lasted for a mere three years, really only had the one major engagement. That being the Siege of Carthage, which would eventually be led by Scipio Aemilianus, the adoptive grandson of Scipio Africanus. Initially Carthage tried to surrender and, indeed, surrendered all of their weapons. But Rome would not be swayed by this. They wanted Carthage destroyed, and ultimately it would be. The early years of the siege saw little success. Carthage was a hard city to besiege, and it still had some allies in the region. So in addition to contending with the city itself, Roman forces needed to be on guard for allied towns and cities who would try to come to Carthage's aid. After 3 years though it would end in a single week of some of the most horrific slaughter of the ancient world. In Spring of 146 Scipio launched a full scale adult on the harbor area and successfully breached the walls of Carthage. Over six days, the Romans systematically worked their way through the residential part of the city, killing everyone they encountered and setting the buildings behind them on fire. The city was razed to the ground, over 700,000 people were killed, including women and children, and some 50,000 survivors were sold into slavery. The next part of the story that you might know, if you know this story at all, is that Scipio then proceeded to salt the earth around Carthage so that nothing would ever grow there again. This story is almost certainly apocryphal. Which is fancy historian speak for “full of shit”. There are no ancient sources for this event. The salting story entered the academic literature in Bertrand Hallward's article in the first edition of the Cambridge Ancient History (1930), and was widely accepted as factual. What IS factual though is that Rome committed genocide in sacking Carthage. There was a clear and deliberate plan to destroy every single vestige of the people of Carthage, either through mass slaughter or slavery. There was clear intent to destroy planned and carried out by the duly elected leader of Rome and its armies. It literally doesn't get any more clear than this. Intent was vocally demonstrated by Cato and physically carried out by Scipio. That's it for this week my friend. Thank you for coming with me on this educational foray into the past. We've got some more reviews to read for this week, so let's jump right into them. *Read Reviews* Have a Day! w/ The History Wizard is brought to you by me, The History Wizard. PLease remember to rate, review, and subscribe to Have a Day! On your pod catcher of choice. The more you do, the more people will be able to listen and learn along with you. Thank you for sticking around until the end and, as always, Have a Day.
“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” — Zeng Guofan“Infants but recently born were torn from their mother's breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” — A British testimony on the Qing treatment of POWsIf I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you'd probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you, which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I'd bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I'd also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God's son, and Jesus' younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we run into Christian missionaries floating on a river of death, Hong's descent into further layers of madness, the Second Opium War, Zeng Guofan's comical pessimism, the wavering French-British policy, the Empress Dowager Cixi being a gangster, the battle for Shanghai, the Ever Victorious Army, a cholera outbreak, the asexual crusader Charles Gordon, the death of a Christian kingdom in China, and much more. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelliInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion's Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started https://purestmushrooms.com/ where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. A big thank you to the sponsor for today's episode, Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. https://factormeals.com/historyonfire50 Millions of people struggle with premature hair thinning and hair loss. If you are among them, you may want to address this by getting 10% off at https://proviahair.com/HOF
This week, Brittany Shaw joins us to go head-to-head with last week's champ. Join in and play along and see who gets the most clues this week! CARD 1 CLUE: Partay CATEGORY: Things you celebrate ANSWERS: Anniversary, Christmas, Birthday, 4th of July, Graduation, New Year's, Mother's Day CARD 2 CLUE: Unloved CATEGORY: Things associated with dentists ANSWERS: Novocane, Gums, Cavaties, Pain, Scraping, Drill, Root CARD 3 CLUE: Really this category isn't about me CATEGORY: Greek gods ANSWERS: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Ares, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hera CARD 4 CLUE: What is it good for? CATEGORY: Wars ANSWERS: Trojan, Punic, Crusades, 100 Years, Roses, World, Napolean CARD 5 CLUE: What nannies are for CATEGORY: Muppets ANSWERS: Fozzie, Rowlf, Skeeter, Summer, Rizzo, Beaker, Animal CARD 6 CLUE: Are we being followed? CATEGORY: Things associated with a shadow ANSWERS: Sunlight, Cast, Peter Pan, Shade, Eye makeup, Evil, Soul
Mark wants to hear Murray's thoughts on comparing the Roman wars against the Vandals vs the Punic Wars. Mark writes, 'both the Roman-Vandal and Roman-Carthage wars occurred roughly in the same geographic area and included naval and land-based fighting. However, within 26 years the Vandals had conquered North Africa, the major islands of the Western Med and sacked Rome. In the 3rd/2nd centuries BCE the 1st/2nd Punic wars lasted over 60 years, and even then, neither side could capture each other's capitals. Granted, the Roman Empire was exhausted and fighting multiple enemies for much of the 5th century CE- but the Roman Republic also fought on multiple fronts during the 2nd Punic War. Then, in the 6th century CE, Belisarius was able to conquer and annex the Vandal Kingdom in less than a year. Why did these later wars seem to happen at a much faster pace? Did smaller armies and a more depopulated Mediterranean in late antiquity shorten wars? Were logistics better with better ships or Roman roads? Did later armies and navies use different tactics or technologies so that wars were much shorter?' Join us on Patron patreon.com/ancientwarfarepodcast
“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together with us… is it not a remarkable era in China?” — A Christian missionary wife about the Taiping Rebellion “Jesus our Elder Brother showed us the treacherous heart of this demon follower.” — Sign hanging around the neck of a man executed by the Taiping “Those who believe not in the true doctrine of God and Jesus, though they be old acquaintances, are still no friends of mine, but they are demons.” — Hong Xiuquan If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you'd probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I'd bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I'd also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God's son, and Jesus' younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we follow Hong Xiuquan as he graduates from religious intolerance to armed insurrection against the government. We also run into angels torturing Confucius, ‘God' & ‘Jesus' & ‘Jesus' younger brother' leading an army to topple the Qing Dynasty, a massive army of sexually frustrated people, the capture of Nanjing, Quentin Tarantino's Biblical tales, the Taiping turning into The Sopranos, ‘Jesus' younger brother' placing a hit on ‘God's Voice', and much more. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelliInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. If you'd like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/And a big thank you to the sponsor for today's episode, Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. That's code historyonfire50 at FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 to get 50% off!Also, thank you to St. John's College for sponsoring this episode. Please, check out https://www.sjc.edu/podcast
“The entire story of the Taiping Rebellion might be told, from one perspective, as the rage of a failed exam candidate writ large.” — Stephen Platt“They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others.” — Lin Zexu about British opium traders “Heaven is furious with anger, and all the gods are moaning with pain!... A murderer of one person is subject to the death sentence; just imagine how many people opium has killed! This is the rationale behind the new law which says that any foreigner who brings opium to China will be sentenced to death by hanging or beheading.” — Lin Zexu“… soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure.” — Queen Victoria about opium If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you'd probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I'd bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I'd also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God's son, and Jesus' younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we tackle ethnic conflicts in China, Christian missionaries in Canton, uber-difficult Imperial exams, the Pablo Escobar of the 1800s having the British navy on her side, foot binding, Great Britain solving a trade deficit by flooding China with drugs, the First Opium War, and much more. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelliInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. If you'd like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/And a big thank you to the sponsor for today's episode, Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. That's code historyonfire50 at FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 to get 50% off!
This week we travel to the Bagradas River, Tunisia in 256 BC. Rome are in the midst of the Punic wars against Carthage, and are in the process of launching an all out invasion on the Carthaginians. As 14,000 Legionnaires, led by Marcus Attilus Regulus make their way towards the capital, they encounter a foe they were not expecting. Just what was the Bagradas Dragon? Apologies all, this week came out around ten minutes shorter than I planned in editing. I had no plans of dropping a minisode this week, but it needed the cuts to make it flow. Also my voice was the worse for wear when recording and does sound a little strained... Support the show on Patreon for $2 US a month and get access to exclusive content, or Try our 7 Day Free Trial. Please leave Tales a like and a review wherever you listen. The best way you can support us is to share an episode with a friend - Creative works grow best by word of mouth. I post episodes fortnightly, Wednesdays. Tales of History and Imagination is on | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok | Threads | Instagram | YouTube | Music, writing, narration, mixing yours truly. Visit Simone's | About Me | Twitter |
The story of Hannibal didn't stop at Cannae. Following this victory he met obstacle and success as he took on Rome in southern Italy. In this episode I unwrap what happened and how it all led to his final battle with Rome at Zama (which I also discuss). Episode notes with a readling list, transcription and other useful content is on my website www.ancientblogger.com If you can rate or review please do - it makes a big difference. Music by Brakhage (Le Vrai Instrumental).
The Romans might have expected to destroy Carthage easily, but they soon met surprisingly determined opposition from the Punic defenders. What was supposed to be a quick campaign dragged on into a lengthy and bloody siege with skillful Carthaginian counterattacks and sallies. Only when Scipio Aemilianus, adopted grandson of the great Africanus, arrived to supreme command did the tide begin to turn. Even so, the final moments of Carthage would resonate long after her capital was reduced to ruins. Link to the Episode 52 page on the Layman's Historian website Recommended further reading: The Histories by Polybius Hannibal's War by Titus Livius A Companion to the Punic Wars (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World) Edited by Dexter Hoyos The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy Hannibal's Dynasty by Dexter Hoyos Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard Miles Implacable Enemies: The Barcid Armies at War by Karwansary Publishers Clash of the Colossi: The First Punic War by Karwansary Publishers Subscribe or leave a review on iTunes or Spotify Leave a like or comment on Facebook or Twitter Contact me directly through email
In this 2-parter, Rooney and John accidentally podcast over two days discussing the changing seasons, the upcoming world cup football tournament, the Punic wars, the sacking of Carthage, Cato, salvaging treasure from the trash, football playing bees, imperialism in classic Russian literature, and falling in love with a Gorilla.
The Romans burnt Carthage's books and buildings – but ‘Punic' identity remained influential throughout Antiquity. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Print of ancient Carthage. Source: Wiki Creative Commons
The first of a series of the Punic wars, or the 4th of a series on Rome? Who knows, but either way this is our first season's finale. What a year it's been eh Listener? Thanks for joining us through the good, the bad, and the ugly.We're hoping to refine our craft for season 2 (it can only get better right?) and hope you'll join us!So without further ado, lets see what Matt has to say about the epic battles between Rome & Carthage!If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe, and give us a review. It really helps us get discovered, and we really appreciate it!see our website https://www.factsschmacts.xyzJoin us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FactsschmactsFollow us on Twitter @factschmactpodFind us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/facts_schmacts/Help us out by donating or subscribing to our Patreon for exclusive content, early access to episodes & AD free listening https://www.patreon.com/factsschmactsor buy us a coffee here! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/factsschmactsSupport this podcast at - www.redcircle.com/factsschmacts/donationsWhy do we sound so good now? We got a sound guy! https://www.adamminermusic.comWebsite Design by https://www.orbitalsyntax.com#comedypodcast #historypodcast #sciencepodcast #canadianpodcast #comedy #history #science #popculture #strangetales #urbanlegends #funny #lighthearted #interesting #weird #weirdtales #learning#punicwars #punic #ancienthistory #warSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/factsschmacts/donations
Among the basic distinctions in warfare is the difference between tactics and strategy. Tactics deal with the form of individual engagement, while strategy deals with its use. So, tactics are the operational techniques military units employ to win battles. Strategy addresses the broader political objectives for which a war is fought and the ends, ways, and means employed to obtain them. For the strategy to succeed, there must be at least a rough connection between tactical objectives and the broader objectives for which the war is waged. Otherwise, battles become ends in themselves, often with grave strategic consequences. Such was the case with Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian general who is widely considered to be one of history's most able and talented field commanders. He invaded Roman Italy in what historians still regard as a classic campaign, won every major engagement he fought, and yet ultimately achieved none of Carthage's strategic objectives. In his view armies fought until it became clear to the political leadership of the losing side there was nothing more to be gained by further combat Show notes at https://thedigressionpodcast.com/87 Sound Off! With a comment or a question at https://thedigressionpodcast.com/soundoff Like the show? Leave a 5-star rating and review: https://thedigressionpodcast.com/review Become a Patron or support the show in other ways at: https://thedigressionpodcast.com/donate Or just share our podcast with a friend! It's the best way to grow the show!! NOTES: Hannibal of Carthage: Scourge of Rome Ancient Carthage and Hannibal Barca Hannibal: The Carthaginian General Who Took on the Romans Hannibal: Victories of the Great Hero from Ancient Carthage Hannibal of Carthage – The Greatest Opponent Rome Ever Faced
Roman history, Roman world-view. Roman military, Roman warfare, The Punic wars, Hannibal. Roman mentality of complete domination or complete destruction. We discuss shrewd Roman politics.
#Thờitiếtkhắcnghiệt #quânsựthếgiới Trong lịch sử quân sự thế giới, có những trận đánh đã diễn ra trong điều kiện cực kỳ khắc nghiệt, làm thay đổi kết quả một cách rõ rệt. Trận chiến trên sông Trebia năm 218 trước Công nguyên Người La Mã và cư dân thành Carthage đã đối đầu trong trận giao tranh quy mô lớn thời Chiến tranh Punic lần hai. Hannibal, vị tướng và chiến lược gia người Carthage, đã ở Italy nhiều tháng và khiến miền trung Italy đang bị đe dọa. Đối thủ của Hannibal là lãnh sự Tiberius Sempronius Longus, người rất tự tin vào quân đội của mình, nhưng lại chọn phương án khó thành công nhất để tiến hành trận đánh. Vào ngày đông chí cuối tháng 12, Hannibal điều các cánh quân nhỏ băng qua sông Trebia để tấn công doanh trại quân La Mã, trong khi số quân còn lại quây quần ăn sáng trước bình minh. Quân La Mã bị bất ngờ, Sempronius Longus lập tức cho quân xông ra đánh sống mái nhằm đẩy lùi quân Hannibal. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tu-dien-lich-su/message
This week is the first episode of our first 2-parter! We're talking about the Punic wars, which is Rome vs. Carthage. It has conflict, intrigue, and way more elephants than you'd think! With guests Drew Hollway & Henry Price! ----------------------------------------- Houston-based comedian's Will Loden and Nick Palermo have a theory; That every conflict in human history boils down to one group of people looking at another group of people and thinking "Their hats are dumb, and we should take there things." Each week, on the new podcast "Silly Hats: A History Podcast", we break down a different conflict, from various time periods in history, to prove our hat-based conflict-theory. We also learn hat words! And silly facts! And we roast hats with our favorite comics! It's real history, with real research and a compelling narrative. Plus fun! Audio & Video! On the Whiskey Brother's Podcast Network. Visit our Website: https://sillyhatspodcast.com Check out our Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_QHZdHLe_4uvsyv0B3r6pw Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SillyHatsPodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SillyHatsPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sillyhatspodcast Check out our guest: Drew Hollway: https://www.instagram.com/trade_agreement Henry Price: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hard-fried-history/id1490715897
Time for the big one. Cannae is one of the most famous battles of antiquity. Not only did Rome suffer a crushing defeat but the tactics behind the victory have been studied by generals and military tacticians ever since. In this episode I discuss what happened in the lead up to it, trust me there's a drama at every turn. From dictators to deceptive cattle. Then there's the battle itself which I try to unpack to see how each side approached it and what tactics were used. Aside from the brutality and bloodshed there's a lot to get into. Full transcription and episode notes (with maps, diagrams and a reading list) on www.ancientblogger.com Music by Brakhage (Le Vrai Instrumental).
#ChiếntranhPunic #RomeCarthage #HyLạp Vào 5 tháng 2 năm 146 TCN, Cộng hòa Rome cuối cùng đã chiến thắng kẻ thù Carthage (thuộc Tunisia ngày nay) sau hơn một thế kỷ chiến đấu. Chiến thắng của Rome, và sự sụp đổ của thành Carthage sau đó, đã đánh dấu sự kết thúc của loạt chiến tranh Punic, đồng thời chính thức đưa Rome lên thay thế Carthage, trở thành bang thống trị Tây Địa Trung Hải, một vị trí sẽ được giữ vững suốt nhiều thế kỷ tiếp theo. Chiến tranh Punic bắt đầu khi Rome bành trướng về phía Tây, đến nơi mà ngày nay là Tây Ban Nha, phía Đông tới Hy Lạp và phía Nam tới Sicily, theo đó cũng châm ngòi cho xung đột với Carthage. Dù Rome đã giành chiến thắng trong cả Chiến tranh Punic lần thứ nhất và thứ hai, nhưng Carthage cũng có lúc đã đến rất gần chiến thắng. Trong Chiến tranh Punic lần thứ hai, tướng Hannibal nổi tiếng của người Carthage đã dẫn đầu đội quân của mình cùng 30 con voi vượt qua dãy Alps, tiến vào bán đảo Ý, khủng bố vùng nông thôn và suýt nữa đã có thể cướp phá Rome. Tuy nhiên, tính đến năm 149 TCN, Rome đã khiến Carthage phải khuất phục bằng nhiều cách. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tu-dien-lich-su/message
The focus on Trasimene is often largely about the events of the day, but what is as interesting are the events leading up to it. What choices did Hannibal have and how did Rome try to anticipate him? As well as the battle I discuss the details and events leading up to the battle. A transcription and episode notes (with maps etc) can be found on www.ancientblogger.com Music by Brakhage (Le Vrai Instrumental).
On this week's episode, Cam and Evan discuss the Roman-Macedonian Wars that coincided with Rome's rise to imperial status in its conquest of the Mediterranean. At the start of the conflict, Rome was still just one of the major powers in the Mediterranean. Once the dust would settle from their Punic and Macedonian Wars, however, the Roman Republic would become the dominant force in the area on the backs of a new type of infantry: the Roman Legions. While Alexander the Great and his diadochi had conquered the eastern Mediterranean using their improved phalanx formation, Rome would introduce the world to their manipular legions with resounding success. You can form a testudo with the LU boys on Twitter: @leftunreadpod (Twitter and Instagram) @poorfidalgo @gluten_yung You can reach out to us at leftunreadpod@gmail.com. Theme music by Interesting Times Gang. Check them out at: itgang.bandcamp.com.
Nel non-luogo della metropolitana accadevano cose sorprendenti, per non parlaree della stratificazione storica di vecchie stazioni in disuso.TESTO TRASCRITTO [English below]Speaker1: Mi manca la metropolitana. È una delle poche cose che mi manca vivendo qui a Cagliari dove non c'è stazione della metropolitana, quindi non ci sono nemmeno vagoni della metropolitana che scendono sottoterra. Perché la metropolitana? Perché è uno di quegli non-luoghi, spazi liminalii che non stanno né qua e là, dove soprattutto nelle grandi città, e per antonomasia le metropolitane stanno solo, esistono solo nelle grandi città, e lì succede sempre qualcosa, c'è una grande massa di umanità annoiata che è semplicemente lì in attesa, in attesa del treno. E sono spazi magici perché lì un sacco di cose possono succedere, non solo ma soprattutto quando si parla di stazioni della metropolitana in Europa, quindi molto antiche, c'è anche una stratificazione storica di vecchie stazioni, delle stazioni rimodernate e di quelle invece nuove fiammanti appena costruite. Una di queste stazioni storiche, chiuse, era una, in effetti non una ma diverse stazioni a Berlino Est. Prima che cadesse il muro, la metropolitana di Berlino Ovest attraversava Berlino Est senza però fermarsi, e passava attraverso stazioni fantasma che erano state chiuse perché erano all'interno di Berlino Est, quindi le persone di Berlino Est non potevano sicuramente utilizzarle perché le avrebbero condotte a Berlino Ovest, però le persone che abitavano a Berlino Ovest le attraversavano con il treno della metropolitana sotterraneo, che però naturalmente non si fermava ma andava a velocità fortissima, appunto perché non aveva bisogno di fermarsi. Però nonostante andasse molto veloce il treno, guardando dal finestrino, si riusciva comunque a vedere scritte sui muri, cabine polverose, sedili e quant'altro. Sì ogni tanto mi tornano in mente queste immagini e un po' queste immagini mi mancano, perché ripeto a Cagliari non c'è metropolitana, ma nemmeno si potrebbe costruire anche volendo perché ci sono troppe stratificazioni al di sotto della pavimentazione stradale, quindi se iniziassero a scavare oggi, domani troverebbero una strada romana o i reperti punici, fenici, nuragici, quindi si chiuderebbe tutto e sarebbe una delle grandi incompiute, però, sì mi tornano in mente ogni tanto questi sprazzi di città europee, e questo vuol dire che mi mancano i viaggi e che devo sbrigarsi a fare un viaggio fuori dall'Italia perché ho aspettato anche troppo.ENGLISH TRANSLATIONI miss the underground. It is one of the few things I miss living here in Cagliari where there is no metro station, so there are no metro cars going underground either. Why the underground? Because it is one of those non-places, liminal spaces that are neither here and there, where above all in big cities, and by definition undergrounds are only, they exist only in big cities, and something always happens there, there is a great mass of bored humanity that's just waiting there, waiting for the train. And they are magical spaces because there a lot of things can happen, not only but above all when it comes to metro stations in Europe, therefore very old, there is also a historical stratification of old stations, modernised stations and new ones. One of these historic, closed stations was one, in fact not one but several stations in East Berlin. Before the wall came down, the West Berlin underground passed through East Berlin without stopping, and passed through ghost stations that had been closed because were inside East Berlin, so the people of East Berlin could definitely not use them because they would have gone through to West Berlin, but the people who lived in West Berlin crossed them with the underground train, which of course did not stop but went at very high speed because it didn't need to stop. But despite the fact that the train went very fast, looking out the window, you could still see signs on the walls, dusty cabins, seats and so on. Yes, sometimes these images come to my mind and I miss these images a little, because, as I said, in Cagliari there is no subway, but neither could you build one even if you wanted to because there are too many layers under the road pavement, so if they started digging today, tomorrow they would find a Roman road or Punic, Phoenician, Nuragic finds, so everything would close down and it would be one of the great unfinished constructions. Anyway, yes these flashes of European cities come to mind every now and then, and this means that I miss travelling and that I have to hurry up to take a trip outside Italy because it has been too long.
When did inequality begin and why has it stayed? The Antarctic Treaty is 60 years old but is it still fit for purpose? Why do we think think that Africa didn't have scripts and what has it got to do with the fall of Carthage? There were large numbers of visitors to our shores before the arrival of Europeans. Recently found rock art explains who they were and why they came.
When did inequality begin and why has it stayed? The Antarctic Treaty is 60 years old but is it still fit for purpose? Why do we think think that Africa didn't have scripts and what has it got to do with the fall of Carthage? There were large numbers of visitors to our shores before the arrival of Europeans. Recently found rock art explains who they were and why they came.
Olá, Pessoal! Nesse podcast eu falo sobre educação de gatos e cães sem punições! Jamais use punição para educar seus animais! Isso jamais vai funcionar! Nesse podcast eu explico tudo em detalhes sobre isso! Amem muito seus gatos e seus cães :) Larissa Rüncos Psiquiatra Veterinária #comportamentoanimal #psiquiatriaveterinaria #psiquiatriaanimal #comportamentofelino #medicinaveterinaria #saudeemocional #saudementalfelina #saudemental #veterinaria #veterinario #adestramento #adestrador #catsitter #petsitter #gato #gatos #vet #pets #tutorinformadogatofeliz #meow #felino #cat #cats #5pilaresdogatofeliz #catsofinstagram #gatofeliz #catsitterweek #catsitter #masterclassdocomportamentofelino
Scipio fulfils his destiny: to defeat Hannibal on the battlefield and become the most acclaimed general of Rome. Rome now dominates the Western Mediterranean.More about VITOR at www.vitoritalytours.com
Rome dominates the Italian peninsula; only Carthage can rival it in Western Mediterranean. The duel between the maritime empire of Carthage and the new power of Rome will drag on for over a century.More about VITOR at www.vitoritalytours.com
In this episode I interview historian and author of Killing for the Republic, Steele Brand. We talk about what made the Roman Republic so successful, what glued it all together, briefly introduced the intentional myth building framed by the founding fathers of the USA and how they appropriated from the Romans All before falling into a trap I set for myself, and spending the remainder of our time on Rome’s Punic wars. Twitter - @steele_brand Killing for the Republic - https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Republic-Citizen-Soldiers-Roman-Way/dp/1421429861
“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” — Zeng Guofan“Infants but recently born were torn from their mother's breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” — A British testimony on the Qing treatment of POWsIf I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you'd probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you, which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I'd bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I'd also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God's son, and Jesus' younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we run into Christian missionaries floating on a river of death, Hong's descent into further layers of madness, the Second Opium War, Zeng Guofan's comical pessimism, the wavering French-British policy, the Empress Dowager Cixi being a gangster, the battle for Shanghai, the Ever Victorious Army, a cholera outbreak, the asexual crusader Charles Gordon, the death of a Christian kingdom in China, and much more. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelliInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion's Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started https://purestmushrooms.com/ where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. A big thank you to the sponsor for today's episode, Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. https://factormeals.com/historyonfire50 Millions of people struggle with premature hair thinning and hair loss. If you are among them, you may want to address this by getting 10% off at https://proviahair.com/HOF
“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together with us… is it not a remarkable era in China?” — A Christian missionary wife about the Taiping Rebellion “Jesus our Elder Brother showed us the treacherous heart of this demon follower.” — Sign hanging around the neck of a man executed by the Taiping “Those who believe not in the true doctrine of God and Jesus, though they be old acquaintances, are still no friends of mine, but they are demons.” — Hong Xiuquan If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you'd probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I'd bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I'd also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God's son, and Jesus' younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we follow Hong Xiuquan as he graduates from religious intolerance to armed insurrection against the government. We also run into angels torturing Confucius, ‘God' & ‘Jesus' & ‘Jesus' younger brother' leading an army to topple the Qing Dynasty, a massive army of sexually frustrated people, the capture of Nanjing, Quentin Tarantino's Biblical tales, the Taiping turning into The Sopranos, ‘Jesus' younger brother' placing a hit on ‘God's Voice', and much more. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelliInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. If you'd like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/And a big thank you to the sponsor for today's episode, Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. That's code historyonfire50 at FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 to get 50% off!Also, thank you to St. John's College for sponsoring this episode. Please, check out https://www.sjc.edu/podcast
“The entire story of the Taiping Rebellion might be told, from one perspective, as the rage of a failed exam candidate writ large.” — Stephen Platt“They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others.” — Lin Zexu about British opium traders “Heaven is furious with anger, and all the gods are moaning with pain!... A murderer of one person is subject to the death sentence; just imagine how many people opium has killed! This is the rationale behind the new law which says that any foreigner who brings opium to China will be sentenced to death by hanging or beheading.” — Lin Zexu“… soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure.” — Queen Victoria about opium If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you'd probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I'd bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I'd also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God's son, and Jesus' younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we tackle ethnic conflicts in China, Christian missionaries in Canton, uber-difficult Imperial exams, the Pablo Escobar of the 1800s having the British navy on her side, foot binding, Great Britain solving a trade deficit by flooding China with drugs, the First Opium War, and much more. If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelliInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout. If you'd like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/And a big thank you to the sponsor for today's episode, Factor, America's #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. That's code historyonfire50 at FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 to get 50% off!
In Ancient Warfare Answers, Jasper (editor of Ancient Warfare Magazine) and Murray (deputy editor) tackle your questions on ancient military topics. In this episode Jasper ponders on if the Romans intentionally downplayed their naval capabilities before the first Punic war? Thank you to patron of the podcast Dag Atle for suggesting this question. If you have any questions email Jasper at editor@ancient-warfare.com
With the evacuation of Pyrrhus from the Italian Peninsula and Sicily, the inevitable conflict breaks out between Carthage and Rome. The conflict rages for over 20 years and the loss of life and naval forces only shows the great power, wealth and persistence of Rome and the inevitable destruction of the descendants of Jezebel.
The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 BC to 146 BC. At the time, they were some of the largest wars that had ever taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian", with reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry. Join us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon Check out all our Extra Credits shows at http://becauselearningmatters.com Here's our YouTube Page with more Extra History! https://www.youtube.com/user/ExtraCreditz/
This episode talks about the Punic wars, and how Rome went from a small faction in the Italian peninsular to controlling most of the western Mediterranean, with special guest Christopher Kearney. Was it this war that brought Rome to become the superpower we all know, or was this a small war that didn’t affect Roman history much? Welcome to the AIQ podcast, bringing the world of Ancient History to your ears. No matter if you are a leading academic, or have just found an interest in history, this podcast tries to discuss highly academic topics in a free and easy going way.
For the fourth episode of the History Machine Podcast, Cathal and Niall discuss possibly the ancient worlds biggest showdown: the Punic wars. Rome is about to take centre stage in Europe, but not before dealing with their greatest threat to date Hannibal Barca. Scipio, Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, Mago, Fabian, legendary battles, history on a knife edge and more with help from the neural network AI: History Machine. Rankings, numbers, hype and more. Tune in to see if who really is the top commander in the world of antiquity.
I’m gonna basically be talking about the Punic wars
*rooster noises* Good morning guys. Another early edition of the show, but thankfully later than 5AM. I've had a hankering for an old PS2 gem that I put hundreds of childhood days into, but I'm still trying to dig up the 'ol console to play it. I figured I'd cut you guys in on that, because the game is an all time favorite. As I mentioned, I was always more of a fan of the the Greek histories and philosophers (thanks Age of Mythology/Disney's Hercules) but I do love the "history porn" parts of the Roman Empire. I love Hannibal and the Punic wars, I love Roman building innovations, and I love the story of Julius Caesar's assassination. That's exactly where this takes place, and through the stealth investigation missions of Octavianus and the brutal gladiatorial battles of Agrippa, you really get a taste of ancient Rome. Plus there's fucking chariot racing, and you don't even need to win the race to come in first, you can just kill the other riders. Need I even say more? We'll be back to this game soon. And I will deliver on the promised "Japanese history episode" soon.But really, who needs sleep? I thought I did, but you just get to a point wherein you're tired and sore as the default state for your existence. My sleep schedule has been on sliding decline, going from 8AM wake ups, to 7, to 6, and now we're often in the 5 area. One time even a 4AM! But I guess that's growing up. Eventually your character learns new skills, so instead of taking a proper long rest, you just consume enough items constantly to recharge and not die. Obviously the impending fatherhood level that I'm up against will mean I'll "never sleep again" according to everybody. So that's cool.It wouldn't be a D&B episode without Fortnite talk, but it's pointedly short today. And that's because the sword that we're morning was also short lived. The Infinity Blade was an awesome addition to Fortnite, and very reminiscent of Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet game mode. I mention that I got one good adventure out of the blade, but I've been hearing tons of community uproar against the way-too-soon pulling of the sword from all modes. Was it a trademark issue, game bug, patch, conspiracy or nothing at all, who knows? (honestly I don't, so feel free to share) Stay tuned for next time when I'll know why, and be happy to share. Again Merry Christmas and happy holidays guys. You do the season your way, just enjoy, stay warm and stay alive.
*rooster noises* Good morning guys. Another early edition of the show, but thankfully later than 5AM. I've had a hankering for an old PS2 gem that I put hundreds of childhood days into, but I'm still trying to dig up the 'ol console to play it. I figured I'd cut you guys in on that, because the game is an all time favorite. As I mentioned, I was always more of a fan of the the Greek histories and philosophers (thanks Age of Mythology/Disney's Hercules) but I do love the "history porn" parts of the Roman Empire. I love Hannibal and the Punic wars, I love Roman building innovations, and I love the story of Julius Caesar's assassination. That's exactly where this takes place, and through the stealth investigation missions of Octavianus and the brutal gladiatorial battles of Agrippa, you really get a taste of ancient Rome. Plus there's fucking chariot racing, and you don't even need to win the race to come in first, you can just kill the other riders. Need I even say more? We'll be back to this game soon. And I will deliver on the promised "Japanese history episode" soon.But really, who needs sleep? I thought I did, but you just get to a point wherein you're tired and sore as the default state for your existence. My sleep schedule has been on sliding decline, going from 8AM wake ups, to 7, to 6, and now we're often in the 5 area. One time even a 4AM! But I guess that's growing up. Eventually your character learns new skills, so instead of taking a proper long rest, you just consume enough items constantly to recharge and not die. Obviously the impending fatherhood level that I'm up against will mean I'll "never sleep again" according to everybody. So that's cool.It wouldn't be a D&B episode without Fortnite talk, but it's pointedly short today. And that's because the sword that we're morning was also short lived. The Infinity Blade was an awesome addition to Fortnite, and very reminiscent of Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet game mode. I mention that I got one good adventure out of the blade, but I've been hearing tons of community uproar against the way-too-soon pulling of the sword from all modes. Was it a trademark issue, game bug, patch, conspiracy or nothing at all, who knows? (honestly I don't, so feel free to share) Stay tuned for next time when I'll know why, and be happy to share. Again Merry Christmas and happy holidays guys. You do the season your way, just enjoy, stay warm and stay alive.
Welcome to Finance & Fury, the Furious Friday edition. To start this episode, I want to say just how incredibly lucky we are to be born in Australia during this time, even compared to 100 years ago. Free societies are amazing – so why is there a massive shift lately in wanting to change it? What if you think that what we have is actually broken? What happens then? If you take for granted what you have? The loss of historical context, and perspective relative to how others live globally, there is a loss of ability to see how good we have it. This is our demise as it is used by those in power or those seeking power. We create a non-existent problem to solve and mobilise the masses, for the benefit of those in power, or those seeking power. This will be the first in a 5-episode series which will aim to break down the real risks of socialism in detail, and just how it infiltrates a society like ours. Breaking down socialism and they methods that are used including the conditions needed to be created first. Breaking down the stages of socialism Has to start with Capitalism (create wealth) Socialism Communism Next, breaking down the strategies used and the methods that people use to mobilise/manipulate the masses. Looking back through the history of Australia and where we may be heading Finish up by looking at the political spectrum overall, and ways to avoid a dystopian hellhole The road to socialism is paved by those with good intentions, unfortunately just results in awful outcomes every time. I might sound crazy but this is one of the most important eps (IMO) that I will do. We are blinded due to our incredibly narrow view, and we forget what life is really like for the majority of people living around the world, or for tens of thousands of years through society. Things can always be better right? There are many people with a desire to install a system in Australia which has been proven in the past to fail every time, and this is worrying. Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting the different results. I know politics is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it forms the rules and regulations that you have to exist under. You can ignore politics, but it won’t ignore you. Every personal finance tip I give on Finance & Fury goes out the window if a system is installed that removes your ability to do it. We are seeing this increasingly over time, like the removal of negative gearing on existing properties being proposed, the increase in progressive tax…slowly chipping away at what freedoms individuals have. From what I see in the media, it’s all a one-sided argument… so I want to present the other side for a change. Please do me a massive favour PLEASE share this episode if you don’t want to live in a country that goes down like Venezuela. I want to create a series to provide insight into the warning signs that the country is going to hell, like warning signs for a heart attack. What are “Socialist Ideas” True socialists advocate a completely classless society - government controls all means of production and distribution of goods He final stage is communism where everyone owns everything and there’s no government Socialists believe this control is necessary to eliminate competition among the people and put everyone on a level playing field. Socialism is also characterized by the absence of private property. The idea is that if everyone works, everyone will reap the same benefits and prosper equally. Therefore, everyone receives equal earnings, medical care, housing and other necessities. This sounds nice, but let’s look at an example; say you have 2 people: you get 25% of $100, or 50% of $20? Socialism shrinks the pie, removes incentives and focuses on equality of outcome. Democratic Socialists believe that they can achieve this through the democratic process. But once they have it, the ‘democratic’ part ceases to exist – Once Governments get so much power, they no longer need the population to gain power, what happens then? Socialism can work in tribes of 100 people – Everyone carries their weight, otherwise you get an axe in the back of the head. Today it is the opposite: Under socialism those carrying the most weight get the axe in the back of the head first – as they create the inequality (through owning the private property) and need to go to achieve the goal. There are two ways of installing socialism Marxists: in a hurry to come to power through direct confrontation with established governments – revolution. We have talked about this in previous episodes about Russia, and China, and I will look to do further episodes on other countries as well, exploring the patterns that play out with Marxism. Fabians: This is something happening a little closer to home. They take their time to come to power without direct confrontation, working quietly and patiently from inside the target governments – it’s death by 1,000 cuts Fabian Strategy: advances the principles of socialismvia gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. Named after Quintus Fabius Maximus – The Roman General in the 2nd Punic war – Against Hannibal (IMO 3rd best in History). A frontal assault avoided in favour of wearing down an opponent through a war of attrition and indirection. Hannibal occupied Italy for 15 years before being recalled to Carthage. This is how Western countries will fall to socialism/communism – through concession after concession. Fabian Society 1884 in the UK The Fabian Coat of Arms was a WOLF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING. This was a tad too telling so they replaced it with the TORTOISE with the motto "When I strike, I strike hard". Slow and steady. Australian Fabian Society Founded in 1947 Members: 4 prime ministers – Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Julia Gillard Other Politicians – Bill shorten, Chris Bowen, Luke Foley, Tanya Plibersek, Wayne Swan, plus 20+ APL players Media – Eva Cox, Phillip Adams, Van Badham, plus 6 more listed on their website. (from their website) the Australian Fabians' Statement of Purpose states: Contributing to progressive political thinking by generating ideas that reflect a level of thinking that meets the challenges of the times. Contributing to a progressive political culture by disseminating these ideas and getting them into the public domain. Creating an active movement of people who identify with, are engaged in and who encourage progressive political debate and reform. Influencing the ideas and policies of political parties, especially the Australian Labor Party. Their policy is to focus on the advancement of socialist ideas through gradual influence and promoting socialist ideals to intellectual circles and groups with power. How do they do this? Create the right environment The road to socialism is paved with apathy, hopelessness, frustration, futility, and despair in the masses of people. Equality is a dangerous word Equality of opportunity is a free society. You can choose to work 80 hours and earn $200k, or work 40 hours and work $100k. By its nature however, freedom creates inequality because people can choose to do different things. Even if we all started from scratch, all on the exact same level, when we have a choice how we spend our money in Equality of outcome is socialism. Would you prefer to have $50,000 and someone else have $100,000? Or, you have $10 if everyone has $10? Psychology actually points to that you would prefer the later – even if it is against your own interests. It is this fear and complete hopelessness on the part of the masses which ultimately makes them relinquish all control over their lives and turn the power over to a Government. How they do this: Universities, schools, media and Governments Universities and schools: The purpose is to create "fundamental change" and "social justice" was through a mass movement of the masses controlled over by intellectual and cultural elites. Propaganda – Writing things out repetitively eventually changes your beliefs. Tell a group of people they’re disenfranchised enough times that they start to believe it, then they will start voting against their own self-interest. It goes back to contributing to ‘progressive political thinking” – generating the ideas through ‘intellectuals’. All socialist movements have been driven by the intellectuals who manipulate the working class for their own benefit. Intellectuals live in an isolated bubble without real-world experience in the application of these ideas. Theory versus reality: this is why socialism sounds nice, until you see it in action. ‘But it will be different this time’ is incredibly naive and narcissistic. Free market: When ideas are applied, you find out very quickly if idea works or not. Creative destruction. Government: Lacks the feedback loop which ensures efficiency. Trying new things is dangerous to the status quo. The younger you start, the better. Media – The tool used to spread the ideas and misinformation. 58% of young Australians have a favourable view of socialism, and 59% agree that capitalism has failed - Centre for Independent Studies. Mixed up thinking – Capitalism hasn’t failed, people are failing to operate under capitalism. In free market – you get out what you put in. If you get a useless degree – all you have picked up is debt. It is only in a wealthy country you can get a higher education, otherwise you are working from an early age to survive. “Removing the poverty of society” There is a difference between absolute and relative poverty. Measurement of Poverty – the rate is based on taking 50% of the median income, as that income rises, so do the relative living standards of people living above and below the poverty line - 2.5m people below line This is a tricky measurement, there will never be an end to relative poverty – Absolute poverty different [Single ($433 p.w.) $22.5k p.a.] Are people's lives better than they were 10 years ago? 20 years ago? My heart goes out to people doing it tough – Almost everyone of these people is on government assistance – the safety net of society. Sadly though, the only way out of poverty is working and participated in the free market. The people pushing these ideas (that everyone is in poverty and we have to give them more money) are in the 1% - Bill shorten: Salary of $380k + perks = Just below 1%. Censorship: labelling people as extremists because their views are different. Overton Window - window of discourse, describes the range of ideas tolerated in public discourse – this is shifting and closing quickly. Gavin McInnes – Blocked from coming here (Labelled Nazi – wife is Native American). Why use dynamite when mass media and community manipulation through political and educational activism work so much better? “They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution” — Saul Alinsky — Rules for Radicals, prologue. Government Once people want something, democracy gives it to them – who doesn’t want free things? Policy creates the serfdom of individuals by central planning and taxation: If the government is powerful enough to promise everything, they’re powerful enough to take it away. Friedrich von Hayek (1944) – dangers of tyranny that inevitably result from government control of economic decision-making through central planning. You can’t keep what you earn as others might not have it. The abandonment of individualism, classical liberation and freedom inevitably leads to socialist or fascist oppression and tyranny and the “serfdom” of the individual. Socialism, while presented as a means of assuring equality, does so through “restraint and servitude”, while democracy seeks equality in liberty. Centralised planning is inherently undemocratic - requires “that the will of a small minority is imposed upon people…the power of these minorities to act by taking money or property in pursuit of centralized goals, destroy the Rule of Law and individual freedoms. There is a massive disconnect here - Voting for more stuff from others gives you less freedom in the long run. Removes incentives from others if greater redistribution occurs Socialism No chance of establishing itself over a people who have learned to become self-reliant, and have this feeling of self-respect, and respect for their fellow men. This is actually the strongest barrier and safeguard against Socialism/Fascism which a democracy can possess. The dream is nice, but it’s awful in practice ‘I remained a socialist for several years, even after my rejection of Marxism. If there could be such a thing as socialism combined with individual liberty, I would be a socialist still. For nothing could be better than living a modest, simple, and free life in an egalitarian society. It took some time before I recognized this as no more than a beautiful dream; that freedom is more important than equality; that the attempt to realize equality endangers freedom; and that, if freedom is lost, there will not even be equality among the unfree’ KARL R. POPPER, Unended Quest I’ll be the first to admit how lucky I am. Growing up here, with good parents to instil the values of working hard for what you want. In the next episode I’ll go through The Communist Manifesto – As even Marx knew you need capitalism to create the wealth first, before redistributing it. The step is to use capitalism for a communist end. Here’s a link to an article I read, “Authoritarian Liberals and Satisfied Conservatives: New research modifies the landscape of political psychology”
Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students. 600 BCE - 600 CE Second-Wave Civilizations Ancient Persia: 600 BCE - Gabe - Ancient persia or the achaemenid persia which was called this because the ruler cyrus’s great great grandfather's name was achaemenid and he started as a small independant city under the medes for protection and then cyrus got in an argument with his grandfather Astyages and won taking over persia he then established a system by capturing and relocating and adding a power over every city by accomplishing this he claimed the name Cyrus the great Audrey - The Persians didn’t actually use the name “Persian”, instead they called themselves Aryans. They called where they lived Aran (there are other variations of the name) which make the modern version of the name, Iran, probably more accurate. This is similar to how the Greeks referred to their homeland as Hellas, while the name Greece was a Latin idea. Ben - Cyrus, the ruler of Persia then proceeded to conquer various empires such as the Median empire, the Lydian empire in around 540 BCE, and he eventually got his hands on the neo-babylonian empire in 539 BCE. But while Cyrus’s son Cambyses II is out trying to take hold of egypt and libya, another person comes along claiming to be bardiya, Cyrus’s second son. So Cambyses has to rush back to Persia to make sure the throne is not taken from him but dies on the way there. No one really knows how Cambyses or Cyrus died specifically though. (BTW note for other people, shahanshah is pronounced shaw-on-shaw) Ella - Cyrus was a military commander but he realized that he needed the regions he conquered to stay in good economic order if he wanted them to provide him with economic tribute revenues. To achieve his goals he left rulers in the areas that he conquered after he conquered them. Skylar - Persia was one of the greatest empire and civilization in the world. The Achaemenid empire at its peak had about 50 million people. Thats half of the people that were in the world at that time, according to historians. The Achaemenid Dynasty/empire ends when Greece unifies under Philip of Macedon in early to mid century bce. Alexander the Great wanted to mix their cultures but he dies so they split again. Emma - In ancient Mesopotamia when they conquered a nation they would break up their political and cultural systems so that they wouldn’t be a threat. Though when Cyrus came into power he switched it, allowing those he conquered to keep their separate societies in a tributary state. While it seemed like he was being kind, he most likely was trying to keep their loyalty. - Ethan - As Cambyses died in 522 BCE, he was succeeded by a general titled “Darius”. Darius claimed that he was slightly related to Cambyses II but many other people challenged Darius’s throneship. This resulted, in some places, rebellion against the Achaemenids. Darius soon made himself to be the clear ruler Persia and re established rule of the rebels. He also reorganized the empire into satrapies, and for each satrapy there would be a satrap. 600 CE Classical Greece: Gabe - If you didnt know its called Classical Greece and Ancient Persia because Persia was in the Ancient Era and Greece is in the Classical era so Classical Greece cities were built between mountains in valleys and on coastal plain so by the sea there was a time somewhere around 1200 bce they were in this war called the trojan war there's a story of a huge horse called the trojan horse it was in these wars so in this war this guy named homer he said that people came from the sea while they were having the trojan war and they were attacking them and driving them off the coast so they built these city states called polis which were like fortified cities so the people could have protection Audrey - The Greek Peninsula has been settled by humans for thousands of years, but an important part of Greek history starts when the Mycenaean Empire falls and the Greek Dark Ages begin. It is called the “Dark Ages” because there really aren’t many historical records from that point in time, and that was around 1100-800 BC. The major events happened in the exiting of the Greek Dark Ages, and this is when things that Ancient Greece is really known for began, like the Oracle at Delphi and the Olympic Games. (if someone wants to explain these) Ben - The difference between sparta and athens was that in sparta social status wasn’t decided based on how much money you had or how smart you were, it was about your military ranking. The spartans political system was unique in that it had two kings that were from different families that ruled. But on the lower side of the political rankings was the helots. Helots were like slaves but had more freedom, helots still had families but they had to work for the state and couldn’t really do anything else. Helots were still considered owned but they were owned by the state. Helots were collected from the villages sparta pillaged. Emma - Greece’s structure was was pretty different from other societies at the time. While the desperate colonies(?) all recognized the “mother” city-state, they were all independent for the majority of the time. Their shared religion and culture was what gave them all a sense of unity. Ella - Ancient Greece was made up of many independent city states because of Greeces complicated geography. All of these communities were separated by mountains, hills, and water. Greece wasn't a unified nation, instead it was a bunch of connected communities that shared religion and beliefs. - Ethan - The kings of Sparta were priests of Zeus and they were included in a gerousia, or council of elders, which was the highest court of Sparta. Also, there was an executive committee consisting of 5 ephors which were chosen by the people, of the people. Skylar - The name Greece is not what people that live in Greece call it. They call it Hellas. Nowadays they don’t call it Greece and back in the “Ancient Greece” days they didn’t say Greece they said Hellas. The word Hellas comes from Hellen, viewed as the progenitor. The Hellastic people are the people that live in Greece. In late 6th century BCE Athens was the dominant economic power. Athens was full of wealth as silver was just founded in the mountains around the area. Athens had an amazing trading system with other Greek city-states. Trading with other city-states was super important to Athens because it didn’t have the agricultural conditions to supply enough grain for its population. A series of laws were written and put in place by a statesman named Draco around 621 BCE. They didn’t stay too long because they were super harsh. Another man named Solon was called to change the laws, he created a series of laws that equalized political power. Hunter- Ancient Greece consisted of over hundreds of different independent city-states, somewhat due to the geography of Greece. Greece communities were separated by mountains, hills, and water. Rather than one large nation, Ancient Greece was more like a system of communities with a shared language and religion that sometimes led to a common sense of belonging. 600 BCE - 600 CE The rise and fall of empires: Gabe - I'm going to start by saying an empire is a small city or state that claims a large amount of land which is usually broke up into provinces empires rise and fall for different reasons they usually expand through military conquest which is how the romans the persians and the Maurya empire in india expanded but they progressed in different ways the Maurya empire political sabotage and religious conversion so the people turn against their own country Audrey - An empire forms when a ruler, that already controls some territory, gains control of more territory for whatever reason, and that could be from military tactics, a weak neighboring area or really anything like that. Once the ruler has that territory under their control, they gain land and people. With the power they now have, this ruler could tax the people for their own wealth and/or use them for a better army. The empire could then keep expanding in this way until it collapsed. Ben - After the fall of the Qin dynasty the Han empire began to rise because of all the power that was up for grabs. The Han dynasty began in 206 BCE. They revived the way of Confucianism to unite the people and give them more reasons to fight and become a larger empire. Han china started to fall in 2nd century CE and eventually reached its demise in 220 CE, it mainly fell because of a religious divide between the people and the natural disasters that caused food shortages which snowballed into a bad economy. Ella - Empires all grow for different reasons whether its strong military, political sabotage, or religious conversation, but the Romans were not out to conquer territory. They did get involved in several wars but after they defeated their enemies they would offer their victims a small amount of citizenship in return for loyalty to the Roman empire. Emma - There are also several different factors that can lead to the fall of an empire. Each of these factors will usually reflect those that led to the rise of the empire. Things such as a economic collapse, the weakening of military forces, or the death/assassination of a leader are common causes of a fall. - Ethan - A common example of an empire falling is Persia. The Achaemenid empire had internal issues already but had structure still. In 334 BCE Alexander attacked and in 4 years general Darius the Third lied dead. He was actually killed by one of his own generals and when the throne lied empty Alexander took the reins. Skylar - The rise of empires is great everyone’s all happy, then usually right when everything gets normal, the empire falls for different reasons. Rather it’s they have no more money, they get taken over by another empire, or another reason. The Roman empire took hundreds of years to create. They had weak neighbors so it was easy for them to take over that area. Hunter-The fall of an empire can be because of an outbreak of war and rebellion, when an empire falls so does its military for a few months to years in which leaves them wide open for follow up attacks. Normally however when an empire is defeated it is overrun by the kingdom/empire that attacked. 600 BCE - 600 CE Empire of Alexander the Great: Gabe - Alexander the great was kind of an i want everything kind of guy no but wherever he went he conquered very good at military strategy lets skip a little real quick after he died his successors made a coin with him on it with horns which were marking him as a deity which means he was a huge role model you could say a symbol of power he was the man people looked up to he was actually only 5 to round 5’8 but that was normal for them because they didn't eat as much meat as other empires. Audrey - Alexander III, better known as Alexander the Great, was 20 years old when his extremely short reign began, lasting only 12 years. For how short his reign was, Alexander was very successful, especially when it came to conquering. Just like his reign, Alexander’s life was very short, ending in 323 BC when he was only 32 years old. Some people say he died from alcohol poisoning, some say it was from direct poisoning, but it is likely that he could have died because of a disease. Ella - A man known as Philip of Macedon came to power in 359 BC. His father had previously been the king of Macedon. Both of his older brother died which left him to be a regent for his infant nephew. He eventually possessed full power and ended up taking over a large majority of Greek city-states. He went on to almost unify all of them. Ben - Philip is later killed at his daughter’s wedding, by his royal bodyguard Pausanias in 336 BCE at the capital of macedonia, Aegae. This caused his son alexander to take control of the large kingdom that philip left behind. The one who assassinated tried to run away to his associates outside but tripped on a vine and got killed by philips. bodyguards Emma - Shortly after his father’s death, Alexander was crowned king and he eliminated any potential threats to his rule. The Greek city-states were now under his control. He then began his conquest of the Persian Empire which his father Philip had been planning before his untimely demise. Skylar - in 5th century BCE Greece started with the Persian invasion and ended with Peloponnesian war. Alexander the Great was one of the most powerful conquers in human history. Alexander the Great started off by taking control over his father’s empire after his death. Alexander wanted to do what his father wanted to do before he died, which was conquer the persian empire. So he put one of his generals, Antipater in charger of Greece. Alexander leads his troops on the greatest adventures of all time. Alexander won the battle at Granicus river, then Issus, Darius the third tries to negotiate but Alexander kept saying no, he wants to be the king of Asia. Eventually darius and alexander meet at Guagamela and alexander wins again. Darius’ empire was falling and what making the falling more official is when alexander takes his troops to Achaemenid, which is the capital of Persepolis and alexander defeats them once again. - Ethan - After Alexander’s father’s death, Alexander started focusing on India. He won some battles before he made it to the Ganges River. He planned to cross the Ganges to get to the rest of India. His tired troops decided that it was to much work and that they were already tired so they refused to go. In the end they turned home, and in 323 BCE, Alexander died to, what was most likely, disease. Hunter- In the Kingdom of Thrace, during the reign of Lysimachus- a successor of Alexander the Great who lived from 361 BCE to 323 BCE, a coin was issued. The coin had Alexander’s face with ram horns on each side of his crown, the ram horns were a symbol of an Egyption God known as Amun or Zeus, who is often combined with Amun- from whom Alexander claimed descent. Flanked with these horns, Alexander had the reputation of a Deity. 600 BCE - 600 CE Rise of Rome: 600 BCE - Gabe - the Rome empire came to power when a group of noblemen were like ok the king sucks he's out and so they kicked him out and made the two consuls which were two people which were pretty close to a king except one could veto the others actions this was so one person could not be oh so powerful They also split the people into plebeians and patricians which were plebeians being common folk and patricians being people of noble blood This was the roman republic Audrey - Legend has it, Rome was named after Romulus, one of twin brothers that are abandoned and raised by a “she-wolf”. Eventually, Romulus kills Remus (his twin brother) and becomes the first king of Rome. Other historians now think that it was the other way around, that the city of rome needed a founding story, and the whole thing was just that, a story. Ben - Rome was founded in 753 BCE (even though it’s mostly a myth and most believe in was founded a little later). Rome then founds the Rome Republic, a state in central rome, making them a little more influential in 509 BCE. Then much later than that the Punic wars happened between Rome and Carthage and consisted of three wars. The first war took place from 264-241 BCE, the second from 218-201 BCE, and the third from 149-146 BCE. in total it lasted from 264 to 146. Rome ended up winning and destroying and conquering Carthage. Ella - The Romans did not plan to build an empire but it came upon them as they ran into conflict with the surrounding city-states, kingdoms, and empires. They had to find a way to use the territories they conquered. Most of the places the Romans conquered were allowed to keep the political and cultural ways they had, the only requirement was that they provide soldiers for the Roman Empire. Emma - The politics of Rome reflected the structure of their society; it too was divided into the two social classes, patricians and plebeians. Those in the upper class were allowed to hold political office, and then become a senator, but those of the lower class were not. However, the plebeians were able gain more political influence over time. - Ethan - The political system of Rome was mainly based on military rank/power. The “Comitia Centuriata” which was named for the century, was pretty much a group of 100 soldiers. Although, this 100 person unit was the base amount of people, it was not always exact in real situations. Skylar - I’m going to talk about the Punic wars that went on between Rome and Carthage. The Punic wars consist of three major battles, The first one lasted 23 years, from 264 BCE-241 BCE. It was at Agrigentum it was over the island of Sicily. Rome wins most smaller battles. Then Carthage leaves. Rome wanted Carthage to pay them for the damages. Rome built a stronger navy. 240 to 248 BCE there was a Mercenary war. The second Punic war was between 218-201 BCE. The third and final war was between 149-146 BCE where Rome basically destroys Carthage, ending a 700 year long war. 8.Hunter- Rome went from a city in the middle of the italy peninsula to one of the strongest empires in history. 600 CE From Roman Republic to Roman Empire: Gabe - in 27 bce a guy named augustus caesar came and was like nope im the ruler “emperor” so basically the king and he started an autocratic government which is where he was the guy who called all the shots he didn't expand rome much in his time but he did do some things that changed the political and economic structure of rome Audrey - Gaius Julius Caesar’s life really marked the transition between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, even though, in his lifetime, Rome was still a republic and never actually considered an empire. The reason I say this is the unofficial time that the transition occurred is, that at the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman Republic’s structure very much resembled the structure of an empire, so it kind of seems like it already switched. Ben - Julius Caesar then illegally crosses the rubicon and most of rome’s senators choose to move over to greece. This causes a sort of civil war between rome and greece. After Julius crosses the rubicon the senators send a popular general Pompey to go fight with his soldiers but they decide to retreat because they thought julius’s army was unbeatable. Then the other senators also retreat, giving julius control of rome again. But it would be only a matter of time before the senators return to try and retake rome. Ella - Julius Caesar was assassinated, and in his will he stated that his nephew Octavian would be his adopted son. Too other men Antony and Lepidus were big supporters of Caesars and they got together with Octavian to form a triumvirate, which was known as the second triumvirate. Unlike the first triumvirate which was between Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, this triumvirate had legal backing. These three men gained lots of power over the Roman republic. Emma - The power he gained was not limited to the prolonged time in which he held office. A major part of it was that he now had complete control over the military, unlike before when the elected consuls served as commanders. He was also now the high priest, or Pontifex Maximus, and in charge of the census for taxation. He kept these powers by acting like they were still separate offices that could be held by someone else. - Ethan - Roman money/currency wasn’t exactly economy based but politically based as well. Julius Caesar was the first emperor to put his face on currency and since then emperors of Rome have done this. Before Caesar, only deceased Romans and Roman gods were on currency. This strengthened the connection of the emperor and the economy while popularizing the current emperor. These emperors used this systems to popularize the next candidate they favored. Skylar - The Roman Empire began in 27 BCE when Augustus became the main ruler. Augustus is Julius Caesar’s adopted son. He never took the name king or emperor preferred to call himself princeps, first citizen, or primus inter pares. Augustus never expanded the territory because it was already as big as it could possibly get. 8.Hunter- The Roman Republic was a small city in Italy, after a large military growth and a gaining of power over many neighboring countries the Roman Republic quickly grew to the Roman Empire. 600 BCE - 600 CE The Roman Empire: Audrey - Pax Romana is a name that a two hundred year long time period is often referred to as, and it means “Roman Peace”. This name came from the time when Octavian was emperor, which was from 27 BCE to 180 CE. It was a relatively good time for the Roman Empire, even though there was still quite a bit of conflict it was really a pretty peaceful time hence the name. Gabe - it was a good time for the roman empire augustus caesar or Octavian had complete control over the military which was one of the ways he became the emperor But the romans liked the belief of having military governments temporary which is why He took control as a stand in governor of one of the provinces where the majority of roman legions were stationed giving him control over the military while still looking like he’s doing a favor for the people Ella - Nero was a really bad guy. He was known for the fire in 64AD that a large amount of Romans died in. People think Nero started the fire to make room for a palace. Aside of that, he killed a lot of people including his own mom. He was also known for persecuting christians. Sometimes he would dip them in oil and set them on fire for a source of light in his garden. Ben - After a few different anti-christian ruler come along, a new emperor decides to embrace christianity and his name was constantine. He was the first christian emperor and he even got baptised. Constantine also moves the capital more east and renames it to Constantinople. - Ethan - Augustus was followed by Tiberius who was Augustus’s step-son. Both had relatively long careers as emperors. Augustus had a career lasting close to 40 years while Tiberius had a 24 year long career. Caligula, one of Augustus’s great nephews, was viewed as a sadist. While he was emperor for a while he was quickly assassinated, he had a lot of people killed during his term of about 4 years. Emma - After the Julio Claudian Dynasty of Rome came the Flavian Dynasty. This dynasty began in 69 AD when Vespasian was made emperor by the senate after the defeat of Vitellius. He ruled for ten years until 79 AD when he died. He was then succeeded by his oldest son, Titus. This marked the first emperor of Rome to be followed by his own son. He ruled for only two years, until 81 AD when he died from an illness. His rule was then followed by his brother Domitian who held the position from 81 to 96 AD. This dynasty was known for building the colosseum and the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem. Skylar - One of the most important pieces from Augustan, Rome is the Ara Pacis, Ara Pacis means altar of peace. Augustus was the first emperor of Rome. The Ara Pacis was basically rebuilt from the fragments they found, some from the 17th century, but most were from the 20th century. The altar was used for sacrifices. This Altar has a political and spiritual meaning. 8.Hunter- The Roman Empire was an extremely powerful empire capturing Jerusalem, Cannan, and i believe nearly one hundred other provinces. 600 BCE - 600 CE Ancient and Imperial China: Audrey - The Shang Dynasty ended in 1046 BCE, when the Zhou (pronounced jo) Dynasty defeated the last Shang emperor, Di Xin, in the Battle of Muye. Historical records show that Di Xin had become a corrupt ruler, and the Zhous said they could only overthrow him because of the Mandate of Heaven which is an idea that if a ruler became incapable or corrupt the a guiding force in the universe would throw them out and replace them. Gabe - Zhou empire did not last long though because the provinces were giving their support to the governor basically of their providence instead of the zhou emperor so slowly the states became more powerful than the emperor himself hence the warring states period 3.Ella - The Zhou Dynasty collapsed at a slow pace over hundreds of years. As this happened, rulers of the surrounding areas gained more power than the king. This was the beginning of a period that was known as the Warring State period, which lasted from about 475 BC to 221 BC. Nearby, Qin, a western state, conquered its surrounding states and established their own dynasty. Ben - The Qin dynasty began to rise to it’s empire state in 221 BCE. The founder was Qin Shi Huang, a legalist (legalist is when law is enforced very strictly) that hated freedom of expression and freedom in general. A historian quoted him once about how he hates historians and wants all non-state historians that wrote history before Qin dynasty to be burned. “[Historians] hold it a mark of fame to defy the ruler, regard it as lofty to take a dissenting stance, and they lead the lesser officials in fabricating slander. If behavior such as this is not prohibited, then in upper circles the authority of the ruler will be compromised, and in lower ones, cliques will form. Therefore it should be prohibited. I therefore request that all records of the historians other than those of the state of Qin be burned.” - Ethan - Many differing beliefs are made vocal during this time period. 3 of which are Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Confucianism, created by Confucius, was based on reform of the status, class, and hierarchy systems. Legalism is more based off of strict laws and harsh punishments. Daoism is more of lawless following what they believe is right at the time. Emma - Confucius, or Kongzi which means Master Kong. His teachings were almost entirely based around morality and having a personal sense of right and wrong. He wasn’t really teaching specific rules of what was good or bad, rather teaching people be conscious of the intent behind their actions. Skylar - During the Warring States period in China from 475-221 BCE China was divided into seven competing nations. The fiefs were gaining more importance as the Zhou dynasty was ending and were becoming states. One of the 7 states were Qin. the other 6 states were Chu, Zhou, Wei, Han, Yan, and Qi. The first leader of Qin was King Zheng, later on he became Qin Shi Huangdi, he would also go on to be the first leader of the Qin dynasty. People say that the Qin dynasty ended the warring states period but it was really when Qin conquested the other states. 8. 600 BCE - 600 CE Early Judaism: Audrey - Judaism stands out to historians because the Jews were monotheists, meaning they believed and worshiped only one God. This made the Jews unique to most other societies which were polytheistic and worshiped multiple Gods. Gabe - The jews lived in the kingdoms of israel and judah the assyrians conquered these two empires and then the babylonians which was called the babylonian exile which sent allot of the jews out of these kingdoms 3 . Ella - In the Hebrew bible, It talks about Abraham moving from the city of Ur to Canaan with his family. It is Questionable whether the Ur they are talking about was the Sumatran city in lower Mesopotamia or a Ur in Upper Mesopotamia. Ben - One of the most important jewish prophets was Moses. Moses was born at a time where the emperor was killing off every boy that is born because of his fear that if they grew too strong they would overtake him. To hide Moses from the emperor’s forces his mother put him in a basket and let him float down the river. The emperor/pharaoh’s daughter finds moses and raises him into the royal family, moses one day is enraged by a slaver beating a jewish slave and kills the slavemaster and retreats out of the city in fear of punishment. He goes to Mount Sinai but the Lord tells him to go back and free every Jewish slave. So he goes back and frees them and splits the red sea to escape. He brings the people back to the mountain where he receives the ten commandments. They then travel for 40 years and he reestablishes the jewish people in Canaan. - Ethan - Jews lived under Roman rulers while still being allowed their own traditions. There was some Jewish revolting but mainly they were crushed every time. Soon after the Romans renamed Judea into Syria Palaestina. This destroyed the connection of the Jews to the land. Skylar - Abraham is one of the significant patriarchs, the other two are Jacob and Isaac. Abraham’s first son is called Ishmael. He had Ishmael with his wife sarah’s servant because they didn’t think they could have kids. Ishmael is viewed as the progenitor, the patriarch for the arab people. According to biblical accounts Isaac was born when Sarah was in her 90s and Abraham was around 100 years old. Emma - Abraham’s son Isaac was the second significant patriarch. He was the first one of the three to inherit the covenant that his father Abraham had received. Later in his life he married Rebekah who gave birth to their twin sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob being the last of the three patriarchs. That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us outside of the box that is learning.
Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students. 600 BCE - 600 CE Second-Wave Civilizations Ancient Persia: 600 BCE - Gabe - Ancient persia or the achaemenid persia which was called this because the ruler cyrus’s great great grandfather's name was achaemenid and he started as a small independant city under the medes for protection and then cyrus got in an argument with his grandfather Astyages and won taking over persia he then established a system by capturing and relocating and adding a power over every city by accomplishing this he claimed the name Cyrus the great Audrey - The Persians didn’t actually use the name “Persian”, instead they called themselves Aryans. They called where they lived Aran (there are other variations of the name) which make the modern version of the name, Iran, probably more accurate. This is similar to how the Greeks referred to their homeland as Hellas, while the name Greece was a Latin idea. Ben - Cyrus, the ruler of Persia then proceeded to conquer various empires such as the Median empire, the Lydian empire in around 540 BCE, and he eventually got his hands on the neo-babylonian empire in 539 BCE. But while Cyrus’s son Cambyses II is out trying to take hold of egypt and libya, another person comes along claiming to be bardiya, Cyrus’s second son. So Cambyses has to rush back to Persia to make sure the throne is not taken from him but dies on the way there. No one really knows how Cambyses or Cyrus died specifically though. (BTW note for other people, shahanshah is pronounced shaw-on-shaw) Ella - Cyrus was a military commander but he realized that he needed the regions he conquered to stay in good economic order if he wanted them to provide him with economic tribute revenues. To achieve his goals he left rulers in the areas that he conquered after he conquered them. Skylar - Persia was one of the greatest empire and civilization in the world. The Achaemenid empire at its peak had about 50 million people. Thats half of the people that were in the world at that time, according to historians. The Achaemenid Dynasty/empire ends when Greece unifies under Philip of Macedon in early to mid century bce. Alexander the Great wanted to mix their cultures but he dies so they split again. Emma - In ancient Mesopotamia when they conquered a nation they would break up their political and cultural systems so that they wouldn’t be a threat. Though when Cyrus came into power he switched it, allowing those he conquered to keep their separate societies in a tributary state. While it seemed like he was being kind, he most likely was trying to keep their loyalty. - Ethan - As Cambyses died in 522 BCE, he was succeeded by a general titled “Darius”. Darius claimed that he was slightly related to Cambyses II but many other people challenged Darius’s throneship. This resulted, in some places, rebellion against the Achaemenids. Darius soon made himself to be the clear ruler Persia and re established rule of the rebels. He also reorganized the empire into satrapies, and for each satrapy there would be a satrap. 600 CE Classical Greece: Gabe - If you didnt know its called Classical Greece and Ancient Persia because Persia was in the Ancient Era and Greece is in the Classical era so Classical Greece cities were built between mountains in valleys and on coastal plain so by the sea there was a time somewhere around 1200 bce they were in this war called the trojan war there's a story of a huge horse called the trojan horse it was in these wars so in this war this guy named homer he said that people came from the sea while they were having the trojan war and they were attacking them and driving them off the coast so they built these city states called polis which were like fortified cities so the people could have protection Audrey - The Greek Peninsula has been settled by humans for thousands of years, but an important part of Greek history starts when the Mycenaean Empire falls and the Greek Dark Ages begin. It is called the “Dark Ages” because there really aren’t many historical records from that point in time, and that was around 1100-800 BC. The major events happened in the exiting of the Greek Dark Ages, and this is when things that Ancient Greece is really known for began, like the Oracle at Delphi and the Olympic Games. (if someone wants to explain these) Ben - The difference between sparta and athens was that in sparta social status wasn’t decided based on how much money you had or how smart you were, it was about your military ranking. The spartans political system was unique in that it had two kings that were from different families that ruled. But on the lower side of the political rankings was the helots. Helots were like slaves but had more freedom, helots still had families but they had to work for the state and couldn’t really do anything else. Helots were still considered owned but they were owned by the state. Helots were collected from the villages sparta pillaged. Emma - Greece’s structure was was pretty different from other societies at the time. While the desperate colonies(?) all recognized the “mother” city-state, they were all independent for the majority of the time. Their shared religion and culture was what gave them all a sense of unity. Ella - Ancient Greece was made up of many independent city states because of Greeces complicated geography. All of these communities were separated by mountains, hills, and water. Greece wasn't a unified nation, instead it was a bunch of connected communities that shared religion and beliefs. - Ethan - The kings of Sparta were priests of Zeus and they were included in a gerousia, or council of elders, which was the highest court of Sparta. Also, there was an executive committee consisting of 5 ephors which were chosen by the people, of the people. Skylar - The name Greece is not what people that live in Greece call it. They call it Hellas. Nowadays they don’t call it Greece and back in the “Ancient Greece” days they didn’t say Greece they said Hellas. The word Hellas comes from Hellen, viewed as the progenitor. The Hellastic people are the people that live in Greece. In late 6th century BCE Athens was the dominant economic power. Athens was full of wealth as silver was just founded in the mountains around the area. Athens had an amazing trading system with other Greek city-states. Trading with other city-states was super important to Athens because it didn’t have the agricultural conditions to supply enough grain for its population. A series of laws were written and put in place by a statesman named Draco around 621 BCE. They didn’t stay too long because they were super harsh. Another man named Solon was called to change the laws, he created a series of laws that equalized political power. Hunter- Ancient Greece consisted of over hundreds of different independent city-states, somewhat due to the geography of Greece. Greece communities were separated by mountains, hills, and water. Rather than one large nation, Ancient Greece was more like a system of communities with a shared language and religion that sometimes led to a common sense of belonging. 600 BCE - 600 CE The rise and fall of empires: Gabe - I'm going to start by saying an empire is a small city or state that claims a large amount of land which is usually broke up into provinces empires rise and fall for different reasons they usually expand through military conquest which is how the romans the persians and the Maurya empire in india expanded but they progressed in different ways the Maurya empire political sabotage and religious conversion so the people turn against their own country Audrey - An empire forms when a ruler, that already controls some territory, gains control of more territory for whatever reason, and that could be from military tactics, a weak neighboring area or really anything like that. Once the ruler has that territory under their control, they gain land and people. With the power they now have, this ruler could tax the people for their own wealth and/or use them for a better army. The empire could then keep expanding in this way until it collapsed. Ben - After the fall of the Qin dynasty the Han empire began to rise because of all the power that was up for grabs. The Han dynasty began in 206 BCE. They revived the way of Confucianism to unite the people and give them more reasons to fight and become a larger empire. Han china started to fall in 2nd century CE and eventually reached its demise in 220 CE, it mainly fell because of a religious divide between the people and the natural disasters that caused food shortages which snowballed into a bad economy. Ella - Empires all grow for different reasons whether its strong military, political sabotage, or religious conversation, but the Romans were not out to conquer territory. They did get involved in several wars but after they defeated their enemies they would offer their victims a small amount of citizenship in return for loyalty to the Roman empire. Emma - There are also several different factors that can lead to the fall of an empire. Each of these factors will usually reflect those that led to the rise of the empire. Things such as a economic collapse, the weakening of military forces, or the death/assassination of a leader are common causes of a fall. - Ethan - A common example of an empire falling is Persia. The Achaemenid empire had internal issues already but had structure still. In 334 BCE Alexander attacked and in 4 years general Darius the Third lied dead. He was actually killed by one of his own generals and when the throne lied empty Alexander took the reins. Skylar - The rise of empires is great everyone’s all happy, then usually right when everything gets normal, the empire falls for different reasons. Rather it’s they have no more money, they get taken over by another empire, or another reason. The Roman empire took hundreds of years to create. They had weak neighbors so it was easy for them to take over that area. Hunter-The fall of an empire can be because of an outbreak of war and rebellion, when an empire falls so does its military for a few months to years in which leaves them wide open for follow up attacks. Normally however when an empire is defeated it is overrun by the kingdom/empire that attacked. 600 BCE - 600 CE Empire of Alexander the Great: Gabe - Alexander the great was kind of an i want everything kind of guy no but wherever he went he conquered very good at military strategy lets skip a little real quick after he died his successors made a coin with him on it with horns which were marking him as a deity which means he was a huge role model you could say a symbol of power he was the man people looked up to he was actually only 5 to round 5’8 but that was normal for them because they didn't eat as much meat as other empires. Audrey - Alexander III, better known as Alexander the Great, was 20 years old when his extremely short reign began, lasting only 12 years. For how short his reign was, Alexander was very successful, especially when it came to conquering. Just like his reign, Alexander’s life was very short, ending in 323 BC when he was only 32 years old. Some people say he died from alcohol poisoning, some say it was from direct poisoning, but it is likely that he could have died because of a disease. Ella - A man known as Philip of Macedon came to power in 359 BC. His father had previously been the king of Macedon. Both of his older brother died which left him to be a regent for his infant nephew. He eventually possessed full power and ended up taking over a large majority of Greek city-states. He went on to almost unify all of them. Ben - Philip is later killed at his daughter’s wedding, by his royal bodyguard Pausanias in 336 BCE at the capital of macedonia, Aegae. This caused his son alexander to take control of the large kingdom that philip left behind. The one who assassinated tried to run away to his associates outside but tripped on a vine and got killed by philips. bodyguards Emma - Shortly after his father’s death, Alexander was crowned king and he eliminated any potential threats to his rule. The Greek city-states were now under his control. He then began his conquest of the Persian Empire which his father Philip had been planning before his untimely demise. Skylar - in 5th century BCE Greece started with the Persian invasion and ended with Peloponnesian war. Alexander the Great was one of the most powerful conquers in human history. Alexander the Great started off by taking control over his father’s empire after his death. Alexander wanted to do what his father wanted to do before he died, which was conquer the persian empire. So he put one of his generals, Antipater in charger of Greece. Alexander leads his troops on the greatest adventures of all time. Alexander won the battle at Granicus river, then Issus, Darius the third tries to negotiate but Alexander kept saying no, he wants to be the king of Asia. Eventually darius and alexander meet at Guagamela and alexander wins again. Darius’ empire was falling and what making the falling more official is when alexander takes his troops to Achaemenid, which is the capital of Persepolis and alexander defeats them once again. - Ethan - After Alexander’s father’s death, Alexander started focusing on India. He won some battles before he made it to the Ganges River. He planned to cross the Ganges to get to the rest of India. His tired troops decided that it was to much work and that they were already tired so they refused to go. In the end they turned home, and in 323 BCE, Alexander died to, what was most likely, disease. Hunter- In the Kingdom of Thrace, during the reign of Lysimachus- a successor of Alexander the Great who lived from 361 BCE to 323 BCE, a coin was issued. The coin had Alexander’s face with ram horns on each side of his crown, the ram horns were a symbol of an Egyption God known as Amun or Zeus, who is often combined with Amun- from whom Alexander claimed descent. Flanked with these horns, Alexander had the reputation of a Deity. 600 BCE - 600 CE Rise of Rome: 600 BCE - Gabe - the Rome empire came to power when a group of noblemen were like ok the king sucks he's out and so they kicked him out and made the two consuls which were two people which were pretty close to a king except one could veto the others actions this was so one person could not be oh so powerful They also split the people into plebeians and patricians which were plebeians being common folk and patricians being people of noble blood This was the roman republic Audrey - Legend has it, Rome was named after Romulus, one of twin brothers that are abandoned and raised by a “she-wolf”. Eventually, Romulus kills Remus (his twin brother) and becomes the first king of Rome. Other historians now think that it was the other way around, that the city of rome needed a founding story, and the whole thing was just that, a story. Ben - Rome was founded in 753 BCE (even though it’s mostly a myth and most believe in was founded a little later). Rome then founds the Rome Republic, a state in central rome, making them a little more influential in 509 BCE. Then much later than that the Punic wars happened between Rome and Carthage and consisted of three wars. The first war took place from 264-241 BCE, the second from 218-201 BCE, and the third from 149-146 BCE. in total it lasted from 264 to 146. Rome ended up winning and destroying and conquering Carthage. Ella - The Romans did not plan to build an empire but it came upon them as they ran into conflict with the surrounding city-states, kingdoms, and empires. They had to find a way to use the territories they conquered. Most of the places the Romans conquered were allowed to keep the political and cultural ways they had, the only requirement was that they provide soldiers for the Roman Empire. Emma - The politics of Rome reflected the structure of their society; it too was divided into the two social classes, patricians and plebeians. Those in the upper class were allowed to hold political office, and then become a senator, but those of the lower class were not. However, the plebeians were able gain more political influence over time. - Ethan - The political system of Rome was mainly based on military rank/power. The “Comitia Centuriata” which was named for the century, was pretty much a group of 100 soldiers. Although, this 100 person unit was the base amount of people, it was not always exact in real situations. Skylar - I’m going to talk about the Punic wars that went on between Rome and Carthage. The Punic wars consist of three major battles, The first one lasted 23 years, from 264 BCE-241 BCE. It was at Agrigentum it was over the island of Sicily. Rome wins most smaller battles. Then Carthage leaves. Rome wanted Carthage to pay them for the damages. Rome built a stronger navy. 240 to 248 BCE there was a Mercenary war. The second Punic war was between 218-201 BCE. The third and final war was between 149-146 BCE where Rome basically destroys Carthage, ending a 700 year long war. 8.Hunter- Rome went from a city in the middle of the italy peninsula to one of the strongest empires in history. 600 CE From Roman Republic to Roman Empire: Gabe - in 27 bce a guy named augustus caesar came and was like nope im the ruler “emperor” so basically the king and he started an autocratic government which is where he was the guy who called all the shots he didn't expand rome much in his time but he did do some things that changed the political and economic structure of rome Audrey - Gaius Julius Caesar’s life really marked the transition between the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, even though, in his lifetime, Rome was still a republic and never actually considered an empire. The reason I say this is the unofficial time that the transition occurred is, that at the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman Republic’s structure very much resembled the structure of an empire, so it kind of seems like it already switched. Ben - Julius Caesar then illegally crosses the rubicon and most of rome’s senators choose to move over to greece. This causes a sort of civil war between rome and greece. After Julius crosses the rubicon the senators send a popular general Pompey to go fight with his soldiers but they decide to retreat because they thought julius’s army was unbeatable. Then the other senators also retreat, giving julius control of rome again. But it would be only a matter of time before the senators return to try and retake rome. Ella - Julius Caesar was assassinated, and in his will he stated that his nephew Octavian would be his adopted son. Too other men Antony and Lepidus were big supporters of Caesars and they got together with Octavian to form a triumvirate, which was known as the second triumvirate. Unlike the first triumvirate which was between Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus, this triumvirate had legal backing. These three men gained lots of power over the Roman republic. Emma - The power he gained was not limited to the prolonged time in which he held office. A major part of it was that he now had complete control over the military, unlike before when the elected consuls served as commanders. He was also now the high priest, or Pontifex Maximus, and in charge of the census for taxation. He kept these powers by acting like they were still separate offices that could be held by someone else. - Ethan - Roman money/currency wasn’t exactly economy based but politically based as well. Julius Caesar was the first emperor to put his face on currency and since then emperors of Rome have done this. Before Caesar, only deceased Romans and Roman gods were on currency. This strengthened the connection of the emperor and the economy while popularizing the current emperor. These emperors used this systems to popularize the next candidate they favored. Skylar - The Roman Empire began in 27 BCE when Augustus became the main ruler. Augustus is Julius Caesar’s adopted son. He never took the name king or emperor preferred to call himself princeps, first citizen, or primus inter pares. Augustus never expanded the territory because it was already as big as it could possibly get. 8.Hunter- The Roman Republic was a small city in Italy, after a large military growth and a gaining of power over many neighboring countries the Roman Republic quickly grew to the Roman Empire. 600 BCE - 600 CE The Roman Empire: Audrey - Pax Romana is a name that a two hundred year long time period is often referred to as, and it means “Roman Peace”. This name came from the time when Octavian was emperor, which was from 27 BCE to 180 CE. It was a relatively good time for the Roman Empire, even though there was still quite a bit of conflict it was really a pretty peaceful time hence the name. Gabe - it was a good time for the roman empire augustus caesar or Octavian had complete control over the military which was one of the ways he became the emperor But the romans liked the belief of having military governments temporary which is why He took control as a stand in governor of one of the provinces where the majority of roman legions were stationed giving him control over the military while still looking like he’s doing a favor for the people Ella - Nero was a really bad guy. He was known for the fire in 64AD that a large amount of Romans died in. People think Nero started the fire to make room for a palace. Aside of that, he killed a lot of people including his own mom. He was also known for persecuting christians. Sometimes he would dip them in oil and set them on fire for a source of light in his garden. Ben - After a few different anti-christian ruler come along, a new emperor decides to embrace christianity and his name was constantine. He was the first christian emperor and he even got baptised. Constantine also moves the capital more east and renames it to Constantinople. - Ethan - Augustus was followed by Tiberius who was Augustus’s step-son. Both had relatively long careers as emperors. Augustus had a career lasting close to 40 years while Tiberius had a 24 year long career. Caligula, one of Augustus’s great nephews, was viewed as a sadist. While he was emperor for a while he was quickly assassinated, he had a lot of people killed during his term of about 4 years. Emma - After the Julio Claudian Dynasty of Rome came the Flavian Dynasty. This dynasty began in 69 AD when Vespasian was made emperor by the senate after the defeat of Vitellius. He ruled for ten years until 79 AD when he died. He was then succeeded by his oldest son, Titus. This marked the first emperor of Rome to be followed by his own son. He ruled for only two years, until 81 AD when he died from an illness. His rule was then followed by his brother Domitian who held the position from 81 to 96 AD. This dynasty was known for building the colosseum and the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem. Skylar - One of the most important pieces from Augustan, Rome is the Ara Pacis, Ara Pacis means altar of peace. Augustus was the first emperor of Rome. The Ara Pacis was basically rebuilt from the fragments they found, some from the 17th century, but most were from the 20th century. The altar was used for sacrifices. This Altar has a political and spiritual meaning. 8.Hunter- The Roman Empire was an extremely powerful empire capturing Jerusalem, Cannan, and i believe nearly one hundred other provinces. 600 BCE - 600 CE Ancient and Imperial China: Audrey - The Shang Dynasty ended in 1046 BCE, when the Zhou (pronounced jo) Dynasty defeated the last Shang emperor, Di Xin, in the Battle of Muye. Historical records show that Di Xin had become a corrupt ruler, and the Zhous said they could only overthrow him because of the Mandate of Heaven which is an idea that if a ruler became incapable or corrupt the a guiding force in the universe would throw them out and replace them. Gabe - Zhou empire did not last long though because the provinces were giving their support to the governor basically of their providence instead of the zhou emperor so slowly the states became more powerful than the emperor himself hence the warring states period 3.Ella - The Zhou Dynasty collapsed at a slow pace over hundreds of years. As this happened, rulers of the surrounding areas gained more power than the king. This was the beginning of a period that was known as the Warring State period, which lasted from about 475 BC to 221 BC. Nearby, Qin, a western state, conquered its surrounding states and established their own dynasty. Ben - The Qin dynasty began to rise to it’s empire state in 221 BCE. The founder was Qin Shi Huang, a legalist (legalist is when law is enforced very strictly) that hated freedom of expression and freedom in general. A historian quoted him once about how he hates historians and wants all non-state historians that wrote history before Qin dynasty to be burned. “[Historians] hold it a mark of fame to defy the ruler, regard it as lofty to take a dissenting stance, and they lead the lesser officials in fabricating slander. If behavior such as this is not prohibited, then in upper circles the authority of the ruler will be compromised, and in lower ones, cliques will form. Therefore it should be prohibited. I therefore request that all records of the historians other than those of the state of Qin be burned.” - Ethan - Many differing beliefs are made vocal during this time period. 3 of which are Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism. Confucianism, created by Confucius, was based on reform of the status, class, and hierarchy systems. Legalism is more based off of strict laws and harsh punishments. Daoism is more of lawless following what they believe is right at the time. Emma - Confucius, or Kongzi which means Master Kong. His teachings were almost entirely based around morality and having a personal sense of right and wrong. He wasn’t really teaching specific rules of what was good or bad, rather teaching people be conscious of the intent behind their actions. Skylar - During the Warring States period in China from 475-221 BCE China was divided into seven competing nations. The fiefs were gaining more importance as the Zhou dynasty was ending and were becoming states. One of the 7 states were Qin. the other 6 states were Chu, Zhou, Wei, Han, Yan, and Qi. The first leader of Qin was King Zheng, later on he became Qin Shi Huangdi, he would also go on to be the first leader of the Qin dynasty. People say that the Qin dynasty ended the warring states period but it was really when Qin conquested the other states. 8. 600 BCE - 600 CE Early Judaism: Audrey - Judaism stands out to historians because the Jews were monotheists, meaning they believed and worshiped only one God. This made the Jews unique to most other societies which were polytheistic and worshiped multiple Gods. Gabe - The jews lived in the kingdoms of israel and judah the assyrians conquered these two empires and then the babylonians which was called the babylonian exile which sent allot of the jews out of these kingdoms 3 . Ella - In the Hebrew bible, It talks about Abraham moving from the city of Ur to Canaan with his family. It is Questionable whether the Ur they are talking about was the Sumatran city in lower Mesopotamia or a Ur in Upper Mesopotamia. Ben - One of the most important jewish prophets was Moses. Moses was born at a time where the emperor was killing off every boy that is born because of his fear that if they grew too strong they would overtake him. To hide Moses from the emperor’s forces his mother put him in a basket and let him float down the river. The emperor/pharaoh’s daughter finds moses and raises him into the royal family, moses one day is enraged by a slaver beating a jewish slave and kills the slavemaster and retreats out of the city in fear of punishment. He goes to Mount Sinai but the Lord tells him to go back and free every Jewish slave. So he goes back and frees them and splits the red sea to escape. He brings the people back to the mountain where he receives the ten commandments. They then travel for 40 years and he reestablishes the jewish people in Canaan. - Ethan - Jews lived under Roman rulers while still being allowed their own traditions. There was some Jewish revolting but mainly they were crushed every time. Soon after the Romans renamed Judea into Syria Palaestina. This destroyed the connection of the Jews to the land. Skylar - Abraham is one of the significant patriarchs, the other two are Jacob and Isaac. Abraham’s first son is called Ishmael. He had Ishmael with his wife sarah’s servant because they didn’t think they could have kids. Ishmael is viewed as the progenitor, the patriarch for the arab people. According to biblical accounts Isaac was born when Sarah was in her 90s and Abraham was around 100 years old. Emma - Abraham’s son Isaac was the second significant patriarch. He was the first one of the three to inherit the covenant that his father Abraham had received. Later in his life he married Rebekah who gave birth to their twin sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob being the last of the three patriarchs. That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us outside of the box that is learning.
Ibizan archaeologist, Joan Roig, takes us on a tour of the Ca Na Negreta bypass excavation near Ibiza Town. Earlier in the summer his team uncovered an inscribed Roman tombstone, a Byzantine settlement and Punic vineyards. Later Joan describes the pleasures and torments of professional archaeology.
The Principles of War - Lessons from Military History on Strategy, Tactics and Leadership.
Hannibal was clearly one of the best Generals in history. How could he win 3 major battles against Rome, but he wasn't able to win the second Punic war. We discuss the definition Center of Gravity, where it came from and why it is so confusing and why Hannibal and his staff may have struggled with the concept of Centre of Gravity. Has the meaning of the Center of Gravity been lost in translation? How has the usage of Schwerpunkt transformed over time? The Bundeswehr now uses the term Centre of Gravity, rather than the term in it's native German. We look at the evolution of the definition for CoG from when it was first used in US Army doctrine. LWD 1 gives us the following definition - The centre of gravity is that characteristic, capability or locality from which a force, nation or alliance derives its freedom of action, strength or will to fight. At the tactical level, the centre of gravity will often change as the mission progresses and will frequently be determined by the interaction of enemy and friendly intentions. The approaches to defeating the enemy's centre of gravity are described as dislocation, disruption and destruction. How does this relate to what Clausewitz was originally talking about? Is the characteristic in the definition part of the problem? What about multiple Centers of Gravity? How does that work? How are Centres and Gravities nested? Have a look at the example given in Levels of War and Iraqi CoGs from the 1991 Gulf War. The relationship between Genters of Gravity at different levels of war by Strange and Iron. What about the Center of Gravity in a Coalition? We look at the Scud Hunt was a major part of shielding the CoG of the Coalition. Flexibility for commanders increases with the level of their command because there are more resources and greater scope to shape your enemy. We look at the surfaces and gaps that need to be thought about and how you can shield your CoG and critical capabilities. Would Hannibal had been better off using Joint Doctrine rather than the Army Doctrine for a definition of Centre of Gravity that he and his staff could use? We look at the Carthaginian navy, the development of the corvus and how the Romans took a land strength onto the open seas. Finally - why did Hannibal cross the Alps? Check out the show notes for the podcast for images and more details for this and other podcast episodes. Join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook. If you've learnt something from today's podcast, please leave a review for the Podcast on your podcast player.
A graduate of the Sorbonne in Paris, Mohamed is an expert on Punic and Roman Civilizations, Islamic and secular architecture and eastern decorative arts. Mohamed is a skilled polyglot and has served as a translator and interpreter for the French Government for over 15 years. The Tunis-born Mohamed is also the President of the Cultural Tourism Federation of Tunisia. He currently resides in Paris. In this episode, Mohamed shares his one way ticket to Madrid! He also talks about his guiding for Spiekermann Travel Service to Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania and the treasures found in each of those countries. Mohamed is just one of the accomplished guests featured on The One Way Ticket Show, where Host Steven Shalowitz explores with his guests where they'd go if given a one way ticket, no coming back! Destinations may be in the past, present, future, real, imaginary or a state of mind. Steven's guests have included: Nobel Peace Prize Winner, President Jose Ramos-Horta; Legendary Talk Show Host, Dick Cavett; Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz; Broadcast Legend, Charles Osgood; International Rescue Committee President & CEO, David Miliband; Grammar Girl, Mignon Fogarty; Journalist-Humorist-Actor Mo Rocca; Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.; Abercrombie & Kent Founder, Geoffrey Kent; Travel Expert, Pauline Frommer, as well as leading photographers, artists, chefs, writers, intellectuals and more.
Ep 50 - Hannibal Barca- Greatest Military leader of all time - 2nd Punic war- Almost concurred Rome 216 BC - Battle of Cannae- overcoming tremendous odds and Winning, Lessons in Strategy.
Last time, we had taken a look at how after the Battle of Himera, Carthage went through what was probably a voluntary program of austerity which correlated directly with her acquisition of the Western Mediterranean metals trade. We had seen how Carthage began with the silver and tin trade in Iberia and Europe and extended … Continue reading Episode 1.10 – The Punic Empire
This week, Will Ward discusses his six choices of things which should be better known. Roald Dahl's adult short stories - https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/roald-dahls-twisted-overlooked-stories-for-adults They should be at least as well-known as his stories for children. Tout Quarry Sculpture Park - http://learningstone.org/tout-quarry-sculpture-park/ An old Portland stone quarry turned into sculpture park The Kinder Mass trespass - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_trespass_of_Kinder_Scout A mass civil disobedience event that appears (so far) to have achieved its purpose and avoided the trap of unintended consequences. Terry Pratchett's Night Watch - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_(Discworld) Part of Discworld, a story of revolution and time-travel, with a healthy amount of cynicism and wit The exploration of graveyards and burial grounds – http://www.londongardenstrust.org/features/cemetery.htm A chance to reflect on your mortality Dougga – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dougga Roman, Numidian Berber, Punic town that is an exceptional UNESCO world heritage site in Tunisia This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm
Săptămâna asta punem punct perioadei tumultuoase pentru romani de la sfârșitul secolului III îChr. Cu un Hannibal înfrânt și întreaga mediterană „la liber”, privirea lor se îndreaptă înspre Grecia.
Join Billy, Don, and Jeff in another episode of Trivia Rogues! Today we will learn a bit about the Punic Wars, talk about March Madness, and take a look back on the life of Stephen Hawking! Then, get ready for another weekly showdown in War of the Rogues's!
The Punic Wars, written by Joshua J. Mark and narrated by Nitin Sil: https://www.ancient.eu/Punic_Wars/ If you like our audio articles, please support us by becoming a member or donating to our non-profit company: - www.ancient.eu/membership/ - www.ancient.eu/donate/ - www.patreon.com/ahe Nitin Sil also has a Youtube channel on history: - www.youtube.com/channel/UCTYmTYuan0fSGccYXBxc8cA The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the forces of ancient Carthage and Rome between 264 BCE and 146 BCE. The name Punic comes from the word Phoenician (Phoinix in the Greek, Poenus from Punicus in Latin) as applied to the citizens of Carthage, who were of Phoenician ethnicity. As the history of the conflict was written by Roman authors, they labeled it 'The Punic Wars'. Carthage grew from a small port-of-call to the richest and most powerful city in the Mediterranean region before 260 BCE. She had a powerful navy, a mercenary army and, through tribute, tariffs, and trade, enough wealth to do as she pleased. Through a treaty with the small city of Rome, she barred Roman trade in the Western Mediterranean and, as Rome had no navy, was able to easily enforce the treaty. Roman traders caught in Carthaginian waters were drowned and their ships taken.
Following the growth of Carthage into a commercial, political, and technological power, the Carthaginians began to expand outwards from their city. Delving into North Africa and across the Mediterranean, Carthage formed an informal empire for itself using trade, diplomacy, and concentrated military force. Meanwhile, Carthaginian ships sailed further and further afield, exploring the coasts of Africa, Northern Europe, and...America? That can't be right... Link to the Episode 4 page on the Layman's Historian website Subscribe or leave a review on iTunes Leave a like or comment on the Facebook page Follow on Twitter Contact me directly through email
Join Luke and Chris in the bunker as they recount the battle of Metaurus – the Stalingrad of the Second Punic War. Beer this month is Birra Moretti, 3.5 bullets out of 5. In this battle, Roman commander Nero attempts to turn the tide in the decisive confrontation of the Second Punic War. This battle… Continue reading Episode 6: Punic Stalingrad – The Battle of Metaurus
EP091 - Boxed Wholesale Head of Reengagement Nitasha Mehta An interview with Nitasha Mehta, Head of Reengagement and Boxed Wholesale. Boxed is bringing the wholesale club experience to e-commerce, is based out of Edison, NJ and has raised $132m in capital. In this episode we discuss Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition, disruption of CPG, private label, mobile, customer acquisition tactics, and customer retention tactics. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 91 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Wednesday June 29, 2017. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at Razorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. New beta feature - Google Automated Transcription of the show: Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 91 being recorded on Wednesday June 28th 2017 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your Coho Scot Wingo. Scot And Nitasha: [0:40] See Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners in this week show we have a very timely guest, nitasha Mehta is head of reengagement at boxed she previously held positions at Samsung in Amazon box is bringing the Wholesale Club experienced e-commerce based out of Edison New Jersey and is raised over $139 in Venture Capital welcome nitasha. Thank you. Jason: [1:06] Soonest Natasha we always like to kick out these interviews by having our guest share a little bit about their background and and how they came into their current roles can you talk to us a little bit about how you got here. Scot And Nitasha: [1:20] Sure, so I leave here and marketing at Fox I've been off for 2 years now which is been an amazing ride it's been really great to see Nvidia, be part of that tremendous growth that we've seen over the past two years. [1:45] Where in New Jersey part of, companies on Amazon on in Seattle on the content marketing team for Mobile Electronics, both been in the e-commerce and retail space for quite some time it seemed like a natural extension to. I joined by a couple years ago and really excited to be part of the team. Jason: [2:14] Pretty cool and you have sort of the unique title how did you arrive at that title. Scot And Nitasha: [2:21] Sure thought of Engagement really has a few different facets, my main focus is really customer retention and so hyper focus on customer really trying to understand how to find the light messages and promotion, for a customer at the right time until about one hundred percent of my focus, an email and push notifications are some of the channels that I meant along with programmatic direct mail and polka Matic display. I'm so if a pre-owned Compass Bohemian title for the customer experience. Jason: [3:04] Very cool and I always is it I was like it when you invent your own titles so then you can be the the the absolute industry Guru of that title. Scot And Nitasha: [3:16] Absolutely tell us a little bit more about what you did Amazon, sure so I managed a couple of our Mobile Electronics, Sanders and campaigns and so worked really closely with apple and Nike on MP3 players and GPS watches as well as Garmin and TomTom not going, population in 2010 Pacific or GPS devices, and though many of our on-site popcorn campaigns on the pop form as well as email probably manage over 100, weekly campaigns across multiple different brands and inventors Regal how. What do you think about Nike selling on Amazon since you can work for them on the device side maybe you have a point of view on on shoes. Yes but we home yet actually I'm actually not sure if if not user icon shoes yet but we were the first category with an Amazon to bring them on Direct, we had a relationship with with, GPS devices and so when they launched their campaign with TomTom we were able to bring them on which was really exciting at that point but to bring on the he has a venue one of the first category to do so. [4:46] And then how about a Samsung what did you do over there. I was on the Punic marketing team for tablet and so it's kind of on the opposite end of the spectrum working with Amazon as one of our customers and so Amazon was one of our largest suppliers, of iron tablets on other work today cuz they would Best Buy and Walmart on the channel marketing side. Managed promotions for tablets and this was also in 2012 when tablets, they still are but when tablets are really On The Rise and was a really exciting place to be at that time. Then see if it boxed for two years imagine you seen some pretty crazy growth were you like me were you in the first handful of employees. Boxed is only a couple years old right. That were about three years old I'm almost four actually and I started when we were almost. I would say and since then we've. More than quadrupled so tremendous girls were already running out of space at our third office and so it's been a really exciting ride to you there from you know the very early days. Free Colts and then does your role change or you've held the same role and just kind of taking over more and more pieces. Yeah I started in this little a lot of what I've done in the past really like me to. [6:23] Focus on being gagement in particular and so if I go so slow I've been taking on more over the past couple years and I also have a, rebagg ball and thunder marketing for work very closely with many of our Brands and suppliers that box as well. So so imagine boxed has like a typical retail that category teams and all that kind of stuff and even relations you guys have a fun center or is that, you don't do any of your phone that it's kind of 3 p.m. or something. No we do have our own system in it and you have 4 at Sears across the country and so we recently just launched our fourth in Dallas, a few months ago International in the contiguous 48 states. Are these kind of Amazon 1.2 million square feet kind of Caesar these are iMagic pile of it smaller a little bit smaller that we're pretty close. Jason: [7:29] Nice and for listeners that maybe aren't totally familiar with box but I what's the how do you describe the the value prop with the elevator. Scot And Nitasha: [7:38] Sure, and once on the last where the online mobile version of your wholesale Shopping Club but we don't have any membership fees and we have free shipping so anything that you normally go to the Wholesale Club on, and spend your entire Saturday shopping we will deliver on average in two days you and all your books eyes. As favorite. Jason: [8:07] Don't you imagine the answers both but do you feel like are you primarily trying to take visits away from, Costco and Sam's Club so you're getting people to recreate that brick-and-mortar experience online or are you you trying to take visits away from Amazon or maybe Prime Pantry. Scot And Nitasha: [8:26] I think it's Holloway coexist with all four, Costco fans and DJ's they don't have a strong online presence if they're putting a lot of focus on and so we also are targeting Millennials that may not necessarily, not on the ferry started shopping at his Wholesale Club yet and so. City dwellers and Millennial moms for example are really a huge Target of ours and and. A new that we can coexist with all four of these other retailers. Jason: [9:06] Got you in what are the things that somewhat unique about the club stores that some listeners may be very familiar with and others might not is they tend to have different product configurations then art. Typically sold. [9:21] At what grocery stores or or even that are sold in Amazon Pantry so you know you might have A4 pack or an 8-pack, on a grocery store shelf and you might have 104 count in the club club store so we tend to call those Club packs is boxed primarily offering Club packs is that, are you getting the same configurations or something in between what's the. Scot And Nitasha: [9:44] Yeah so we primarily focus on Club packs or the Bahamas you and so we work very closely with our suppliers on, customized packaging Pacific to eat, but still you know what's in the Fun Pack. Jason: [10:01] Got you and is it has it been difficult like I I know traditionally in the old days Costco has a lot of Leverage I mean you know with a very small store account there the second largest retailer in the US. [10:14] I feel like they used to have these. These kind of draconian vendor agreements where they were the only ones that were allowed to carry a particular configuration so they had exclusivity on this card packs art are you finding it that's less true today or are you you getting. [10:29] That's like like a slightly different version of Quebec or how is that working are you. Scot And Nitasha: [10:33] Yes yes, spell largely true what we do is negotiate a slightly different variation or size count for the econ version and so we wouldn't necessarily get a soda. cut exact size but we would have this form or variation different packaging specific for us. Jason: [10:57] Got it in in in general is are you finding like is a big part of your value proposition. The value of the products that because they're buying, Club PacSun you're encouraging them to get a bigger cart that you're able to offer really aggressive pricing or is it the convenience and not having a slap all that big stuff from the store and to the car and all those sorts of things like what what what are the primary things that you think are really driving consumers to use you. Scot And Nitasha: [11:26] I said was definitely convenient but I would say that's probably one of our, biggest differentiator is and trampolines that are not having for Lego these bolt size 3 six packs of paper towels home especially for myself living in your, I need to go around the corner to CVS every other day for items but I can just buy one time and had to deliver and open Venus was definitely one of our biggest value Problem by overall, we don't strive to be the cheapest prices online but the value of having the Club Vive, RX delivered to your door and not having to pay the annual membership fee is huge Michael. Imagine you being an ex Amazon person and you guys are in the kind of cpg category with a lot of your offerings what did you think about the whole Whole Foods Amazon acquisition any thoughts on. Hey I thought it was brilliant and it was 1030 now. Solution they haven't really nailed down the flash category I'm gone fast food. Growing but doesn't have the brand yet and so I think this really helps them and help them gain credibility within the fresh-faced and I'm usually beneficial cuz. [13:00] Because Whole Foods generally have a ton of presence of any and digital and for listening they're really going to help each other and. Smart across-the-board. [13:14] And then um the Amazon does have an offering it's it's left I found a lot of people don't know about it and it's kind of under serve but it's the Prime Pantry, and it seems like that kind of is there trying to solve, yeah kind of some more problem you guys are with a very different kind of a mechanism I've tried it before and it's like this weird gamification of fun the box and it's like hard to connect. So it's a lot of work it felt like to kind of like Phil the boxing and going to optimize it. You feel like you guys have a bit of a white space from Amazon that they haven't really solved the what you're doing or is there some overlap. Yeah it's a tough I think so I think Prime Pantry and doesn't it's like you mentioned has a brand awareness, have a very unique brand effect and the fact that we only focus on full and so that's her name differentiator from you, time pantries yet Enough full disclosure I'm a customer we will use it at my office so we have a startup and. Yeah it's the food is great for for that. My family is not quite big enough to eat it that much but booked through the guys have that it works great in an office of 20 people you know we get our and then ordering is is really nice to see you guys have done a good job of. Be able to reorder things. Jason: [14:38] And for lizards that don't know Scot goes through a lot of snacks so that that's that's a meaningful. Scot And Nitasha: [14:43] They were perfect for you, and B videos is the flying a huge focus of ours as well and so he's a pretty significant portion of our business that's dedicated to start up like yours. Jason: [15:01] Nice I want to dive just a little bit more into how how you're interacting with Brands and how they view you the one thing on that last question I actually think you're. [15:13] Prime Pantry is almost the opposite of you write like the pantry is really. [15:19] A way for Amazon to sell the small packs and entice the customer to bundle enough small packs together that it's cost effective to ship them. And you're you're selling the big packs which are the things that Amazon normally is willing to sell as eaches even even on there. [15:36] They're the normal website if you will but. Honesty Bee Gees I think one of the interesting things that happen is when when Amazon announced the Whole Foods deal all the immediate talk is how that affects retailers right and you know who which retailers are most likely to be disrupted by by this new Force but I feel like there's been this, the secondary realization, did it's really a big wake-up call for the cpgs that may not have had very much focus on digital right so your. Your Procter & Gamble are Unilever or you know Kindle car for those folks, you know less than 1% of grocery is digital you know you're overwhelming largest customers are predominantly brick-and-mortar and so you know while you're starting to deal with digital it's for a tiny part of your business and now suddenly. You have the threat that that I can a very significant player could be disrupting your category with digital and so I wonder, like do you see that that will you know potentially make some of your your brand Partners more digitally Savvy and maybe more open to, trying things digitally with with folks like yourselves like I could almost imagine that that's a favorable trend for you. Scot And Nitasha: [16:54] Yeah absolutely and I think we've started to see that Trend over the past few years to the fact that many Brands now have a shopper marketing team but are largely focused on digital, I live in joy tea of my contacts that I have you, contact conversations with our phone that Shopper marketing team and their. Much savvy are there in they were you know. Four or five years ago and I'm so I already started to see that Trend shifts and I completely agree I think especially with this whole foods deal it will continue to grow in that direction and more. Jason: [17:38] The absolutely, you don't want of the interesting things insert a traditional Shopper marketing there there's a lot of tactics in addition to getting the product on the shelf that are commonly used right like so there's lots of merchandising in Coop and Brands paying for. And positioning in sampling in and we see some of that, on on the Amazons in Walmart's of the world is that something that boxed is doing today in terms of like offering digital promotional opportunities for for brands or is that something you're you'll consider as you you advance. Scot And Nitasha: [18:13] No it's actually something that we are already offering which we probably started about a year-and-a-half ago and so we probably, oh and enjoy these are real estate on both of our site as well as our ass. And we called many of the placement of virtual and caps and so no at a play on the freaking water and cat food but, definitely in English. And excitement and engagement over these placement over the past year as well which which continues with that trend of Brands moving becoming more more digitally body. Recool the one of the the trends at Costco I don't know about the other clubs but they have the Kirkland brand which is which is their private label and. And I don't know where it started but it's become quite popular and they sell Auntie mall and that's primarily what they sell is that private label. I think Amazon is actually sells Kirkland it's odd it's kind of taking a life of its own and it's one of the they sell more Kirkland online than Costco does. Los customer you guys I really like you guys have a similar offering called Prince and spring maybe tell us a little bit about the rationale of that and how is that going. [19:33] So if the really started off with just paper towels and toilet paper so two in the fact that he's package good that everyone needs an Zen, there's huge opportunity there and really being into stop there and our category that's really dominated by another down even the Sherman and so we started that. A couple years ago and has expanded the printing spring assortment free significance and it's a huge Focus for the company the team has been. Growing pretty rapidly and now we offer everything from toilet paper to flushable wipes to hangers and most recently it was only just launched, coffee and so both ground and whole bean coffee all Source locally. And it's if it's not stopping there we're watching chemo and moving into the food and beverage States as well and so is definitely a huge Focus for us. And I know she have one of things we love in our office is K-Cup coffee and but it's quite expensive in and noticed your private label is almost like half price of, what other offerings are which is which is nice. And it and it tastes good, okay on the so Jason and mentioned you know the brands and in the things do they eat. [21:09] How do you navigate having that private label when you're also trying to get the sharman's in the bounties on the side I met you the good news is you're not the first kind of. Company to do this so I guess it's pretty well-read and ground for him. Yeah I really just increases over all share with in that category we haven't seen any kind of libation going either way and so again you know I think there is. There are products that are recognizable that you would always want, I'm to partner with and and a sore on our site but if we can offer a different selection a different place with wood, in terms most likely Target a different type of customer your that's really are our strategy that. Jason: [21:58] Got it so I love the fact that you're you're competing with traditional clubs. In the digital space because I fear going to talk about Costco in particular like they're very admirably retail or they do a lot right so I'm really not trying to pick on them but I freakin called them the biggest digital Luddite in the retail industry. I think it's very overt like I think they've just made a strategic decision. We don't want to be digital we don't want to give the customer any reason not to visit our stores and why lie. [22:33] Can kind of understand that sentiment like ice you know I and I suspect most of our listeners on the digital podcast probably feel like that somewhat short-sighted but In fairness to them it hasn't really shown up on their balance statement yet so. But what's interesting there model is sell stuff at the lowest margin possible they're super aggressive on price and their primary profit driver is those Club memberships. You guys obviously aren't doing the membership and that's one of your value props is get those Club packs and get that convenience without the membership. Bed so I presume you have to make more money selling the goods and then you have this this really inconvenient cost that we all struggle within e-commerce which is shipping. So [23:23] Like do you guys have any strategies for keeping the the shipping costs under control I mean I know it feels like that's a ever-increasing. Cause we talk a lot on the podcast about the fact that e-commerce is growing at like 20 to 30% and the shipping guys capacities growing it like 8% and so there a. They're constrained commodity and what they're doing is there charging more for their service as a result. Scot And Nitasha: [23:48] What does, we offer free shipping on all orders over 49 so that definitely helps with the shipping fees and then on top of that the majority of our orders, the average order size is 9 - 10 items so we are stuck up service our customers are. [24:19] Play higher than an Amazon sample or the typical or sides or just one or two products are order which does largely affect shipping but because that were able to eat shipping costs low. Jason: [24:33] Gotcha and I guess one of the things that somewhat surprised me. [24:40] Based on your category in the types of items that customers get from you I almost would have expected to see some sort of subscription service and I know Scott mentioned you have really convenient reorder service but if you guys ever you know. [24:53] Like is that an over decision you made not to do some scription and says that something that could be in the roadmap what's the scoop on subscriptions. Scot And Nitasha: [25:01] Potentially be on the road that is something that we have considered especially for certain items but. Customers into typically reorder like baby next absolute spend baby products for subscription type of service and so that only something like thinking about. [25:21] I may be remembering this wrong but when boxed first launched my recollection is was kind of a mobile app only kind of a thing and then later the desktop was added and again maybe I misremember yet, but kind of curious about that mix of of mobile and desktop, again I kind of like the desktop version cuz usually I'm doing it when I'm at work and I can kind of like, see the product better in that kind of thing but any interesting insights you can share what you guys have learned there. Definitely the launch of the mobile app for mobile first and also. Attack company first and so the majority of our employees are actually on the tax team. The innovator and improving Dorothy experiences while I was excited. And so we launched shortly thereafter. The first years mobile is the majority of purchase it. And the letters how many of our customers prefer to shop through the source of the app the app is really is a convenient option I personally love using the app for me order items, simple to put process reorder and so I think, you're having both options really great for a different use cases. [26:57] And then you know I mentioned earlier and you said this is kind of growing part but the kind of a b2c and B2B element. Did you guys start leaning into the B2B when you kind of saw how people were using things or or tussle bit more about that kind of how that came to be in in anything you can share on mix or anything would be interesting. Stressful that continue growing our business. Meet by the natural extension of epoxy started as a beauty popcorn but because you are stuck up service and deliverable and our own office manager or just the front, LIRR employees I really am from cartoons and truly, is our employees love the snacks in the Beverages and we need the paper towels in the toilet paper it just seemed like a natural extension and now that team has been curling pretty, pretty quickly as well for the past year the huge Focus for us this year and in 2018. Yeah I imagine that it's kind of where we also use you guys for a funeral off the office supplies again the kind of packaging is good as is that kind of where, those got out at imagine before you saw the business side there wasn't a lot of the office stuff. Right yet you continue to add a lot more selection within the office based off as we start to it as we continue to build out that part of our business. [28:33] Wrinkle. Jason: [28:34] I love that strategy like the more Tech Guys you higher than more snacks yourself. Scot And Nitasha: [28:39] Very true it's hard to keep snacks in stock at our office. Jason: [28:51] Hopefully that permit person has a good promo code. Scot And Nitasha: [28:54] Exactly. Jason: [29:02] So going back to the very beginning of our conversation reengagement like one of the. [29:09] The huge challenges for all online retailers in particular 84 PurePlay online retailers is, customer acquisition right and I think of sort of the big big player and in the space for the last couple years has been Jet and you know they famously spent, a fortune on each customer in terms of active acquisition cost what's your strategy around acquiring customers and driving that customer value are there any particular tactic sure, you're relying on and any that have been predicted successful. Scot And Nitasha: [29:44] Sorry we pretty much, across the board in terms of acquisition and retention but specifically acquisition-related focus on TV we launched our first, ad campaign, the beginning of last year and then we launched another one towards the end of the year I'm working on the 3rd right now as well at Subway has been really. I'm really surprised MC Market and so really you know building on the Branded dolphin and having that constant exposure in key markets and then print has been used for us in terms of acquisition so, somewhere to check that is invested a time and direct mail and print we're also focusing quite a bit on that in terms of opposition. Jason: [30:35] Done at night I can majun Subways particularly clever because you know one one large segment of Shoppers that have kind of excluded from the the brick-and-mortar club folks are our folks that don't use that car. Scot And Nitasha: [30:49] Exactly. Jason: [30:54] Yeah so it's interesting you just mentioned a lot of a sort of old-school old-world advertising techniques and I almost wonder in some ways. For Pure digital play like you know your tendon running a lot of companies that are predominantly doing digital marketing if you know some of the. The print stuff could potentially be less crowded these days and so the I don't know the signal-to-noise ratio for that kind of campaign could almost be better than it used to be. Scot And Nitasha: [31:20] I agree and that's what we're seeing as well we still have a huge focus on digital Facebook it's probably one of our largest and channels in terms of opposition but. Agreed and turn the prince and then even some of some other channels that are starting to come back that aren't necessarily a saturated such as SMS. Is also accused opportunity more suffering gagement but. I do see a trend of some of these older. More mature Channel coming back and playing in a very saturated space which is digital right now. Jason: [32:01] Yeah have you experimented with any direct mail I that that detention I guess is another one is those mailboxes are a little less full than they used to be. Scot And Nitasha: [32:10] Yeah we have actually up until I say about a year-and-a-half ago really focus on really use direct mail for acquisition purposely targeting a specific, Tor zip code and planning our campaigns around that and then we started, staying programmatic direct now on and this was a brand-new way to rain gauge with friends were really excited to touch with and so we started talking with with a company called pebble. Jason: [32:45] Until what what is pebblepost doing for you. Scot And Nitasha: [32:49] So we didn't micholi at 35 thing with them at to be engaged with, you think I unsubscribe from our email and go up until that and if the only way. Really engaged or engage with current customers with email or push campaigns or display programmatic campaign and so this was really exciting opportunity to, customer that had unsubscribe from our emails I wear either unengaged from them or didn't like the content, and Shannon promos and Deals if they were still active on our site, and so how probable works is if a user within our specific segment. I'm sorry sight but downstairs and doesn't convert within that session I will postal actually trigger ascend, I'm at our postcard or catalog to that user within 2 to 3 days and it's extremely relevant and targeted. He started targeting users 8th on what products are what category is actually viewed when they did visit the site and it's completely different, customer they essentially then either too we send email to which is also a very saturated space. Jason: [34:08] For sure and I guess what I love about that is it it it's almost like analog retargeting like that you're at you know what, it's their heads Fades retargeting but but via that that analog channel that the you know is potentially a little less saturated that's brilliant, like you mentioned course email is is very saturated but generally when I talked to folks that still is one of the better Roi tactics for them I'm assuming email is still in your mix as well. Scot And Nitasha: [34:36] Yeah yeah you know this is one of our additional in terms of retention and so I'm still still. Going to be a huge Focus for us I don't see that changing anytime soon but then again you know a good email campaign may get 20 to 30% open rates right over so even 70% users on the table that were unable to engage with info, when you think about the number of impression that you get from a physical piece of mail. Not only two eyeballs but depending on how larger household is because I get a multiple Impressions on a daily basis if you're like me I leave mail sitting on the counter for 2 weeks, are we by the time. Convergex that amount of exposure is incredible and. Target's a completely different user than those who are very email so good. Yeah I think blue apron's a Believer I'd get something from those guys like every every five minutes from from email. Jason: [35:54] Yeah I think they're actually just looking to step up the the advertising spend is there they're trying to preserve that IPO. Scot And Nitasha: [36:02] Call. Jason: [36:06] One of the things when we talked to folks about the efficacy of their their digital campaigns and particularly email like the big Trend you go to any of the shows these days and you know you throw a rock in your hit 30 sort of personalization vendors, and it seems like you know the the big the big pitch is always personalization on those marketing channels is that. Something you're experimenting with is that working or overhyped or what's your what's your POV on that. Scot And Nitasha: [36:33] No I think that's a huge Focus for us and something that we have in focus on for quite some time is really. Affiliate emphasizing, a one-to-one customize messages creating triggered messages they found customers havior or purchase Behavior I think that is, Chris Lyons messages and 101 customize messages that we can send that, that is our Focus night and definitely something that have a person and direct now is also helping out with. Just imagine visiting our site and going to our baby category and for some reason or another you don't have, and upconverting with another question but then three days later you received a postcard in the mail and the content is all babies focus with navy at 20% off discount any baby item on site. And I think that opportunity there is tremendous in terms of customization. [37:41] Quinn and you guys are actually doing that or that something you're doing up for it we are doing currently. So you have that level of of targeting and whatnot in the mail program. One thing I know you guys do as you have boxed bold which I think is your cash back program and then you have a loyalty program total bit about those and what they're geared towards. [38:07] Bacco program is our partnership with Emma and so if you aren't a customer and you make a purchase on Fox with your AMEX card, you automatically given golden box full which is free shipping. And 3% cash back on all orders so for any regular customer or Montana? I'm a class program is 1% cash back on every single order and so the more you order from box and more. Cash back you get and then a mess up my little get 3% cash back. In the free shipping it just lemonade to the the $50 threshold or how does. And then said so as a shopper it's kind of interesting it kinda reminds me to Chatta although it doesn't have like the sum of the jet elements because you know when you're first starting your kind of like, I can't tell if I'm going to save much and it is you kind of go though you just saving it feels like you're saving more and more than like and I was just paid on my NX I didn't really realize I was into some of their special thing, yeah time to get through you realize you actually saved quite a bit is that that tensioner. Explain that rational so it's a little bit different than that where the more you ask the car somewhere you're saving, our cash back program is based on the total part value so if you're sending $100 in the order then you're going to get $1. [39:46] So you can see it anytime in your account and so the more times you purchase was box you build on your cash back value. Jason: [39:58] Interesting like one of the challenges with those kinds of value props. And when it's there's almost a little bit of gamification and you're certainly like driving customer lifetime value with the dollars back but I guess the downside is. You know a customer super price sensitive about one item and they log on your website and they look at the price of diapers and they go somewhere else and look at the price in the. The total savings may not be reflected in that item priced it does that work against you or. Scot And Nitasha: [40:31] I'm sorry I think they're a lot better value popsci we offer letter. Different art differentiators but you have so we may not if you, don't have it the cheapest price on say it's more about the experience I would say we should we offer to free samples on every order so it's somewhere to go wholesale, shop in Carthage Area 3. A lot of people go just for the samples so we've kind of levitated that online so you can choose to free samples on every order you'll get the 1% cash back on every order on, free shipping or no membership see if I think all and all the customer experience really speak for itself, and then not to mention I don't know if you receive battery if you notice it in your box. But we also have handwritten notes, to every customer that I was just too so there's a nation with personalized S5 to our entire order earrings as well. Yeah I seen that kind of borrows from the chewy folks today I don't know who started it first but they were always well known for them yeah. Jason: [41:41] Scot Scot has a giant collection of postcards that same and you guys order a lot of Oreos. Scot And Nitasha: [41:46] Call podcast research those for them the Mondelez episode. Jason: [41:52] Exactly. Scot And Nitasha: [41:53] Oh yes we've done a Facebook live with it with model eating Oreos so and said I love you. Jason: [42:02] Very cool I'm sad to see their stock went down based on the Amazon announcement talking about the impact on cpgs. [42:12] Yeah but I'm glad you mentioned the sampling cuz that feels like untapped area for a lot of e-commerce players I'm imagining. The sampling is one of those areas that you're able to use as a shopper marketing program for your Brands is that true. Scot And Nitasha: [42:27] Yeah, a huge part of our current marketing strategy with our suppliers and and they love it because it's a great way for us to testing products and so for considering a sorting a new item, stumbling program is a great way to see how our customers will respond to it and then we could also be engaged and put those customers after the fact and send them offers on the full size items, we do I said or some I am based on what they've actually chosen to add the car, and a kind of potential there and you're offering, products that are new to the platform or just even leave I wasn't as limited-time offers or so you're a big focus and comes over sampling strategy. Jason: [43:17] Yeah and so this could potentially be controversial but do you work the your private labels into the sampling program as well. Scot And Nitasha: [43:26] Especially when we launch a new product and that's one of the first places that I will want to watch it as is the other sampling program. Jason: [43:36] Yeah I love that tactic again it just, there you know so many boxes are going out right now not taking that opportunity to introduce that customer to other high-margin products that they could potentially get addicted to seems like a real mess for a lot of players so I love that congratulations. Scot And Nitasha: [43:53] Yeah. Thank you I absolutely agree especially for a brand that many new customers haven't heard of other don't know much about a great way to introduce it to them. [44:07] Cool one thing I thought was kind of a little bit of a non sequitur I was navigating through the site looking at different categories and of the, one that really stuck out as being an unusual was hotel and travel with, what's that all about. Last week and end of the following, today this is something that our partnership Cena's been working really hard on it and we're really excited about it at all so seem like a, a natural extension for box, I still have our vacation packages and now our customers and can go on and and really find some of the best hotel deals I played around with that and I haven't found better deals for for many of the hotel but that I was searching and so. A great. Please our customers I think of a natural extension of the business. So your Skype now getting a new variety of non-physical kind of stuff. [45:19] Yeah if I see if you're on Boston you're looking as backup for your home or your business and why not be able to book a vacation and at the same time and so. Skyler really excited about this and they don't I don't think this I think this is the beginning of a much larger partnership. Jason: [45:42] Very interesting you don't I'm curious so we talked a lot about your business today we talked you know you're in a category that's, I would characterize a sort of digitally immature and so you know you're an advanced digital player in a in a space that that seems like it's just on the verge of getting disrupted if you jump in your time machine and look forward to your two, you know how do you see the the industry in your category changing do you think it's going to look a lot like it looks now do you think it's going to change dramatically. Scot And Nitasha: [46:17] What I think with the time by we mentioned before especially with the Whole Foods acquisition I think, more and more brands are going to invest more dollars into digital and we're already starting to see that now are at the econ, your arms of specific brands are growing larger and larger and they have a lot more, and as well and so I see that really being a huge opportunity over the next year or so so really, incident and create a new and exciting opportunities with some of these friends, one thing that I think that I went really love about working with fox, is the fact that we're so small and then bowl and we're willing to Casting things and new features and so we've actually created features for a brand based on some of their preferences, and though I see that continuing to be a trend machine shine over the next year or so. Jason: [47:21] Very cool III suspect that as as you know the brand start getting really serious about digital alike as we see some consolidation of you know there's a very long time grocery at the moment and brick-and-mortar grocery. Anna. [47:37] You know it feels like there's almost this bifurcation that you're going to potentially benefit from that like the traditional grocery store is getting really disrupted because it's it's starting to be really driven by fresh and organic. And you know so so folks are looking for. One experience to get that really fresh stuff and then once you have that really fresh stuff you say are you know what's the most convenient way to get all the rest of my. My goods in so it almost feels like. [48:04] You know where I used to do everything as a One-Stop shopping at Kroger now I'm starting to see people you know that are. Going to all the or Trader Joe's or Whole Foods for their they're fresh and then they're relying more on club or. You know are are big online friends for for all of those replenishment items. Scot And Nitasha: [48:25] Construe. Jason: [48:29] Well nitasha congrats on your success so far. I think that's going to be a good place to wrap up because it is happen again we've perfectly wasted all of our a lot of time. So when a remind the listeners that they're always welcome to continue the dialogue on our Facebook page and of course have you liked this episode we'd sure appreciate a review on iTunes if you didn't like this episode just send an email to Scott. [48:55] Nitasha thanks very much for being on the show and joining us. Scot And Nitasha: [49:00] Thank you so much for having me as a pleasure to hop on the podcast you guys are building in wish you guys nothing but the best. I thought I think you sound like. Jason: [49:16] Until next time happy commercing.
Bonus Episode ! - 4 'What if' scenarios to contemplate if the Punic Wars had gone awry. What if Hannibal had marched on Rome after the battle of Cannae? What if he gained the ability to siege Roman cities? What if the Punic Wars never happened? Apple Podcasts / iTunes site for more downloads: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/flash-point-history/id980167685?mt=2 For you Greek Hx Fix: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUDxPzNiQcE
This week we take on Ancient Carthage, a great Mediterranean Civilization known more for their feuds with the much more famous Greeks and Romans. But as one fan put it: Carthage is a cooler, blacker Rome.
The Battle of Zama is in full swing and the fate of Carthage hangs in the balance. Scipio and Hannibal realize in the post war world that sometimes their worst opponents are not in the enemy camp. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FLASHPOINTHX/ or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlashpointHx Video Podcast: https://youtu.be/4a3-KsyyJR8
Hannibal's victory at Cannae sends the Roman Republic into a death spiral. However despite the calamities that ensue, Rome holds on and resolves to fight. Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueiAqnVD3IQ
The Siege of Saguntum sets of the Second Punic War, and Hannibal Barca wouldn't have it any other way. Setting off from Spain, Hannibal brings Carthaginian vengeance to the Roman doorstep in one of the most spectacular military campaigns of all time. Video Companion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KydeB-faeE8
Carthage has lost the First Punic War and her condition was only going to get worse as she is consumed by the Mercenary Wars. But while Carthage was down, she was by no means out. From this debacle arises a New Hope. Video Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxxilM6EuAc
The 1st Punic War is in full swing as Rome and Carthage slam into one another over Sicily. But lack of a grand strategy and incompetence on both sides make a quick land grab into a 23 year long conflict. VIDEO COMPANION: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2hcrsRPEZM
"The First Punic War (264 to 241 BC ) was the longest uninterrupted war in antiquity and the beginning of a series of military conflicts between Carthage and Rome. During the struggle, these ancient powers fought for the control of Sicily, a strategic point in the central Mediterranean. In the end, Rome was victorious and Carthage lost Sicily." In this episode we look at Volume 9, issue 4 “The First Punic War”. To discuss the topic Angus is joined by Josho Browuers, Murray Dahm, Lindsay Powell, Mark McCaffery and Marc De Santis.
"The First Punic War (264 to 241 BC ) was the longest uninterrupted war in antiquity and the beginning of a series of military conflicts between Carthage and Rome. During the struggle, these ancient powers fought for the control of Sicily, a strategic point in the central Mediterranean. In the end, Rome was victorious and Carthage lost Sicily." In this episode we look at Volume 9, issue 4 “The First Punic War”. To discuss the topic Angus is joined by Josho Browuers, Murray Dahm, Lindsay Powell, Mark McCaffery and Marc De Santis.
Rome and Carthage, two names that imply great civilization, were destined for conflict. Their expansion was only outdone by their ambition and thus the stage was set for one of the largest conflicts of Western Civilization. In this episode, we begin with the prelude to that led to this conflagration. Video Companion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j_hQIY2kJU
This week we celebrate the show hitting 25 episodes by doing our first ever 'Let's Talk' episode. I invite my lovely friend Hannie onto the show and we talk about Rome for 2 hours, answering your questions. Topics discussed include the weather, is Rome Overrated, could Hannibal have won the Punic wars, football managers, Albert the Fifth Musketeer, green-orange colour blindness, how the show is made, the length of my beard and which actor should play Hannibal in film. Cameos are made by Zack Twamley, Jamie Jeffers and Ray Harris. Oh yes, and the Alexander book is released! I hope you enjoy the show!
36:53 clean wars,history,rome,carthage,scipio,punic The Third and Final Punic War and a Look at Why The Punic Wars are so Significant to the Development of Western Civilization westerncivpodcast@gmail.com (Adam Walsh)Adam WalshA fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Exami
53:12 clean war,history,rome,hannibal,scipio,punic The Second Punic War Concludes with the Rise of a New Scipio and the Battle of Zama westerncivpodcast@gmail.com (Adam Walsh)Adam WalshA fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to t
35:35 clean war,hannibal,punic The Second Punic War expands to Spain, Sicily, and even Greece westerncivpodcast@gmail.com (Adam Walsh)Adam WalshA fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Exa
01:07:40 clean war,hannibal,cannae,punic Cannae westerncivpodcast@gmail.com (Adam Walsh)Adam WalshA fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present
47:41 clean wars,rome,hannibal,punic The Years Between The Wars westerncivpodcast@gmail.com (Adam Walsh)Adam WalshA fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Examine
56:33 clean wars,history,rome,carthage,punic Round One of Rome Versus Carthage westerncivpodcast@gmail.com (Adam Walsh)Adam WalshA fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Examine how t
56:47 clean war,history,rome,hannibal,carthage,punic Setting the Stage for the First Punic War westerncivpodcast@gmail.com (Adam Walsh)Adam WalshA fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Examine how the emer
The military performance of an army is not just dependant on numbers:- the men need to be fed, equipped, quartered, transported (the list goes on). If you can deprive your opponent of these elements you can degrade his fighting ability. The policy of Scorched Earth denies your opponent of anything useful in the area they are passing through (either in attack or retreat), this can include burning of crops, ripping up rail lines or destroying buildings anything of any use is destroyed. Dur: 22 mins File: .mp3
This episode of CS is titled “Augustine – Part 1.”Late have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient yet so new; Late have I loved you. You were within while I was without. I sought You out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things You made. You were with me, but I was not with You. These things kept me far from You; even though they'd not even be unless You made them. You called and cried aloud, and opened my deafness. You gleamed and shined, and chased away my blindness. You breathed fragrant odors and I drew breath, and now I pant for You. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for Your peace.Wrote Augustine of Hippo in his classic Confessions.We turn now to the life and work of a man of singular importance in the history of the Church due to his impact on theology. I'll be blunt to say what it seems many, maybe most, are careful to avoid when it comes to Augustine. While the vast majority of historians laud him, a much smaller group are less enthused with him, as I hope becomes clear as we review the man and his impact.Augustine is the climax of patristic thought, at least in the Latin world. By “patristics,” I mean the theology of the Church Fathers. If you've ever had a chance to look through collections of books on theology or church history, you've likely seen a massive set of tomes called the Ante & Post Nicene Fathers. That simply means the Church Fathers that came before the Council of Nicaea and those who came after and helped lay the doctrinal foundation of the Church. Augustine was THE dominant influence on the Medieval European; so much so, He's referred to as the Architect of the Middle Ages. Augustine continues to be a major influence among Roman Catholics for his theology of the church and sacraments, and for Protestants in regard to his theology of grace & salvation.Augustine's back-story is well-known because there's plenty of source material to draw from. Some say we know more about Augustine than any other figure of the ancient world because—not only do we have a record of his daily activities from one of his students; Possidius, Bishop of Calama; we also have a highly detailed record of Augustine's inner life from his classic work, Confessions. We also have a work titled Retractions where Augustine chronicles his intellectual development as he lists 95 of his works, explains why they were written, and the changes he made to them over time.Let me begin his story by laying the background of Augustine's world . . .The end of the persecution of the first 2 centuries was a great relief to the church. No doubt the reported conversion of Emperor Constantine seemed a dream come true. The apostle Paul told the followers of Christ to pray for the king and all those in authority. So the report of the Emperor's conversion was a cause of great rejoicing. It was likely only a handful of the wise who sensed a call to caution in what this new relationship between church and state would mean and the perils it might bring.During the 4th Century, churches grew more rapidly than ever. But not all those who joined did so with pure motives. With persecution behind them, some joined the Church to hedge their bets and add one more deity to their list. Others joined thinking it would advance their social status, now that being a Christian could earn them points with officials. Some sincere Christians witnessed the moral and spiritual dumbing down of the faith and fled to the wilderness to pursue an ascetic lifestyle as a hermit or into a monastery as a monk. But most Christians remained in their cities and towns to witness the growing affiliation between the church and earthly institutions. The invisible, universal or catholic church began increasingly to be associated with earthly forms and social structures.I need to pause here and make sure everyone understands that the word Catholic simply means UNIVERSAL. Historically, this is the Age of Catholic Christianity – not ROMAN Catholic Christianity. Historians refer to this time and the Eastern Orthodox Church as Catholic, to differentiate it from the several aberrant and heretical groups that had split off. Groups like the Arians, Manichaeans, Gnostics, and Apollinarians, and half a dozen other hard to pronounce sects. But toward the end of the 4th Century, the Institutional replaced the Communal aspects of the Faith. The Gospel was supplanted by dogma and rituals in many churches.Jesus made it clear following Him meant a call to serve, not be served. Christians are servants. They serve God by serving one another and the world. During the first 3 centuries when the church was battered, the call to serve was valued as a priority. The heroes of the faith served by offering themselves in the ultimate sense-with their lives. But when the Church rose out of the catacombs to enter positions of social influence and power during the 4th Century, being a servant lost priority. Church leaders, who'd led by serving for 300 years, began to position themselves to be served. Servant-leaders became leaders of servants.This change escalated with the disintegration of the Western Empire during the 4th & 5th Centuries. As foreigners pressed in from the North and East, and civil authorities fled from the frontiers, people look more and more to the bishops and church leaders to provide guidance and governance.We've already seen how the Church and Bishop at Rome emerged as not only a religious leader but a political leader as well. The fall and sack of Rome by the Vandals in 410 rocked the Empire, leaving people profoundly shaken. One man emerged at this time to help deal with their confusion and anxiety over the future.Augustine was born in 354 in Tagaste, a small commercial city in North Africa. His father Patricius was a pagan and member of the local ruling class. His mother Monica was a committed Christian. Though far from wealthy, Augustine's parents were determined he should have the best education possible. After attending primary school in Tagaste he went to Carthage for secondary education. It was there, at the age of 17, he took on a mistress with whom he lived for 13 years & by whom he had a son named Adeodatus. While this seems scandalous, realize it was not all that uncommon for young men of the upper classes to have such an arrangement. Augustine seems to have had a genuine love for this woman, even though he fails to give us her name. It's certain he did love their son. And even though Augustine loved his girlfriend. He later wrote throughout these years he was continually hammered by sexual temptation and often despaired of overcoming it.Augustine pursued studies in philosophy in general; picking no specific school as the focus of his attention. When he was 19 he read the now lost Hortensius by the Roman orator Cicero & was convinced he should make the pursuit of truth his life's aim. But this noble quest battled with what he now felt was a degrading desire toward immorality. For moral assistance to resist the downward pull, he defaulted to the faith of his mother's home and turned to the Bible. But being a lover of classical Latin, the translations he read seemed crude and unsophisticated and held no appeal.What did appeal to Augustine was the Manichaeans with whom we've already treated. By way of review, Mani was a teacher in Persia in the mid-3rd Century who mashed a Gnostic-flavored religion together with ancient Persian ideas as embodied in Zoroastrianism. Augustine was an intellectual, the kind of person Manichaeanism appealed to. They disdained faith, saying they were the intellectual gate-keepers of reason and logic. They explained the world in terms of darkness and light. Light and Spirit were good, darkness and the physical; evil. The key to overcoming sin was an early form of the campaign used on public school campuses in the US years ago regarding drugs: “Just say no!” Augustine was told if he just employed total abstinence from physical pleasure he'd do well. He was a Manichaean for 9 yrs until he saw its logical inconsistencies and left.His record of this time reveals that while he remained within their ranks, he had problems all along. Assuming he just needed to learn more to clear up the problems, the more he studied, the more problems popped up. When he voiced his concerns, other Manichaeans told him if he could just hear the teaching of Faustus, all his concerns would dissolve. Faustus was supposed to be the consummate Manichaean who had all the answers.Well, Faustus eventually arrived and Augustine listened in the expectation that everything he'd been doubting would evaporate like dew in the morning sun. That's not what happened. On the contrary. Augustine said while Faustus was eloquent of speech, his words were like a fancy plate holding rotten meat. He sounded good, but his speech was empty.Augustine spent time with Faustus, trying to work through his difficulties but the more he heard, the more he realized the man was clueless. So much for Manichaeanism being the gate-keeper of reason.At the age of 20, Augustine began teaching. His friends recognized his intellectual genius and encouraged him to move to Rome. In 382, closing in on 30, he and his mother moved to the Capital where he began teaching.As often happens when someone's religious or philosophical house is blown over like a stack of cards, Augustine's disappointment with Manichaeanism led to a period of disenchantment & skepticism. Remember; he'd given himself to the pursuit of truth and had assumed for several years Mani had found it. Now he knew he hadn't. Once bitten, twice shy works for philosophy as well as romance.Augustine was rescued from his growing skepticism by Neo-Platonism and the work of Plotinus who fanned to flame his smoldering spark of longing for truth.In 384, Augustine was hired as a professor of rhetoric at the University of Milan where his now widowed mother Monica and some friends joined him.More out of professional courtesy as a professor of rhetoric than anything else, Augustine went to hear Milan's bishop Ambrose preach. Augustine was surprised at Ambrose's eloquence. It's not like this was his first time in church. He'd attended the churches of North Africa while growing up there. But he'd never heard anyone speak like this. Ambrose showed Augustine that the Christian faith, far from being crude and unsophisticated, was both eloquent & intelligent.An elder named Simplicianus made Augustine his personal project. He gave Augustine a copy of a commentary on Paul by Marius Victorinus, who'd converted from Neo-Platonism to Christianity 30 years before. Being a Neo-Platonist himself, Augustine went through something of an intellectual conversion, if not a spiritual transformation.Augustine's future was bright. He had a prestigious job, committed friends, wealth, influence and he was still young and healthy. But inwardly he was miserable. His mother Monica suggested what he needed was a normal family. Of course, she was against his long-time but illicit affair with his girlfriend, the mother of his son. She'd followed him on all his various moves; to Tagaste from Carthage to Rome, then Milan. Monica told Augustine his girlfriend was keeping him from finding a suitable wife, someone more fit for his social standing. Though Augustine loved her, his mother's constant urging to put her away eventually moved him to locate his inner unrest with his mistress. So he ended their relationship. He then proposed to a young woman of wealth and society. Problem is, she was too young to marry so a far-off date was set. Augustine couldn't master his lust, and only a short time after breaking up with his mistress, he found another. From Augustine's own account of his struggle in the Confessions, we might describe his problem as a sexual addiction. His inner battle between the higher call of virtue and the lower pull toward vice threatened to tear him apart in a mental breakdown.It was then, as he devoured material in his quest for truth that he heard of Christian hermits like Anthony of Egypt who'd mastered their fleshly desires. Their example shamed Augustine. Until then he'd considered Christians as intellectually inferior -- yet they were able to accomplish a victory over sin he'd been powerless to attain. He began to wonder if maybe Christianity possessed a power he'd missed.Conversion became for Augustine, as it was for so many at this time, not so much an issue of faith as action. He was persuaded of the intellectual strength of Christianity; he just did not want to give up his sin, though he knew he should.One day in 386, while walking in the garden of his house, his soul seething in confusion and moral anguish, he carried a Bible hoping to draw guidance from it. But he could make no sense of it. He dropped it on a bench and paced back and forth; his mind in torment. From somewhere nearby, he heard a child's voice calling out the line of what must have been a game though Augustine did not know it. The voice said, “Tolle lege (tawlee Leggy) = Take up and read.” He reached down and picked up the Bible he'd just dropped. The page fell open to Romans 13 where his eyes fell on words perfectly suited to his current mindset. He read àLet us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.Augustine later wrote, “As I read those words, instantly it was as if the light of peace poured into my heart and all the shades of doubt departed." The following Easter, Augustine and his son Adeodatus were baptized by Bishop Ambrose. A few months later Augustine returned to North Africa. On the way, his mother Monica died and not long after he returned to Tagaste, his son also passed. Augustine lost interest in living and longed to leave the world he once longed for.His friends rallied round and gave him a purpose to carry on. They formed a monastic community, out of which would come the famous Augustinian Order and Rule.While Augustine would likely have been content to live out his life in the monastery, the North African church desperately needed a leader with his gifts. In 391 the church at Hippo ordained him as 1 of their priests. He did the preaching because their bishop was Greek and could speak neither Latin nor the local Punic. He became co-bishop 4 years later, then a year after that, sole bishop at Hippo. He served in that capacity for the next 33 years.He kept up the monastic life throughout his tenure as Bishop at Hippo. His was an extremely busy career; divided between study, writing and general oversight of church affairs.We'll pick it up at this point in our next episode as we consider some of his more important writings. Then we'll get into Augustine's career as a theologian.
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