History Pondered and Explored

Perhaps the most moving episode yet, this is the story of the Bronte family. Original, revolutionary, shocking, transgressive, these are but a few of the words used by critics for the novels of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte when first published. This is a story of passion, determination, cruelty, isolation and imagination. People who lived in Haworth, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the middle...

Okay, so technically the UK did not exist at the time but I could not resist. yet to be fair, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are involved so it works. What really didn't work was Stephen. This isn't to say he did not put in the effort, he did. He was just bad at being a King. Have you heard of Stephen I, King of England? The more telling question is have you heard of a Stephen II? Th...

Robert Curthose did have one bit of success. He went on the First Crusade. His father and two younger brothers, William Rufus and Henry they were a success, often at the expense of Robert Curthose. There is the chamber pot incident that really kicks things off. Curthose is translated as short stockings. The nickname was given by his father as a way to let everyone know what William thought about h...

Eamon de Valera sends Michael Collins to discuss and decide on what becomes the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The treaty came about due to the decision to end the Irish War of Independence. One question that is asked throughout this epic 3 part podcasts is, regarding de Valera- A Lincoln or a Machiavelli? This question is answered in this final episode. The tragedy of the Irish Civil War is that those that...

The Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916 (Part 1) and its aftermath lead to many key events. These events boil over into the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921. The two gigantic figures of 20th Century Ireland- Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera, continue to be the two characters around which this episode is framed. Both were put in jail or internment after the Easter Rising. Collins gets out and st...

The Easter Rising in 1916 in Ireland was the event that really got things going in Ireland. After the Rising, there is the Irish War of Independence. This war then leads to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Yet after the signing of this treaty all hell breaks loose, resulting in the Irish Civil War. The first episode in this podcasts first 3 parter, sets the context for all that follows. This includes the l...

Nicholas II and his family by the Bolsheviks in perhaps the most well known assassination of a Czar, at least outside of Russian Yet in the 18th Century, there were four assassinations of czars or czarevitchs (heir to the throne), Peter the Great has his own son murdered. A cousin vs a cousin situation, with one of the cousins being a baby. A wife does in her husband (Catherine the Great) and then...

Founding Fathers- a phrase for Americans that is rather ambiguous. Who are they, really? What is the criteria for being called a founding father? Did they always agree on everything, including some very important details in the framing documents? Who was Gouveneur Morris? He was instrumental in many of the key elements of the U.S. Constitution, including the writing of the Preamble. There is much...

This is a most fascinating story of how the House of Godwin got to the pinnacle as Harold Godwinson becomes King and Tostig and Earl and yet within 9 months, there is the fall of the House of Godwin. Yet there is much more to the story than 1066. In 1053, Godwin, the father of Harold and Tostig dies, so the question is- how does Harold use those 13 years or so to become King. We also have some sem...

The typical story of the House of Godwin rests on the story of Harold Godwinson- his victory of his brother Tostig and Harold Hardrada at Stamford Bridge and then his defeat to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. This episode answers many questions including where in the world did Godwin come from such that his daughter becomes queen of England and his son becomes King? Seemingly out...

Most people tend to focus on Edward VIII, his abdication due to his scandalous marriage to Wallis Simpson. In this episode, the questions do include the abdication yet also many other questions about Edward. What did he really accomplish before becoming king...anything...really? What did he accomplish as King...all 323 days of his reign? And what was up with accepting and invite by Adolf Hitler? W...

In 1035 AD, It seemed very unlikely that William (the Conqueror) , then 8 years old, would be the one to conquer and then colonize England, let alone survive as the Duke of Normandy. William's father, Duke Robert had gone on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem but did not return. William was illegitimate and his mother, Herleva, was the daughter of an undertaker, so that was very little she could do to...

Lady Godiva is most famous for her ride through Coventry wearing nothing yet her long hair covering everything. Before asking the question - did she really do this and why, the first question is did she even exist? The time is the late 11th century and the town is Coventry. There is a king of England but there is still Mercia with its Earl Leofric. The story of Lady Godiva's ride is about Leof...

The tale of Nell Gwyn is a true rag to riches story. Her childhood was an impoverished one, where nobility and wealth were but a dream. Yet by the end of her life, her two sons by King Charles II were ennobled and wealthy. Her life begins during the puritanical reign of Oliver Cromwell, the guy that basically outlawed fun. Once Cromwell was gone and the monarchy restored with Charles II in 1660, t...

The fascists in Britain found their leader or their leader found them.  Oswald Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932. Mosley was a veteran of WW1. He ws also a philanderer and an aristocrat.  He was briefly a member of parliament for the Conservative party after the war, then he moved over to the Labor party.  Once the BUF was formed, it two years later that he and the BUF had...

Jan Hus had the same ideas as Martin Luther but decades earlier. Yet, Luther had the advantage of the printing press that enabled mass communications. Jan Hus was burned at the stake which did not go over well with the Hussites, to say the least. The Hussites were a group of people in Bohemia inspired by the words of Jan Hus. After the 1st Defenestration of Prague, things quickly boiled over and t...

The title of this episode was "borrowed" from the title of Dr. Ambrogio Caiani's latest book- Flirting with Evil: The Catholic Church in the Age of Total War and Globalisation. In this episode, which covers the first portion of the book - it is the turn of the 20th century and the Catholic Church is losing its long time allies- monarchs and nobles, and has already lost much of its po...

In this episode -The dead tell prophecies, there is a vanishing huge eyed doppleganger, and of course, some bloody battles and some serious treachery…all that you expect from a story about the Vikings. The Viking age, traditionally bracketed as793-1066 AD…accounts for the first Viking raid on the Lindisfarne monastery in Northumbria and ends with the Norman conquest in 1066.  In other words, the t...

The Triangle fire happened on March 25, 1911. It was the deadliest workplace disaster in New York for nearly a century. This wasn.t the first garment factory fire in NYC at that time. In fact the owners of the Triangle had several previous fires, almost always coinciding with then end of the fashion season, when having leftover inventory was bad for business. Several decades prior to the fire, suc...

One of the most important battles of all time. But was it really the beginning of Western Civilization? The battle pitted the city-state of Athens vs the one super power at the time-Persia. Up to 490 BC, the Persians virtually never lost, especially against any Greek city states. The Persians had a professional army whereas the Athenians only had the Hoplites, heavy infantry mostly used against ot...

The finale of this epic saga! The fascinating and at times, almost unbelievable stories of the initial SAS. Audacious, clever, brave, sometimes reckless and nonchalant, but just packed with incredible stories and people. In particular, Jock Lewes, Paddy Mayne and David Stirling. They are the type of stories that for the TV series made from the book- Rogue Heroes, the History of the SAS- certain ac...

The SAS- Special Air Service- who saw that something had to be done in the deserts of North Africa to change the course of WW2 in favor of the Allies. Ingenuity, tragedy, bravery and nonchalance were among the many ingredients, that together, created not only the SAS, but the concept of modern day Special Forces. The exploits of the initial SAS, starting in July 1941 created many myths and legends...

Just a few years after the Korean War became a frozen conflict, a military coup came to power in South Korea. Nearly 20 years later, another military coup came to power. During these years, while "The Miracle of the Han River" greatly increased the industrialization and commercialization of the country- due in part as with similar "miracles" of the past- the influx of outside finance. This miracle...

Hard to believe but before the Mona Lisa was stolen, it was viewed as a fine example of Italian Renaissance Art- especially by the intelligentsia and some of the artists in Paris. Others, if they even went into the Louvre, may have likely walked past it or given it a quick look. It was tucked away in a gallery amongst many other paintings. In 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen. In part due to its relat...

Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die. From the poem the Charge of the Light Brigade, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. These two lines are probably the most famous lines from the poem and likely famous across the world due to the bravery inferred by the British Light Brigade Calvary in the Crimean War. Yet in the same stanza, there is the line- Someone had blundered. The takeaway from...