029: Die Waffen Nieder!

Bertha_von_Suttner_nobel
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bertha von Suttner.

This week’s episode looks at Bertha von Suttner, Alfred Nobel, Jan Bloch, and the peace movement of the early twentieth century, and the circumstances around the Hague peace conference of 1899.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Opus 27, No. 2 (“Moonlight”)
Composed in 1801 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by Paul Pitman. Public domain. Source.

Venus, the Bringer of Peace from The Planets
Composed in 1916 by Gustav Holst. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Heritage of America Band. Public domain. Source.

Closing Theme

 

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2015, 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

028: What Is Going to Happen to Me?

The Russian Crown Prince Nikolai, during his visit to Japan.
The Russian Crown Prince Nikolai, during his visit to Japan.

This week’s episode dicusses Russia in the late 19th century, during the reign of Emperor Alexander III, especially the story of the heir apparent, Nikolai, his coming of age, his coronation, and his wedding.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

String Quartet No. 1, Opus 11
Composed in 1871 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Public domain.
Performed by The Borromeo String Quartet, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons License.Details.

Closing Theme

 

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2015, 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

In Honor of “Confederate History Month”

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In honor of “Confederate History Month,” I am offering the letter below, from a freed slave to his former master. This post is dedicated to anyone who ever argued that a) African-Americans were better off under slavery, b) slavery wasn’t so bad, or c) the Civil War was really a bunch of freedom loving patriots rebelling against an oppressive central government. Anyone who argues any of those things, is, of course, ridiculous, but it is the duty (and the burden) of every lover of history to speak historical truth to those who would promote falsehood.

 

(Via.)

 

Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, “Them colored people were slaves” down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams’s Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson.

027: Too Soon to Thank God

Monument to Alexander II in Helsinki. As part of his reforms, Alexander reestablished the Finnish Diet, an act for which he is still honored in Finland.
Monument to Alexander II in Helsinki. As part of his reforms, Alexander reestablished the Finnish Diet, an act for which he is still honored in Finland.

Slavs and Slav nationalism are going to play a huge role in the history of the twentieth century. This episode presents an overview of the Slavic world, with a special emphasis on Russia, the most important Slavic nation.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Polonaise from Christmas Eve
Composed in 1895 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Air Force Band. Public domain. Source.

Closing Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2015, 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

026: America’s Coming Out Party

Title page to the original sheet music for "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis."
Title page to the original sheet music for “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis.”

The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition (more commonly known today as the 1904 World’s Fair) marks America’s entry onto the world stage. Here is an assessment of the fair, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

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Playlist:

 

Fanfare

The Washington Post
Composed in 1889 by John Philip Sousa. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Stars and Stripes Forever
Composed in 1896 by John Philip Sousa. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis”
Composed in 1904 by Kerry Mills. Public domain.
Performed by Gary Hunter. Public domain. Source.

Suite for José Rizal

Closing Theme

 

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2015, 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.