Month: June 2019

159: The Liberal Crisis

Mark Podcast
Georges Clemenceau in 1917.
Georges Clemenceau in 1917.

In the United Kingdom, its dominions, and in France, 1917 sees the same kinds of erosion of democracy and civil liberties as we have seen in the USA.

Is this the price a free society has to pay to fight a modern war?

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Valse de Paris

Closing War Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

158: So Thoroughly Policed

Mark Podcast
The slide reads "No War Talk! Attorney General Gregory says: "Obey the law. Keep your mouth shut!"
US movie house intertitle from 1917.

In the United States, the war brings change. New Federal agencies are created to coordinate military production and distribution of food and fuel.

More troubling are attacks on anti-war expression, including the Espionage Act of 1917.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Kismet Rag
Composed in 1913 by Scott Joplin and Scott Hayden. Public domain.
Performed by Tony Wilkinson and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

157: A Path Strewn with Roses

Mark Podcast
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, laid out in German, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Turkish, and Russian.

The peace terms were so extreme, even may Bolsheviks resisted agreeing to them. But when the Germans, their patience exhausted, began marching deeper into Russia, virtually unopposed, Lenin persuaded the Central Committee to agree to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Domestically, the Constituent Assembly had been forcibly dissolved. Bolshevik rule over Russia can now only be contested by force of arms.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

String Quartet No. 2
Composed in 1907 by César Cui. Public domain.
Performed by Steve’s Bedroom Band and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

156: Locomotives for Heads

Mark Podcast
The Manchester Guardian was the first Western newspaper to publish the terms of the secret treaties revealed by Leon Trotsky.

The new Bolshevik government installed in Russia by the October Revolution was not regarded at the time as permanent, but merely as a new provisional government.

Lenin and the Bolsheviks, however, were intent on keeping power. One means of accomplishing this would be to end the war, which was the Bolsheviks’ signature campaign promise. And so, an armistice was quickly arranged.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Piano Concerto No. 2 in G
Composed in 1880 by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.