Year: 2020

222: The Kingdom of Satan

Mark Podcast
Title page of the English South African edition of Hind Swaraj, published in 1910.

Mohandas Gandhi went to South Africa to represent an Indian business in a court case there. In South Africa, he became involved in the fight for equal rights for Indians.

It was during this time that Gandhi developed his philosophy of non-violent resistance, called satyagraha, and published Hind Swaraj, a call for Indian self-rule.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Instrumental Oriental Music of India
By Michael Burkard. Used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

221: The Great Debate I

Mark Podcast
The Andromeda Galaxy, M31, NGC 224.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, astronomers had a rough idea of the size and shape of our galaxy. Our solar system was believed to be located at or near the center.

Three decades later, after advances in astronomy, it was determined that our solar system is nowhere near the center of the galaxy. Far more surprising were the discoveries that our galaxy is only one of many such collections of stars, and that the Universe is expanding.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Four Pieces for Clarinet and Orchestra, No. 1
Composed in 1913 by Alban Berg. Public domain.
Performed by Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Steven Beck, piano. Used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5. Car horn sound effect from Wikipedia user Magicallwiz and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

220: An Unnatural Condition

Mark Podcast
Brothers Laxmidas (l.) and Mohandas Gandhi in 1886.

By the early twentieth century, a new generation of Indian nationalists was emerging, one more radical and less patient than its elders, who sought new ways to pressure the British for increased home rule, even outright independence.

Muslim Indians created their own association, the Muslim League, to rival the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress. And a quiet barrister named Mohandas Gandhi traveled to South Africa on behalf of a client.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Eastern Musings

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

219: The Victorian Holocausts

Mark Podcast
1877 engraving depicting a famine scene in India.

The United Kingdom was the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth for most of the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution powered the British rise, but after other Western nations began to catch up, Britain’s unique ability to extract wealth from India kept it ahead of its competition for decades longer than would otherwise have been possible. But British supremacy came at a terrible cost to the people of India.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Raga Number One

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

218: By Themselves Are Nations Made

Mark Podcast

In 1858, the British government took direct control over India. This was in response to the Rebellion of the previous year and concerns over East India Company misrule.

British rule led to some benefits, but it also produced famine and a collapse in per capita income. By the late 19th century, Indian nationalists were organizing for more Indian say in the governance of their own country.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Instrumental Oriental Music of India
By Michael Burkard. Used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

217: The Unending Quest

Mark Podcast
Map of India in 1700. Note that Europeans control only a few small enclaves.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Mughal India was the largest economy in the world, renowned for its cotton textiles.

But as the Mughal Empire weakened, its trade partner, the British East India Company picked up the slack, until the Emperor was a mere figurehead and India came under the rule of a multinational corporation, a development without parallel in world history.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Rondeau from Suite of Symphonies No. 1
Composed in 1729 by Jean-Joseph Mouret. Public domain.

“Mumbai Meditation”

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

216: A Return to Normalcy

Mark Podcast
Warren Gamaliel Harding, the 29th President of the United States.

No matter how highly you might regard Woodrow Wilson’s peacetime policies, no matter how happy you might be that the Allies won the war, it was indiputable that the two years since the Armistice had been difficult ones for the United States.

The Republican field was divided in the 1920 primary season, and at the convention emerged the improbable candidacy of Warren G. Harding, who had articulated American voters’ hopes when he promised a return to normalcy.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time”
Composed in 1920 by Albert Von Tilzer and Neville Fleeson. Public domain.

“Swanee”
Composed in 1919 by George Gershwin and Irving Caesar. Public domain.
Performed by George Gershwin. Used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

215: 1919 – Germany VI

Mark Podcast
A fifty billion mark note. That’s a European billion, meaning 50,000,000,000,000, or fifty trillion, as we would say in the USA. It was worth about US$12.

The German government continued to drag its feet on reparations payments, sparking a Franco-Belgian invasion of the Ruhr region.

Inflation ran wild, owing to the government’s policy of simply printing new money to pay the bills. Strikes and unrest broke out across the country, while in Munich, right-wing extremists attempted a coup.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Fantaisie – Impromptu
Composed in 1834 by Frédéric Chopin. Public domain.
Performed by Frank Levy. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

214: 1919 – Germany V

Mark Podcast
Memorial service for Walther Rathenau, held at the German Reichstag.

Reparations payments started coming due in 1921. The German government, wrestling with inflation and debt, resisted payment from the beginning.

The German right opposed paying reparations altogether and condemned the national political leaders as the “November criminals.” Some centrist political figures were assassinated by the right.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Symphony No. 3
Composed in 1883 by Johannes Brahms. Public domain.
Performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

213: 1919 – Germany IV

Mark Podcast
A German Freikorps unit, bearing the military flag of the now-defunct German Empire, marches through Berlin during the Kapp Putsch of 1920.

When the Germans finally received the Treaty of Versailles, they were told to accept it as written, or else the Allies would restart the war.

It was a painful decision, but the National Assembly in Weimar approved the Treaty. Almost at once, they were denounced as traitors by the German right.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Symphony No. 5
Composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme 


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.