Month: November 2020

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.

  • Listen now:


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.

  • Listen now:


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.

  • Listen now:


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.