There will be no new episode of The History of the Twentieth Century this week. If you find yourself with nothing to listen to, here is a full, HD video of a Great War centenary performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” comes in at 6:38.
Author: Mark
124: What Passing-Bells for These Who Die as Cattle?
The fourth and last episode in our series on the Great War in 1916 looks at Brusilov’s Offensive and the Battle of the Somme. We pause to contemplate the mind-numbing bloodshed of the Great War, and look at some of its most famous poems.
Learn more about Wilfred Owen and his poetry at the Wilfred Owen Association website.
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Sonatina No. 5
Composed in 1919 by Ferrucio Busoni. Public domain.
Performed by Peter McKenzie Armstrong, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.
In Flanders Fields
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
123: Something Wrong with Our Bloody Ships
The third of four episodes on the Great War in 1916 examines the Austrian offensive in the Alps, more Russian planning for a new offensive, and the Battle of Jutland.
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
The Wand of Youth
Composed in 1908 by Edward Elgar. 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 ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
122: They Shall Not Pass
The second of four episodes on the Great War in 1916 examines Russian planning for a new offensive and the German sinking of the passenger ferry Sussex.
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Goyescas (Piano Suite)
Composed in 1911 by Enrique Granados. Public domain.
Performed by Ruben Lorenzo, 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 ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
121: England’s Best Sword Knocked from Her Hand
The year 1916 begins with a new German offensive on the French fortifications at Verdun.
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Pictures at an Exhibition
Composed in 1874 by Modest Mussorgsky; orchestral arrangement by Maurice Ravel. Public domain.
Performed by The Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
120: A Line in the Sand
This week’s episode catches us up on developments on the Italian front, the Caucasus front, and the Mesopotamian front, where a British force was besieged and forced to surrender, but even as that was unfolding, the British and the French were negotiating a secret agreement on how to divide the post-war Middle East.
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
“The Roast Beef of Old England”
Composed in 1731 by Richard Leveridge. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.
The Capture of Kars
Composed in 1880 by Modest Mussorgsky. Public domain.
Performed by The University of Chicago Orchestra, directed by Barbara Schubert, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.
Overture to La Forza del Destino (“The Force of Destiny”)
Composed in 1862 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by The University of Chicago Orchestra, directed by Barbara Schubert, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
119: The Minister without Portfolio
In Mexico, the constitutionalist forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza oust the conventionalists from Mexico City and Pancho Villa is forced to retreat to his base in Chihuahua. German intelligence agents in the US fund the pro-German magazine The Fatherland as they plot to draw the US into the conflict in Mexico. With Victoriano Huerta in prison, the Germans offer support to Pancho Villa. Villa also believes US intervention in the Mexican Revolution to be in his interests, and he provokes the Americans by attacking Columbus, New Mexico.
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Ochos Valses Poéticos
Composed in 1900 by Enrique Granados. Public domain.
Performed by Edson Lopes 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 ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
118: The Lunatics Have Taken Charge of the Asylum
The United States experienced an economic boom during the Great War. The motion picture industry grew rapidly, and the most famous name in cinema was Charles Chaplin. Vaslav Nijinsky and the Ballets Russes tour the US, and Nijinsky visited Chaplin’s studio. (See photo above. Nijinsky and Chaplin were both 27 years old when this picture was taken.)
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Music from Sam Fox Moving Picture Music Volume 1
by J.S. Zemecnik. Published in 1913. Public domain.
Performed by Richard Frolich and the Texas Radio Theatre Company and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source and source.
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
117: What Are the French Doing?
In the autumn of 1915, the Allies attempt an offensive on the Western Front, partly in an effort to take pressure off the Russians. The offensive attempted to put into practice new strategies for offensive combat that the French and British were developing, but the Germans were also developing new strategies.
Listen:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Danse macabre
Composed in 1874 by Camille Saint-Saëns. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.
“La Marseillaise”
Composed in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Reminder
There will be no new episode of The History of the Twentieth Century this week, owing to the Memorial Day holiday weekend in the USA. The podcast will return next week with episode 117: “What are the French Doing?”