299: The Spanish Civil War

Mark Podcast

Guernica, in the aftermath of the bombing.

The Spanish coup failed, but the rebel generals began a civil war against the Republic. Early efforts to take Madrid failed, but the Nationalists were on the advance everywhere else.

The Basque town of Guernica became world famous, following a brutal bombing by Spanish, German, and Italian aircraft.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Suite Española
Composed by Isaac Albéniz in 1886. Public domain.
Performed by Gordon Rowland. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

298: The Lost Generation

Mark Podcast

Cover of the first edition of The Great Gatsby, 1925.

Literature changed after the Great War. New writers emerged, famously dubbed “the lost generation” by Gertrude Stein, who challenged their literary elders.

Old conventions were out, replaced by new, more internalized, and more subjective ways of looking at the world.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“From Uncle Remus” from Woodland Sketches
Composed by Edward MacDowell in 1896. Public domain.
Performed by Jean Dubé and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

297: A Rendezvous with Destiny

Mark Podcast

Literary Digest’s post-election cover.

Franklin Roosevelt went into the 1936 election confident, although he faced challenges from both the right and the left.

This was the first election in which pollsters used modern sampling techniques to predict the result. Some came quite close. Others, notably Literary Digest, flubbed.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Those Crazy Cats

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

296: Request Instructions as to Bodies

Mark Podcast

General Emilio Mola y Vidal was the leader of the 1936 coup. His code name was “El Director.”

The new leftist Popular Front government, elected in 1936, was aware that some in the military were plotting a coup and took steps to frustrate it.

Unfortunately for the government, the measures taken were insufficient and the coup began in July. It likely would have failed, were it not for assistance from Germany and Italy.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“El Pajarico”
Traditional. Public domain.

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

295: The Bottle Uncorked

Mark Podcast

Francisco Franco (l.) and his brother Ramón in Africa in 1925.

King Alfonso XIII fled Spain in 1931, following the declaration of the Second Spanish Republic. By the end of the year, the new republic had a constitution and had elected a Cortes.

The sudden change caught the Spanish right wing off guard, but soon they were fighting back.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Danza from La vida breve
Composed in 1913 by Manuel de Falla. Public domain.
Performed by Carrie Rehkopf and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

294: The Year of the Three Kings

Mark Podcast

British King George V celebrated his Silver Jubilee on May 6, 1935. Less than nine months later, he died, at the age of 70.

His eldest son, Edward, Prince of Wales, succeeded his father as Edward VIII. There were serious doubts about Edward’s commitment to the responsibilities of the Crown, doubts that soon grew into a constitutional crisis.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Minuet from 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.

“Old One Hundredth”

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

293: Strength Through Joy

Mark Podcast

At the opening ceremonies of the 1936 Summer Olympic Games, German spectators welcome the US Olympic Team with Nazi salutes.

Hitler was quite popular in Germany in the early years of his rule. He got sacks of fan mail and drew crowds wherever he went. Documentarian Leni Riefenstahl’s films of the Nuremberg Rallies were hugely successful.

In 1936, the Olympic Games were held in Berlin, and the Nazis used the occasion to showcase the “new Germany.”

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Entrance of the Gods into Valhalla” from Das Rheingold
Composed in 1876 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

292: An Article for Export

Mark Podcast

Haile Selassie was Time’s 1935 “Man of the Year.”

Over the first 13 years of Mussolini’s rule, and whatever its domestic policies, Italy’s international policies were conventional, and pursued with conventional diplomacy.

In 1935, that began to change. No doubt inspired by Hitler’s success in flouting international norms and getting away with it, Mussolini chose to pursue a war against Ethiopia.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Concerto in E Major, “La Primavera” from “The Four Seasons”
Composed in 1723 by Antonio Vivaldi. Public domain.
Performed by John Harrison, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Source.

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

291: The Nuremberg Laws

Mark Podcast

Period chart explaining the marriage regulation imposed by the Nuremberg Laws. (“Die Nürnberger Gesetze”)

Nazi Germany was initially cautious in imposing limits on the rights of Jewish people and other “non-Aryans” in Germany. Hitler and his government cared about their international image, as they sought to negotiate their way out of the limitations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.

By 1935 though, with rearmament under way and the Allied powers unwilling to challenge Germany’s resurgence, landmark legislation was passed defining the terms under which a person was or wasn’t a “true” German. Those who were deemed non-Aryan were defined as subjects of the state, but not citizens of it.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

Overture from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Composed in 1868 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme


Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.