The Balkan League rearranged the map of the Balkans, Austria’s front doorstep, while Vienna looked on, her options limited, as high officials of her military became embroiled in scandal.
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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Wiener Blut” (“Viennese Spirit”)
Composed in 1873 by Johann Strauss II. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

 
With Russian encouragement, the Balkan states negotiate an alliance. It was a defensive agreement at first, but soon the Balkan states realized that collectively they were strong enough to take on the Ottoman Empire, whether or not their Great Power patrons approved. The result was the First Balkan War.
 

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Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Farewell of Slavianka”
Composed in 1912 by Vasily Ivanovich Agapkin. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Coast Guard Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

 
Woodrow Wilson becomes the 28th President of the United States, after his inauguration is upstaged by a huge women’s suffrage demonstration. Wilson reorients American foreign policy, and allows greater segregation in US government employment.
 

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Click here to listen to “Your Mother’s Gone Away to Join the Army,” a 1913 song inspired by the women’s suffrage march in Washington.

 

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Playlist:
 
Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Hail, Columbia”
Composed in 1789 by Philip Phile. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean”
Composed in 1843 by Thomas A. Becket. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

 
A final look at the Belle Époque. Alfred Binet invents intelligence testing, Picasso and Matisse become frenemies, Gertrude Stein moves to Paris, the Mona Lisa is stolen, and Jim Thorpe wins two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.
 

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Fanfare

Opening Theme

Pavane pour une infante défunte
Composed in 1899 by Maurice Ravel. Public domain.
Performed by Thérèse Dussaut, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 (CC-BY-SA 2.0) license. Source.

Closing Theme

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

 
Spurred on by right-wing agitation at home, the government of Italy declares war on the Ottoman Empire to secure its claim to the province of Tripoli, known in our time as Libya.
 

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Fanfare

Opening Theme

Overture to La Forza del Destino
Composed in 1862 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license. Source.

Closing Theme

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

 

Unrest and instability plague the Ottoman Empire, and a year of relative calm in the rest of Europe ends when a German gunboat suddenly appears off the coast of Morocco.
 

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Playlist:
 
Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Kâtibim”
Traditional Turkish folk song. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Tradidional Moroccan folk music
Public domain.
Recorded by Freesound user Eelke and used pursuant to a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) license. Source.

Closing Theme

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

The world’s largest ocean liner, Titanic, strikes an iceberg and sinks on the night of April 14, 1912, becoming history’s most famous maritime disaster.

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Playlist:
 
Fanfare

Opening Theme

Overture to Oberon, or The Elf King’s Oath
Composed in 1826 by Carl Maria von Weber. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Alexander’s Ragtime Band”
Composed in 1911 by Irving Berlin. Public domain.

“Eternal Father, Strong to Save”
Composed in 1860 by William Whiting. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing Theme

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

The growing rift between US President William Howard Taft and his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, comes to a head in the 1912 Presidential election, as Roosevelt decides to challenge Taft for the Republican Presidential nomination.

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Playlist:
 
Fanfare

Opening Theme

“Scott Joplin’s New Rag”
Composed in 1912 by Scott Joplin. Public domain.
Performed by Gerluz, and 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 ℗ 2016, 2017 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.