The first heavier-than-air flight across the English Channel proves that Britain is no longer an island. Suffragettes continue to press for votes for women, and Irish Home Rule may finally become a reality.
 

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Playlist:
 
Fanfare

Opening Theme

“La Marseillaise”
Composed in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Second Suite in F for Military Band
Composed in 1911 by Gustav Holst. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band. Public domain recording. Source.

ClosingTheme

 

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.

 
Just weeks after the end of the First Balkan War, the Second Balkan War erupted as the Balkan League states fought among themselves over the territory taken from the Ottoman Empire. When it was over, Serbia was Russia’s only remaining diplomatic asset in the Balkans, and it was spoiling for a fight with Austria.
 

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Fanfare

Opening Theme

Serb Folk Music
Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

“Himni i Flamurit”
Composed c.1880 by Ciprian Porumbescu. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

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 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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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.