Footnotes Of History

It’s a time when everyone alive remembered the French Revolution. To the British elites, it seemed conceivable that similar uprisings could still take place closer to home. Our second episode examines three flashpoints in this period. First, the establishment of the Metropolitan Police. This swept aside the ineffective parish police with a centralised force, loyal only to the Home Secretary. However, neighbourhoods were often far from happy with their streets now being patrolled by agents of the regime. Second, the re-introduction of “emergency” Income Tax. With budget deficits ballooning the budget needed to be brought back under control. Peel bore the criticism for invading people’s personal affairs. The last part is a look at the relationship with Ireland. Across the period, Ireland was an angry, discontented member of the UK family and perpetually susceptible to revolutionary rumour. If that doesn’t sound exciting then there really is no hope for you.

Want the story of 1860s Europe? Whet your appetite at footnotesofhistory.com/threenations Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/20 I don’t think there is a period of history that can’t be described as a period of change. But this one is significant. Change was in the air – including a radical reassessment of the role of the collective and the individual. And in many ways our episode this week covers some of this from the perspective of one man in particular – Robert Peel. Peel was a Tory and later invented the Conservative Party. Yet he nevertheless pioneered seismic changes to the state infrastructure. Under Peel’s steady hand, the government repaid its debts and laid the foundations for a sound financial system. It ended its blatant persecution of minority religions and it abstained from interference in society’s basic needs. Unlike many of his peers both then and now, Peel frequently sacrificed his immediate career and party for the choices he made.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Get the shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/19 In the 1820s, the capital markets of Britain surged on the ramping price of South American bonds. As the Spanish Empire was beaten back, new countries were popping up all over the map. Governments in Columbia, Venezuela and Bolivia all sent word to London for loans to start their new nations and suddenly boasting the prospects of a very healthy ROI. Among these nations was Poyais – freed from the yoke of Spain in the early 1810s and gifted by the Mosquito King to one Brigadier-General Sir Gregor MacGregor of the 57th Regiment of Foot and Knight of the Portuguese Order of Christ. MacGregor, the now “Cazique” of Poyais, arrived in Britain to consult on his nation’s prospects and to encourage emigration of pioneering individuals to its shores. Spoiler alert: almost nothing about Poyais was true - as MacGregor’s hapless confidants (both financial and colonial) found out to their cost.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/18 In July of 1870, France - onetime cultural capital of the world - rather ill-advisedly went to war with Prussia, Europe's menacing new power. In the ensuing chaos, lives were turned upside-down... but what did this mean for art? The conflict erupted just as a gang of new kids had arrived on the block - The Impressionists. Their atmospheric take on everyday scenes and their quirky techniques outraged the old guard at the Salon. The established purpose of Art was to glorify and deify - anything from heroic battles to romanticised figures of France past. The Impressionists painted everything and anything and the Salon of the Second Empire rejected it almost automatically. So is it possible that an Emperor-toppling war, deadly siege and city rebellion may have done more to boost this new "Impressionism" than any other event?

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/17 In the exciting climax to our mini series looking at imperialism in Eastern Asia, Japan is torn apart by a vicious civil war that pits the Shogunate against the Samurai. Tensions had built ever since the Americans had arrived and forced the Shogunate to submit to trade. In the capital Edo, the connections with Europe had led to the opening of trading posts, the establishment of churches and even Western-oriented schools where hip Japanese sent their children to learn about fashionable European culture. With western merchants prancing around Edo like it was their own New York, many samurai had simply had enough. The resulting war was by no means an accident – some clans had been planning their revenge since 1603. Regardless, in 1869, the new Empire of Japan was proclaimed from the new capital - Tokyo.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/16 All Python references aside, the Taipeng Rebellion is probably one of the bloodiest events in the history of the world and is almost certainly the bloodiest of the nineteenth century. While the Opium Wars raged just off the corner of the Eastern hemisphere, a little-known peasant in the interior of the Chinese Empire was experiencing his first biblical visions. A short time later the supposed "Brother of Jesus Christ", Hong Xiuquan, marched at the head of a horde of self-titled demon slayers which had been convinced - one way or another - that they had been set the holy task of destroying the Qing dynasty of Imperial China. The period of the rebellion was one of Total War - which is a polite way of saying everybody and everything that got in the way would be killed. In this episode we'll look at the details of the rebellion and try to make some sense out of this semi-religious movement

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Subscribe and get shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/15 We're back in the East for China's second run-in with the European powers.  What with the humiliation experienced by China at the hands of Britain a decade beforehand, it's not surprising that a second generation of Chinese were a bit more touchy about being pushed around. Their patience finally ran out when the confusing trading system led them to raid a British vessel - assuming it to be a pirate ship - and arresting the crew. In the usual proportionate manner, then-PM and serial subject of Footnotes of History interest, Viscount Palmerston, ordered an assault against Canton and the Taku forts, firing the first shots of the Second Opium War.  What with the Taipeng Rebellion kicking off on one side and trigger-happy Europeans on the other, it's hard to see how the Qing dynasty could find a way out of this one.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Subscribe for updates and find shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/14 Many factors  drove families to emigrate in nineteenth century America. Be it escaping debts, chasing fame and fortune,  dodging disease or even belief in a higher destiny, sometimes the pressure of those forces can be simply too great. And if someone claims he can make the journey a bit easier, then you have that extra incentive to get in your wagon and go. This episode tells the frankly horrifying story of a group of pioneers headed for the supposed paradise of the West Coast and California (then under Mexico's rule). Complacency, deceit and rank betrayal all have their parts to play in this stunning soap opera of the human spirit at the very edge. It's difficult to see how a journey could have gone any worse.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at: footnotesofhistory.com/13 What is the state of education in Great Britain? Such was the question asked in 1859 by the Commission brought together by the Palmerston Government. Tasked with examining the impact of state subsidies for education in place since the 1830s Factory Acts, Newcastle's Commission actually made some astonishng discoveries that we will reveal in this episode. Not only was the relatively laissez-faire and voluntary school system of England and Wales keeping literacy rates on a par with compulsory systems such as Prussia's, it was actually outperforming some of them, assisted by an apparently ferocious and completely spontaneous demand for knowledge among the people of Britain. As always on Footnotes of History, prepare to have your mind blown!

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/12 Staying with the Eastern theme, this episode takes our listeners a few hundred miles west and a few decades earlier of Episode 11, presenting them with scenes that may seem all too familiar. Drawn by an insatiable appetite for Chinese goods such as silk, porcelain and - most importantly - tea, British and European traders had been familiar with China for centuries. This was even despite constant friction with the rulers (e.g. the creation of the Canton trading system, where foreigners were allowed to enter and trade in only one port). However, the "trade deficit" - or loss of Britain's gold and other metal resources that were being exchanged for vast amounts of tea - caused concern in the 1830s. There was simply no appetite among Chinese traders for any of Britain's other goods, meaning - in the eyes of the government - that Britain was "losing" gold to China. That is, until opium came along.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/11 Today’s episode takes us eastwards during the turbulent 1850s as two nations - indeed civlisations - clash. During the mid Victorian period, newly industrialised powers steamed towards the Orient, drawn by a triumvirate of forces, including gold, the missionary’s salvation and the mystery of a society closed to the world for well over a hundred years. Traders had tried in vain to offer up goods for Japanese gold, but to no avail – the Tokugawa Shogunate (the de facto rulers) kept Japan firmly locked down. That is, until Perry arrived and effectively forced the Shogunate to sign a deal – one of many “deals” that the East would be subjected to by warlike western nations during the nineteenth century – a new style of imperialism that did not subjugate nations to rule them directly as in Africa and India – but rather to have their governments act as impotent middlemen to the real power.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/10 Here at Footnotes of History, we like to think we’re all about doing the dirty work of finding the historical details so that you don’t have to. At no point has that been more true than in this episode. As Tim points out in the episode, the historical radar pinged urgently when he heard a speech by a politician last year lauding the glorious success of the London sewer system. So the team just had to find out the other half of the story. The Great Stink was the apex of a crisis of nineteenth century London. The smell was one thing - but people were dying in their thousands from disease outbreaks across the city, waste was seeping up through the pavements and the very body of the great river Thames was a foul, dark treacle of industrial run-off, chemical waste and human sewage. So overwhelmed were London’s sewer systems that it really did need the complete overhaul and millions of pounds spent t

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/3 It was a dark and stormy night… ​​​​​​​Ok so you all saw that one coming as soon as you read the title, but how did five people swapping ghost stories in 1816 lead to the creation of two of the most enduring figures of literature: Frankenstein and the vampire? Join us as we look at what drew a clique of talented, in some cases tortured, geniuses (including Mary Shelley and Lord Byron) to the shores of Lake Geneva and examine the stories that came out of that meeting. Oh yeah, did we mention that 1816 is known as the Year without Summer? As we’re British we’ll also be talking about the weather a bit!

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Remembered by Napoleon as the man who made him miss his destiny, sneered at by his fellow officers for being a Swedish knight and disliked by Nelson because…well, he was also hungry for glory Sidney Smith’s exploits caused no end of stories in his own lifetime, but are forgotten now - perfect Footnotes of History fodder. Even Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey would have had trouble keeping up with Smith, but we’ll do our best as we guide you through daring raids on French ports, an escape from prison and a showdown with Napoleon in the Holy Land. Join us as we discuss one man’s remarkable career that took him from skirmishes off the coast of America to a forgotten war between Sweden and Russia before culminating on the fields of Waterloo.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes at footnotesofhistory.com/2 You've just crossed the Atlantic on a rickety ship, escaping near-starvation existence in your home country to arrive in a city of wonder. New York has it all - department stores, parks and most importantly of all, the promise of a living, even for the poorest in society. But now this new continent is at war with itself, theoretically over the most diabolical crime of all - human slavery. But is this correct? What else can you call conscription? What are the consequences when you take control of someone's life in order to pursue a war that they really have nothing to do with?

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes can be found at http://www.footnotesofhistory.com/1 What do you do if you're a veteran British soldier, just as your country emerges from nearly half a century of fighting? North America is lost, France is defeated and Europe is weary of war. But you've got to earn a crust somehow and South America, with all of that promise of gold, glory and legend is just too inviting to resist. And who likes the Spanish anyway?

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Shownotes for this episode are at: http://www.footnotesofhistory.com/6 It’s the journey that gave a country its foundational legend and shows just how tough life was in the 19th Century, but the Great Trek also meant death, destruction and horror for many of the people in its way. In this episode we’ll consider why tens of thousands of Boers decided to leave their homes and march into the interior of southern Africa. Were they driven by a desire to establish a new homeland? Were they angry about their treatment by their new British rulers or was it something else entirely that sparked an event that has been celebrated and criticised ever since?

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Show notes for this episode can be found at footnotesofhistory.com/5 How do you prevent a seemingly inevitable war? Well, peaceful cooperation is a start - free exchange of goods between nations is for the benefit of all. It create wealth for those involved, but that wealth also binds the two peoples together in mutual respect and interest (if not friendship!) - a prize that war and head-on rivalry can only destroy. This is not to say there were only winners from the new treaty. Certainly those individuals who viewed their interests as being the traditions of farming and other related industries saw their comfortable hegemony in the economy disrupted.

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join The show notes for this episode are at: www.footnotesofhistory.com/8 If you think of people gaining their freedom in the 1860s your mind will probably go straight to the American Civil War and the end of slavery, but in the same decade over 20 million Russians became free for the first time in their lives when Alexander II issued his Emancipation Manifesto. ​​​​​​​ We’ll talk about how this, in many ways medieval, practice survived for so long when Western Europe was surging ahead into the Industrial Revolution and find out whether it was the Crimean War, Russian intellectuals, a stagnant economy or a combination of all three and more that brought about its end. But was this a new beginning for the lowest in Russian society or merely a false dawn?

Want more FOH? Visit footnotesofhistory.com/join Do you need a bit of extra cash? Do you need to pay off some of your nobles to compensate them for freeing their serfs? Why not sell a piece of territory to the United States? That was what Tsar Alexander II did in March 1867. During a time of consistently high tensions with European powers such as France and Britain - who were industrialising at a terrific pace - Russia found itself cornered. Having lost a home game in the Crimea and with its Pacific territories in increasing danger of being surrounded by British colonies and indeed, American ones, it was probably time to jettison the dead weight. And if it could provoke a distracting war between old enemies Britain and the USA - both vying for domination in North America - the more's the better. Register for updates and see the show notes here: footnotesofhistory.com/9