202 Decades of Western History

By 202 Decades

A series making sense of the past 202 decades of Western History. Each episode examines a single decade of history, from 1 AD to the present day.... more

· History

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about 202 Decades of Western History:

How many episodes does 202 Decades of Western History have?

The podcast currently has 35 episodes available.

202 Decades of Western History episodes:

October 19, 2023 60 - 69 AD: World on Fire
The 60's were a tumultuous decade for Rome with multiple rebellions and uprisings, a war with Parthia, a great fire, an emperor more interested in playing the lyre than leading the armies, and after his downfall, four emperors in a single year.
Part 1 - The Revolt of Boudicca and the Iceni (3:34)
Part 2 - The Conclusion of the War for the Armenian Succession (10:01)
Part 3 - Nero and The Great Fire of Rome (25:21)
Part 4 - The Great Jewish Revolt (41:59)
Part 5 - The Year of the Four Emperors (65:16)
...more
1h 20min
August 30, 2023 Interlude - A First Century Tour of the Roman Empire
Hop on board as we leave Italy and take a tour of the Roman Provinces during the first century.Here's our Itinerary:
Gaul
Britannia
Hispania
Mauretania and Africa
Cyrenaica
Egypt
Judea
Syria
Anatolia and Greece
Thrace
Moesia, Pannonia, and Dalmatia
Noricum and Raetia

We at 202 Decade Tours hope you enjoy your journey. Please remember: no flash photography, as it may startle the locals.
...more
1h 6min
August 08, 2023 50 - 59 AD: The Artist and His Mother
Claudius rules and rules well. Everyone is saying it. If only he had as much skill with his wives as he did administering the empire.
When the 50's began, Claudius was married to his fourth wife, Agrippina the Younger. She was ambitious and committed to seeing her son become the heir to the empire. When Claudius indicated his natural son, Britannicus, might be his preference for the succession, Agrippina ended Claudius.
You may have heard of this son of Agrippina - his name was Nero. For the first five years as emperor, Nero took little interest in ruling. That was for the best and those years were long remembered for their good governance. But strains began to appear between Nero and his mother. Eventually, when she crossed him one too many times, he ordered her killed. What goes around, comes around, I guess...
The young emperor faced a challenge from the Parthians in Armenia, that initially, went perfectly.
...more
46min
June 21, 2023 40 - 49 AD: Rule Britannia
Caligula's reign of cruelty and debauchery rolled on, as the people and the senate lived in fear of the mad emperor. Naturally, plots against Caligula grew. His cruelty finally came back to bite him and he was assassinated by a member of the Praetorian Guard. While the senate debated on what to do next, the Praetorians were busy exterminating Caligula's family. An exception was made, though, for Caligula's uncle, Claudius. He was found hiding behind a curtain, and instead of killing him, he was proclaimed as emperor. The Guard would need a patron who would be malleable their interests and Claudius, who had a reputation for being meek, bookish, and awkward, fit the script perfectly. He was thrust before the Senate, who were informed that their acclimation of Claudius was highly encouraged.
To everyone's surprise, Emperor Claudius turned out to be a pretty decent ruler. He eliminated the harsh trials, taxes, and customs imposed by Caligula. He enriched the city with public works, and he set about expanding the empire.
His most significant contribution to history was the Roman conquest of Britain. In 43 AD, four legions crossed from Gaul to Britain and defeated a powerful Celtic tribe there. Before delivering the killing blow, Claudius arrived, so he could be seen leading the assault. The center of resistance quickly fell, and Claudius soon left to celebrate his triumph back in Rome.
The work of conquering Britain had just begun, though. Roman armies fanned out across the country and subdued the countryside. Occupation began in a small sliver of the southeast, but by the end of this decade, Rome controlled almost a third of the island. It would go on to become a thoroughly Roman place for the next 3 centuries.
Tune in to hear why the conquest of Britain went so differently from the conquest of Germania.
...more
45min
May 29, 2023 30 - 39 AD: Can I Talk To You About Jesus?
Sejanus is doing what now? Still isolated on his island retreat, Emperor Tiberius finally became aware of the duplicity of Sejanus and began to craft his downfall. Sejanus was taken unaware, accused, convicted, strangled, and thrown down the Gemonian Stairs. Free of Sejanus, Tiberius was now left alone with his paranoia. In 37 AD, on his estate near Naples, Tiberius died, perhaps with the help of a pillow applied to the face by Gaius.
Gaius was the son of Germanicus, who the people of Rome still remembered with admiration. As a young boy, Gaius had grown up in the military camps of his father and had been given the nickname he is remembered by today - Caligula.
Finally rid of the old bore Tiberius, the people and the senate were giddy to have Caligula in charge. And at first, he met their expectations, throwing lavish feasts, festivals, and games. But the partying would have to end at some point, right? And Caligula's dark, twisted comments were just jokes, right? Wrong and wrong. The partying would continue and Caligula's cruelty would soon become apparent to all of the Roman Empire.
Across the Mediterranean, a Jewish man from Galilee was crucified outside Jerusalem under orders from the Roman official. This turned out to be a big deal. That man's following would go on to spread among the Jews, across the Roman world, and beyond.
...more
57min
May 09, 2023 20 - 29 AD: Praetorian Intrigue
Tiberius got off to a rough start with the senate and the people of Rome. The senate had grown accustomed to being led by the master statesman, Augustus. Tiberius couldn't fill those shoes and there was a mismatch of expectations between him and the senate. The events involving the death of Germanicus at the end of the last decade only made the people of Rome hate him, too. They believed Tiberius had played a part in the death of their hero. Alongside these stresses, his family only made matters worse, jockeying and positioning themselves to use him to gain power.
These stresses caused Tiberius to withdraw further and further from the clamor of Rome. He first retreated to an estate south of the city and then permanently relocated to the island of Capri, where he could get some peace.
His go between while away from the city was the leader of the Praetorian guard, Lucius Sejanus. Sejanus carefully twisted and censored the information that reached Tiberius, leading to his own interests being advanced and his enemy's thwarted. He continually rose in power and many supporters. Tune in to see how high this upstart can rise.
North of Egypt and south of Syria lay the region of Judea. The recent history of Judea had been tumultuous and by this decade the region was divided between local and Roman rule. The populace was divided as well, between the Jews, the Roman occupation, and Hellenized Greeks or Syrians. The Jews themselves were split into several competing sects. Out of this chaos a man named Yohanan stepped onto the historical stage. He became renowned for preaching a baptism of repentance. He gathered a huge following who came out to be baptized by him in the wilderness. But in the heated political climate of first century Judea, gathering a following was likely to bring you into conflict with the authorities.
...more
37min
April 25, 2023 10 - 19 AD: The Death of a God
Augustus and the Roman People react in shock to the horrors of the Disaster of the Teutoburg Forest. The heir to the empire, Tiberius, races to the Rhine lands to fortify the area and prevent an invasion of Gaul. He engages in small cautious incursions back into Germania, to keep Arminius' coalition from trying anything. Soon though, Tiberius returns to Rome. The old Augustus can feel his days ending and his power and authority is extended to Tiberius. On the 19th of August, Augustus breathes his last. After his funeral, the senate declares that Augustus, like Julius Caesar before him, was not merely a mortal man, but a god that had walked among them.
Legions in the field use the death of Augustus to bargain for better pay and benefits. To the legions on the Rhine, Tiberius sends his adopted son and biological nephew, Germanicus. This Germanicus gains the loyalty and admiration of the army but doesn't stick to Tiberius' script. Over the course of three campaigns, Germanicus makes extensive raids into Germania and puts the coalition of German tribes under Arminius back on the defensive. There are some close calls, but he emerges from the campaigns having restored the confidence of Rome and having recovered 2 of the 3 golden legionary standards lost at the Teutoburg.
As the heir to the empire, surely Germanicus would achieve even greater things. But that's not what happened. Tune in to find out the fate of Germanicus, the hero of the Roman people.
...more
49min
April 11, 2023 1 - 9 AD: Why the Germans Still Speak German
Augustus still rules Rome as Princeps. As an old man, he had had the chance to see his most of his great projects through from start to finish. However, three eluded him: improving the morality (and fertility) of the upper classes, finding an adequate successor, and shoring up the boundaries of the empire.
His moral legislation was hated universally and failed to improve even his own daughter's morals.
His search for a successor was interrupted repeatedly by the death of each candidate on his list, until he had to settle, begrudgingly, on his son-in-law, Tiberius.
His work to secure the frontiers of the empire seemed to be going more smoothly. He cleaned up the borders in the Balkans, in Anatolia, and in Spain. When it came to conquering Germania, that wild region across the Rhine from Gaul, things went well at first. For two decades, the process of integration was going about as well as could be hoped in such a remote and decentralized region. But in 6 AD, when several legions had to be pulled away from the Rhine and from Germania, a German named Arminius built a confederation of tribes and seized the opportunity to rid his country from Roman rule.
...more
49min
March 26, 2023 Prologue Part 4.3: The Death of the Republic
Pompey and Crassus and Caesar. Antony and Lepidus and Octavian. Two triumvirates were made; the first in secret, the second in the open. Each aimed to bend the Roman state to their will. Each fell apart, and their fall brought civil war.
The civil wars which Sulla had ended began again with Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon and his march on Rome. Pompey fled, resisted, and then was defeated and fled again. Pompey had escaped to Egypt, and was slain; Caesar had followed, and began an affair with Cleopatra. Caesar cleaned up resistance to his rule and then began to rule as Dictator in Perpetuity.
A group of senators could see that unless they acted, Caesar marked the end of the Republic. They gathered conspirators and on the Ides of March they slew Caesar in front of the senate. Always such with tyrants. Their actions marked not the end of civil war, but the beginning of a new round of 13 more years of conflict.
After Caesar's death Antony and Octavian became the two most powerful men in Rome. They divided the Roman Republic between themselves with Octavian controlling much of the west, and Antony controlling the East. Antony went to Alexandria and married Cleopatra and increasingly seemed to be steering his side of the Republic away from the rest. Octavian carefully convinced the senate that Antony had been seduced by the crafty Cleopatra and war on her and her kingdom was declared.
Antony and Octavian met at the Battle of Actium. Octavian's victory ensured the continued unity and Rome-centric nature of the Empire. Antony and Cleopatra retreated to Egypt but they didn't last long. Octavian conquered Egypt, integrating the province and seizing its wealth.
Octavian now stood alone on top of the Roman World. Unlike Caesar, Octavian was careful in his accrual of power. He slowly and tactfully increased his power. While he was lauded as Augustus, he would instead rule for 41 years as Princeps, "First Citizen". Octavian subtly transformed the wreckage that was the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.
...more
1h 33min
March 06, 2023 Prologue Part 4.2: Force Over Law
Hannibal led his army in the legendary crossing of the Alps and defeated army after army sent to stop him by Rome. But no one was able to recover better from a loss than the Romans and they survived and withstood Hannibal's campaigns for years. After clearing the Carthaginians out of Iberia, Scipio led a Roman army to Africa, to stop the Carthaginians on their home turf. Ultimately failing in his attempt to destroy the Romans, Hannibal had to be recalled home. Scipio Africanus earned his name and defeated Hannibal on his home turf, leading to the surrender of Carthage.
Now with total control of the Western Mediterranean, the Romans turned to the East. Over the course of four wars, they expanded their control over the Greeks integrating their territory and then their culture, into their growing empire.
The expansion of this empire led to massive influxes of wealth, helping the elites in Rome to grow massively rich. The growing divide between rich and poor led many Romans into destitution. Against the conservative Optimates, other politicians, called Populares, began to clamor for land redistribution and help for the poor. The Optimates violently resisted reforms and force began to be used in place of law. The ingredients for civil unrest were in the pot and with Marius and Sulla, they would boil over into open civil war.
...more
1h 16min

FAQs about 202 Decades of Western History:

How many episodes does 202 Decades of Western History have?

The podcast currently has 35 episodes available.