Almost History

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Towards the end of the seventeenth century, Scotland sank a huge chunk of its national wealth into an audacious scheme to colonise central America. become a more equal partner with England under the Stuart crown. 

The colony was to straddle the Isthmus of Panama at the Gulf of Darién. It would create an overland route to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Vessels from the Old World and the New World, it was hoped, would converge on the colony. Scotland would reap bountiful dividends. 

In the end, the venture failed. The Darien Scheme’s downfall was a major push forcing Scotland to give up her independence and join with England in 1707's Act of Union. 

This is the first in a two-part series looking at Scotland’s colonial disasters. In both cases, huge amounts of capital were raised and lost, and many lives ruined, as Scots attempted to forge a colonial empire in Central America.  

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Music credits The theme music is Newsroom by Riot. 

The other music featured in this episode was Whispering Through by Asura (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Asura/) and Snowmen by Kai Engel (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/). Both tracks are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution licences (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

The colony was to straddle the Isthmus of Panama at the Gulf of Darién. It would create an overland route to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Vessels from the Old World and the New World, it was hoped, would converge on the colony. Scotland would reap bountiful dividends. 

In the end, the venture failed. The Darien Scheme’s downfall was a major push forcing Scotland to give up her independence and join with England in 1707's Act of Union. 

This is the first in a two-part series looking at Scotland’s colonial disasters. In both cases, huge amounts of capital were raised and lost, and many lives ruined, as Scots attempted to forge a colonial empire in Central America.  

Do you like the podcast?

Please rate or review the podcast and share it with friends. On iTunes, this takes a couple of steps but it is the best way to help me reach a wider audience.

1. Search for Vaguely Interesting History on the Podcast app.

2. Tap the podcast artwork under the Podcasts heading (the red and white logo).

3. Tap reviews and leave a star rating or, even better, add a review as well!

Music credits

The other music featured in this episode was Whispering Through by Asura (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Asura/) and Snowmen by Kai Engel (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/). Both tracks are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution licences (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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In the first half of 1940 only one question mattered in American politics. Would Franklin D. Roosevelt break with tradition and run for a third term as President of the United States? The New York Times proclaimed it as 'the all-absorbing political riddle'. 

Roosevelt kept the country guessing right up until the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago in July 1940. On the second day of the convention, a message from FDR was read out. 

It announced that the President had no desire to continue in office or to be nominated for election. It produced a stunned and shocked silence. 

Suddenly, the quiet was shattered by a voice thundering over the loudspeakers. 

'We want Roosevelt! 

We want Roosevelt!'

But did the President want a third term? 

Do you like the podcast?

Please rate or review the podcast and share it with friends. On iTunes, this takes a couple of steps but it is the best way to help me reach a wider audience. 

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2. Tap the podcast artwork under the Podcasts heading (the red and white logo). 

3. Tap reviews and leave a star rating or, even better, add a review as well! 

Music credits 

The theme music is Newsroom by Riot. 

The other music featured in this episode was Run, Chance and Denouement, all by Kai Engel and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/

Roosevelt kept the country guessing right up until the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago in July 1940. On the second day of the convention, a message from FDR was read out.

It announced that the President had no desire to continue in office or to be nominated for election. It produced a stunned and shocked silence.

Suddenly, the quiet was shattered by a voice thundering over the loudspeakers.

'We want Roosevelt!

We want Roosevelt!'

But did the President want a third term?

Do you like the podcast?

Please rate or review the podcast and share it with friends. On iTunes, this takes a couple of steps but it is the best way to help me reach a wider audience.

1. Search for Vaguely Interesting History on the Podcast app.

2. Tap the podcast artwork under the Podcasts heading (the red and white logo).

3. Tap reviews and leave a star rating or, even better, add a review as well!

Music credits

The theme music is Newsroom by Riot.

The other music featured in this episode was Run, Chance and Denouement, all by Kai Engel and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/

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Imperial Airships would bring the far flung peoples of the British Empire closer together than ever before. Every day, blimps would slip their masts near London carrying passengers and freight bound for Montreal, Cairo, Karachi, Singapore and Sydney. 

Journeys that had once been measured in months would breeze past in days. The Imperial Airship Service would bind Canada, Australia, South Africa, Egypt, India and New Zealand into a true global superpower. 

Britannia still ruled the waves. But now, she would dominate the sky.

These dreams were dashed when the world’s largest airship ploughed into the ground in northern France on its inaugural flight to India.

Britain’s Hindenburg disaster ended an imperial flirtation with airships. Did it also deal a blow for the future of the British Empire? 

Journeys that had once been measured in months would breeze past in days. The Imperial Airship Service would bind Canada, Australia, South Africa, Egypt, India and New Zealand into a true global superpower.

Britannia still ruled the waves. But now, she would dominate the sky.

These dreams were dashed when the world’s largest airship ploughed into the ground in northern France on its inaugural flight to India.

Britain’s Hindenburg disaster ended an imperial flirtation with airships. Did it also deal a blow for the future of the British Empire?

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In 1941, Adolf Hitler issued orders to Nazi Germany’s railway officials. He wanted them to develop a new type of railway. 

It was to be bigger, far bigger, than anything that had ever been seen.

Trains the height and width of a suburban house and the length of the Empire State Building would hurtle across the Greater German Reich, from Brest in the west to Bucharest in the east.

They would be luxurious, providing unimaginable amenities for travellers.

And, unsurprisingly, they were never built.

Do you like the podcast?

Please rate or review the podcast and share it with friends. On iTunes, this takes a couple of steps but it is the best way to help me reach a wider audience.

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3. Tap reviews and leave a star rating or, even better, add a review as well!

Music credits

The theme music is Newsroom by Riot.

The other music featured in this episode was:

Destiny Day by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500008 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Big Bird's Disease by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Martian Cowboy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100349 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

It was to be bigger, far bigger, than anything that had ever been seen.

Trains the height and width of a suburban house and the length of the Empire State Building would hurtle across the Greater German Reich, from Brest in the west to Bucharest in the east.

They would be luxurious, providing unimaginable amenities for travellers.

And, unsurprisingly, they were never built.

Do you like the podcast?

Please rate or review the podcast and share it with friends. On iTunes, this takes a couple of steps but it is the best way to help me reach a wider audience.

1. Search for Vaguely Interesting History on the Podcast app.

2. Tap the podcast artwork under the Podcasts heading (the red and white logo).

3. Tap reviews and leave a star rating or, even better, add a review as well!

Music credits

The theme music is Newsroom by Riot.

The other music featured in this episode was:

Destiny Day by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500008 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Big Bird's Disease by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Martian Cowboy by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100349 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

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In 1875, Rome came close to losing its river.In that year, the liberator of Italy, General Giuseppe Garibaldi, visited and announced plans to clean up the Eternal City. 

His main target was the River Tiber. Garibaldi would solve problems from pollution to flooding by diverting the river and completely removing it from the city. 

Where did this idea come from? And why wasn’t it carried out? 

Do you like the podcast?

Please rate or review the podcast and share it with friends. On iTunes, this takes a couple of steps but it is the best way to help me reach a wider audience. 

1. Search for Vaguely Interesting History on the Podcast app. 

2. Tap the podcast artwork under the Podcasts heading (the red and white logo). 

3. Tap reviews and leave a star rating or, even better, add a review as well! 

Music credits 

The theme music is Newsroom by Riot. 

Send us Fan Mail

What if … 

 ... Nazi Germany had been able to roll out the television equivalent of its inescapable radio network?

Everywhere you turn, you see the unmistakable face of Adolf Hitler. His voice echoes in your head, broadcast from a thousand loudspeakers. His wild, gesticulating speech is reaching its foam speckled crescendo.

Nazi television is everywhere. Looming over city squares, above the concourse of the railway station, on the factory floor and in every home.

It is George Orwell’s 1984 made real, and it was a dream of visionaries working in Joseph Goebbels’s Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

In the end, only the small matter of a world war got in the way of the roll-out of a nationwide and unavoidable Nazi television network.

Do you like the podcast?

Please rate or review the podcast and share it with friends. On iTunes, this takes a couple of steps but it is the best way to help me reach a wider audience. 

1. Search for Vaguely Interesting History on the Podcast app. 

2. Tap the podcast artwork under the Podcasts heading (the red and white logo). 

3. Tap reviews and leave a star rating or, even better, add a review as well! 

Music credits 

The theme music is Newsroom by Riot. 

The other music featured in this episode was:

I Am Running with Temporary Success from a Monstrous Vacuum in Pursuit by Chris Zabriskie (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://chriszabriskie.com/licensing)

Night Owl by Broke For Free (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) http://brokeforfree.com/)