Nicholas II and his family by the Bolsheviks in perhaps the most well known assassination of a Czar, at least outside of Russian Yet in the 18th Century, there were four assassinations of czars or czarevitchs (heir to the throne),

Peter the Great has his own son murdered. A cousin vs a cousin situation, with one of the cousins being a baby.

A wife does in her husband (Catherine the Great) and then finally a son has his father done in.

The line of the Romanov name disappears during this century but those that follow attach the name so as to have an appearance of consistency.

They are basically Germans so for example Catherine the Great, with Catherine being spelled in Cyrillic etc, comes into the world with the name Sophia

Dark long winters of gloom indeed

#russia #czar #history #gloom

Founding Fathers- a phrase for Americans that is rather ambiguous. Who are they, really? What is the criteria for being called a founding father?

Did they always agree on everything, including some very important details in the framing documents?

Who was Gouveneur Morris? He was instrumental in many of the key elements of the U.S. Constitution, including the writing of the Preamble. There is much much more to his story and influence but he is relatively unknown

Then we have Button Gwinnett. He does have a county in the US state of Georgia named after him. He also has a falling out with another key Georgian during the Revolutionary period which ends in a duel

#constitution #declarationofindependence #Unitedstates

This is a most fascinating story of how the House of Godwin got to the pinnacle as Harold Godwinson becomes King and Tostig and Earl and yet within 9 months, there is the fall of the House of Godwin. Yet there is much more to the story than 1066.

In 1053, Godwin, the father of Harold and Tostig dies, so the question is- how does Harold use those 13 years or so to become King.

We also have some semblance of what Harold and Tostig were like when they were not battling each other. According to these tales, these two brothers were quite different in many ways and that difference ends up making all the difference. So much so that at least a part of the reason behind the fall of the Anglo-Saxons and Kings of England is due to this rivalry.

There are also the tales of Harold possibly killing not one but two possible heirs to the throne. The two having a better claim than Harold

#history #england #stamfordbridge #Tostig #battles

The typical story of the House of Godwin rests on the story of Harold Godwinson- his victory of his brother Tostig and Harold Hardrada at Stamford Bridge and then his defeat to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings.

This episode answers many questions including where in the world did Godwin come from such that his daughter becomes queen of England and his son becomes King? Seemingly out of no where there is the great and powerful Earl of Wessex, Godwin.

He is born under the rule of Althered the Unready, fights with Edmund Ironside against Cnute and yet...very quickly gains the ultimate trust of Cnut and starts to get the various land grants so that, upon Cnut's death. Godwin controls all the lands south of the River Thames.

And yet Godwin still has to survive and thrive under 3 additional kings, two of which he had previously wronged AND do this while the powerful Emma of Normandy, twice the Queen of England. by her marriage to Athelred and later here marriage to Cnut.

Emma has two sons that become Kings of England so Godwin, through political strategy and savvy, along with one invasion of England, is a very important and fascinating story that shapes the history of medieval England.

#England #scandinavia #denmark #godwinson #history

Most people tend to focus on Edward VIII, his abdication due to his scandalous marriage to Wallis Simpson. In this episode, the questions do include the abdication yet also many other questions about Edward.

What did he really accomplish before becoming king...anything...really?

What did he accomplish as King...all 323 days of his reign?

And what was up with accepting and invite by Adolf Hitler? Was it really so that Wallis could feel what it was like to by royal? Or was it really something much more nefarious?

Was Edward VIII the most entitled person of his age and fail to recognize that he went down a notch or two after he abdicated?

#UK #King #abdication #edwardviii #entitled

In 1035 AD, It seemed very unlikely that William (the Conqueror) , then 8 years old, would be the one to conquer and then colonize England, let alone survive as the Duke of Normandy. William's father, Duke Robert had gone on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem but did not return. William was illegitimate and his mother, Herleva, was the daughter of an undertaker, so that was very little she could do to help the young William.

William did have a couple of uncles but they were not overly concerned with the plight of William. Instead, several different guardians were put in charge of William. None of these guardians lasted very long as each had some dastardly and permanent deeds done to them.

However, William survived. In 1047 King Henry 1 of France helped the now 20 year old William in a battle.

Yet, the King and the Count of Anjou eventually evaded Normandy...twice. William came out on top both times. One thing you can say about William was that he learned. What he learned in France was vital to his conquering England.

#england #history #normandy #1066 #williamtheconqueror #france #anjou #battleofhastings

Lady Godiva is most famous for her ride through Coventry wearing nothing yet her long hair covering everything. Before asking the question - did she really do this and why, the first question is did she even exist?

The time is the late 11th century and the town is Coventry. There is a king of England but there is still Mercia with its Earl Leofric. The story of Lady Godiva's ride is about Leofric having punitive taxes on the locals and Lady Godiva telling him the amount of taxes are absurd and that he should ease up. Leofric says he will if she does the ride through town up to the market place. Did it happen? Was it an allegory? Did land owning Anglo Saxon have more say so in their day than the later women after the Norman Conquest?

tune in and find out

The tale of Nell Gwyn is a true rag to riches story. Her childhood was an impoverished one, where nobility and wealth were but a dream. Yet by the end of her life, her two sons by King Charles II were ennobled and wealthy. Her life begins during the puritanical reign of Oliver Cromwell, the guy that basically outlawed fun.

Once Cromwell was gone and the monarchy restored with Charles II in 1660, the fun came roaring back with a vengeance. Theatres, that had been banned during the Cromwell period, were back on including one patronized by Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist of the Restoration, along with the King himself. Moreover, a woman could now be played by woman rather than by young boys and men.

Nell saw that chance and took it. At first she was an orange girl. Orange girls sold oranges and possibly set up dalliances with men and actresses for after the show. But soon Nell was on stage herself and her incredible wit and charm could capture an audience like no other. In those days, the theater was not always a solemn place but rather one that where the audience might shout to each other, to actors on the stage and perhaps get in a brawl as well.

While noticed by Charles previously, once the Great Plague hit London and the king and his court socially distanced somewhere outside of the city, Nell did not hesitate to follow. She likely found herself at court being her "pretty, witty" self.

Soon after, she was a mistress to King Charles and remained so until his death. Charles made sure that his brother paid off most of Nell's debts, she got an annual pension that set her up nicely and her mortgage was paid off. The house stayed in the family until 1940

#Nellgwyn #restoration #england #history #charlesII

The fascists in Britain found their leader or their leader found them.  Oswald Mosley formed the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932. Mosley was a veteran of WW1. He ws also a philanderer and an aristocrat.  He was briefly a member of parliament for the Conservative party after the war, then he moved over to the Labor party.  Once the BUF was formed, it two years later that he and the BUF had a major setback.  At a large gathering at a place called Olympia, he called out hecklers in the crowd and shined a spotlight on the heckler so that the audience could see the BUF beat up the heckler. The greater public and parliament were not onboard.

And yes, the BUF had begun to dress up in quasi military uniforms- the black shirts

In 1936, Mosley married Diana Mitford, one of the 6 Mitford sisters.  The Mitfords, and more specifically the sisters were the socialites-deluxe in 1920s UK. And yet, at one time or another, most of the Mitford clan met with Hitler.  In fact, Hitler attended the secret wedding ceremony of Diana and Oswald. 

Unity Mitford literally stalked Hitler until eventually he noticed her.  Unity met with Hitler over 140 times prior to WW2.  She and Diana were at the Nuremberg Rallies and attended the Berlin Olympics. They were invited to attend.

The 3 individuals are the focus of this episode. The Mosleys never ever fully admitted to any real wrongdoing of support for fascists and Hitler after the war. For the younger Unity, she treated it almost in a frivolous manner until the war broke out.

Great Britain did not let fascism take root leading up to WW2, despite the efforts of these 3 individuals.  Well done Great Britain

#history #uk #mitfords #germany

Jan Hus had the same ideas as Martin Luther but decades earlier. Yet, Luther had the advantage of the printing press that enabled mass communications. Jan Hus was burned at the stake which did not go over well with the Hussites, to say the least. The Hussites were a group of people in Bohemia inspired by the words of Jan Hus. After the 1st Defenestration of Prague, things quickly boiled over and the Hussite Wars began. The Hussite Wars pitted the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, against Bohemian Hussites.

Jan Zizka became the military leader of the Hussites, leading a group of peasants, time and time again, to victory over Sigismund and his knights. In these battles, the Hussites were overwhelmingly outnumbered but through sheer audacity, innovational genius and religious fervor, Jan Ziska was never defeated. Blind in one eye when the wars began, he became totally blind and nothing changed. Victory after victory. One can arguably state that he invented the tank, 500 years before WW1, by putting cannon on wagons. He created mobile forts, which included the Tabor, a fortified wagon, which when joined together in a defensive position, were nearly impenetrable. He chose the terrain and let the battle come to him.

The weapon of choice for the peasants was the flail, which is something they knew how to use as it was used on farms.

#janhus #janzizka #hussites #tabor #bohemia #protestant