The title of this episode was "borrowed" from the title of Dr. Ambrogio Caiani's latest book- Flirting with Evil: The Catholic Church in the Age of Total War and Globalisation.

In this episode, which covers the first portion of the book - it is the turn of the 20th century and the Catholic Church is losing its long time allies- monarchs and nobles, and has already lost much of its power and wealth.

The Church is opposed to modernism which in short means it is opposed to democracy, individualism and to almost all other modern developments.

To this end, the Church develops a spy network to root out "modernist" in the church and eventually employs the network within various nations in the Great War. The network is not very successful nor is the Church's attempts at encryption, which is easily deciphered by the Italian Army. So it would seem there are some drawbacks to opposing Modernism. So what now for the Church?

The Church officially declares neutrality during WW1 and yet, it has no embassies with the Allied Powers but a couple in Germany. At its core, the Church's main interest during the Great War is its own self interest. It evens puts out feelers to see if the Ottoman Empire can get some help so the the Russian Orthodox Church cannot make inroads into the Roman Catholic Church's "Territory."

Once the Great War is over and there are virtually no authoritarian states left to work with what does the Church do?

The Catholic Church, Authoritarian by nature, attempts to work a deal with Authoritarian/Fascist Mussolini. In 1929 the Fascist and the Vatican sign the Lateran Accords. Italy gets recognized by the Vatican and vice versa. Mussolini is further legitimized and the Catholic Church is paid handsomely- "a king's ransom."

But as with any dictator, they can change their mind at the drop of the hat and of course Mussolini does. However, in the long run, the Church invest the enormous amount of money it was given by Mussolini quite well, as the large amounts of real estate it is said to allegedly hold in the swanky parts of European capitals attests

#Catholic #Popes #History #thevatican #Mussolini #authoritarians

In this episode -The dead tell prophecies, there is a vanishing huge eyed doppleganger, and of course, some bloody battles and some serious treachery…all that you expect from a story about the Vikings.

The Viking age, traditionally bracketed as793-1066 AD…accounts for the first Viking raid on the Lindisfarne monastery in Northumbria and ends with the Norman conquest in 1066.  In other words, the traditional story is all about the British Isles. Long story short it is ironically, it is the Normans, descendants of Vikings, that conquer England in 1066.However, the Vinland Sagas, which are really two sagas- the Saga of the Greenlanders and Erick The Red's saga, these tell the stories of the voyages of the Vikings to North America around 1000 AD

There are the tales of the very treacherous and always extremely dangerous voyages that these Vikings make. First to Greenland and then on to Vinland. - Vinland in Old Norse translates to Wine Land or Land of Wine.

At the time these sagas are written, the only place where wild begin to grow in North America are on the south banks of the St. Lawrence river.

About 500 years after these sagas are written, Jacques Cartier sails into the St Lawrence and he too names some places after wine, such as the Isle de Bacchus.

There are the tales of first contact which eventually goes quite badly for the Vikings.

These sagas also happen as the Vikings are beginning to become Christians. In fact both sagas are written by Christian Vikings about 200 years after the events in the sagas unfold.

So there are some fascinating layers told within the sagas.

In the 1960a, the remains of a Viking settlement are discovered by Helge and Anne Ingstad, in what is today Newfoundland, Canada. But, this settlement is not Vinland. So if indeed the Vikings did make it to the proverbial land of milk and honey...and warmth, the question is...why didn't they stay?

If you ever wondered why Greenland is called Greenland, well that is in the sagas as well.

All this and more in this most fascinating, sometimes creepy and always interesting episode

#Vikings #Sagas #History #seers #Greenland #Iceland #Vinland

The Triangle fire happened on March 25, 1911. It was the deadliest workplace disaster in New York for nearly a century. This wasn.t the first garment factory fire in NYC at that time. In fact the owners of the Triangle had several previous fires, almost always coinciding with then end of the fashion season, when having leftover inventory was bad for business.

Several decades prior to the fire, such fire safety innovations (sprinklers, fire doors and many more) and been effectively put into action in New England cotton mills, the use of such innovations was rare in the garment factories of NYC at the time. Fires tended to get paid off by insurance, insurance brokers found ways to make money despite the fires and the political machine Tammany Hall certainly was not helping matters.

Yet a series of very unlikely events made the aftermath of the Triangle Fire different. Women union organizers, such as Clara Lemlich, and politicians, such as Francis Perkins, who became the first woman US cabinet member, as Secretary of Labor, through continued hard work and resilience, were able to influence Tammany Hall help push through laws in NYC. These were laws such as child labor laws , minimum wage laws, working hours laws and the right for women to vote.

These laws moved from New York onto the rest of the U.S.

The high levels of corruption, grifting and graft were minimized to the extent possible, at least for the time being.

#History #trianglefire #suffragists #America

One of the most important battles of all time. But was it really the beginning of Western Civilization? The battle pitted the city-state of Athens vs the one super power at the time-Persia. Up to 490 BC, the Persians virtually never lost, especially against any Greek city states.

The Persians had a professional army whereas the Athenians only had the Hoplites, heavy infantry mostly used against other Greek city-states. The Athenians were outnumbered at least 2-1 and more likely outnumbered way more than that.

So how in the world did the Athenians win? And what about the claim that, after this battle, Western Civilization began?

Tune in and find out. Also go to History_Pondered on Insta to see the battle site and so much more!

#History #Battle #Greeks #ancient

Just a few years after the Korean War became a frozen conflict, a military coup came to power in South Korea. Nearly 20 years later, another military coup came to power. During these years, while "The Miracle of the Han River" greatly increased the industrialization and commercialization of the country- due in part as with similar "miracles" of the past- the influx of outside finance. This miracle came at a cost for many South Koreans, especially those in South Jeolla Province, where the city of Gwangju was situated at the time. Couple this with decades of alleged human rights oppression and marginalization, a seemingly routine protest and demonstration, quickly turns into something else entirely.

An experience that many of the citizens found difficult to express. An experience that could not be openly expressed for years because of the continued political situation.

The experience, if survived, made the nation take notice, eventually leading to the democratization of the country.

A key source for this episode is the book - The Gwangju Uprising- the Pivotal Democratic Movement That Changed the History of Modern Korea, by Choi Jungwoon as translated by Yu Young-nan.

The episode was also influenced by the novel- Human Acts- by Han Kang and the movie "A Taxi Driver" directed by Jang Hoon. These sources all show how ordinary people may react in the face of state v1olence

Produced, researched and created by Roberto. All music by Roberto

#democracy #korea #history @hankang @jangboon @choijungwoon

Hard to believe but before the Mona Lisa was stolen, it was viewed as a fine example of Italian Renaissance Art- especially by the intelligentsia and some of the artists in Paris. Others, if they even went into the Louvre, may have likely walked past it or given it a quick look. It was tucked away in a gallery amongst many other paintings.

In 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen. In part due to its relatively diminutive size, which made it much easier to abscond into the streets of Paris.

For two years, the painting was missing. The newspapers in Europe and then North America were awash with stories of the theft, the bungling of the security, and almost any other thing the papers could come up with to feed the frenzy of the public.

In 1913, it was recovered and the thief caught, which started the stories up to a new frenzy and new heights of story telling.

Only the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and later, the beginnings and rumblings regarding WW1 could keep the Mona Lisa out of the papers.

Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do and die. From the poem the Charge of the Light Brigade, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. These two lines are probably the most famous lines from the poem and likely famous across the world due to the bravery inferred by the British Light Brigade Calvary in the Crimean War. Yet in the same stanza, there is the line- Someone had blundered.

The takeaway from the poem is primarily the bravery and yet the statement is made- someone blundered. Was the Charge a case of Lions led by donkeys? If so, who were the donkeys? Who blundered?

Tune in for the rest of the story of the valiant charge along with the somewhat ludicrous leaders that ordered the charge.

#Crimeanwar #History #England #France #Russia

In a word- Mussolini. Obviously there is more to it than that yet what put him and kept him in power was very ineffective when it came to major military operations.

World War I showed the world that war was now conducted on an industrial scale with industry and innovation necessary to even think about being in a big operation.

Chaos, confusion and propaganda can be helpful components of such an operation but you have to have the capability to back it up. You have to have short term and long term planning. Consideration of supply and training and reserves is needed.

Some of the other major powers that entered World War II understood all of this better than others, there was still learning to do with regard to planning, operations and industrialization turning into military might.

Italy and Mussolini learned only when it was way to late. While some of his planners made plain that Italy was not yet prepared and would not be for years, that message did not make at difference...at first...but within just a few years, that message came back loud and clear...when it was way too late

The Elizabethan age, Shakespeare, "this is England", it is a fair question to ponder- how much did Elizabeth have to do with the glory her reign seems to have.

One of her goals was her own survival and this she achieved. Given the circumstance, that was a difficult goal to achieve so good for her. And yet, how come there is so little talk about the disaster that was the English Armada? In fact, how much did the English have to do with the defeat of the Spanish Armada - the first one...there were several.

Her sister had the sobriquet of Bloody Mary....and the same could have been given to Elizabeth. In fact her methods lived up to the name whereas Mary should have been Fiery, Smokey or maybe Ashy

How was her policy to the Irish...not good. Mary Queen of Scots, and the Rising of the North- Elizabeth did win out on that

tune in and find out if she lived up to the billing

#england #history #tudors #scotland #france

Honestly, she should have been called Smokey, or Ashy or even Fiery Mary. It was Elizabeth who should have been called Bloody based her methods of riddance. Mary accused many of heresy which gets a very proscribed method in which that person is "taken care of"

Mary got a bad rap due to her circumstances and her sister and others propaganda. However, she did not always help her self PR wise. That and many of the paintings of her make her look like she is barely holding her anger in. She also married someone that she probably should not have.

This episode is presented in a format of the times of lightness for Mary and the times of darkness. Much more dark times

#tudor #Bloodymary #history #England