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The Ugandan military stumbles over a series of problems of their own creation while the Tanzanians are defeated by a single independent contractor and a ferry boat.

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Uganda goes to war after a bar fight sparks an invasion led by a man so crazy his men nicknamed him after the local insane asylum.

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Idi Amin comes to power in Uganda, a military strongman, he lets his military run wild across the nation in a nearly decade long reign of terror. Amin, however, is a drunken, paranoid, monster. He purges his military, worried that someone would depose him. He imagines invasions of the British, Americans, Tanzanians, and the Israelis massing on his border. Finally, he invades Tanzania, sparking the Kagera War.

This is the story of the fall of Idi Amin.

Part 1/4

SOURCES:

Tony Avrigan, Martha Honey. War in Uganda: The Legacy of Idi Amin.

Ogenga Otunnu. Crisis of Legitimacy and Political Violence in Uganda, 1890-1979.

Ogenga Otunnu. Politics and the Military in Uganda, 1890-1985.

Yehudit Ronen. Libya's Intervention in Amin's Uganda: A Broken Spearhead.

Tom Cooper. War and Insurgencies of Uganda. 1971-1994

George Roberts. The Uganda-Tanzania War, The Fall of Idi Amin, and the Failure of African Diplomacy.

Alicia Decker. In Idi Amin's Shadow: Women, Gender, and Militarism in Uganda

Mark Leopold. Idi Amin: The Story of Africa's Icon of Evil

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The conclusion to our series on Lord Byron.

Special thanks to Joel Butler for additional research in this episode.

New sources in this episode:

C.W. Crawley, The Question of Greek Independence: A Study of British Policy in the Near East, 1821-1833 (Cambridge, 1930),

Caroline Finkel, Osman’s Dream (London, 2006), 425-428.

W.H. Humphreys, W.H. Humphreys’ First “Journal of the Greek War of Independence” (July 1821-February 1822), Acta Academiæ Regiæ Scientiarum Upsaliensis, 11, ed. Sture Linnér (Stockholm, 1967), 23-24.

H. Şükrü Ilıcak (ed.), “Those Infidel Greeks”: The Greek War of Independence Through Ottoman Archival Documents, 1 (Leiden, 2021), 1.

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In this week's episode, we begin part one of a 2-part series describing the life and times of George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, the famous Romantic poet of the early 19th century who went to Greece in hopes of fighting for independence against the Ottomans, and immediately died. But, who was this man? And is describing something as "Byronic" a good thing? Spoiler: uh-oh.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bostridge, Mark. “On the Trail of the Real Lord Byron.” The Independent, November 4, 2002. https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/features/on-the-trail-of-the-real-lord-byron-126324.html.

Brand, Emily. The Fall of the House of Byron: Scandal and Seduction in Georgian England. Paperback edition. John Murray, 2021.

Brewer, David. The Greek War of Independence: The Struggle for Freedom from Ottoman Oppression and the Birth of the Modern Greek Nation. Woodstock, N.Y. : Overlook Press, 2001. http://archive.org/details/greekwarofindepe0000brew.

Burton, Danielle. “Lord Byron and His Pet Bear.” Derbyshire Record Office, October 22, 2024. https://recordoffice.wordpress.com/2024/10/22/lord-byron-and-his-pet-bear/.

Byron, George Gordon, Ernest Hartley Coleridge, and Rowland Edmund Prothero Ernle. The Words of Lord Byron. London : J. Murray; New York, C. Scribner’s sons, 1898. http://archive.org/details/worksoflordbyron11byro.

Byron, William Byron. The trial of William Lord Byron, Baron Byron of Rochdale, for the murder of William Chaworth, Esq; before the Right Honourable the House of Peers, ... On Tuesday the 16th, and Wednesday the 17th of April, 1765: on the last of which days the said William Lord Byron was acquitted of murder, but found guilty of manslaughter. ... 1765. 1765. http://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-trial-of-william-lor_byron-william-byron-ba_1765.

“Edward Blaquiere, British Officer, Founding Member of the Philhellenic Committee of London.” Εταιρεία Για Τον Ελληνισμό Και Τον Φιλελληνισμό, October 27, 2020. https://www.eefshp.org/en/edward-blaquiere-british-officer-founding-member-of-the-philhellenic-committee-of-london/.

Jones, Thomas. “On Top of Everything.” Review of Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame, by Benita Eisler. London Review of Books, September 16, 1999. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v21/n18/thomas-jones/on-top-of-everything.

Kunst Museum Winterthur. “Bildtext: Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer.” Accessed December 9, 2025. https://www.kmw.ch/ausstellungen/friedrich/digital/wanderer/.

Marchand, Leslie A. Byron: A Portrait. The University of Chicago Press, 1979.

MacCarthy, Fiona. Byron: Life and Legend. London: John Murray, 2014.

Patanè, Vincenzo, James Schwarten, and John Francis Phillimore. The Sour Fruit: Lord Byron, Love & Sex. John Cabot university press Copublished by the Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.

Rizzoli, G. B. “Byron’s Unacknowledged Armenian Grammar and a New Poem.” Keats-Shelley Journal 64 (2015): 43–71.

The Italian military suffers its first combat casualties since WWII while engaged in a stupid, quixotic, and self-sabotaging "peacekeeping mission" in Somalia c. 1993. And the battle took place in an abandoned Barilla pasta factory. Yes.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Biddle, Stephen "The Somali National Alliance in Somalia, 1992–94". Nonstate Warfare: The Military Methods of Guerillas, Warlords, and Militia

Tripodi, Paolo (2 August 1999). The Colonial Legacy in Somalia: Rome and Mogadishu: from Colonial Administration to Operation Restore Hope.

https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2013/07/05/news/somalia_anniversario_battaglia_check-point_pasta-62413996/

https://brigatafolgore.net/en/2-july-1993-the-battle-of-the-check-point-pasta/

https://www.ilfaroonline.it/2018/07/02/2-luglio-1993-attacco-mogadiscio-ceckpoint-pasta/228435/

https://www.military.com/history/battle-of-checkpoint-pasta-italys-black-hawk-down-moment-somalia.html

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In 1602, Savoy launched an invasion of Geneva, forcing the city-state's residents to rush to the walls and arm themselves with whatever they could get their hands on, including, in one infamous case, a pot of boiling soup.

sources:

Abplanalp, Andrej. “L’Escalade.” Blog: Schweizerisches National Museum. 11 Dec 2020. Online: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/fr/2020/12/l-escalade-de-geneve/, consulté le 01.12.2025.

Aeschlimann, Jacques. “Tabazan, ou Le bourreau de Genève.” Geneva: La Sirène, 1961. pp. 97

Bonivard, François. Chroniques de Genève: Tome 2. Revilliod, Gustave, ed. Geneva, J.G. Fick: 1887. Online: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65402785/f154.item, consulté le 01.12.2025.

Dufour, Alfred. “Histoire de Genève.” Collection “Que sais-je ?” Paris, Presse Universitaires de France: 2001.

Fazy, Henri. “Genève, le parti huguenot, et le traité de Soleure (1574 à 1579).” Geneva, H. Georg: 1883.

Monnet, Vincent. “Ce fut en mille six cent et deux…” Campus, v.61. December 2002-January 2003. Geneva, Université de Genève, 2002. Online: https://www.unige.ch/presse/campus/pdf/c61/rtheologie.pdf, consulté le 01.12.2025.

Santschi, Catherine. “L’Escalade: Expositions des archives de l’état.” 2002. Online: https://archives-etat-ge.ch/page_de_base/lescalade, consulté le 02.12.2025.

- "Blondel, Philibert", in: Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (DHS), version du 13.11.2002. Online: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/025640/2002-11-13/, consulté le 02.12.2025.

Schaetti, Nicolas. “La nuit de l’Escalade.” Bibliothèque de Genève: Expositions. 2023. Online: https://expos.bge-geneve.ch/escalade/, consulté le 30.11.2025.

Schaff, Phillip. “History of the Christian Church. Volume 8: The Reformation in Switzerland. Chapter 8. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1890. Logos Research Systems, Inc digitized version. Online: https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc8/hcc8.i.html, accessed 1 Dec 2025.

“Quelle est la signification du texte en latin et allemand sur la gravure tirée du ‘Thésaurus philopoliticus’ de Daniel Meissner et visible au musée de la Réforme ?” Questions-Réponses. Bibliothèque de Genève. 2023. https://www.geneve.ch/themes/culture/bibliotheques/interroge/reponses/est-la-signification-du-texte-en-latin-et-allemand-sur-la-gravure-tiree-du-thesaurus-philopoliticus-de-daniel-meissner-et-visible-au-musee-de-la-reforme

“Est-il vrai qu'une mère maquerelle appelée ‘Regina bordelli’ était en fonction à Genève jusqu'à la Réforme ?” Questions-Réponses. Bibliothèque de Genève. 2023. Online: https://www.geneve.ch/themes/culture/bibliotheques/interroge/reponses/est-il-vrai-quune-mere-maquerelle-appelee-regina-bordelli-etait-en-fonction-geneve-jusqua-la-reforme

HLS DHS DSS: "Escalade", in: Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse (DHS), version du 26.11.2009. Online: https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/008905/2009-11-26/, consulté le 01.12.2025.

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