Season 2
S2:E2 – A Cook's Tour of the World in 1450
Who Are the Players in the Game
Episode Notes
We tour the world to find the state of political and cultural power in 1450 // Who has the ability to conquer the world? Who has the will? Who has the geographic and cultural advantages to do so?
S2:E3 – Yuan, Ming and Qing China - The Struggle to Define China
Is China Bigger? Smaller? Controlled by Han Elites or Foreign Outsiders? Who gets to be Chinese and what does it mean to be Chinese
Episode Notes
We discuss the trauma of the Mongol Conquest // China's incorporation into Mongol Asia // Ming Revolution, Zheng HE's explorations // The Great Wall and Turning Inward // Little vs Big "China" // The End of the Ming and the Manchu Conquest // The Last Ride of the Northern Barbarians // the Great Library and the Heights of Cultural Power
S2:E4 – Trauma and Empire on the Subcontinent - India and the World
The Coming of Islam to the Subcontinent and the Cultural Advantages and Trauma
Episode Notes
Islamic empires invade the Indus and the Ganges // Sikhs invent a new culture // Hindu conservatives react// Buddhism Ejected // the Taj Mahal and Conservative Cultural War for the future of Culture // India Breaks Apart, Reunites, Breaks apart Again.
S2:E5 – The Ottoman Turks Could Conquer the World or Lose it All
The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Gunpowder Empire
Episode Notes
The ottoman pick up the pieces // 1453 // gunpowder janissaries // magnificent rulers and the Great Porte // The Largest Mosque in the World // Terrible Rulers and Ineffective Viziers // Harems and Murder Plots // Falling Behind, Reform, Conservative Backlash, Collapse
S2:E6 – Discovery, Guns, Money and Conquest of the New World
Why Did Europeans Leave Europe and What Happened when they landed Someplace New...
Episode Notes
Europeans Leave Europe, Get Rich, and Change Everything Around the World
S2:E7 – Genocide and Slavery in the New World
An episode in Which we Invent Racism and Ruin Civilizations
Episode Notes
Disease, Death, Terrorism, and Market Capitalism or How Europeans Justified Slavery with Massive Amounts of Money
S2:E8 – The Reformation Breaks Christianity, Empowers the Individual, and Creates Great Catholic Art
We Invent Protestants!
Episode Notes
Martin Luther has 99 problems and the Pope is Definitely 1 // War, Torture, Secret Police, Jesuits, Sweden, Spain, and How do we all Get into Heaven now? // The Catholic Church Unleashes Michelangelo
S2:E9 – Science As Traumatic Reaction to Mass Disaster
Science and Math Tries to take Argument out of Knowledge
Episode Notes
Science as Reaction to the Trauma of the Reformation // Galileo proves "it Still Moves" // New Technologies disprove Aristotle // Blood is a Solid? Yeah, Kind of. // Newton ruins College with Calculus but Proves God Exists
S2:E10 – The Enlightenment Invents Human Rights (Kind of)
All Men are Created Equal, Except When They are Not
Episode Notes
Descartes invents the person // Hobbes thinks Hell is Other People // Locke tells us we're all great and then we have to live together // Rousseau thinks we are born free but live in chains
S2:E11 – Sweden and the Military Revolution
I finally get to talk just a little bit about Michael Roberts and Sweden in the 17th century!
Episode Notes
Sweden invents the New Legions // Europe discovers how to raise gunpowder armies and, sometimes, pay them //