Making sense of this crazy world

A divided island

This episode will take us from where we left things in Ireland in 1691 by jumping to the nineteenth century, to the Home Rule Bills and to 1922 and the division of the island of Ireland.

Catholic Ireland

This episode is going to explain how the north-east corner of the island of Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom and not Ireland. I’m not going to give anything like a full history of Ireland, that would be interesting but would take many, many episodes, but I must give some key points in Ireland’s history for anything to make sense. 

Two American made anomolies: Alaska and Guántanamo

How is the most north-easterly tip of the North America continent an American state and not a Canadian province or territory? And sitting as it does on a Caribbean Island, somewhere that could have been the subject of songs, the destination for beach lovers, honeymooners. How did Guantánamo Bay, instead, become one of history’s most notorious detention camps.
 
Intro and outro music curtesy of slip.stream:
https://slip.stream/tracks/58fb6726-c035-4d10-a8e8-eba70e5164ad

The Falkland Islands or Las Malvinas

I’m going to take a look at the rival claims to the Falkland Islands or Las Malvinas. I’m not going to look at the war of 1982, but rather how a group of islands off the southern tip of South America, 800 miles or 1300 kilometres from Britain, is deemed as British.
 
Intro and outro music curtesy of slip.stream:
https://slip.stream/tracks/58fb6726-c035-4d10-a8e8-eba70e5164ad

Where History Trumps Geography: Two Btitish-made anomalies - Gibraltar and Singapore

There’s often a bit of banter in schools between historians and geographers. I remember I had a running “battle” with one colleague, each of us playing tricks on the other, each trying to make fun of the other’s subject whenever we got the chance. One of the things I did was to put a poster up above my classroom door that read “In geography, they colour in maps. In history, we change them.” I dedicate this little series to geographers, and as I do, let me say it’s a great subject, really interesting – but they do colour in the odd map or two!
 
Intro and outro music curtesy of slip.stream:
https://slip.stream/tracks/58fb6726-c035-4d10-a8e8-eba70e5164ad

Something good, something bad, something beautiful

To end this little series looking at Brazil (with lessons to learn for us all), something good, something not good, and something beautiful.
 
Intro and outro music curtesy of slip.stream:
https://slip.stream/tracks/58fb6726-c035-4d10-a8e8-eba70e5164ad
 
 

Finding a way back to civilian government

In this episode I’ll look at how the Brazilian military got itself out of the hole it had dug, and got itself out of its political role.
 
Intro and outro music curtesy of slip.stream:
https://slip.stream/tracks/58fb6726-c035-4d10-a8e8-eba70e5164ad

The military in power

With America at war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement making some headway (I wouldn’t exaggerate how much), with hippies flocking to San Francisco, and British culture taken over by the Beatles, the Stones, the Who and co; Brazil was taken over by the military. This episode looks at Brazil under the military regime.
 
Intro and outro music curtesy of slip.stream:
https://slip.stream/tracks/58fb6726-c035-4d10-a8e8-eba70e5164ad

The Estado Novo

I’m continuing my look at Brazil and in this episode I’m looking at Getulio Vargas’ Estado Novo or New State.
 
Intro and outro music curtesy of slip.stream:
https://slip.stream/tracks/58fb6726-c035-4d10-a8e8-eba70e5164ad

Towards military dictatorship

I’m continuing my look at Brazil and in this episode I’m going to look at Brazil post-empire, tracing the country’s path to dictatorship. We need to appreciate that democracy is not the only means of governing and if we value it, we need to nurture and protect it.