Why Are Castles Round? And other history questions Piper Bates and Patrick Cullen

This weeks episode of Why Are Castles Round? is the continuation of last weeks discussion about the British empire. In this episode we talk about the after effects of WWI, how the empire fell and how that affected the rest of Europe.

This episode is part one of a two parter where we discuss an overview of the British Empire. As a kid in England, we didn't really learn the truth about the cruelty and oppressive nature of the British Empire, and as such there is a lot of misconception in this country of what it really meant, what the consequences of it were, and how much we impacted the entire world stage. In this episode, Patrick breaks down exactly how the empire started, the influences of other European empires, and how Britain essentially killed their way around the world in order to grab land, and therefore power, away from its competitors...

Part two of this question, where we look at how the empire began to collapse, and the impact that had on the rest of the world, will be out next week.

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Patrick Says:

The topic of the British Empire is a huge one. Many historians have spent their entire careers on single events or small periods, and my brief overview - even at two hours! - is just that: brief. I recommend having a read of the following books as a jumping off point for more information about the Empire and its development and collapse.

Insurgent Empire by Priyamvada Gopal
The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham
Raj: The Making and Unmaking of British India by Lawrence James
Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor
The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire by Peter Clarke
Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain by Sathnam Sanghera
Britain's Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt by Richard Gott

And, as those can be quite expensive unless you have a nearby library that functions as it should or can find pdfs or borrow them, here are a couple of articles online to start you off.

Uncovering the Brutal Truth About the British Empire - an article about the Mau Mau Revolt in Kenya, and the appalling violence meted out by the British state.
Encyclopedia Britannica: British Empire - a good overview of the classic concept of the British Empire.

Oh, and don't bother with anything from Niall Ferguson, who is a huge apologist for the Empire.

In the second episode of Why Are Castles Round? and in honour of LGBT+ history month, we talk about LGBT history, why so many people seem to think LGBT people have only just started popping up around the world, and some notable people we know definitely were part of the LGBT community. 

Content Warning: This episode discusses marginalisation of LGBT people, homophobia, transphobia, colonisation, and there is a brief mention of paedophilia.

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LGBT history is an important topic to both of us and we have often found there is no real accessible place that discusses that history for LGBTQIA+ people. We are certainly not a one stop shop for this information, and so if we get things wrong (or as Patrick says: "WHEN we get things wrong") please feel free to correct us. We will try our best to correct ourselves in future episodes! 

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Patrick says: If you are interested in or by any of the topics discussed on this podcast, here are some resources to start you off on some relevant reading:

Julius Caesar, bottom.
Alexander the Great and Hephaestion, his long-term lover.
Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, ancient Egyptian married men.
Julie d'Aubigny, swordswoman, bisexual badass, and singer (among other things).
The British Empire and the criminalisation of LGBTQIA+ people.
Alan Turing, codebreaker, gay man, and victim of the state.
Gender throughout time and the world.
Trans rights (or the lack thereof) around the world.
And, finally, Inspector General James Barry, doctor, army officer, and trans man.

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If you enjoyed this episode, please share it! As a brand new podcast, our entire audience comes from word of mouth shares on social media so recommend us to whoever you know who is interested in history and would like to know more. We also value our listener questions and would love to hear from you, whether it's to give us any feedback on what we've been discussing, to give us suggestions on what to talk about next, as well as informing us on things we might have gotten wrong (we're not infallible after all). And of course don't forget to follow us so that you can check out our future episodes and learn more fantastic history facts!

Welcome to the first episode of Why Are Castles Round: A history podcast for people who don't know much about history! In this episode we're going to discuss the very title of our podcast; why ARE castles round, and why is that interesting? We'll be discussing the need for fortification in Britain and Europe, the evolution of fortification and castles from the Normans to the present day and why they fell out of use. We'll also be looking briefly into castles around the world, and why Europe has so many castles compared to everywhere else.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it! As a brand new podcast, our entire audience comes from word of mouth shares on social media so recommend us to whoever you know who is interested in history and would like to know more. We also value our listener questions and would love to hear from you, whether it's to give us any feedback on what we've been discussing, to give us suggestions on what to talk about next, as well as informing us on things we might have gotten wrong (we're not infallible after all). And of course don't forget to follow us so that you can check out our future episodes and learn more fantastic history facts!

Notes From Patrick:

I hope this episode and my ramblings inspire you to look up fortifications across the world and through time. Here are some interesting resources you may like to use as a starting point:

http://www.starforts.com/uk.html
https://www.castlesandmanorhouses.com/castles.htm
http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/home.html
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/History-of-Castles/
http://www.famouscastles.net/castle-history/history-of-castles/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z38pcwx/revision/3
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/castles/castles-through-time/
https://www.kathmanduandbeyond.com/forts-castles-around-world/
Pukehinahina - the battle of Gate Pa that I mentioned.

I also suggest having a good read of some books! There are a wide variety of books on castles available, one which I particularly recommend is Joseph and Frances Gies' Life In A Medieval Castle.