Hanging with History Harald Hansen

The Nootka Sound Crisis of 1790 has a confrontation of 4 powers in the Pacific Northwest; Britain, Spain, Russia and America. This is profoundly affected by the French Revolution, both in the diplomatic part of the crisis and its resolution in Britain’s favor. Later the Revolutionary Wars distract Britain from exploiting its victory here, to the great benefit of the infant United States.This features the two largest empires in the world, in geographic extent, Russia and Spain, tus...

The Dutch Crisis of 1787, was said by Napoleon to have caused the Revolution of 1789. We cover Dutch history through the 1780’s and its effects on the infant United States and three great powers; the United Kingdom, France and Prussia. This crisis and the Nootka Sound Crisis are examples of how Europe functioned at the great power level when France was in too much disarray to be effectively involved.

Spycraft was one of Britain’s advantages during the 2nd hundred years war.What were the other advantages Britain took into the end of the 2nd hundred years war? Pitt hired a number of reformers who drove through unpopular reforms in communications, shipyard construction and efficiency. There were a number of reforms that also foundered, such as trying to remove the dockyard workers’ right of CHIPS. We also cover the career of the naval captain/intelligence agent Phillippe D’...

William Pitt goes toe to toe against a large coalition led by Charles Fox and Lord North. George 3 is on firmly on his side, all the power of the crown is bent to his support. And yet this is not enough until public opinion finds a clear expression. We cover the background to the rise of William Pitt, what was going in France at the time to weaken the French government, and Charles Fox and his gigantic overreach trying to take control of India.

A summary of the 1793-1815 period is provided along with brief descriptions of the themes we will be following.Intensity:WW1 level financial and human commitmentThere are many wars inside these warsModernizing in both administration and communicationsRepression vs FreedomContinuities in the 2nd hundred years warEconomic WarfareSmall country vs large countryGlobal impact is epically world changingFrance vs Britain is at the core, but often at crucial times, the great powers are distracted.The ...

Newtonian philosophy, and John Locke, along with Francis Bacon has an exciting empirical philosophical package that took Europe by storm in the 1740s, with the able assistance of Voltaire. Locke offered an epistemology interesting to philosophers, but people like Montesquieu were more taken by his description of the interaction between political players, early public choice theory. The excitement came from the Baconian program, backed by the vivid reality of real discoveries and s...