Hanging with History

Harald Hansen
  • 5.0 (13)
  • History
  • Updated Semimonthly

The first season focuses on the origins of the Industrial Revolution or the Great Enrichment, we go deep into history to gain enough background knowledge to actually understand the various theories of the origins of the Great Enrichment. Eventually we learn that we also need to know how the miracle was consolidated, as the many other close approaches to the Industrial Revolution failed.A kwirky style, but intellectually ambitious with the goal of understanding history well enough to understand the miracle that happened that one time. It's gonna be a long series.

  1. Jul 29

    220. The Civilizing Process; The Knights, Aggression and Torture

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. We are going to start with trivialities, then get into some serious differences between now and the medieval psyche.  Around gross stuff, aggression and killing and finally torture,  and torture’s enjoyment.  This is absolutely not an episode for children.    If you hate me by the end I will understand.  This is going to explain that western Europe was led in part by a really horrible elite class of chivalric knights.  There will be a small flavor of it.  And this is what almost the whole rest of the world lives under.  This is what Europe developed away from. Still aggression has powerful effects.  Part of the discussion will include the impact on history of aggression turned to the theoretical maximum, the Cimbri and the Teutones and the development of the Roman Empire.  At the end I try to soften the blow by having Camie appear, which will give you a normal person's reaction to this horror.

  2. Jul 22

    219. The Civilizing Process

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. It was probably while the brutal siege in Vienna went on, and the little boys and girls of the region were being sold into slavery, after being raped a few times if more modern examples teach us anything.  That Erasmus wrote a book l  On Civility for Boys.  This was a publishing blockbuster, full of useful advice, like- try not to fart so Loudly!  Again, the contrast is part of the theme. If you can manage to avoid slavers, then don’t wipe your nose on your sleeve.  You can so easily see the advantages of civilized society, of being so powerful the savages cannot hurt you. Please don’t throw that away. On Civility for Boys went through 30 editions in 5 years, was likely the number one best seller of the time, new editions keep coming out into the 20th century, something like 140 editions all told.  The book is seen as marking a transition from an aristocratic culture touchy about its honor to something more modern emphasizing civility and manners. It was the first major western treatise that was about the moral and practical education of children in terms of everyday manners, rather than an advice manual of how to behave at court, which has a longer history and there are several surviving examples of.  So this work becomes a core piece of Norbert Elias’ history of manners, which we can use to take a look at cultural evolution, and kind of take a first glance at a big question.

  3. Jul 8

    218. Erasmus and the Siege of Vienna

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. There are two stories here, their opposition is part of a theme.   Erasmus, the great Erasmus , Erasmus of Rotterdam was even more a product of the Devotio Moderna than was Luther.  Most of his young education was by the Brethren of the Common Life or their imitators. I am Groote. Last episode I called him a Satirist.  Of course he was much more than that.  You’ve heard of him, but are unlikely to have read any of his full length works, unless you are a specialist in the time. And yet he had great influence of his period, being perhaps the highest status intellectual of the period.   He was the writer of 1 in 3 books purchased during the 1530s.  And as he wrote Suleiman the Magnificent was first overcoming Hungary and then moved on to the Siege of Vienna. Erasmus wrote In Praise of Folly, which we discuss in the episode, while folly is being acted out in Hungary, to a tragic end. Hungary was well able to defend the West from the Ottoman during the days of Matthias Corvinus.  But on his death, short sighted magnates pursued a foolish policy, leading to their defeat.  After an absolutely heroic defense of Vienna, Suleiman was defeated, losing 20,000 men in the retreat.   Oddly enough, this is about the same number of boys and girls taken as slaves by the Ottomans on this campaign.   You want your civilization to be so powerful you do not have to suffer slavers.

  4. Jul 1

    217. How to Tear the West Apart

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. A miner’s son, decided one day, to nail 95 thesis to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg in the year of our lord 1517.  It seems unlikely he intended to split his church, the Catholic, universal church, into a bewildering multiplicity of new religions and sects. And yet, trained in the Devotio Moderna’s way of taking action and responsibility, for his own salvation, he ran into problems.   What Luther did with the 95 theses, or 95 propositions if you prefer, was a common garden variety way of opening an argument and inviting the university to participate.  Some even say the nailing to the door part is just dramatic enhancement, never happened, he just circulated some hand written stuff around campus, in the conventional way.  This episode is about dramatic enhancement, so anyway.   Well he had copies made and sent them around to friends, who apparently copied them some more and sent them around some  more until “Soon, Luther had the uneasy surprise of receiving them back from Southern Germany, PRINTED.”

  5. Jun 17

    216. 1453, Before Humanism and the Reformation

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. We explore the roots of Humanism and the Reformation.  Taking a long look at the Devotio Moderna, the Brethren of the Common Life.  These were key influences on both Erasmus and Martin Luther.  But more than that, the Devotio Moderna were a vital element in the invention of the printing press.  We look at Gerhard Groote the founder of the Devotio Moderna, whose purpose in life was to imitate Christ and no to sit on his loathsome spotted behind. We spend some time on the more conventional stories of 1453, the Ottoman surge that followed the fall of the last Roman outpost, the expulsion of the English from France (except Calais). But there is also a look at the founding of Europe by the Early European Farmers from Anatolia.

  6. Jun 10

    215. Exploring the Causes of the Miracle

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. This episode is just a little introduction to the theories of the causes of the industrial revolution as of right now.  We look at the Sheilagh Ogilvie classification of 5 general theories of the Causes of the Industrial Revolution and Michael Magoon's list of causes. Of course, Harald has a few pet theories of his own by now.  His third thing idea, which might really be a 4th thing idea.  There are other institutional theories, we briefly discuss them all.  Anton Howes' ideas are mentioned, but just to say we will dive into them later. There is a long digression on William Wollaston involving David Hume and Benjamin Franklin.

  7. Jun 3

    214, The Napoleonic Wars Come to an End

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. Consider the British Empire in 1792, the year of Macartney’s expedition to China and the year young Emperor Francis began to look askance at the French Revolution and all the ruling factions within it started to wish for a war.   Well at that time the empire was rather modest, a few spice islands, Canada, Gibraltar, New South Wales had started, there was a logging settlement in Honduras, and in India, Bombay Madras and Bengal, with Bengal the largest British territory in India.  Trade with China is substantial, around 25% of all, generating 16% of total government revenue.  But except for Penang, a stop on the way, no territory to support it. By 1803 the value of British trade increased 81%.  From the French revolutionary wars to 1803, the empire grew to include Trinidad, Ceylon and Malta, even after returning most captured possessions at the Peace of Amiens.  Then by 1814.... The British position in India was massively increased, with the Mughal empire , Hyderabad, Mysore, and most of the South under various forms of British control.  Furthermore, the main waystations to get there, including the Cape colony of South Africa, and the Indian ocean islands were now under British control. The number of sugar islands increased and British Guiana became real and there were more gold Coast trading posts in Africa, and Tasmania was added to New South Wales.  And before the decade was over the third Maratha war would cement control over much of the rest of India and see the establishment of the first post in Singapore.  With many supporting bases like St Helena where Napoleon was stashed along with the newly established Ascension Island to help support St Helena. I’m describing a different world now, different to 1792.  One where rivals to British sea power just do not exist.

  8. May 27

    213 Latin American Independence

    You can send a text, include contact info to get a response. More focus on Mexico and California than is ideal, but there is a general overview of Spanish America. Spanish America, more than  anywhere else, shows us the global ramifications of the Napoleonic Wars.  “The crisis and collapse of Spain’s empire was the direct result of political turmoil in Europe.  During the Napoleonic wars this vast empire got fragmented, was henceforth relegated to the sidelines of world politics.”  It’s a big deal.  Spanish America was important to the world and world politics.  The disparate countries of Latin America stopped mattering after independence when they are separate things rather than a huge mass.  This is sort of a harsh, brutal truth,   This was partly because of the Monroe doctrine, Thou Shalt Not Interfere in the Western Hemisphere lest thou tempt the wrath of God, and British policy also was to keep other Europeans out, more practically by means of controlling the seas, and giving a firm no to plans from the Spanish and Russians for interference from non Spanish forces.

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About

The first season focuses on the origins of the Industrial Revolution or the Great Enrichment, we go deep into history to gain enough background knowledge to actually understand the various theories of the origins of the Great Enrichment. Eventually we learn that we also need to know how the miracle was consolidated, as the many other close approaches to the Industrial Revolution failed.A kwirky style, but intellectually ambitious with the goal of understanding history well enough to understand the miracle that happened that one time. It's gonna be a long series.

Information

  • Creator
    Harald Hansen
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    220
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Hanging with History
  • Show Website
    Hanging with History

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