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История

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Общество и культура

Общество и культура

26.02.2021
Общество и культура

Общество и культура

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Общество и культура

Общество и культура

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Христианство

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-5 ДН.

How Would Nixon Have Handled the Cuban Missile Crisis?

The "Madman Theory" was Richard Nixon's foreign policy strategy during the Vietnam War era, where he deliberately cultivated an image of being unpredictable and irrational—hinting he might escalate to nuclear extremes—to intimidate adversaries like North Vietnam and the Soviet Union into concessions. Nixon instructed aides like Henry Kissinger to spread rumors that he was volatile enough to "go crazy" and use drastic measures, hoping fear of his supposed madness would deter aggression and force negotiations without actual escalation. Nixon's Madman Theory was relatively ineffective in coercing North Vietnam because Hanoi correctly gambled that the U.S. would not use nuclear force against a non-nuclear state—like North Vietnam—due to the massive domestic and international backlash, the high risk of Soviet/Chinese escalation, and the global nuclear taboo. But what if Nixon had used it against an actual nuclear power? That could have happened if history had only played out a little differently. JFK won his presidential election in 1960 against Nixon by a few thousand votes in key counties, and many suspected voter fraud. What if Nixon had won? And what if he used the Madman Doctrine against the Soviets in the Cuban Missile Crisis? In today’s episode, were’ joined by Harvy Simon, who wrote a book of alternate history called “The Madman Theory” that imagines exactly that scenario. The book focuses on how President Nixon handles the Cuban Missile Crisis. True to the "Madman" strategy, Nixon maneuvers the U.S., the Soviet Union, and the world to the brink of nuclear war, believing his reputation for unpredictability will force Nikita Khrushchev to back down. We explore the dangers of deliberately appearing irrational and unstable to an adversary—especially in the nuclear age—significantly increases the risk of miscalculation, accidental escalation, or the adversary failing to understand the bluff, thereby triggering an actual catastrophic conflict. Harvey Simon --- I’m the author of The Madman Theory, which posits that Richard Nixon won the 1960 election against Kennedy. In particular, it focuses on the Cuban missile crisis, and what would have happened differently with Nixon as president.My book is being reissued with a newly added foreword examining how Nixon’s madman theory has been taken up by President Trump.If you'd be interested in a show about what would likely have happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis if Kennedy hadn't won--some scholars doubt the outcome was legitimate--I'd be happy to talk with you about my analysis, and, more generally, how counterfactuals can improve our understanding of history.I'm a former national security analyst with Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and have also worked as a journalist. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

-5 дн.

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29 мин.
25.12.2025

Diogenes, the Father of Ancient Greek Stoicism, Loving Trolling His Audience and Could Out-Shock Borat

The famous street artist Banksy shocked the art world in 2018 when his painting, Girl with Balloon, partially shredded itself moments after selling it for over a million dollars. at a Sotheby's auction in London. Banksy had secretly built a mechanical shredder into the painting's ornate frame, turning the destruction into a piece of performance art which was later authenticated and renamed Love Is in the Bin. He did this to make a statement about the art market's hyper-commercialization. One of the most famous and influential philosophers of the ancient world enjoyed doing similar types of shocking stunts to make his point in the most memorable way possible. Diogenes the Cynic had a reputation for eccentricity. He lived in a large clay wine jar and owned almost nothing, a demonstration that true freedom and happiness come from self-sufficiency. He defecated in public, and when criticized, he asked why it was acceptable to eat there but not to perform other natural acts, illustrating that social shame is arbitrary and not rooted in nature or reason. Since his death in 323 BC, devoted followers made him and his ideas famous the world over. But some modern philosophers like Friedrich Hegel thought of him as just a shock jock. To him, Diogenes had a way of life based on simple, isolated maxims and provocative anecdotes—like those of a folk figure—rather than a fully developed, systematic philosophical system that truly captured the evolving spirit of reason in history. Today’s guest is Inger Kuin, author of “Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic.“ We look at this iconoclastic philosopher whose brash and free-thinking vision of life ended up inspiring the philosophy of Stoicism. His philosophy stresses the importance of living here and now and not concerning ourselves with things out of our control. Diogenes also stands apart as history’s first recorded critic of slavery, a lone voice of his time that powerfully influenced future thinkers, from Epictetus to future abolitionists. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

25.12.2025

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49 мин.
-4 ДН.

GW4: The Eastern Front in 1914

While the Western Front quickly descended into trench warfare, the fighting in the East remained highly mobile, spanning vast distances across Eastern Europe. In this episode, Sean and James discuss Austria-Hungary’s failed invasions of Serbia, Russia’s disastrous defeats at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes, and the massive but costly Russian victory over Austria at Galicia. Listeners will learn how poor leadership, logistical chaos, and ethnic divisions crippled the Austro-Hungarian and Russian armies alike. By year’s end, both sides were bloodied and exhausted, setting the stage for a long and brutal struggle in the East. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

-4 дн.

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40 мин.
-3 ДН.

Ancient Athens Picked Its Leaders by Lottery for Over 200 Years. Some Think This System Should Replace Electoral Democracy

For almost two centuries, Ancient Athens—the most successful democracy in history—selected citizens by lottery to fill government positions. Athens adopted sortition—a random lottery system—to select most public officials and the members of the Council of 500, a reform pioneered in 508 BC to break aristocratic control and distribute power equally among ordinary citizens. Some say it worked much better than the Assembly of Athens. In 406 BC, the Assembly rashly voted to execute all six victorious generals following a victory over Sparta because a storm prevented them from recovering the bodies of those who were lost at sea during a terrible storm. The Council of 500 later intervened by carefully reviewing the case, exposing procedural illegalities, and helping restore calmer judgment that tempered the Assembly's impulsive decision. This governing system soon disappeared from the earth. The Council of 500 was disbanded in 322 BC when Macedonian forces crushed Athens’ democracy. Rome never adopted it because its republican system favored election of magistrates and a powerful Senate of lifelong aristocrats, viewing random selection as too chaotic and unfit for a large, conquest-driven state. Athens' ancient sortition has made a modern comeback in America through randomly selected jury trials for fair justice and in new "citizens' assemblies"—which have re-emerged from Oregon to France--where ordinary people are lottery-picked to deliberate and recommend policy. Today’s guest is Terry Bourcious, author of “Democracy Without Politicians.” He is a former politician from Vermont, and he argues we should return to the Athenian model, adapted for modern governance through "multi-body sortition," where randomly selected citizen bodies, with expert staff, would draft legislation, set agendas, review proposals, and make final decisions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

-3 дн.

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52 мин.
23.12.2025

Blown Off Course: How History’s Windy Turning Points Sank the Armada and Saved Japan from the Mongols

The greatest energy source for civilization before the steam engine was wind. It powered the global economy in the Age of Sail. Wind-powered sail ships made global shipping fast and cheap by harnessing free, reliable ocean winds to propel large cargo loads over vast distances without needing fuel or frequent stops. It also powered windmills, the factories of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Windmills allowed for abundant bread by milling flour by turning heavy grindstones with wind-driven sails. They also powered trip hammers to forge iron and steel by lifting and dropping massive weights. We can credit them as well for pumped water, sawed timber, and processed oils, spices, and paper. Wind is one of most elemental yet overlooked forces shaping our world today, and it is at the center of the human story. Many times it changed history – such as “Protestant Wind” saving England from the Spanish Armada, kamikaze winds halting the Mongol invasions of Japan, and easterlies carrying Chernobyl’s fallout. Wind also powers massive turbines today, but there was a forgotten moment in the 1880s when we could’ve chosen wind power over fossil fuels. It even creates certain types of civilizations. Some historians believe the cleverest and most civilized people lived in places where weather was varied and posed constant challenges. Today’s guest is Simon Winchester, author of “The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind.” We look at how wind—life‐giving and destructive, chaotic and harnessable — has shaped civilization from antiquity to today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23.12.2025

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46 мин.
11.12.2025

The American Revolution was a World War in All but Name

The Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, known as the "shot heard round the world," marked the first military engagements of the American Revolution. Ralph Waldo Emerson named it that because it launched revolutionary movements in Europe and beyond, marking it as a key moment in the fight for liberty and self-governance. But this moment was global in more ways than inspiring other nations. The quest for independence by the 13 North American colonies against British rule rapidly escalated into a worldwide conflict. The Patriots forged alliances with Britain’s key adversaries—France, Spain, and the Netherlands—securing covert arms supplies initially, which evolved into open warfare by 1779. French and Spanish naval campaigns in the Caribbean diverted British forces from North America to defend valuable sugar colonies, while American privateers disrupted British trade, bolstering the rebel economy. All of this international involvement was promoted by the Founding Fathers, because the Declaration of Independence was translated into French, Spanish, Dutch, and other languages and distributed by them across Europe to garner sympathy and support from nations like France and the Netherlands. Spain’s separate war against Britain in Florida and South America, alongside French efforts to spark uprisings in British-controlled India, further strained Britain’s ability to quash the rebellion. Post-independence, the consequences rippled globally: Britain and Spain tightened their grip on remaining colonies, Native American tribes faced heightened land encroachments due to the loss of British protections, and enslaved African Americans who fought for Britain, lured by promises of freedom, were relocated to Nova Scotia and later Sierra Leone. To explore this new framework of the Revolutionary War is today’s guest, Richard Bell, author of “The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

11.12.2025

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57 мин.
18.12.2025

Maps Have Bigger Problems Than the Mercator Projection. They Invent Mountain Ranges and Usually Eliminate New Zealand

Maps have always had problems. Five hundred years ago, maps were wildly inaccurate simply because cartographers were drawing the edge of the known world, limited by slow ships and nonexistent satellite data, resulting in continents that were too large, too small, or entirely misplaced. All of those problems have been solved thanks to new technology, but now there are new ones. Even though we know the exact dimensions of Earth, our maps are still "wrong" because we force a three-dimensional globe onto a flat surface, leading to mathematical distortions like the Mercator projection, which wildly exaggerates the size of landmasses near the poles. One map that tries to correct the Mercator projection's distortion of landmass sizes is the Gall-Peters projection, but to achieve this size accuracy, it severely stretches and distorts shapes, particularly near the poles, making Alaska look like a whirlpool or expanding pinwheel. To make it even more confusing, there are maps that were deliberately tweaked to hide government secrets or those drawn with junk data just to trick an enemy into giving up territory. But for today’s guests, Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones, they enjoy these sort of cartographic oddities. They are the authors of “This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong and Why it Matters.” We discuss all sorts of maps that went wrong—from the infamous Mountains of Kong—a completely made-up mountain range that ran East-West across the entire African continent--to colonial maps with mathematically impossible borders and US states with fake cities. We also discuss The frequent omissions of New Zealand on maps that use the Mercator projection Maps that will land you in prison depending on which countries claim certain territories Cold War-era Soviet paranoia that falsified virtually all maps for decades on the direct orders of secret police See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

18.12.2025

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46 мин.
24.12.2025

GW3: The German Onslaught and the Miracle at the Marne

In August 1914, the German army launched an invasion of Belgium as a first step to their planned march through France and capture of Paris. As the Germans swept through Belgium and advanced on the French capital, the Allies made a desperate stand along the Marne River. The resulting “Miracle on the Marne” halted the German advance and ended hopes of a quick war. What followed was the grim birth of trench warfare and a conflict that would grind on for years. In this episode, James and Sean explore the opening months of World War I in the west— from Germany’s Schlieffen Plan and France’s doomed offensives to the brutal fighting of the Battle of the Frontiers and the halting of the German onslaught. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24.12.2025

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57 мин.
16.12.2025

The Great Mathematicians of the Early 1900s Ran into an Unsolvable Problem. They Realized Math Made No Sense

In the 1800s, it seemed like mathematics was a solved problem. The paradoxes in the field were resolved, and even areas like advanced calculus could be taught consistently and reliably at any school. It was clearly understandable in a way that abstract fields like philosophy weren’t, and it was on its way to solving humanity’s problems. Mathematical work on electromagnetism made modern electrical engineering and power systems possible. New research in algebra created the logical basis for future computer science and digital circuits. But then new problems appeared. In the early 20th century, mathematicians made discoveries that showed them enough to know how little they really knew. Bertrand Russell showed that at its edges, math fell apart. It couldn’t fully define itself on its own terms without becoming logically inconsistent. He gave the analogy of a small-town barber who shaves everyone who doesn't shave himself; the question is, who shaves the barber—if he shaves himself, he breaks the rule, but if he doesn't shave himself, he must, by the rule, shave himself? In today’s episode, I’m speaking to Jason Bardi, author of The Great Math War: How Three Brilliant Minds Fought for the Foundations of Mathematics and we explore the story of three competing efforts by mathematicians to resolve this crisis. What do you do if math, the most logical of all sciences, becomes illogical at a certain point? Bertrand Russell thought the problem could be solved with even more logic, we just hadn’t tried hard enough. David Hilbert thought redemption lay in accepting mathematics as a formal game of arbitrary rules, no different from the moves and pieces in chess. And L. E. J. Brouwer argued math is entirely rooted in human intuition—and that math is not based on logic but rather logic is based on math. Set against the backdrop of one of the most turbulent periods of European history (from the late 19th century through World War I, the 1920s, the Great Depression, and the early days of World War II), we look at what happens when rock-solid truths don’t seem so rock solid anymore. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16.12.2025

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46 мин.
27.12.2025

The Grand Illusion

In this episode, Sean and James explore Jean Renoir’s The Grand Illusion (1937), a World War I masterpiece that examines class, nationalism, and the bonds that form even among enemies. They discuss the film’s unforgettable characters—from working-class Maréchal and aristocratic Boeldieu to the dignified German officer Rauffenstein—and the ways their relationships reveal a fading old order. Finally, they reflect on the film’s themes of humanity, hope, and the futility of war, which still resonate powerfully nearly ninety years after its release. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

27.12.2025

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1 ч. 5 мин.

Parthenon Podcast Network is the premier network for shows about history that will make you examine the story of humanity on a much deeper level. Featuring podcasts that focus on everything from America's key wars to a battle royale among all U.S. presidents, our goal is to connect the stories of the past with the most important issues of the present.

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