117. Russian Bear
A History of England20 Marras 2022

117. Russian Bear

Just as, after the Second World War, the Western European powers were grateful to Russia for using its colossal military force to ensure the defeat of Hitler’s Germany, while still being frightened of that military, so in the 1850s, those same powers were grateful for the role Russia played in bringing down Napoleon, while feeling nervous about the huge military power it had used.

By that time, Russia’s threat was growing again. The Tsar, Nicholas I, saw himself as the protector of Orthodox Christians and Slavs. Everywhere. That included the 14 million inside the Ottoman (Turkish) empire. When he issued a demand to be officially granted authority to provide such protection, and that demand was rejected, Russia and Turkey slid quickly to war.

The Western Powers watched aghast. Despite their ancient rivalry, even France and Britain, pulled together in the face of this Russian action. Gradually, and against the resistance of many, even at the top of government, the two nations found themselves compelled towards war.

It was finally declared, by both Britain and France, in March 1854. Setting the stage for what would come to be known as the Crimean War.


Illustration: Ivan Aivazovsky’s 1853 The Battle of Sinop (Wikimedia Commons)
Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License.

Jaksot(275)

250. Return of the crisis man

250. Return of the crisis man

When Harold Wilson formed his second government, he immediately faced a major crisis inherited from Heath’s administration: the coalminers were on strike, a state of Emergency (Heath’s fifth in four y...

6 Heinä 202514min

249. Who governs Britain?

249. Who governs Britain?

How did Heath end up calling an election on the question of who governed the country? Especially as the choice he seemed to be offering was between him and the minders. This episode traces the impact ...

5 Heinä 202514min

248. Withered Heath

248. Withered Heath

Ted Heath’s government had to deal with two problems drawn from Britain’s postimperial standing: • adapting to its loss of global status, by negotiating, at the third time of asking and for the first ...

22 Kesä 202514min

247. Hopes dashed

247. Hopes dashed

After talking last week about his government’s achievements in the social sphere, this episode looks at the difficulties Wilson faced in economics and foreign affairs.One way Wilson explored to addres...

15 Kesä 202514min

246. The sixties, swinging - high and low

246. The sixties, swinging - high and low

According to the English poet Philip Larkin, the sixties saw the invention of sexual intercourse. While that may not be quite the case, it was certainly a time when a lot of people decided that it was...

8 Kesä 202514min

245. Pressures preventing progress

245. Pressures preventing progress

The Wilson government got off to a pretty sticky start, with the new Prime Minister learning, more or less as he arrived at Downing Street in October 1964, that the trade deficit for the year was like...

1 Kesä 202514min

244. Harold gets Home

244. Harold gets Home

Here we’re focusing on the changes that took place in Britain after Supermac (Harold Macmillan) stood down as Prime Minister.A lot of how that went depended on the Opposition formed by the Labour Part...

25 Touko 202514min

243. Sex, spies and a slippery slope

243. Sex, spies and a slippery slope

Last time we looked at the continuing disintegration of the British Empire. In this episode we look at two other key aspects of Macmillan’s foreign policy, Britain’s relations with the US and with pot...

18 Touko 202515min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
totuus-vai-salaliitto
tsunami
konginkangas
rouva-diktaattori
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-peter-peter
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
apinan-vuosi
historiaa-suomeksi
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
maailmanpuu