161. Exciting adventure, crushing misery: two sides of Empire
An episode in two parts. The first is an adventure story, the extraordinary march across Africa of a small detachment of French troops led by Major Jean-Baptiste Marchand. He occupied the abandoned E...
24 Sep 202314min
160. Managing power, coping with weakness
Salisbury had a fairly accurate view of just what Britain could and couldn’t do on its own, given the limitations on British power itself, but also the blocks caused by domestic political opposition ....
17 Sep 202314min
159. Ireland and another Balfour; Sudan and Churchill again
The running sore of British relations with Ireland was running still and just as sore. This time another Balfour, Gerald as opposed to his brother Arthur, but like him a nephew of the Prime Minister S...
10 Sep 202314min
158. Sending Wilde to the Wilderness
Henry Labouchère’s amendment of 1885 had criminalised any sexual act between men, labelling it gross indecency, an offence which was a great deal easier to prove than the older charge of sodomy. In 18...
3 Sep 202314min
157. Triumph and Decline
Lord Salisbury had decided to serve as his own Foreign Secretary and, indeed, it was events abroad that most marked his third administration. This episode starts by looking at the great feast of Empir...
27 Aug 202314min
156. Four fine women and two odd Churchills
Back in chapter 120, we met two extraordinary women, Mary Seacole and Florence Nightingale, who transformed the world of nursing. Now we’re looking at four more women who were just as remarkable. They...
20 Aug 202314min
155. Salisbury and Science: a time of breakthroughs
Salisbury was back for his third term in office, but for now without a majority in the House of Commons. He had to form a government, and for the first time it would include Liberal Unionists as minis...
13 Aug 202314min
154. A great man falls, a lesser one fades
With both eyesight and hearing fading, Gladstone couldn’t last long after his defeat on Home Rule. Though he lasted as long as he could. Even after almost the entire cabinet prevented him from blockin...
6 Aug 202314min
