Category: History

History · Quotes · The World

“When you go to the Middle East, you see immediately how people are imprisoned by history.”

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I keep trying to explain this Israel-Hamas war to my kids, and it’s really so caught up in the past, both near and distant. Repeatedly, one side’s autonomy, safety, and identity is violated by the other. And it’s piled up over time to the current conflict.

The Daily tackles this history in their 1948 episode, describing an “arsenal of memory” that gets “chiseled in stone” to define each side’s grievances.

When you go to the Middle East, you see immediately how people are imprisoned by history, the especially in Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Daily

It’s understandable but tragically and obviously unhelpful.

Yes, the past is full or pain and terror. Don’t get stuck in it – move past it like any wise person would do.

Right actions for the future are the best apologies for wrong ones in the past.

Tryon Edwards, theologian

And yes, it can be done.

Ireland put a similar conflict behind it: a centuries-old conflict of two intertwined groups of people involving religion, culture, territorial disputes, terror, violence, and injustice.

They ended up with a two-state solution: Ireland and the UK. There is peace and prosperity. People move freely between the countries. There are no checkpoints, walls, vengeance deaths, or bombings.

There are pubs and museums, a peaceful countryside, and a booming film industry.

The past is recognized and understood but no longer used to justify self-destructive, violent behavior. The “Troubles” are gone, but not forgotten.

The world needs to step up and make this happen in the Middle East. Doing so will require setting aside some fear, which is just a mind killer, but a peaceful solution can happen because it has happened elsewhere.

Which one would you pick?

History · The World

When sh*t got real in Tenochtitlan, aka Mexico City

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Nobody tells a great story like Throughline. This podcast gives new twists on old stories, from ancient collapses of civilization to modern controversies. Every story is a slice of history told with a tight narrative and professional production, including deft use of sound effects. This is not some dude blabbing about history.

In their episode about Tenochtitlan, they dive deep into the brutal Spanish conquest of Mexico. They start out describing ancient Aztect capital of Tenochtitlan (aka Mexico City) as an immense ancient metropolis, one of the largest cities in the world at the time (and now). It is full of towering temples, canals, schools, and a Venice-like network of waterways for transport and irrigation and composting. This is a city that smells sweet.

The Aztecs are advanced and powerful, but they can be pretty brutal conquerers themselves and have made plenty of their own local enemies.

Then the Spanish show up. ⚔️ It’s a fascinating and pretty terrifying story.

👉 Tenochtitlan: A Retelling of The Conquest

History · The World

The collapse of the Bronze Age – and what came next

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Here’s a pretty fascinating story about the collapse of the complex, globalized society of the late Bronze Age around 1200 BC. As we’re facing climate change, political polarization, and a raging virus, it’s an interesting listen. 😬

About 3000 years ago, it got bad. There was famine, drought, and earthquakes. And worst of all, the mysterious Sea People were attacking out of nowhere without warning or mercy. ⚔️

But this chaos eventually became a rebirth that led to the alphabet, iron working, monotheism, the Greek and Roman empires, etc. Basically, Western civilization.

The historian notes that, more often than not, civilization pulls back from the brink before it gets toooo bad, so he’s optimistic.

👉 Throughline: The Aftermath of Collapse: Bronze Age Edition (2021)

Illustration by Deborah Lee.
History · Travel

Christmas Night Drama: Washington’s Crossing

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Next time I’m in New York City 🙏, I’d like to see the original Washington Crossing the Delaware painting.

I’m sure you’ve seen this painting before, but it would be amazing to see it in its original, massive form (12′ by 21′) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

There are so many fascinating things about this painting. Here are a few highlights, but I recommend listening to at least the intro of Washington’s Crossing to really appreciate it.

  • The painting depicts the secret Christmas-night 1776 launch of the momentum-grabbing surprise attack on the British and German soldiers occupying New Jersey.
  • At the time, five months after the Declaration of Independence, the new American army had seen defeat after defeat and was 90% destroyed. Thus the gloomy atmosphere with a hint of sunshine in the background.
  • The painting was made by German-American painter Emanuel Leutze in 1850 with a goal of promoting democracy in Europe and fighting slavery in the United States. 🤩
  • The painting makes efforts to show all kinds of people from all over America literally in the same boat together. This includes a black man, a big statement back in 1850 during slavery. The paining was used for abolition fundraising.
  • The copy in NYC was the second one painted by Leutze. The first went to his native Germany and was destroyed by a British bombing raid during World War II — Britain’s final revenge on the American revolution. 😆
Washington Crossing the Delaware, Emanuel Leutze (American, Schwäbisch Gmünd 1816–1868 Washington, D.C.), Oil on canvas, American
History

The Tulsa Massacre of 1921

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Quartz published the story of the Tulsa massacre of 1921, in which the burgeoning “Black Wall Street” neighborhood of Tulsa was set ablaze in a bizarre night of white racial rage. Hundreds or African Americans were killed, and many thousands lost their homes.

👉 We still don’t know just how much was lost in the Tulsa massacre of 1921

More than a thousand African American homes and businesses were looted and burned to the ground; you had a thriving community occupying more than 35 square blocks in Tulsa that was totally destroyed.

But the real story is how little we know about this, “the single largest incident of racial violence in American history.” This terrible story was purposefully forgotten, apparently out of shame.

Despite the gravity of the event, like other important chapters of African-American history, the Tulsa race massacre was all but deleted from the US’s collective memory for decades.

It is also interesting that this savage attack did not destroy the neighborhood, which came bouncing back stronger than ever after the violence. However, eventually the larger forces of “desegregation, urban redesign, and competition from large-scale white businesses” did it in. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Via Apple News.