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PODCAST

Making sense of this crazy world

historymadeeasier

I am a student of history, a teacher of history and a writer of history. You could say history is a passion of mine. I have a website for students and I had been mulling around this idea of a podcast for some time. Would people be interested? Would I make it interesting? That’s essentially what was holding me back. But with a new year starting, the craziness still all around us, I thought what the hell – give it a go, John! The primary purpose of the podcast is to use history to help us make a

history documentary

All Episodes

21:08

What led to the French Revolution?

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/02/22

We’ve looked at the English Revolution in the seventeenth and the American Revolution that rid itself forever of the English monarchy but replaced it with an oligarchy of the wealthy. So now I’m going to turn our attention to the French Revolution, the one that gave us Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. Well, we’ll see about that.

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21:37

The Ratification of the American Constitution

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/02/15

This episode wraps up our look at the American constitution, so-called American democracy by looking at the ratification process and making a final assessment of just what had been achieved.

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21:18

The Philadelphia Convention

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/02/08

This episode will focus squarely on the American Constitution, a constitution that Americans at least, still seem to think is fit for purpose. I say this because there have only been 27 amendments with the first ten making up the Bill of Rights, so really, they were always part of the constitution, and the 21st amendment was repealing the 18th amendment (prohibition) so, in effect, there have only been 15 amendments.

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22:44

Stumbling Towards Self-Government

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/02/01

I left things last week with the American colonies at war with Britain. But also, at war with themselves. And this is going to continue. And this episode will look at the America that was created out of the Revolution and I’m going to suggest that what was in fact created was an oligarchy.

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21:46

A Limited Revolution

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/01/25

In this episode, I’m turning my attention squarely on the American Revolution, the revolution against British rule, because it led to an independent American state and to the Constitution that largely still operates today. And I'm going to suggest that for the people of America, it was a decidedly limited revolution.

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27:36

Thomas Paine and the American + French Revolutions

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/01/18

This week I’m going to look at someone who, along with Karl Marx, was perhaps the most important thinker in shaping our world today. He was a pamphleteer, a journalist, a propagandist, a polemicist, and something of a philosopher. His name is Thomas Paine and he’s important because he had a remarkable influence on both the American and French revolutions.

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26:46

Hobbes and Locke and their influence on our states

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/01/11

Having looked at the English Revolution, the civil war and its aftermath, this week I’m going to look at the political thinking that came in its aftermath. It shows the depth at which people were thinking about the business of governing in the seventeenth century and, in line with the purpose of this humble podcast, its had a profound impact on our world today. So, it's going to worth our time.

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24:07

The English Commonwealth

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2026/01/04

In a nutshell, England had been governed for eleven years, from 1629 to 1640, without a Parliament; for another eleven years, from 1649 to 1660, it would be governed without a monarchy. England, and by default, Britain had sorted out a democratic future for itself slap bang in the middle of the seventeenth century. Only to regret what it had done and bring the monarchy back. But of course, there was more to it than that, and that’s what we’re about to have a look at.

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19:14

Civil War in England: Parliament vs The Crown

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/12/28

Last week I looked at what led England to civil war. This week I’m going to focus on how things on the Parliamentary side of that civil war really radicalised.

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23:24

The English Revolution

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/12/21

The English Revolution, that took place in England in the seventeenth century, is often overlooked. But it’s important in establishing the principle of parliamentary democracy and so, it’s certainly worth our time taking a look at it. And it was a revolution, even if that’s something we English are not famous for: not only did a king lose his head but the monarchy itself was overthrown and with it the established Church and the House of Lords. And not only was Parliament pitted against absolutism,

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23:34

The Power Relationships in Feudalism

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/12/14

Covering more than a thousand years of history, my focus will be on power and how it set up the conditions that led to the English and French revolutions as well as influencing the American revolution too. I

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22:17

The Roman Republic

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/12/07

If we look carefully at it, ancient Rome stands in contrast to Greece because whereas we can say that Greece, for a period of time, was indeed a democracy, Rome wrapped a democratic cloak around itself, but in fact was an oligarchy of the wealthy. And for us today, we need to be aware that it is the Roman republic that has had a greater influence on the democracies of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and their constitutions, than Athens had.

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24:00

Athenian Democracy

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/11/30

George Bernard Shaw said that democracy is the form of government that gives its citizens what they deserve. And that's where I want to turn my attention to: the way in which we are governed in democracies (probably with diversions to alternative ways of governing). Where has democracy come from? What lessons does the past have for us today? What do we mean by democracy? Should we be satisfied with what we’ve got? If democracy is important to us, it seems worth the journey.

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30:02

America today: What state are the workers in?

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/11/23

Having taken us from America in the 1920s to America today, last week I looked at the state of the capitalist system and the state of the richest 0.1%, 1%, 10%. Well, today, I’m going to end our look at America by focussing on the 90%, right up to Trump's current administration.

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24:06

The State of Capitalism in America Today

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/11/16

Having made the link between the Great Depression of the early 1930s and the Great Recession of 2009, in other words between the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Financial Crisis or Subprime Crisis of 2008, let’s take a look at how the capitalist system works in America today.

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29:11

Explaining the 2008 Financial Crisis and the Great...

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/11/09

In this episode I’m going to make the worrying link between the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Financial Crisis or Subprime Crisis of 2008, between the Great Depression of the early 1930s and the Great Recession of 2009.

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14:10

Capitalists Criticisms of Roosevelt's New Deal

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/11/02

There were those who criticised Roosevelt for not doing more, but it is the criticisms from the capitalists who complained he was doing too much, interfering in the economy too much, that I want to focus on. We’ve touched on it from time to time in the last two episodes, but I want to shine a spotlight on it because their determination to undo what he had achieved would, eventually, lead to the financial crash of 2008.

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17:17

Roosevelt's Second New Deal

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/10/26

Roosevelt's Second New Deal was different in character. Its emphasis was on reform: reforming the capitalist system that had failed Americans; indeed, had failed itself. And providing for a fairer society with protection for workers and better pay and work conditions, and welfare support for the wider population.

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24:20

Roosevelt's New Deal for America

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/10/19

Roosevelt's package of new laws and initiatives that together constituted his New Deal for America, offered three things: Relief, Recovery and Reform. It set out to save Americans from the Great Depression and to save capitalism from itself.

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22:25

Was America close to revolution in 1932?

Making sense of this crazy world ·

2025/10/12

I think it’s important to focus on 1932 in the Great Depression because it shows the depth of the impact the depression had on people’s lives, it shows how choices are important in history as they are in life, and it shows how democracy can work to stabilise a state that’s in deep trouble.

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161 results

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