The History Fangirl Podcast

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Bangkok and the Kingdom of Siam Feb 26, 2018

Show notes

In January I took a trip to Southeast Asia, and—somewhat arbitrarily—I decided to make Bangkok, Thailand my first stop. Ever since being entranced by the famed musical The King and I as a kid, I’ve been fascinated with the Kingdom of Siam, and have been cognizant of the push and pull of tradition and colonization that Siam and so many countries have experienced. My guest today to talk about the history of Bangkok and Siam is Charles Kimball of the History of Southeast Asia podcast. Charles and I chat about how Bangkok became the capital of Siam, the role the Chakri Dynasty played in keeping the country independent for centuries, and how history and fiction collide in The King and I.

Siam before Bangkok

Charles told me that the Thais were first an ethnic minority in China, eventually moving south to form their own country. But even today there are still 12 million ethnic Thais in China, a population size larger than most countries. As Charles says, you don’t hear about the Thai as a people until around 1000 A.D., and the Thais were actually an ethnic minority in their own country until about 1350 A.D. And when the Thais migrated to their own country, they had cast off much of their Chinese identity, and fully embraced Buddhism. But it wasn’t all smooth going. In the early days there were three capitals, and it wouldn’t be until King Ram Khamhaeng became king that Siam, and Thailand, as we know it would form.

24 wars in 350 years

Like many nations, Siam’s early history is marked by war and battles to stave off invaders. The kingdom was unified in the middle of the 15th century, but through the 16th century, Siam was often locked in a three-way battle with Laos and Burma. It was at the end of the 16th century that Naresuan came to power, and to this day Thais consider him their greatest king because of his campaigns against Burma. And by the middle of the 18th century, Thailand and Burma were waring constantly. As George tells me in this episode, the two countries fought 24 wars in the span of 350 years. And in 1782, after finding their cities laid to waste by war, the Thais moved their capital to Bangkok.

Independence of Thailand

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Kingdom of Siam and Thailand was how it was able to resist colonization. While many countries in Southeast Asia, like Cambodia and Vietnam, where colonized wholly by foreign powers, for centuries Siam and Thailand has been able to remain independent (though of course, not without foreign influence). Charles chalks it up to the country’s mastery of diplomacy. While many other countries fell under foreign powers, Thailand has always been able to maintain strong relationships with other countries while maintaining control of their land. As Charles says, that makes them the “most successful” country in the region.

The real history behind The King and I

No discussion of Thai history and royalty would be complete without a look at the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I. Now the stage play is not well-liked in Thailand, but it is based on the real King Mongkut, and Anna Leonowens. Mongkut had established himself as a reformer with his work in the Buddhist monastery, and asked Leonowens to provide a secular education to his children. Charles points out some other characters that were important to the country as it tried to modernize, heading into the 20th century. Thailand is an amazing place, with a rich history that is all the more remarkable for the way it’s been able to maintain its independence. If you’re interested in visiting Thailand, and want to know the story behind what you find there today, you have to listen to this week’s episode.

Outline of This Episode

[2:04] How Charles became interested in Southeast Asia
[6:19] Siam before Bangkok
[12:46] After Ram Kamphaeng
[16:30] How Bangkok becomes the center of the kingdom
[21:53] Bangkok’s early days
[26:15] The dynasty after Rama I
[30:49] The historical roots of The King and I
[36:48] Thailand into the 20th century
[39:27] Thailand in World War I
[47:58] Where does Thailand go from here?

Resources Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere. More info and photographs for this episode at:

https://historyfangirl.com/bangkok-and-the-kingdom-of-siam/ ‎

How Bordeaux Got Its Wine Feb 19, 2018

Show notes

In September I got to go to Bordeaux with a friend who is a 100% certified wine snob. I figured she would enjoy all of the wine, while I mostly focused on getting work done. But I was surprised by how easily I fell in love with the city, one of France’s most underrated destinations, even if you’re not certified. My guest today is Megan Stetzel, one half of the team behind the millennial-focused travel blog, Why Wait to See the World? On this week’s episode, we talk about how the city got its wine, how it almost lost it in the 19th century, and how the city nicknamed “Sleeping Beauty” underwent an amazing revitalization in the last 20 years.

Drink Roman wine quickly

As Megan told me, wine culture in Bordeaux got started more than 2,000 years ago, when Romans came to the region and started cultivating vineyards purely so their soldiers would have something to drink. And that wine was much different than the wine we think of today. It was very fruity and had a high alcohol content (something Bordeaux wines maintain today). But it would also have spoiled very quickly, within a year, a departure from what we now know about Bordeaux wines, which get better with age. But Bordeaux became more than just the place Roman soldiers went to knock a few back, Megan told me about how the city actually became a commercial center.

Thank Eleanor of Aquitaine

Wine was not exported from France until the 12th century, but that all changed when Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry II of England. And when they moved back to England, as Megan says, “Like any good woman, she wouldn’t go without her wine.” She and Henry abolished the tariffs on wines coming into England, which allowed Eleanor to continue to drink her Bordeaux. But if you want to thank someone for helping the local industry grow, you have to thank the Dutch. A lot of Bordeaux was actually marshlands, but the Dutch went in and drained a lot of the water, allowing the ground to become more conducive to vineyards.

The Great Wine Virus of Bordeaux

I had to ask Megan about “The Great French Wine Blight” of the mid-19th century, which had surprising historical reverberations. As Megan tells it, an aphid infestation began to wipe out the Bordeaux vineyards. But it was discovered that a vine growing in the United States was resistant to the pests. So the French grafted some of that American root stock—from Missouri, of course—and saved the most famous wine in the world. And from that point on, Bordeaux vineyards cultivated the six grapes of Bordeaux wines.

How Bordeaux became a world heritage site

The story of Bordeaux may begin with Romans making wine for their soldiers, but one could argue that the city’s golden age is happening right now. For years Bordeaux had been in disrepair. The river was flanked by old warehouses, and the water itself was polluted. In fact, the whole city suffered under poor pollution. The city had been called “Sleeping Beauty,” because people knew the city was beautiful, but it wasn’t highlighting its best qualities. But in 1995, the French prime minister decided the city should be cleaned up, and now it’s a beautiful place to visit. If you’re thinking of visiting, you’re going to want to hear Megan’s tips in this week’s episode.

Outline of This Episode

[2:04] How Megan fell in love with Bordeaux
[4:03] How wine got started in Bordeaux
[6:21] How Bordeaux became a commercial center
[8:30] Eleanor of Aquitaine
[13:27] The Dutch influence
[16:24] The Great Wine Virus
[18:55] How Bordeau became a World Heritage Site
[24:05] Tips for visiting Bordeaux

Resources Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere. More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/how-bordeaux-got-its-wine/ ‎Edit

The Literary Pubs of Dublin Feb 12, 2018

Show notes

I recently got to take an amazing trip to Dublin, Ireland, working with the Irish tourism board. And one of the amazing things about working with a tourism board is that you get to see things that you might not normally see, or at least see them in a new light. That was the case for me with the Literary Pub Crawl of Dublin. It was a four-day excursion, and we got to see how the city’s pub culture fostered a literary and drama culture (and, we got to drink some great beer). My guest today is Colm Quilligan, the owner of the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, and we talk about how pub culture gave us everyone from James Joyce to Samuel Beckett, along with some great beer.

How pub culture started in Dublin

We often think of pubs or taverns as respites from our busy lives, but as Colm told me, pubs—or public houses—were the center of Dubliners’ busy lives since the Middle Ages. They started as public houses because water quality was often poor, so a woman who was brewing at home would open her house to the public to serve, and eventually charge for, drinks. And then the authorities began licensing and taxing them as businesses, and they became centers of communities. People would often go there after work, sometimes they would even be paid for their day’s labors at the pub. So it was a center of culture and of commerce.

The oldest pubs in Dublin

As Colm tells me, the oldest pub in Dublin is supposed to be The Brazen Head, which was positioned right at the main crossing of the old Viking city. When Dublin was an Anglo city, its city walls were often closed at night to keep the Irish out, and so you had pubs and inns popping up around the city, to host travelers waiting to get in. And the Brazen Head still stands more or less where it stood in the 12th century, right where the gates to the city would have been. But Colm’s interest really lies in the famed writers’ pubs of Dublin.

The political culture of Dublin

In 1929, the Irish government passed a censorship act, at which point the pubs of Dublin really became a central point for the city’s literary and journalism cultures. Three newspapers had offices within a quarter-mile of each other, and journalists would often adjourn to the pubs nearby after work. So you had those writers and editors there, but then also other writers who frequented the pubs to network and curry favor with those editors. And those pubs had the most Irish names imaginable, like The Bailey, the Bachelor, McDaids and Mulligans. Those places are still standing as-is today. And I asked Colm what it would have been like in the 1920s to go into one of those pubs, and he summed it up in one word, “smelly.” But pubs also played a key role in Irish independence, as Colm tells me in fascinating detail in this week’s episode.

Literary pub culture of Dublin

As Colm says, Ireland’s greatest literary export may have been James Joyce. The famous novelist set many of his scenes in Ulysses in Irish pubs. Samuel Beckett is of course another titan of Irish culture, though he said pubs were centers of “paralysis, indiscretion and broken glass.” And then Flann O’Brien was, as Colm says, “very much a pub writer.” O’Brien was strongly associated with one pub in particular, called The Palace. What’s amazing about this chat with Colm, and his tour, is that for him, for Ireland, and for lovers of literature the world over, the pubs of Ireland bring the country’s cultural history to life. You need to check out the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, it’s like a pub crawl crossed with Shakespeare in the Park, and it’s a must-do in Dublin.

Outline of This Episode

[3:33] Colm’s book
[5:48] How pub culture started in Dublin
[8:49] The oldest pubs in Dublin
[13:38] Do Dubliners drink Guinness?
[17:32] Pubs and the Irish independence
[20:06] A brief history of Irish independence
[23:43] What authors thrived in pubs?
[30:58] What would the writers think of Dublin today?
[37:06] What happens on the Literary Pub Crawl

Resources Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere. More info and photographs for this episode at:

https://historyfangirl.com/literary-pubs-dublin/

A Very Special Q&A Feb 05, 2018

Show notes

This week marks the six-month episode of the podcast, and to celebrate I conducted a live Q&A with listeners and Facebook followers on Facebook Live. That last sentence is only half true, as the real reason this episode is a Q&A is because my shaky wifi in Malaysia scuttled the interview that was planned for this week. But! This is a good opportunity to celebrate the show’s half-anniversary with listeners, so I took questions and comments left on Facebook, my blog and the podcast about travel, historic places and my own life. Enjoy, and I’ll be back next week with an awesome interview about a historic place.

Tips for traveling somewhere during the offseason

One of the first questions I took tonight was from Jen, who asked for advice on traveling during an offseason, largely to avoid crowds. While traveling during an offseason may yield some better deals, you have to be careful to research why it’s the offseason. Sometimes the weather makes the destination difficult to inhabit even for a week or so. Sometimes the local travel patterns mean places are shut down. So even though you booked a good deal, you may not actually get to see the places you want to see because they’re closed for the offseason. One tip is to look at professional photographers, and when they post their shots for clues as to what a place is like at different times of year.

What do travel bloggers do?

One of the questions I received was about what travel bloggers actually do for work. There are a lot of misunderstandings out there about what it means to be a travel blogger, namely that you just get paid to travel. The truth is that sometimes you get paid, but other times you’re traveling in order to pitch stories, or you’re partnering with an organization that will pay for your travel, but then you still have to do work to pay the bills. And there’s a lot of pressure on travel bloggers these days to always be doing something amazing while making videos, podcasts, blog posts and more. But there are a lot of great resources out there to help you if you want to get started!

Is it embarrassing to film in public?

With so many travel bloggers and content creators in general taking to live video, someone asked whether it was embarrassed to film in public. The easy answer is that it’s less embarrassing to do it in a country where the people generally don’t speak English than in an English-speaking country. And as a travel professional, the entire point of me being in a place is to tell the world about it, and generally I’m in places that want the world to visit, so it all works out for everyone.

How to make money as a travel blogger, and more

I got so many great questions while making this video, like how to handle not speaking the language of a country you’re visiting, how to make money as a travel blogger (listen to the episode for all the different ways), and how I pick the places I visit. If there’s one thing I’d like people to take away from the Q&A it’s to have fun while traveling. Sometimes the trips you don’t plan out are the ones that surprise you and become the most memorable. Thank you so much to everyone who joined the Q&A, and I hope to do another soon!

Outline of This Episode

[2:09] Intro and last night in Malaysia
[9:28] How do you balance travel and work?
[12:41] What do travel bloggers do?
[19:40] What surprised you about traveling full-time?
[27:28] Do you get a lot of questions in a country where people look different from you?
[31:26] Is it embarrassing to film in public?
[41:52] How do you make money?
[45:29] Why do you travel solo?
[46:54] Favorite Southeast Asian country you visited

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere. More info and photographs for this episode at:

https://historyfangirl.com/a-very-special-qa/

The Hermit Kingdom of Albania Jan 29, 2018

Show notes

When you think of an isolated, walled-off country, your mind might immediately go to North Korea. But during the Communist era, Albania may have actually been even more secluded, despite the fact it shared a border with Greece. On today’s episode, my guest is Allison Green, author of the Eternal Arrival blog, part of the Condé Nast Traveler blog network. We talk about what life was like in Albania after its independence from the Ottoman Empire, how the country became a pawn between Hitler and Mussolini, and how its tyrannical dictator walled it off from the outside world. Sound familiar?

A modern history of occupation

As Allison tells me in this episode, toward the end of the 20th century, Albanians began to develop a sense of nationalism, writers and artists began to foster an Albanian consciousness while the Ottoman Empire began to decline. And in 1912, rebels stage a series of revolts, leading to a declaration of independence from the empire in September of that year. But as soon as they create an independent state, Albania isn’t sure what form of government they want. The government goes back and forth from a monarchy to a republic, until the start of World War I when Mussolini marches his troops into Albania and occupies it, setting up the Fascist Party of Albania. And then Germany came in as well, and in 1943, pushed Italy out.

Who are Albanians?

The most Googled question about Albania, according to Allison, is “Where is Albania?” And hand-in-hand with that, is the question “Who are Albanians?” And while many Eastern European countries hung onto their religious institutions throughout various occupations, Albanians assumed the Islam of the Ottoman Empire. But it’s lived much differently than what many Westerners may think of when they picture Muslim countries. Interfaith marriages are common, pork is plentiful, and there is very little religious conflict within the country (until Communism took over). And what’s interesting is that the Albanian language is not related to other tongues in the area. It’s idiosyncratic and difficult to learn, and as Allison says, when she ordered two beers at a restaurant in Albanian, the waiter nearly fell over he was so surprised.

The rise of communism

Once the Soviets free Albania and the Communist Party takes over, Enver Halil Hoxha takes over as head of state in 1944, a position he would hold until his death in 195. Indebted to Stalinism, Hoxha begins purging the country of elites and intellectuals, and liquidates personal wealth and transferring it to the state. Thousands of people were expelled or thrown into gulags. But as soon as Stalin dies and Kruschev takes over, Albania’s relationship with the Soviet Union begins to fray. And surprisingly, Albania forges a partnership with another Communist giant, China. Unfortunately, as Albania bunkered down in its Communism, it became walled off and had very little access to the outside world. And then, when Mao dies in China, Hoxha severed that relationship, and the country’s last link to the outside world.

Post-communism, why you should visit and leave Liam Neeson at home

The reign of Hoxha was brutal for Albania, and also not without its quirks. He was so paranoid, he built hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers, in preparation for what he thought was the country’s imminent invasion. But by 1990, revolution had come to Albania, and the Communist regime was toppled. That meant Albanians could once again travel abroad, and its borders were open to the world. There may not be too many diamonds in the rough in world travel these days, but Albania is a country full of mystery and beauty that you should try to see. And there’s no better guide to provide travel tips in Albania than Allison. (One pro tip: Don’t mention Liam Neeson or Taken).

Outline of This Episode

[3:15] Why Allison first went to Albania
[6:07] Albania in the early 20th century
[10:36] Who are Albanians?
[14:06] Albania at the end of World War II
[17:04] Why Albania and China became allies
[25:10] Albania in the ‘80s
[29:20] Hoxha’s bunker
[32:03] Modernization of Albania
[36:05] What Albania was like after communism
[41:00] What to see in Albania
[47:47] Traveling to Turana
[49:00] Don’t mention Taken

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere. More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/the-hermit-kingdom-of-albania/ ‎

The Grand Place Jan 22, 2018

Show notes

Brussels, Belgium is an often-overlooked city, with neighboring capitals of Amsterdam and Paris stealing the spotlight. But Belgium is definitely much more than just great beer and chocolate. My guest today is Drew Vahrenkamp of The Wonders of the World podcast, and we sit down to chat about Brussels’ La Grand-Place, or Grand Place, the city’s central square. Drew is a self-described Belgiumphile, having studied there while in business school. As he told me, on his first trip to Brussels, he just decided to head to the center of the city to see what was there and was blown away by La Grand-Place. If you’ve never thought much about Brussels beyond its waffles or its famous fries, you’ll want to hear Drew discuss this gorgeous city. But don’t worry, we also talk about the beer.

The history of Brussels

As Drew tells me in this episode, Brussels is a very unpretentious place, beginning with the name of the city. “Brussels” is a Dutch name that essentially means “home in a swamp.” As he says, Brussels was a small town on the Senne river. But like a lot of river towns, it was in the middle of a trade route with cities of Cologne, Ghent and Brugge. And when it was founded in around 979, it became an important cog in the textile industry. At first, it really was just a trading post. But after the plague hits, and laborers become more scarce, we see a rise in a middle class of laborers and a rise in prominence of Brussels. And that leads to the establishment of the Grand Place.

The early days of The Grand Place

For some time there had been some indoor trading markets in the center of Brussels. But in the early 1400s, the notion of a center square starts coming together. And it begins with the building of an amazing town hall, which borrows its architecture from the Gothic churches of the time. The city hall actually still stands today as the only medieval building on the square. The rest of the buildings, including many houses, were flattened by Louis XIV of France in 1695, who marched his army through Brussels on his way to invade Holland. So after the armies left, Brussels rebuilt, and they built in a totally different style, with baroque and Rococo influences. And because all of those buildings were erected over a five-year period, there’s a beauty and consistency to the square that makes it a truly unique place to visit in Europe.

What’s in the Grand Place?

Drew takes us on a brief tour around the square, starting with two of the most recognizable landmarks, the Gothic town hall, and then the Maison du Roi, which translates to the “king’s house,” which is funny because Belgium has never been much of a kingdom. But the building also houses the Museum of the City of Brussels, dedicated to the history and folklore of the city. The guild halls that also lined the square were eventually turned into private residences, one of which was Karl Marx’s home at one point. We also talked about how, as Lutheranism had begun to spread in the 16th century, the Spanish controlled the country. And they captured some Lutheran preachers and burned them at the stake in the middle of the Grand Place, making them the first martyrs of Protestantism.

Making its mark

Belgium is a humble city. As Drew says, its most famous landmark is a three-foot-high statue of a kid peeing into a fountain. It’s a working city that the government didn’t work too hard to preserve, but The Grand Place remains one of the most beautiful places in the city, if not Europe. But there are some great places to visit, like the Magritte museum, and the comic strip museum (Belgians love comics). And, of course, Drew and I break down where you need to eat and drink in the city. If you’re thinking of heading to one of the most unsung cities in Europe, you need to listen to this episode.

Outline of This Episode

[2:15] Drew introduces his podcast
[5:57] What interested Drew about The Grand Place
[8:35] Where is La Grand-Place
[13:36] The beginnings of Belgium
[17:58] Louis XIV’s invasion
[21:12] What sort of buildings are in the square
[24:48] Famous events in the square
[34:03] The city’s museums
[37:30] Eating in Brussels

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere.

More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/the-grand-place/

The Oracle of Delphi Jan 15, 2018

Show notes

Visiting Greece can be overwhelming, with the number of historical landmarks to visit. But the Oracle of Delphi, high up in the mountains, is one of the most beautiful, and most memorable, places to visit. The history of the site is enthralling, the views are enchanting, and everywhere you look, you see echoes of why the Greeks thought this was the home of a god. My guest today is Ryan Stitt of The History of Ancient Greece podcast. Ryan and I chat about what the Greeks actually did when they visited the Oracle, and the role it played in the rise and fall of famous Greek leaders and states.

Delphi’s early days

People had been around Delphi since the Bronze Age, but in the 8th century, people begin to flock to it and treat it as a religious sanctuary. And as more temples were built, the town became even more of a destination, so much so that by the 6th-century visitors had begun to arrive from other countries, including Rome. The Greek myths hold that Apollo slew the serpent Python at Delphi, and established it as his sanctuary. Delphi was also home of the Omphalos, which is wrapped up in the myth of Cronos devouring his children, vomiting up titans and, well, you should probably just hear Ryan tell the story.

The women of the Oracle

The Pythia, the women who served as the priestesses at the Oracle of Delphi, took their name from the python Apollo slew. As Ryan tells me in this episode, the women had to be local to Delphi, had to be peasant women, had to have lived a pure life, and had to be older than 50 years old. Once appointed as the priestess, she remained in the position for the rest of her life and had to remain chaste from that point on. To make one of her prophecies, she first had to cleanse herself in a river, then there were the prophecy trappings we think of—burning of leaves, sacrificing of small animals, etc. And then the priestess would sit upon her bronze tripod, and after a visitor asked their question, she would fall into a trance, during which Apollo would speak his divine will to her. And, as Ryan tells me, the spiritual reason this was the place where Apollo spoke might have actually been geological.

What to see at Delphi

It’s hard to get across just how big Delphi is, and how much there is to see there. As Ryan told me, it took people in the ancient world three days to hike up the mountain to visit the oracle, and the views once they got there remain incredible today. There’s the theater, which is a must-see, the Temple of Athena, and the Sanctuary. But Delphi also began hosting the Pythion games in the 6th century B.C., and the Stadium of Delphi remains one of the best-preserved sites of its kind. It’s clear Ryan loves the history of the games, especially something called pankration, which was a Greek version of mixed martial arts, where the only rule was no eye-gouging. (No one will try to wrestle you if you visit now.)

Making its mark

Ryan and I geek out a bit about how beautiful Delphi truly is. The theater, which is one of the best-preserved sites in Delphi, gives one a view down into most of the town, including the temple, a breathtaking view like nothing you’ll see elsewhere. If you love the rich history of Ancient Greece, the crazy world of Greek mythology, or just visiting some of the most beautiful places on Earth, then Delphi is definitely a must for your travel itinerary. And this episode, with Ryan’s insight into Delphi’s history, is a must-listen.

Outline of This Episode

[2:10] Why do Westerners connect to the history of Greece?
[5:08] What was Delphi before it became important to the Greeks?
[10:15] How Delphi changed from the beginning
[12:02] The priestesses
[23:36] The relics of Delphi
[33:58] What to see when you visit Delphi
[49:03] How Delphi came to ruins
[53:03] Where else to visit if you’re headed to Delphi

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/the-oracle-of-delphi

The Brooklyn Bridge Jan 08, 2018

Show notes

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge changed New York City forever, connecting the suburb to Manhattan, and establishing the borough as a vital part of the city’s life and culture. It’s easy to look at a bridge now and say, “Of course that bridge had to be built.” But why, exactly, did city leaders want to connect Brooklyn and Manhattan, how did the people who lived there at the time feel about it, and how did elephants help make the bridge a landmark? Today, my guest is Ariel Viera from Urbanist, who you may remember walked us through the history of Central Park in episode 14. Also, there are river pirates. Ariel lives and breathes the history of New York, and the stories he has about the Brooklyn Bridge will have you looking at the city in a whole new way.

BBB: Before the Brooklyn Bridge

In the mid-1800s, there were two separate cities: Brooklyn and New York (what we now call Manhattan). And to get from one to the other, you’d have to take a ferry. But as Ariel told me, New York’s traffic troubles go back to before the time of taxicabs: The East River was full of ships going from port to port, and a ferry had to contend with that marine traffic. And there were many ferries going back and forth, from street to street, in Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan, and the system became a bit cumbersome. So, Brooklyn actually proposed building a bridge which, because of the width of the East River, was not going to be easy.

How John Roebling designed the Brooklyn Bridge

The East River is actually wider than the Thames, known for its many bridges, so the engineering problem of spanning the river while still allowing boat traffic was a vexing one. Enter architect John Roebling, who had created a steel wire much stronger than what had been used for bridges before. He had the brilliant idea to use that wire to build a bridge strong enough to reach from shore to shore. But what’s interesting is that even if the engineering required innovation, many criticized the bridge’s design as too plain. But as Ariel tells me, that was actually done on purpose, and the story behind that decision is fascinating.

The building of the bridge

The ironic tragedy of John Roebling’s life is that it was cut short before the Brooklyn Bridge was built. He was actually crossing the East River on a ferry when a cargo load fell on his leg, and he would later die of complications from the injury. His death came in 1869, the same year construction began on the bridge. Luckily, his son Washington was establishing himself as an architect, and he was able to take over the project. But the building of the bridge took all the way from 1869 to 1883 and wasn’t without incident. As Ariel told me, there were problems with workers going so deep into the river to secure the bridge, and Washington Roebling himself suffered paralysis from going so deep when the caissons were being placed. But the Roebling family endured, and you’ll want to hear what Washington’s wife, Elizabeth, did next.

Making its mark

As Ariel tells me, the first few years of the bridge were tumultuous. People flocked to it to cross it, others didn’t trust that it was safe. Shortly after its opening, a woman on the bridge screamed that the bridge was collapsing, and 12 people died in the stampede that ensued. That brought out P.T. Barnum, who marched his elephants across the bridge to demonstrate how safe it was. And those are just a few of the stories Ariel told me in this really fun, funny history lesson about the Brooklyn Bridge. You’ll have to listen if you want to hear about those pirates.

Outline of This Episode

[3:32] Ariel’s biggest surprise covering NYC
[6:31] How Ariel became interested in the Brooklyn Bridge
[7:30] Before the Brooklyn Bridge
[10:32] What went into the design
[12:24] The building of the Brooklyn Bridge
[15:27] Incidents during the building process
[16:42] The story of Elizabeth Roebling
[17:43] What happened when it first opened
[22:05] How the bridge became a part of New York life
[26:52] The bridge’s secret compartments
[28:07] East River pirates

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/the-brooklyn-bridge/

Exploring Wartime Berlin Jan 01, 2018

Show notes

There is no shortage of history books covering World War II, and it’s even a joke that if you want to win an Oscar, just make a movie about the Nazis. But despite all of the attention paid to WWII and the years leading up to it, a lot of us don’t have a clear picture of what it was like to live in Berlin during that time. What was it like to watch Hitler rise to power, begin to attack both enemies and allies, and then eventually fail in his conquest? To find some of these answers, we turn to Nick Shepley, a history teacher who also hosts the Explaining History podcast, and has a line of ebooks for history teachers. Nick is so great at really digging in and making historical periods come alive, so I know you’re going to love this episode.

Berlin: The Epicenter of Culture

Nick divides the time between the world wars into three periods. As he says, from about 1918-1923 Germany is in crisis, from about 1924-1929 it’s relatively stable, and then another crisis from 1929 to 1933 which ends with Hitler coming to power. But what’s fascinating is that during that stable period, radical politics move to the margins and Weimar Berlin becomes the epicenter of modernism. This is when you see writers like Christopher Isherwood move to Berlin, and the rise of influential cultural movements that are still with us today, like Bauhaus. But the freewheeling culture and society of Berlin, Nick says, may have actually helped Hitler—who was scribbling away at Mein Kampf—rise to prominence.

Make Germany Great Again

Hitler looks around at all of the avant-garde cultures and relaxing of strict mores and sees what he thinks of as a degradation of his country, led by Jewish citizens and Bolsheviks. As Nick says, fascism always has at its root the idea of rejuvenation: Things were always better sometime in the past, and now a single person is needed to rise up and rejuvenate the country. And so Hitler looked at Berlin and saw it as a festering sore that was preventing Germany from reclaiming its glory. Nick clearly is a natural-born storyteller, and you’ll want to hear how he paints a picture of this pivotal time in Germany’s history.

Berlin as war breaks out

As Nick tells me, while many in Berlin didn’t quite see the horrors of Hitler’s rise—or they chose not to—they were not ready for another war. He tells this amazing story at the dawn of the second world war in 1939 where Hitler rides out into the streets of Berlin in his limousine, prepared to be feted by the people, only to find the streets empty. Of course, things change by 1940, and people do begin to rally around Hitler. And the story Nick tells of why this happens is fascinating. If you have any interest in this time period, you’ll want to listen to this episode.

When history comes knocking

This was such a fascinating conversation with Nick, to talk about what led up to Hitler’s rise, and what life was like for people there. For such a studied time, it’s always been something that I’ve looked at as history, as stories from the past. But seeing some of the signposts and some of the similarities between what was happening in Berlin between the wars and what has happened during our time, it’s a good lesson in how history can help inform how we understand our own time, and even help us recognize the shifting political trade winds as they happen.

Outline of This Episode

[1:47] How Nick got started podcasting as a teacher
[3:23] The time between wars
[7:36] Hitler’s rise
[12:02] The end of the good times
[18:50] What life was like for Berliners
[27:03] Did it feel like an occupation to live under the Gestapo?
[30:34] What it’s like after the declaration of war
[36:21] When Berlin begins feeling the war
[45:05] What it was like after the war, before the wall

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere. More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/exploring-wartime-berlin/

O Little Town of Bethlehem Dec 25, 2017

Show notes

Bethlehem may be the most famous small town on Earth. The town is of course known as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, but beyond its most famous citizen, what do people really know about the city? For me, the answer as “not much.” I had the chance to travel to Bethlehem in March, and I learned so much about the city’s history beyond its Biblical history. My guest today is the man who literally wrote the book on Bethlehem, Nicholas Blincoe. Nicholas wrote the critically hailed Bethlehem: Biography of a Town, and on this episode, we discuss what life was like there in the first century A.D., how that history relates to what’s told in the Bible, and how the legacy of its most famous son affected the town centuries after his birth.

How old is Bethlehem?

Bethlehem is a very old town in a very old region, at the crossroads of two ancient trails: What today is called Hevron Road that runs up to Jerusalem, and then an east-west trail that came from the Dead Sea. And as the aquifer in the area began to be used as a water source for Jerusalem, Bethlehem town grew up to protect the water source, and eventually became a market town for the people who lived there. But as Nicholas says, his “big argument” in the book is that Bethlehem is not as old as the Bible says it is. I won’t spoil the argument here, but you’ll want to hear what he has to say about it.

Bethlehem in Jesus’s Time

I asked Nicholas about the historical evidence of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem, and he said that while much of the evidence, including the Gospels, is 200 or so years after he would have been born, there are other ways of thinking about it. For instance, while much of it may be a few hundred years after the fact, much of it is built on 200 years of pilgrimage, which is strong evidence for the town as Jesus’s birthplace. And there was an inn on the edge of town where travelers visiting the site of Jesus’ birth would stay. And so Nicholas notes that even though there is no hard evidence, the fact is that people who lived in the time of Christ certainly believed it, making it interesting evidence for a historian.

St. Helena and the Church of the Nativity

Nicholas tells a great story in this episode about St. Helena, who met her husband as a barmaid and would eventually become the mother of the great emperor Constantine. She then ruled over the empire as matriarch, and went on to build what Nicholas calls one of the most unusual churches in the world, the Church of the Nativity. She actually opened up the top of a cave thought to be where Christ was born, and built a rotunda, so you could look down into the place where Jesus was born. As Nicholas says, it makes the church very influential and, perhaps, interesting from a Freudian perspective.

What to see in Bethlehem, and how to see it

I asked Nicholas for advice for visiting Bethlehem, and straight away he noted that the typical tour bus is operated by Israelis, and the Palestinian gift shop owners pay those companies to take tourists by their shops. So, as he said, you could feel a little “icky” arranging a trip in that manner. (Though we both make a few recommendations for tours that are on the up-and-up.) He also recommends the Church of the Nativity, of course, and walking Start Street, which was the old pilgrimage route. He also has some really cool suggestions for Roman ruins, holy sites and good places to stop and eat. If you’re thinking of visiting the most famous small town in the world, first listen to this episode, then pick up Nicholas’s book, and then make your plans.

Outline of This Episode

[2:26] How Nicholas got interested in Bethlehem
[3:48] The origins of Bethlehem
[10:18] Bethlehem and King David
[14:02] Nabataeans in Bethlehem
[19:15] Jesus in Bethlehem
[25:52] Is there an argument against Christ being born in Bethlehem?
[28:08] The Church of Nativity and St. Helena
[38:28] Visiting the church
[45:05] Must-sees in Bethlehem

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect With Stephanie

Featuring the song “Places Unseen” by Lee Rosevere More info and photographs for this episode at: https://historyfangirl.com/o-little-town-of-bethlehem/

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