The 1647 Putney Debates saw the development of many of the key democratic ideas we take for granted today. As Thomas Raisborough put it. 

the poorest he that is in England has a life to live, as the greatest he: and therefore truly, Sir, I think it is clear, that every man that has a life to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not bound in a strict sense to the government that he has not had a voice to put himself under

All of this was of course against the backdrop of the English Civil War which in many ways makes if even more remarkable.

The First World War marks the end the supremacy of the battleship and the beginning of the end for Pax Britannia.  The decline of Royal Navy mirrors the that of the British Empire for obvious reasons and the it's future is unclear.

Sails are finally done away with as steam power takes over and the race between armour and guns gets under way.  Pax Britannia turns maps of the world red as the Americans, Japanese and Germans aspire to have navies just like the British; the road to World War One begins.

This episode covers the end the Napoleonic Wars and what Britain did next, how the Royal Navy had to change and the technological advances that might threaten or enhance it's dominance.

Tony

The episode looks at the period from the start of the French Revolution to the Battle of Trafalgar.

http://bingethinkinghistory.blogspot.com/2010/05/15-reign-of-terror-to-trafalgar.html

Hello everyone.  Just to let you know the podcast now had a new website.

http://www.bingethinkinghistory.com

The mp3 files will remain hosted on Libsyn as it's a great service and the new site will link to the individual files, in fact I'll probably have to run the two sites along side each other.  You don't have to adjust anything.

Episode 15 is under way too!

This episode takes a look at explorers not the usual fighting and politics.  Cook sails to the Pacific times and Bligh is only remembered because of a certain mutiny.

Episode 13 at long last. 

The American colonys are lost and things look bleak.  However the reputation of the Royal Navy and Britain is saved by someone whose own was highly suspect. 

Merry Christmas everyone.

All the best

Tony

Hello everyone, I seem to be endlessly apologising for delays and this is 'mother of all delays' as Episode 13 tries to make it to completion.  I'm in a perfect storm of delay if you will; work and everything else is taking up far too much time and I decided to try and make this the longest episode I've done.

So worry not BTHP is alive and well, very well in fact as it's almost at 10,000 downloads, it's just not got a well defined schedule.

All the very best

Tony

Finally a new episode and sorry for the long hiatus.  I'm going to try and make sure that doesn't happen again.

This episode covers what happened during the mid 18th Century and the all important Seven Years War, seen by many as the real 'First World War'.  It also saw Britain become the dominant European power without actually having an army on the continent and the continuation of the century long on/off conflict with France.  The road to Waterloo and Trafalgar was set.

Hope you enjoy

Tony