Edge of History Podcast

02/07/2023

I couldn't get my phone camera to focus properly, but while I was out harvesting greens this morning, I noticed one of my wasp buddies destroying this loathsome little caterpillar.

30/06/2023

When I'm on the road, I enjoy stealing off to a quiet coffee spot when it isn't busy, and taking a half hour or so to just sit and reflect. I'm a real nerd about it and pick a place that approaches the whole process with humanity and respect for the people who grow this stuff and the art that makes it great.
Coffee is one of the most sprayed crops in the world, grown by people who are often little more than serfs, exploited by cartel-like export outfits, and then mass roasted to churn out nothing but a cheap caffeine fix.
Coffee CAN be as complex and varied as good wine or beer, with flavors unique to a region, and a way for local growers who are keeping an important craft alive to maintain their freedom while feeding their families and taking pride in what they do. That's my cup of coffee right there.
Support stuff that helps people Arise Above Oppression. ✊️✌️

29/06/2023

17/06/2023

"History drives a hard and devious bargain. If you aren't the famous one in the center of the picture, your life will likely be forgotten, no matter how interesting it is. And if you ARE the famous one...you will never be seen clearly again."

-- Bob Thompson: "Born on a Mountaintop: On the Road With Davy Crockett and the Ghosts of the Wild Frontier."

16/06/2023

On this day in AD 363, Roman Emperor Julian made the fateful decision to burn his supply fleet during his ambitious Persian invasion.
Historians argue over the soundness of this decision at the time, but there is no doubt that the consequences were an unmitigated disaster. Having abandoned a siege of the Persian capital in the hopes of defeating a large Persian army in the field, Julian achieved neither objective and was killed.
His successor was forced to accept a humiliating and damaging peace.
The last non-Christian Roman Emperor passed from the scene within a couple generations of the Western Empire's final decline.

15/06/2023

On this day in 1798, the Provisional Army of the United States was dissolved. Its brief existence (in response to threat from France) was not in itself important.
But it symbolized something important that modern audiences might have a difficult time imagining: early in its history, the US did not keep anything like a large and professional army standing. The political environment post-Revolution was deeply suspicious of idle bodies of professional soldiers-- so often in history a threat to their own government.
This attitude would not change until after the War of 1812, and was a lonnnnnng way from our modern days of allocating two thirds of our national budget to military spending.

14/06/2023

New episode alert!
Underrated Overrated: The Gettysburg Address Part 2

In Part 2, I cover the delivery of the speech, line by line. I discuss why it’s remarkable all by itself and why its immortal legacy is even more so. It is hard to understate the impact of Lincoln himself and this speech in particular on how America still remembers the war and why it was fought.

Check it out here!

https://edgeofteaching.com/2023/06/13/ep-32-underrated-overrated-the-gettysburg-address-part-2/

14/06/2023

New Episode out now!!

In Part 2, I cover the speech itself, line by line, why it’s remarkable all by itself and why its legacy is even more so. It is hard to understate the impact of Lincoln himself and this speech in particular on how America still remembers the war and why it was fought.

12/06/2023

On this day in 1864, thousands of Union soldiers were killed and wounded in a fruitless attempt to assault Confederate fortifications at the Battle of Cold Harbor.
The meat grinder was characteristic of 1864's "Overland Campaign" and earned now-legendary general (and future President) Ulysses S Grant his reputation as a "butcher."
In reality he was following, at long last, what Abraham Lincoln wished for the course of the war: to grind down the Confederate armies through relentless attrition. The Union had huge advantages in money, equipment, population, transport, etc. The Confederacy had (for awhile) higher quality troops and commanders. With every grinding engagement, the Confederacy lost vital men that it could not replace. It was, according to Lincoln, the "grim arithmetic," and so long as the Union armies were not totally routed, it could only end in success. Grant pursued it perfectly to its conclusion.

11/06/2023

On this day in 980, Volodymyr "The Great" was proclaimed Grand Prince of Kyivan Rus-- the oldest and greatest of the Slavic states in Eastern Europe. Founded by roving Vikings with trade links to the Byzantine Empire and Northern Europe, Rus had its two main urban centers in Kyiv (modern day capital of Ukraine) and Novgorod, at one point marrying into the imperial dynasty of the Eastern Roman Empire.
After three centuries of cultural significance, Kyivan Rus defied the Mongol Horde and was utterly overwhelmed and destroyed. Later Dukes who had chosen total submission to the Mongols assumed importance in the Slavic world through their new power base in Moscow. The descendants of these dukes would later found imperial Russia.

10/06/2023

On this day in 1190, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa drowned while crossing the River Saleph during the Third Crusade.
Frederick had taken the old land route through modern day Turkiye and put a whupping on the Seljuk Turks. The arrival of his army in the Holy Land might have made the victories there against the coalition led by Saladin far more decisive. As it was, most of his men abandoned the Crusade after his death, depriving the Crusaders of the largest portion of troops. Richard Lionheart directed a limited reconquest, but not enough to break or dismantle Saladin's hold on the region. The last best chance to redress the devastating defeats the Crusader States suffered in 1187 had passed.
History can move from random or stupid events.

09/06/2023

On this day in AD 68, Roman Emperor Nero committed su***de after a brief attempt to flee from ex*****on. He became famous in history for his debauchery and corruption while reigning at the height of Rome's power. Many of the legends about the immoral behavior of Roman Emperors have their origins in the primary source descriptions of him, his associates, and his uncle, Caligula.
His death was the end of an era-- he was the last surviving descendant of the Julio-Claudian line that had founded the Empire on the ruins of the Roman Republic. By the end of his reign, he had murdered most of the rest of his relatives.
Without anyone remotely legitimate to succeed him, Nero left one final negative legacy: his death convulsed the Empire in a year of nearly continous and horrific civil war known as The Year of the Four Emperors.
Nice job, dipsh*t.

08/06/2023

New episode alert! This has actually been out for a week, but WordPress was jacked up for me and I couldn't get the website post done.
For Memorial Day, I recorded an episode in tribute to the 5th New York Infantry Regiment during our Civil War. They were not a regular Army unit, but were raised, trained, and even outfitted to be a stand-out unit-- even down to their crazy French colonial "Zouave" uniform style.
Until their tragic and sudden annihilation in 1862, these guys inspired respect everywhere they went, including among their enemies.
Here they are captured in an incredible painting by Don Troiani.
Check out the episode here:
https://edgeofteaching.com/2023/06/07/ep-31-remembering-the-5th-new-york-infantry-regiment-duryees-zouaves/

08/06/2023

On this day in 1099, after a long journey fraught with horrors, thirst, and starvation, the remaining First Crusaders began the Siege of Jerusalem.
The Siege was to have a dramatic effect not just on the history of the region, but the way the world thinks about Crusade history. As they had a year earlier at Antioch, the Crusaders let off the steam of their long privation in a horrific Massacre of the city's Muslim population. Set against the whole history of the Crusading period, this was atypical behavior. The Crusader States that formed afterward were NOT committed to Holy War or ethnic cleansing-- so much so, in fact, that European Christians often doubted their reliability as allies! To the average layperson, however, "Crusader" has become a term synonymous with fanaticism and brutality, thanks to the culmination of this event in history. Jerusalem carries a heavy weight with it historically and symbolically.
The Muslim leader Saladin understood this-- despite being responsible for several callous massacres of his own, when he retook Jerusalem in 1187, he spared the population-- and has enjoyed a totally unearned reputation for generosity ever since.

06/06/2023

D-Day! On this day we celebrate the anniversary of the largest amphibious operation in the history of the world, and its subsequent victory over N**i fascism. Just as important, Allied advances stemming from this operation's successful ex*****on would form an armed bulwark in Western Europe against Soviet Russian imperialism and brutality.
Salute to the American, British, and Canadian soldiers, sailors, and airmen who braved the hell storm of this operation and its 122000 plus casualties.
🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇨🇦

04/06/2023

OTD 34 years ago, the Chinese government brutally crushed a mass protest originating with college students in the city of Beijing. It became known as the Tianenmen Square Massacre.
In its attempt to cover up what it had done and erase the atrocity from history, the Chinese government confiscated and destroyed all press camera film they could find. One journalist managed to sneak out a roll of film that contained this picture.
One brave regular person, still holding the briefcase he was carrying to work, seeing that line of tanks, knowing what they were rolling toward and what they'd do when they got there, choosing in the flash of a moment to challenge them to roll over him first.
He knew it almost certainly would end in his own death and wouldn't change a thing, but he did it,all alone, with no weapon, planning, help, or hope.
Salute to you, "Tank Man." You were the best of us.

30/05/2023

As a proud American, on our Memorial Day I think of all the people who have fallen in the line of duty to our country. This episode about a volunteer unit in our Civil War that because of its exceptional valor and discipline was nearly utterly destroyed while heavily outnumbered in the Second Battle of Bull Run. They held the line and their story is worth telling.

29/03/2023

50 years ago today, the last United States combat troops left Vietnam. After 10 years of steady involvement, 58000 troops killed in action, and the country at home nearly torn apart from passionate disagreement over the war and mistrust of the government, America gave up. There have been precious few lessons learned and a whole lot of "lessons learned" in the short and long-term aftermath. Expect some podcasts on this war soon.

23/03/2023

Edge of History gear is now available in a variety of styles, colors & styles!

Gears that looks great, feels good and supports the Edge of the History podcast!. The Edge of History podcast has experienced some big growth over the last year and we're...

03/03/2023

I chuckled to myself a few days ago at the one year anniversary of the Russian "elite" VDV paratroopers attempt to take Hostomel airport in Ukraine. Cut off by the general bungling and surprisingly effective Ukrainian resistance, they were embarrassed and then utterly destroyed. True observers know that the "blue beret" VDV are elite on paper only-- more of a parade unit in actual training. I considered posting it for an OTD here, but thought it too recent for a history podcast.
BUT THEN I was reminded late yesterday that it was the 23rd anniversary of the Battle for Height 776 in Chechnya, in which "elite" Russian paratroopers were attempting to pursue retreating Chechens under the command of Khattab, and amid general bungling and surprisingly effective Chechen resistance, were cut off, embarrassed, and destroyed.
The symmetry was too good to ignore. Doom on you, Russkies.

02/03/2023

On this day in AD 537, the Ostrogoths besieged Rome.
This was not the famous sack of 410, nor the acknowledged point at which the "Roman Empire" ended-- more commonly assigned to the year 476 or to no year at all. This siege wasn't even a Roman battlefield defeat, and ultimately was a part of a series of military campaigns that destroyed Gothic power.
A defeat it was, however, for culture and civilization. The back-and-forth seizing of the city by the Goths and the "Roman" Byzantines was devastating to its infrastructure, and there was no money or will to repair it. The great engineering feats of the aqueducts were destroyed, tens of thousands of people were killed, or died of disease/starvation. The city's population was reduced by 90 percent over a period of a single decade, and never recovered.
The great architectural works that survived the violence crumbled and were often cannibalized for smaller walls to protect against bandits. In Rome itself, Roman civilization was no more.

28/02/2023

19 years ago today, the indomitable Chechen guerrilla commander Ruslan Gelayev, aka " Khamzat," known also by his call sign "Angel," was killed in a firefight with Russian troops on the Chechen border with Georgia.
Gelayev had been fighting the Russians in and out of those treacherous and often utterly frozen mountain passes for most of the previous five years, and was a respected leader dating back to the "First" Chechen War.

19/02/2023

Podcasts are fueled with good coffee like that roasted by . It's the season for a lot of their good Guatemalan stuff, and this historic farm is no exception.
I follow a careful little ritual every morning for making my coffee by pour-over. It quiets my mind and gets me ready to think and to enjoy the morning.

19/02/2023

When you're lucky enough to get a second chance, you need to capitalize like Legionary Commander Q. Petillius Cerealis.
Stationed in Roman Britain, Cerialis was present for the rebellion of Boudicca in AD 60, and caught up in the disastrous Roman defeats of its beginning. Tacitus reported that Cerialis was literally caught with his pants down-- having to flee his tent while the fierce Celtic tribesmen overwhelmed his infantry and cut it to pieces. He was lucky to escape with his life.
But years later things took a turn. He backed the right horse in the 18 months of civil war that engulfed Rome after Nero's fall. Having experienced success serving the future Emperor Vespasian, the latter entrusted him with the command of the army sent to put down the revolt of the Batavian Auxiliaries. The Germanic Batavians had destroyed two legions and disgraced two more, but when Cerialis led a massive force to subdue them, he succeeded at Xanten in AD 70. Nice save, general.

16/02/2023

On this day in 1113, Pope Paschal II formally recognized the religious order that would later become popularly known as the Knights Hospitaller.
Originally a charitable organization for sick or injured Christian pilgrims in the Muslim-held Holy Land, they were based in the Hospital of St. John the Baptist near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. After the success of the First Crusade, their role and funding expanded to include armed es**rt of pilgrims, and then significant independent military action.
Along with the similar Knights Templar, their presence in the Crusader States became as controversial as it was poweful. Their mighty fortress of Krak de Chevaliers, never successfully attacked in its long history, still stands remarkably intact in the arid Syrian countryside.

10/02/2023

On this day in 1258, the Mongol horde under Hulagu Khan forced the surrender of Baghdad, cultural capital of the Muslim world.
The scale of the massacre and destruction that followed passed all description. Numbers cannot be ascertained, but somewhere between 200,000 and 800,000 people were stabbed or hacked to death. Innumerable priceless artifacts, books, and works of significant architecture were destroyed. The area remained a mostly depopulated ruin for decades afterward.

09/02/2023

New Episode Alert!
Ep. 30 Underrated Overrated: The Gettysburg Address Part 1.

Many of us in America know a few phrases of it here and there because we all had to read it in
high school. We know it was a good speech, totally reaffirming freedom while honoring war dead, yadda
yadda. But lost in the cliches is how significant it was that Lincoln was able to make such a speech at
such a time, and make it stick. He had a LOT riding against people even taking the speech seriously, let
alone holding it up later as an example of everything America stands for. In part 1, I explain why.

Listen here!
https://edgeofteaching.com/2023/02/09/ep-30-underrated-overrated-the-gettysburg-address-part-1/

09/02/2023

New episode is out now and we are on pace to hit 20,000 download this month - super excited about that! 🔥💣✊

https://edgeofteaching.com/2023/02/09/ep-30-underrated-overrated-the-gettysburg-address-part-1/

08/02/2023

Thinking about generational incompetence the other day with the Stephens of Blois reminded me of the Kentucky Buckner family of military (in?)fame.
Simon Bolivar Buckner, named for the famous South American patriot and independence fighter Simon Bolivar, commanded rebel Confederate troops in the American Civil War. His loss of Fort Donelson gave the Union one of its first significant victories, and made a certain Western general named Ulysses S Grant famous. Buckner's vain hope for generous surrender terms even coined Grant's notorious "unconditional surrender" reply a newspaper item (and Grant's nickname).
Buckner retired from military life after the war and even had a run as governor of Kentucky, a period in the state's history famous for both rampant corruption and violent feuds like the notable Hatfield/McCoy conflict.
He fathered a son at age 62, also named Simon Bolivar. That Buckner grew up and joined the military, also rising through the ranks to general. He commanded the invasion of Okinawa and bungled its ex*****on, for which he may have been responsible for thousands of American military and Okinawan civilian deaths. During the last of several unpopular and unwise visits to the front line, Buckner was recognized by Japanese troops and killed by artillery fire. He was the highest-ranking American officer killed in World War 2.

05/02/2023

As per the excellent Chechen culture account , on this day 23 years ago, a group of drunken Russian paramilitary police and soldiers "mopped up" the totally unarmed Chechen village of Novye Aldi-- ra**ng, looting, murdering, and burning their way through the town. Their victims ranged in age from an infant (shot twice at point blank range) to an 82 year old grandmother.
The European Court of Human Rights later established and judged Russian guilt after a lengthy investigation. No one was ever held accountable for any crime. Novye Aldi was neither a one-off nor an aberration. The behavior of OMON police and short term "Kontraktniki" soldiers in Chechnya was notorious for following this pattern.