Prompt Cast
Weird Wars Throughout History: From Sacred Wars to Emus vs. Soldiers
TLDR In this episode, the hosts discuss a variety of strange wars throughout history, including the First Sacred War, the War of Canudos, the Omeid-Berber War, the war between Abyssinia and Britain, the War of Jenkins's ear, the War of the Triple Alliance, the Emu War, and the Czech Legion's journey during World War I. These wars highlight the peculiarities of human conflict and the unexpected outcomes that can arise.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The hosts discuss their upcoming episode on weird wars, where they will each choose five strange wars to discuss and highlight their peculiarities, while acknowledging the suffering involved.
05:20
The first strange war discussed is the First Sacred War, where a descendant of Hippocrates attempts to make amends for his ancestor's actions, and there are other sacred wars but they are not as exciting; the second strange war discussed is The War of Canudos in Brazil, where a prophet figure sets up a sacred community that is eventually destroyed by the Brazilian military.
09:55
The Omeid-Berber War of the 690s to 702 AD takes place during the Arab conquest of the South Mediterranean coast, where the Arab commander and his troops face tough opponents in the Berbers led by a queen called Dia, also known as al-Kahina, who defeats the Arabs in battle but ultimately gets killed in battle herself.
14:24
The war between Abyssinia and Britain begins with an unanswered letter from Abyssinian king Tehwodros II to Queen Victoria, leading to a British expedition to crush him and ultimately resulting in his suicide.
18:52
The war of Jenkins's ear is a war that took place from 1739 to 1748, sparked by the cutting off of Welsh merchant Robert Jenkins's ear by the Spanish, although the story of him exhibiting his ear to the House of Commons is actually untrue.
23:42
The War of Jenkins's ear ends up being a draw and gets subsumed into the war of the Austrian succession, but it does result in the capture of Portobello in Panama, the creation of Portobello Road and the song "Royal Britannia."
28:08
The War of the Triple Alliance, also known as the Paraguayan War, was an incredibly bloody conflict that resulted in the defeat of Paraguay and the death of a significant portion of its population, leading to long-lasting effects on the country's development.
32:07
During the Emu War of 1932, Australian soldiers armed with machine guns attempted to take out a task force of 20,000 emus invading their farmland, but the emus proved to be incredibly tough and ultimately won the war.
36:58
The Czech Legion, a group of 50,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war held in camps in Russia during World War I, decided to rejoin the war and traveled thousands of miles across Russia, seizing control of the Trans-Siberian Railway and becoming a major threat to the Bolsheviks, before eventually making their way back to Czechoslovakia.
41:03
The podcast episode ends with a promotion for another podcast called "We Have Ways of Making You Talk" which focuses on the Second World War.
Categories:
History
