Founded in 1879, the Austro-Hungarian Evidenzbureau was the first permanent military intelligence service in the world. In 1901 Colonel Alfred Redl was appointed head of counter espionage. Redl’s reign saw a burst of innovation, helping propel Austro-Hungary to the forefront of the espionage world.
What nobody knew was that Redl was a double-agent, also working as a spy for the Russian Empire. His exposure, in the run up to the First World War, created a huge intelligence and political scandal in Austro-Hungary and led to Redl’s suicide.
In this episode we’re going to discuss this often forgotten spy scandal and why it deserves to be better remembered today.
On the evening of the 5th of March 1770, a ragged volley of shots rang out on the streets of Boston, Massachusetts. That volley would change the history of the world. The incident, in which British troops fired into an angry crowd, killing five civilians, would become known as the ‘Boston Massacre’. Thanks to figures such as Sam Adams and Paul Revere, it would also become part of America’s founding myth.
In today’s show, we’re going to look at why tensions in Boston were so high in 1770. We’ll dig beneath the confused accounts and look at what actually happened that fateful night. And we’ll also look at the myth and reality of what followed, and why the ‘Boston Massacre’ remains such a powerful part of the American national story today.
Guest: Caitlin DeAngelis
https://bsky.app/profile/caitlindeangelis.bsky.social
Reading List:
- Gary B. Nash, "The Urban Crucible": https://uk.bookshop.org/a/9424/9780674930599
- Hiller B Zobel, "The Boston Massacre": https://archive.org/details/bostonmassacre00hill
- Serena Zabin, "The Boston Massacre, A Family History": https://serenazabin.com/book/
- Fred Anderson, "A People's Army: Massachusetts soldiers and society in the Seven Years War": https://archive.org/details/peoplesarmymassa00ande
- John Phillip Reid, "A Lawyer Acquitted: John Adams and the Boston Massacre Trials": https://www.jstor.org/stable/845085
- Farah Peterson, “Black Lives and the Boston Massacre”: https://theamericanscholar.org/black-lives-and-the-boston-massacre/
- Joanne Freeman, "The American Revolution" (Yale Lecture Series): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDA2BC5E785D495AB
- Caitlin DeAngelis, "The Caretakers": https://uk.bookshop.org/a/9424/9781633888999
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Host: Gareth Edwards
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Credits:
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Before the outbreak of the American Civil War, Colonel Robert E Lee wrote: I can anticipate no greater calamity for the country than a dissolution of the Union. It would be an accumulation of all the evils we complain of, and I am willing to sacrifice everything but honor for its preservation. Yet on April 20, 1861, Lee resigned from the Union army. By the 23rd April he was commander of all state forces in Virginia, one of the secessionist states.
From as early as 7000 years before the common era, we have evidence suggesting cats served alongside humans on ships. This isn’t just in a civilian capacity. As long as there have been warships, cats have served on them around the world.
This is a tradition that has extended well into the modern era. At least 12 cats are known to have been present at the D-Day landings in June 1944. There were almost certainly more felines present in those critical early hours than dogs. Cats would continue to have an official presence on Royal Navy vessels until they were officially banned in 1975, and just how rigorously that ban has been enforced remains a question sometimes today.
Individual ship’s cats have sometimes been the subject of articles, videos and podcasts. What’s often not covered in detail though, is why cats were so important on ships, and how ships throughout the ages managed their presence.
So today, in this episode, we’re going to explore both the history and logistics of one of the most critical elements of naval history - the ship’s cat.
In this episode we cover the fascinating history of phrases and evolution of language in the English speaking world. From everyday sayings and their origins, to common terms lost to the passage of time, we explore some of our favourites and their sometimes surprising origins.
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