Pax Britannica: A History of the British Empire

Check out the University of Aberdeen Online Courses: http://on.abdn.ac.uk/online-history-courses⁠ Oliver Cromwell is offered a crown... but will he take it? Alice Hunt, Republic, 2024. Martyn Bennet, Oliver Cromwell, 2006. Michael Braddick (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 2015. Barry Coward, The Cromwellian Protectorate, 2002. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic, 2020. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, 2022. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out the University of Aberdeen Online Courses: http://on.abdn.ac.uk/online-history-courses The Second Protectorate Parliament meets, and the Major-Generals purge a third of the MPs before it even begins. Royalists and Levellers conspire to assassinate Lord Protector Cromwell. Thoughts turn towards a new royal dynasty. Alice Hunt, Republic, 2024. Martyn Bennet, Oliver Cromwell, 2006. Michael Braddick (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 2015. Barry Coward, The Cromwellian Protectorate, 2002. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic, 2020. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, 2022. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After rebellion and disappointment, Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell fears he has lost God's favour. The only way to restore it is do his work on earth - the moral reformation of England and Wales. Alice Hunt, Republic, 2024. Martyn Bennet, Oliver Cromwell, 2006. Michael Braddick (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 2015. Barry Coward, The Cromwellian Protectorate, 2002. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic, 2020. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, 2022. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire, 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As recently as 1928, a vast swathe of Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait – were bound together under a single imperial banner, an entity known officially as the ‘Indian Empire’, or more simply as the Raj. Sam Dalrymple was kind enough to speak with me about his new book, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia, and how this enormous entity was divided, before and after British rule came to an end. Order Shattered Lands here: https://lnkfi.re/9482xG?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oliver Cromwell's friend and Secretary of State John Thurloe was also one of the most effective spymasters in English history. Catching the Gerard Plot before they could assassinate the Lord Protector, and uprooting Penruddock's Uprising until it was just Penruddock left, he kept the Protectorate safe from threats. But he could not shield Cromwell from the terrible news of the Western Design. Alice Hunt, Republic, 2024. Martyn Bennet, Oliver Cromwell, 2006. Michael Braddick (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 2015. Barry Coward, The Cromwellian Protectorate, 2002. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic, 2020. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, 2022. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire, 2017. Timothy Noel Peacock, 'Cromwell’s “spymaster”? John Thurloe and rethinking early modern intelligence', The Seventeenth Century, 35, 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The army of the Western Design invades Jamaica, and marches unopposed into the capital. But despite English claims of victory, the Jamaican population is not about to let itself be conquered. This episode could not have been written without the following works: Alice Hunt, Republic, 2024. Martyn Bennet, Oliver Cromwell, 2006. Michael Braddick (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 2015. Barry Coward, The Cromwellian Protectorate, 2002. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic, 2020. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. John Morrill, The Letters, Writings, and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, Volume 3: 16 December 1653 to 2 September 1658, 2023 John Kenyon and Jane Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars: A Military History of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1638-1660. Alan MacInnes, The British Revolution, 1629-1660, 2004. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, 2022. Carla Gardina Pestana, 'Atlantic Mobilities and the Defiance of the Early Quakers', Journal of Early Modern History, 2023. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Atlantic in the Age of Revolution, 2007. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire, 2017. Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Caribbean Single Market, 2006 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fleet of the Western Design arrives off the coast of Hispaniola, and Oliver Cromwell's dream of a Protestant colonial empire seems assured. But it doesn't take long for everything to go wrong...This episode could not have been written without the following works: Alice Hunt, Republic, 2024. Martyn Bennet, Oliver Cromwell, 2006. Michael Braddick (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 2015. Barry Coward, The Cromwellian Protectorate, 2002. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic, 2020. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. John Morrill, The Letters, Writings, and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, Volume 3: 16 December 1653 to 2 September 1658, 2023 John Kenyon and Jane Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars: A Military History of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1638-1660. Alan MacInnes, The British Revolution, 1629-1660, 2004. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, 2022. Carla Gardina Pestana, 'Atlantic Mobilities and the Defiance of the Early Quakers', Journal of Early Modern History, 2023. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Atlantic in the Age of Revolution, 2007. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire, 2017. Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Caribbean Single Market, 2006 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lord Protector Cromwell dispatches a huge fleet of warships to the Caribben to conquer the Spanish colonies. But once the expedition reaches Barbados, they discover that reality doesn't match with expectations.This episode could not have been written without the following works: Alice Hunt, Republic, 2024. Martyn Bennet, Oliver Cromwell, 2006. Michael Braddick (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 2015. Barry Coward, The Cromwellian Protectorate, 2002. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Paul Lay, Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of the English Republic, 2020. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. John Morrill, The Letters, Writings, and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell, Volume 3: 16 December 1653 to 2 September 1658, 2023 John Kenyon and Jane Ohlmeyer, The Civil Wars: A Military History of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1638-1660. Alan MacInnes, The British Revolution, 1629-1660, 2004. Ian Gentles, The New Model Army: Agent of Revolution, 2022. Carla Gardina Pestana, 'Atlantic Mobilities and the Defiance of the Early Quakers', Journal of Early Modern History, 2023. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Atlantic in the Age of Revolution, 2007. Carla Gardina Pestana, The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire, 2017. Hilary Beckles, A History of Barbados: From Amerindian Settlement to Caribbean Single Market, 2006 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first half of Episode 2 - Hostile Takeover. Listen to the full episode here: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/ARML6837257429?selected=ARML4090812395After the death of Aurangzeb, the United East India Company benefitted from the political chaos of 18th century India. Allying with, fighting against, and eventually dominating the Nawabs of Bengal and Arcot, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy, and the Sultans of Mysore. At the Battles of Plassey and Buxar, Company generals like Sir Robert Clive asserted British authority over massive territories, and the Carnatic Wars hobbled their European rivals.The British Empire in India was on the rise, but what goes up must come down.Subscribe to the mailing list at LangnessMedia.comThank you to my guest historians: Philip J. Stern, Professor of History at Duke, and author of The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) and Empire, Incorporated: The Corporations that built British Colonialism (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2023). Jon Wilson, Professor of Modern History at King’s College, London, and author of India Conquered: Britain's Raj and the Chaos of Empire (London: Simon & Schuster, 2016) Rupali Mishra, Associate Professor of History at Auburn University, and author of A Business of State: Commerce, Politics, and the Birth of the East India Company (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2018) Benjamin R. Siegel, Associate Professor of History at Boston University, and author of Hungry Nation: Food, Famine, and the Making of Modern India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018) Christina Welsch, Assistant Professor of History at the College of Wooster, and author of The Company's Sword: The East India Company and the Politics of Militarism, 1644-1858 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022) Thank you to my guest voice actors: Robin Pierson, host of the History of Byzantium Podcast. David Crowther, host of the History of England Podcast Go to AirwaveMedia.com to find other great history shows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Alice Hunt was kind enough to come on the podcast to talk about her new book, Republic: Britain’s Revolutionary Decade, 1649–1660. - https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571303199-republic-britains-revolutionary-decade-1649-1660/Listen to Winds of Change HERE: https://pod.link/1779033628Listen to The History of England HERE: https://pod.link/412308812Join the Mailing List! https://forms.gle/meJvkqLb81uzRqya9Join the Patreon House of Lords for ad-free episodes! https://www.patreon.com/PaxBritannica Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices