History 102 with WhatifAltHist's Rudyard Lynch and Austin Padgett

• Explaining Europe's L'Ancien Regime

  In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett explore 18th-century Europe's L'Ancien Regime: aristocratic culture, Louis XIV's Versailles, military revolutions, European warfare, Enlightenment developments, and the economic and political conditions leading to the French Revolution. -- SPONSOR: SHOPIFY⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at ⁠⁠⁠https://shopify.com/cognitive⁠⁠⁠ -- FOLLOW ON X: @whatifalthist (Rudyard) @LudwigNverMises (Austin) @TurpentineMedia -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (06:00) European haute culture, Baroque period, and aristocratic living (14:40) Louis XIV, Versailles, and French court politics (19:59) Sponsor: Shopiy (22:00) Enlightenment developments and Treaty of Westphalia (28:20) Seeds of the French Revolution and bureaucratic power (34:40) Economic inequality in 18th century France (40:00) Military revolution: from mercenaries to national armies (49:00) English systems: accent evolution, boarding schools, and Civil War (52:20) Religious wars in Britain and the Glorious Revolution (56:10) Enlightenment, literacy, and class divisions across Europe (1:05:00) European regional divisions (Northwest, Latin, Eastern, Ottoman) (1:12:10) English nobility strategy and meritocratic integration (1:21:50) British Isles unification: Scotland and Ireland (1:27:40) European warfare system and balance of power (1:29:50) Austrian and Russian Empires (1:35:50) Great Northern War: Charles XII vs Peter the Great (1:39:50) Enlightened despotism (Catherine the Great, Frederick II, Maria Theresa) (1:45:50) Spain's decline and Vauban's predictions for France (1:56:30) War of Spanish Succession (2:04:40) 18th century warfare culture and tactics (2:11:10) Frederick the Great and the Seven Years War (2:15:20) War of Jenkins' Ear (2:16:40) Wrap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Explaining the Enlightenment

  In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett examine the Enlightenment's philosophical transformation from medieval religious to modern mechanistic worldviews, analyzing French rationalist, British empirical, and German romantic traditions that fundamentally shaped contemporary Western civilization and thought. -- SPONSOR: ZCASH | SHOPIFY The right technology reshapes politics and culture toward freedom and prosperity. Zcash—the "machinery of freedom"—delivers unstoppable private money through encryption. When your wealth is unseen, it's unseizable. Download Zashi wallet and follow @genzcash to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/genzcash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at ⁠⁠https://shopify.com/cognitive⁠⁠ -- FOLLOW ON X: @whatifalthist (Rudyard) @LudwigNverMises (Austin) @TurpentineMedia -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:15) The Enlightenment (00:50) Defining the Enlightenment - 18th Century Philosophic Breakthrough (01:06) Why the Enlightenment is Hard to Comprehend Today (01:30) Living Off Systems Created by Smarter Earlier Eras (02:37) Living in a World Created by the Enlightenment (03:19) The Enlightenment as an Open Source Toolkit (04:00) Spenglerian Analysis of the Enlightenment (04:30) Ancient World Parallels - Greece and Rome (05:00) Life-Affirming and Life-Denying Phases of Civilization (05:48) The Axial Age - India, China, and Islam (06:52) Every Civilization Doubts Its Old Religion (07:30) Disintegration Since the Enlightenment (17:35) Sponsors Zcash | Shopify (20:18) 17th Century Context & 30 Years War (56:00) British, German & French Enlightenment Discussion (02:05:20) Tolstoy and the Limits of Rationalism (02:06:27) 19th Century Balance - Technology vs Romantic Subjectivism (02:07:15) Transition from French to German Enlightenment (02:08:00) Eastern Europe and Enlightened Despots (02:08:30) Next Video Preview - 18th Century Regime Europe (02:09:00) The Rational Elite Problem (02:10:29) Intelligence vs Character (02:11:00) The Bell Curve and Overproduction of Mids (02:12:18) Wrap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Explaining the Mediterranean's Decline

  In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett explore the Mediterranean's decline from civilization's epicenter to peripheral status, examining Islamic stagnation, Spanish-Ottoman authoritarianism, and Northwest Europe's technological and institutional ascendancy. -- SPONSOR: ZCASH | SHOPIFY The right technology reshapes politics and culture toward freedom and prosperity. Zcash—the "machinery of freedom"—delivers unstoppable private money through encryption. When your wealth is unseen, it's unseizable. Download Zashi wallet and follow @genzcash to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/genzcash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at ⁠⁠https://shopify.com/cognitive⁠⁠ -- FOLLOW ON X: @whatifalthist (Rudyard) @LudwigNverMises (Austin) @TurpentineMedia -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction (00:42) The Problem with "Mediterranean Food" (02:46) Geography of the Mediterranean (05:00) The Mediterranean as America-Sized System (06:28) Unity vs Division (09:01) Atlantic Sailing Technology (17:30) Marseille & Cairo: Civilizational Decline (28:00) British Stranglehold on the Mediterranean (37:18) Northwest Europe's Hermetic Switch (45:12) Classical Civilization & The Roman Empire (56:58) Ancient vs Modern Globalization (1:03:17) Fernand Braudel & Historical Methodology (1:16:18) The Fall of Rome & Rise of Three Civilizations (1:27:00) Islamic Golden Age & Mediterranean Dominance (1:37:27) Italian City-States & Renaissance (1:44:32) Norman Sicily & Christian Reconquest (1:52:06) CORE THESIS: The Islamic Dark Ages (2:00:00) Spanish & Ottoman Empires Divide the Mediterranean (2:07:38) Mediterranean Culture: Honor, Elites & Decline (2:13:39) Why Mediterranean Europe Failed (2:20:31) Two Democratic Traditions (2:25:00) Wrap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Explaining the Catholic Church

  In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett analyze the Catholic Church's 2000-year evolution from Constantine through modernity, examining its role in shaping Western civilization amid profound historical transformations. -- SPONSOR: ZCASH | SHOPIFY The right technology reshapes politics and culture toward freedom and prosperity. Zcash—the "machinery of freedom"—delivers unstoppable private money through encryption. When your wealth is unseen, it's unseizable. Download Zashi wallet and follow @genzcash to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/genzcash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at ⁠https://shopify.com/cognitive⁠ -- FOLLOW ON X: @whatifalthist (Rudyard) @LudwigNverMises (Austin) @TurpentineMedia -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:39) The Catholic Church's 2000-Year Legacy (13:52) Sponsors: Zcash | Shopify (17:53) Constantine and the Christianization of Rome (32:00) St. Augustine and the Fall of Rome (37:00) The Dark Ages: Fathers of the Church (59:53) The High Middle Ages Renaissance (73:49) The Papal-Imperial Conflict (82:06) The Babylonian Captivity and Italian Renaissance (86:27) Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation (94:00) Counter-Reformation and the Turn Against Science (102:00) Descartes, Enlightenment, and the Death of the Mystic (107:00) Napoleon, 19th Century, and Modernity (114:27) The Future: Third World Growth and Protestant vs. Catholic (123:00) Wrap-Up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Explaining Capitalism's Rise + Fall + Rise

  In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett analyze capitalism's cycles across civilizations, examining how free markets emerged from feudalism, their conflict with monarchies and socialism, and regulatory capture's impact on economic development. -- SPONSOR: ZCASH | SHOPIFY The right technology reshapes politics and culture toward freedom and prosperity. Zcash—the "machinery of freedom"—delivers unstoppable private money through encryption. When your wealth is unseen, it's unseizable. Download Zashi wallet and follow @genzcash to learn more: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/genzcash⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive -- FOLLOW ON X: @whatifalthist (Rudyard) @LudwigNverMises (Austin) @TurpentineMedia -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction: The Rise and History of Capitalism (01:00) Personal Bias in Scholarship & Marxist Economics (04:30) Cognitive Biases in American Institutions (07:30) Sponsors: Zcash | Spotify (10:12) Medieval Europe: Capitalism's Emergence from Feudalism (33:00) Third World Examples & The Reality of Bureaucracy (46:00) Victorian Britain & Why Classical Liberalism Failed (59:00) Cold War Lessons: Capitalism vs. Socialism (1:10:00) The Meaning Crisis & Psychological Critiques of Capitalism (1:28:00) Ancient & Asian Capitalism: Bronze Age to Silk Road (1:47:00) Medieval European Banking: Templars, Jews & Monasteries (2:00:00) Regulatory Capture Myths: Snake Oil, Standard Oil & The FDA (2:12:00) Immigration's Role in American Socialism (2:19:00) Complete Historical Chronology & Closing Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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