Sunday 19 December 2010

18. 1914 to the decline of Empire

HMS Victorious on fire after being struck by three kamikazes at the Battle of Okinawa.  Planes could take off an hour later.

World War One was the most significant event of 20th Century and amongst other things marked the beginning of the end of Pax Britannia.  The vacuum left would be readily filled by others but it wasn’t going to be plain sailing.  Almost a hundred years after World War One the future of the Royal Navy is as uncertain as it’s ever been.

Listen to Episode 18

5 comments:

  1. I've been listening since the beginning and am a big fan, however your pronunciation of the city Wilhelmshaven drove me nearly insane. The names means Williams's Harbour the s belongs to the first word not the second. A pronunciation closer to Williams's Haven would be better. though will helms half en would be even closer to the german.

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  2. Sorry Adiar...my German pronunciation has got me into trouble before. I'll seek a native speaker in future. Thanks for listening anyway.

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  3. Id be more than happy to be said native speaker. Happy Holidays!

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  4. Hi Tony - just listened to one of your podcasts for the first time (this one) and though it was great. Really interesting information, well told. So thanks for that, and I am now going back to the beginning ! And as for Adair's comment, I appreciate the pronunciation problem - I am currently engaged in butchering the names of 100's of years of Anglo Saxons in my own podcast.

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  5. Tony,
    I am an American born in britian, raised in the US. This is a great podcast for us who enjoy history and want to know more about your country. It was fascinating to hear a British telling of our revolutionary period and the US constitution. Most here do not realize the great moral and intellectual foundation that we are built on. And but for Britian, it would not have been built. --Roy A.

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