POLL: Pick the Next Extra History Series! "Filling Out the Map" (Patreon)
Content
It's time again to pick the next Extra History topic! There were tons of great suggestions for this poll & it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down to just 4. Well, 3 & then Grant. While Grant might not have fit the theme so much, he's been a reoccurring figure in the suggestions and the polls so we figured we'd give him another shot.
Also of note, this series will be written by a guest writer! Rob will be away on paternity leave but will be leaving EH in the hands of Robert Whitaker, writer on the Cleopatra series!
Ulysses S. Grant: Winning and then Losing the Civil War
Winning the war is often less important than winning the peace that comes after. In 1865, General Ulysses S. Grant was a national hero, having destroyed the Confederacy and embarrassing his opponent, Robert E Lee, in the process. Yet a decade later, President Ulysses S. Grant presided over a corrupt and inept administration that eventually consigned the United States to another century of the Confederacy in all but name. How do we reconcile Grant the General and Grant the President? And to what extent have both Grants been distorted by history?
Conquest of India
It's one of history's great questions: how did the entire Indian subcontinent, made up of many millions of people, come to be dominated and controlled by a tiny number of British administrators and soldiers for nearly two hundred years? Usually the answer to this question involves talking about the technological and military strength of the British Empire, but this response ignores how the subcontinent's own history and politics played a role in Britain's success. To understand colonial conquest, it's often more important to understand the perspectives of the colonized than the colonizers...
Industrial Revolution
Prior to the late 18th century, most people around the world lived and died in the same region where their ancestors lived and died. They generally did the same things as their ancestors: working the land, trying to make enough food to survive. But then, in the late 18th century, something changed. This change, known as the Industrial Revolution, is usually associated with manufacturing in Europe and America, but in reality, the influence of the Industrial Revolution goes much farther and much deeper, forever altering humanity's perception of labor, land, money, government, culture, climate, and time itself...
Jacobite Rebellion
We often say history is written by the victors, and there are few better examples of this idea than the history of Britain's "Glorious" Revolution, an event whose very name includes a historical argument ("How was this revolution? It was GLORIOUS!"). But the title for this revolution assumes widespread celebration and acceptance, something which most definitely did not exist in the deposed House of Stuart or among its followers, the Jacobites. The story of the Jacobite Rebellion is the story of history's "losers" attempting desperately to crawl out of the footnotes and back on to the front page of the past.
What series would you like us to air on Extra History? Cast your vote(s) below and let us know!
Friendly reminder: You can vote for as many choices as you want! This style of voting helps us see what people are most interested in without having to make tough decisions between a couple of close favorites. The poll will end at 11:59 PM PT on Wednesday, May 12th.
Current Schedule: Thirty Years War --> Vlad the Impaler --> Rasputin --> Your Vote!