Displaying Episode 1 - 10 of 21 in total of The Year That Was with the tag “season 1”.
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Through Cloud, Hopeful: Eddington, Einstein, and the Eclipse of 1919
July 4th, 2021 | Season 1 | 58 mins 16 secs
1919, albert einstein, arthur eddington, astronomy, european history, gravity, physics, relativity, science, season 1, technology, world history, world war 1
Arthur Eddington was committed to testing Einstein's General Theory of Relativity during the 1919 Solar Eclipse, not only to remove all doubts about the theory but also to demonstrate the value of scientific internationalism. But the British Army was determined to send him to the Front. Eddington faced the greatest challenge of his life: proving his opposition to violence and his dedication to science were both a matter of conscience.
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The Pursuit of Truth: Eddington, Einstein, and the Eclipse of 1919
June 28th, 2021 | Season 1 | 51 mins 51 secs
1919, albert einstein, arthur eddington, astronomy, european history, gravity, physics, relativity, science, season 1, technology, world history, world war 1
In 1914, most scientists claimed their work knew no borders, but the Great War slammed the door on international scientific cooperation. So when a obscure German physicist named Albert Einstein presented a radical new explanation of gravity, he feared no one outside of Germany would be willing to help confirm his theory. He had no idea that his work would come to the attention of the one man able to make the critical observations and willing to explore German ideas--the pacifist astronomer Arthur Eddington.
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Dulce Et Decorum Est: The Legacies of Fritz Haber
May 29th, 2021 | Season 1 | 1 hr 7 mins
1919, albert einstein, european history, fritz haber, science, season 1, technology, world history, world war 1
German scientist Fritz Haber is credited with one of the most important scientific inventions in human history. You are likely alive right now thanks to Haber. But the same man is also responsible for introducing one of the greatest horrors of the Great War, poison gas. What do we owe this man, who gave life with one hand and took it away with the other?
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The Last Night of the Bubbling Glass: The Passage of the 18th Amendment
September 24th, 2020 | Season 1 | 1 hr 2 mins
18th amendment, 1919, american history, prohibition, season 1, temperance, woman suffrage
By 1914, the temperance movement had achieved significant gains in its goal to outlaw the sale of alcohol in the United States. But every push for nationwide prohibition had failed. Would the war--and the accompanying anti-German hysteria--give the Anti-Saloon League enough power to cross the finish line? Was a golden age of sobriety waiting on the other side?
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Do You Expect Us to Turn Back Now: Alice Paul and the Fight for Woman Suffrage
June 28th, 2020 | Season 1 | 55 mins 48 secs
1919, alice paul, american history, season 1, spanish flu, woman suffrage, woman's history
Women in the United States began fighting for the right to vote in 1848, and by 1910 they had achieved a few hard-won victories. But success nationwide seemed out of reach. Then Alice Paul arrived on the scene with a playbook of radical protest strategies and an indomitable will. She focused in on one target: the president, Woodrow Wilson. How far would Paul and her fellow suffragists have to go to get Wilson's support?
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Flu Fences and Chin Sails: Answering New Questions about the Spanish Flu
May 26th, 2020 | Season 1 | 55 mins 28 secs
1919, african-american history, american history, labor, medicine, red scare, science, season 1, spanish flu
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic raises all sorts of new questions about the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919. This episode seeks to answer those questions. We look at the multiple waves of the flu, popular home remedies, who went to the hospital and who stayed home, how the federal government responded to the outbreak, the effect on the economy, resistance to face masks, and how the flu shaped the Roaring Twenties.
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Pie in the Sky: The Wobblies and the Fight for Labor
December 10th, 2019 | Season 1 | 58 mins 56 secs
1919, american history, i.w.w., labor, season 1, wobblies
The I.W.W. was a tough, militant, radical union, and its very existence terrified business owners, factory bosses, and the entire U.S. government. Since its founding, the law had been out to get the Wobblies. In 1919, as a record number of Americans went on strike for better wages and working conditions, would the union be able to help them? Would the union even survive?
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Send All Available Personnel: The United States and the Great Molasses Flood
November 26th, 2019 | Season 1 | 59 mins 19 secs
1919, american history, labor, molasses flood, season 1
The Purity Distilling Company molasses tank dominated the North End of Boston, standing 50 feet tall over the surrounding tenements. Residents of the area were accustomed to the sight of tank oozing syrup from its seams and making strange rumbling noises from its depths. And one day in January 1919, life changed forever for Bostonians when the walls of the tank suddenly, inexplicably failed. Was it negligence? Or a vicious attack by anarchists?
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A Grubby Little War: The Collapse of the Ottoman Empire
November 12th, 2019 | Season 1 | 57 mins 9 secs
1919, colonies, imperialism, iraq, israel, mesopotamia, ottoman empire, palestine, season 1, turkey, world history
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire set off a mad scramble for territory. No one paid any attention to what the people who actually lived in the former empire actually wanted. But in the heart of Anatolia, one Turkish general was determined to preserve his homeland.
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No Question of Undue Severity: The India Independence Movement
October 29th, 2019 | Season 1 | 59 mins 29 secs
1919, colonies, imperialism, india, indian history, season 1, world history
At the end of World War I, Great Britain promised India increased autonomy with one hand and took civil rights away with another. The furious population welcomed the leadership of a nationalist with a compelling message of non-violence and self-reliance, one Mohandas K. Gandhi. But when Gandhi organized nationwide protests, the British reacted with fear and force, especially in Amritsar, where a mob lashed out against English residents. The confrontation would end in one of the most shocking events in colonial history.