Season 6: The Era of Liberation (1862-1893)

History’s Great Speeches

A fascinating dive into a period when everyone was fighting for their liberation from imperial oppression. This was the time the modern nation-state was forged, and the consequences of these events is coded deep into our cultures. Starts with a quick overview of probably the most diverse set of speakers in this series, from British MPs to Native American chiefs, and from a grand imperial leader to a political exile.

The late 19th Century was a time of liberation. After the collapse of empires, people of all creeds demanded their equality.
We begin with two speeches that represent the old order, by Bismarck. Between the two speeches he went from being Prussia’s last Minister President to being the Germany’s first Chancellor. A statesman in the oldest mold, he argues for nationalist dominance against forces temporal and religious.
The counter is given by Sullivan, who excoriates the British government for the Zulu war, asking why the country supported wars of aggression in foreign lands.
From there, we move to the liberation of nations and peoples. Louis Kossuth embodied Hungary’s struggle against imperial oppression, Castelar argues for a Spanish republic, and Gambetta for the education of the peasantry in France. Across Europe, a tide rose demanding the government serve the people rather than use them.
In America, Lincoln defined the struggle between the Union and Confederacy as the start of universal emancipation and freedom for all men. In contrast, Chief Joseph’s speech drips with pathos, as he lays down his spear forever, desperate to find what is left of his massacred and desolate peoples in the wilderness. After the Civil War ends, Susan Anthony’s speech demands that women should have the vote, as guaranteed in the constitution for all citizens.
A series of speeches by Swami Vivekananda follow, given at the first World’s Parliament of Religions. These speeches brought Buddhism and Hinduism into the Anglosphere, and began a trend of searching for spiritual liberation alongside the more material demands of the time.
We finish on a lighter tone, as Mark Twain bemoans the decay of the art of lying. In an age of such seriousness, the tall tale fell out of fashion, and the simple joy of telling a fisherman’s tale was lost.