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A miner’s son, decided one day, to nail 95 thesis to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg in the year of our lord 1517. It seems unlikely he intended to split his church, the Catholic, universal church, into a bewildering multiplicity of new religions and sects.

And yet, trained in the Devotio Moderna’s way of taking action and responsibility, for his own salvation, he ran into problems.

What Luther did with the 95 theses, or 95 propositions if you prefer, was a common garden variety way of opening an argument and inviting the university to participate. Some even say the nailing to the door part is just dramatic enhancement, never happened, he just circulated some hand written stuff around campus, in the conventional way. This episode is about dramatic enhancement, so anyway. Well he had copies made and sent them around to friends, who apparently copied them some more and sent them around some more until “Soon, Luther had the uneasy surprise of receiving them back from Southern Germany, PRINTED.”

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We explore the roots of Humanism and the Reformation. Taking a long look at the Devotio Moderna, the Brethren of the Common Life. These were key influences on both Erasmus and Martin Luther. But more than that, the Devotio Moderna were a vital element in the invention of the printing press. We look at Gerhard Groote the founder of the Devotio Moderna, whose purpose in life was to imitate Christ and no to sit on his loathsome spotted behind.

We spend some time on the more conventional stories of 1453, the Ottoman surge that followed the fall of the last Roman outpost, the expulsion of the English from France (except Calais).

But there is also a look at the founding of Europe by the Early European Farmers from Anatolia.

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This episode is just a little introduction to the theories of the causes of the industrial revolution as of right now.

We look at the Sheilagh Ogilvie classification of 5 general theories of the Causes of the Industrial Revolution and Michael Magoon's list of causes.

Of course, Harald has a few pet theories of his own by now. His third thing idea, which might really be a 4th thing idea. There are other institutional theories, we briefly discuss them all. Anton Howes' ideas are mentioned, but just to say we will dive into them later.

There is a long digression on William Wollaston involving David Hume and Benjamin Franklin.

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Consider the British Empire in 1792, the year of Macartney’s expedition to China and the year young Emperor Francis began to look askance at the French Revolution and all the ruling factions within it started to wish for a war.

Well at that time the empire was rather modest, a few spice islands, Canada, Gibraltar, New South Wales had started, there was a logging settlement in Honduras, and in India, Bombay Madras and Bengal, with Bengal the largest British territory in India. Trade with China is substantial, around 25% of all, generating 16% of total government revenue. But except for Penang, a stop on the way, no territory to support it.

By 1803 the value of British trade increased 81%. From the French revolutionary wars to 1803, the empire grew to include Trinidad, Ceylon and Malta, even after returning most captured possessions at the Peace of Amiens. Then by 1814....

The British position in India was massively increased, with the Mughal empire , Hyderabad, Mysore, and most of the South under various forms of British control. Furthermore, the main waystations to get there, including the Cape colony of South Africa, and the Indian ocean islands were now under British control.

The number of sugar islands increased and British Guiana became real and there were more gold Coast trading posts in Africa, and Tasmania was added to New South Wales.

And before the decade was over the third Maratha war would cement control over much of the rest of India and see the establishment of the first post in Singapore. With many supporting bases like St Helena where Napoleon was stashed along with the newly established Ascension Island to help support St Helena.

I’m describing a different world now, different to 1792. One where rivals to British sea power just do not exist.

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More focus on Mexico and California than is ideal, but there is a general overview of Spanish America.

Spanish America, more than anywhere else, shows us the global ramifications of the Napoleonic Wars. “The crisis and collapse of Spain’s empire was the direct result of political turmoil in Europe. During the Napoleonic wars this vast empire got fragmented, was henceforth relegated to the sidelines of world politics.” It’s a big deal. Spanish America was important to the world and world politics. The disparate countries of Latin America stopped mattering after independence when they are separate things rather than a huge mass. This is sort of a harsh, brutal truth, This was partly because of the Monroe doctrine, Thou Shalt Not Interfere in the Western Hemisphere lest thou tempt the wrath of God, and British policy also was to keep other Europeans out, more practically by means of controlling the seas, and giving a firm no to plans from the Spanish and Russians for interference from non Spanish forces.

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The challenges to recruiting enough men for service in the Royal Navy and the Army and Militia were formidable.

It is revealed that the War of 1812 was really one war too many for Britain. The necessity to supply seamen for the new North American Lake service meant that the Royal Navy did not have enough men to staff the newly produced ships. The Mediterranean command and the North American commands were both screaming or more ships.

The Army had its challenges as well. Losses exceeded new recruits from standard methods every year, but 1807. Special efforts were required.

The Militia had its own challenges, needing to put down the Luddite Riots 1811-1813.

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The trade war between Britain and Napoleon reached a new level in 1807.

British merchants were desperate for new markets. The French were finding trouble, customs dues fell 80% despite the new Rhine river trade. We've already talked a great deal about how the Russian economy was pushed to the brink.

Smuggling was the response. The British smuggled into the Mediterranean via Malta, and into North Germany through Heligoland. I'll tell you what percent of smuggled British goods were seized by the French officials, you will not believe it.

But the French kicked off an organized smuggling campaign as well, involving 6 different government departments, requiring a lot of paperwork. But under the cover of all this smuggling, quite secretly, banking was taking place.

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The wars from 1793 to 1815 included expenditure of 830 million pounds for Army Navy and Ordinance, mainly the Navy. Another 65 million pounds was spent on subsidies to allies. Looking at a total of 895 million, probably with secret funds we are over 900 million pounds. To do all this spending 578 million was added to the national debt

This was unprecedented, nobody knew how deep capital markets were or potentially were. No clue, they had never been tested like this before. Would people continue to be able to buy our debt? What if we also taxed them very high, higher than they had ever been taxed before?

These were real live questions people in Westminster and the City were asking.

What people didn’t really understand is that while Napoleon commanded the people and farms of most of Europe, Britain actually commanded most of its money, present and future, I’ll explain how that worked this episode.