Blogposts

EPISODE 128 – A Chivalric order

In the new season of the History of the Germans podcast, we look at the Teutonic Knights. It will explore their origins, their key role in German, Polish, and Russian history, and their transition from a hospital congregation to a military order. Expect tales of heroic battles, chivalric entertainment, twisted theology, and astute commercial activity in the upcoming episodes.

EPISODE 126 – A BRIEF HISTORY OF BREMEN

It’s the Hanseatic city of Bremen that’s full of drama! Different from the rest with its gutsy antics – sheltering pirates and irritating fellow Hansards. Bremen’s relationship with the Hanseatic League was as stormy as an Atlantic squall: expelled multiple times, it kept stubbornly rowing back, playing a growing role as other Hansards declined. Full of rebellions and political flip-flops, it’s a cocktail of historical lunacy. Here’s to Bremen!

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About Me

I am Dirk, a history geek with a love for books and stories. I do this for fun and my personal self-aggrandisement.

I have been born, raised and educated in Germany but live in the UK for now over 20 years with my wife and two children. My professional background is in law, management consulting and banking. History has always been a hobby as are sailing, travelling, art, skiing and exercise (go BMF!).

My view of history is best summarised by Gregory of Tours (539-594): “A great many things keep happening, some good, some bad”. History has no beginning and no end and more importantly, it has no logic, no pattern and no purpose . But that does not mean there isn’t progress and sometimes we humans realise that doing the same thing again and again hoping for a different outcome is indeed madness. The great moments in history are those where we realise that we cannot go on as we were and things need to change. German history – as you will hopefully see – is full of these turning points, some good, some bad!

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3 Comments

  1. I have very recently become aware of Your podcast on the history of the Germans. As a Danish citizen, who has spent 3 months every year for the last 17 years in Berlin (work), I find the podcast incredibly informative and well produced. A joy to listen to.
    May I ask one question? It seems the communication in Europe was quite quick even in the 900’s. The events take place quite quickly, even across large distances. So: How did people communicate, and how quickly did news travel?

  2. Thank you so much for your podcasts 😜please are you thinking of translating it to French or German – I need them 😜

    1. French would be a bit of a stretch. I am occasionally thinking about a German version, but I have not enough time to run a German and an English one in parallel. Plus the whole point of this effort is to engage an Anglo-Saxon audience. There are a lot of great German Language history podcasts already! P.S., Thanks a lot for supporting the show!

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