logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2022
43m 17s

Lithuanian Book Smugglers Vs. The Russia...

iHeartPodcasts
About this episode

When people think of rebellion, they often think of guerilla warfare, rousing speeches and protests. But what about books? When the Russian Empire sought to "Russify" much of what is now Lithuania, the Tsar's forces waged a war against culture, forcing children to learn a Cyrillic alphabet -- and even banning the pre-existing Lithuanian alphabet from printing presses. Native Lithuanians from all walks of life responded by becoming knygnešiaĩ, or book carriers. Tune in to learn how this vast smuggling ring preserved the Lithuanian alphabet, and eventually won the war for a country's hearts and minds.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Up next
Jul 10
A Ridiculous History of "Fad Diets"
Everyone in the developed world knows someone who's tried a 'fad diet' -- these are the so-called miracle practices that promise to help people lose weight and keep it off, through any number of potentially dubious methods. But where did they come from? In today's episode, Ben, N ... Show More
43m 40s
Jul 8
A Titanic Disaster: That Time An Entire Production Crew Tripped Off Bad Chowder
James Cameron's Titanic was, by all accounts, a blockbuster success. And, like so many other masterpieces, the story of its creation is a tale all its own. In today's episode, Ben and Noel dive deep into a little-known disaster that struck the already-tense production: someone la ... Show More
44m 30s
Jul 3
CLASSIC: Back When the Rich Ate Corpses
Nowadays it's safe to say that cannibalism isn't a widely-accepted practice, but not so long ago it was considered the bleeding edge (get it?) in medicine throughout Western Europe. Join Ben and Noel as they explore the odd practice of consuming human body parts in hopes of curri ... Show More
36m 21s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2023
Slavic culture and myth
Tales of adventure and magic connect the Slavic lands: East Slavs (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus), West Slavs (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland) and South Slavs (the countries of former Yugoslavia plus Bulgaria). Matthew Sweet has been reading a new collection of Slavic myths. The aut ... Show More
44m 54s
Oct 2023
87. Tolstoy: War and the Russian Empire
Tolstoy was one of the greatest writers of all time. His books have constructed how we think about Russian imperial history. But he was not just an observer, he was also a participant. As a young man, Tolstoy fought in several of Russia's imperial wars– against the Chechens and t ... Show More
54m 23s
Oct 2022
The Romanovs
The Romanov family were the first imperial dynasty to rule Russia, reigning from the early seventeenth century until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Including such illustrious names as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Alexander I, they oversaw and often instigated, dramat ... Show More
29m 43s
Jan 2024
The Romanovs
The Romanov family were the first imperial dynasty to rule Russia, reigning from the early seventeenth century until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Including such illustrious names as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Alexander I, they oversaw dramatic changes to the fabr ... Show More
29m 39s
Nov 2019
The Russian civil war: How the Soviets rose to power
The Russian Civil war was a struggle for power at every level – from the villages to the imperial centre, with more than 11 foreign powers involved as well as nationalists, from Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states, fighting for independence. This conflict, which took place a hu ... Show More
39m 51s
Apr 2022
The Russian Revolution
In 1917, revolution changed Russia forever. Putting an end to 300 years of the Romanov dynasty, it made way for what ordinary Russians believed would be a fairer, more egalitarian system. But what sparked the rebellion? What was it like to witness the collapse of the autocracy? A ... Show More
59m 53s
Jun 2015
David R. Stone, “The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917” (UP of Kansas, 2015)
Readers wanting to learn more about the Great War on the Eastern Front can do no better than David R. Stone‘s new work, The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 (University Press of Kansas, 2015). The last work to treat this comprehensively was Norman Stone ... Show More
45m 2s
Jan 2024
Why Armies Stopped Burning Libraries and Weaponized Them Instead
Books are often seen as “victims” of combat. When the flames of warfare turn libraries to ashes, we grieve this loss as an immense human and cultural tragedy. But that’s not the complete picture. Books were used in war across the twentieth century—both as agents for peace and as ... Show More
40m 7s
Sep 2023
Becoming the Chechen Mafia: Ancient Outlaws, Soviet Scabs and a British KGB Plot
In this episode we track the concept of the Chechen Mafia—not an easy thing to define—from ancient invasions and the creation of the "Abrek", or "outlaw-exile," through Soviet repression, Stalin's deportations and the "Scab War" of the feared Gulag Archipelago. The rise of a Comm ... Show More
50m 10s
Mar 2024
Ilmari Käihkö, "'Slava Ukraini!': Strategy and the Spirit of Ukrainian Resistance 2014–2023" (Helsinki UP, 2023)
In wake of the Maiden Revolution of 2013-14, the pro-Russian government of Ukraine under Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in place of a regime seeking a more pro-Western orientation. Russia in response occupied the Crimea and helped instigate numerous pro-Russian separatist movem ... Show More
1h 30m