Revolutions - Revolutions Podcast Update- The End Is Nigh?

Episode Date: January 19, 2020

Is the end nigh? Not really. But it will be soon!

Hello and welcome to Revolutions. Revolution's podcast update. The end is nigh. Hello, friends. It is now 2020, and as promise, we are beginning the new year with some important announcements about the future of the show. Now, first of all, as you know, revolutions will be ending roundabout the summer of 2021. I don't have a final, final date set in stone yet, but it will coincide with the publication. of Citizen Lafayette. And I have essentially come to the same place I was at at the end of the history of Rome,

where I was faced with the prospect of continuing indefinitely for another thousand years of history as I gradually lost momentum, energy, and interest or ending the show while the momentum, energy, and interest remain. But you knew that. That's not new information. So that brings me to my first point of new information. As many of you have guessed, surmised, dreaded,

or otherwise assumed, the Russian Revolution will be our last revolution together. In case you haven't noticed, this is like the slowest boil in the history of the revolution's podcast because I'm blowing it all out on Russia. After Russia is done, I do plan to do a retrospective look back at all the material we've covered from ship money to the Stalinist purges, but this is the last time we're going to take a narrative that begins there once was an Anzian regime. This means, of course, that there are going to be a lot of revolutions left on the table, and a lot of people disappointed I won't be covering their favorite revolution. But there were always going to be revolutions left on the table.

And as it turns out, the revolutions podcast wound up covering ten great political revolutions in the European and Atlantic worlds. The English Revolution, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, Spanish American Independence, the July Revolution, the revolutions of 1848, the Paris Commune, Mexican Revolution and the Russian Revolution. That's the list. Now, since I ended the history of Rome, I have come back and produced appendices. And for the record, I do still plan to produce history of Rome appendices whenever the fancy strikes, and I will likely do the same thing for revolutions. But still, after the Russian Revolution, it will be time for all of us to move on

to something new. Which brings me to my next bit of new information. The Russian Revolution is clearly shaping up to be our longest revolution ever. It's going to be longer than the 55 episode, French Revolution. But really, it's shaping up to be two revolutions in one. First, the Revolution of 1905, and then the Revolution of 1917. And we are currently on track to climax the Revolution of 1905 and about 12 more episodes, and that will end part one of the Russian Revolution. And now, here's the lead that I'm really burying here. This whole time, I have also have been simultaneously writing Citizen Lafayette, the manuscript of which is due around October. So for the past couple of years, I have been essentially working two full-time jobs, and to be

honest, I'm fraying a bit around the edges. So to protect the quality of revolutions, the quality of the book, and the quality of my mental health, I have decided that when part one of the Russian revolution ends in early April 2020, that I'm going to take a long hiatus and just work on finishing the book. First, the one thing, then the first. The one thing. Then the Russian Revolution ends in early April 2020, that I'm going to then the other thing, not both simultaneously. This will be a six-month hiatus from doing new episodes. It's a sabbatical, really. And that will end this split personality thing I've got going,

where I'm trying to simultaneously explain Lennon and Trotsky and Nicholas and Alexandra, while also explaining Lafayette and Robsbbedeufier, Louis Xeenth, and Marie Antoinette, while also trying to be a husband and a father. Now, you might be saying, but Mike, didn't you simultaneously write the storm before the storm while continuing to put out new episodes of revolutions on time every week? And the answer is yes, yes, I did. And it put me pretty close to a nervous breakdown, and it's not an experience I care to repeat. So the way it's going to work is this. For the next three months, we will do new episodes of the Russian Revolution that will take us through to the end of the

Revolution of 1905. Then, starting in April, there will be no new episodes of the Revolution's podcast until October while I finish Citizen Lafayette. Then I will hand in the manuscript to the book and immediately plug revolutions back in. And then we will do the Russian Revolution of 1917 all the way through to the summer of 2021. This will coincide with the publication of Citizen Lafayette, and then we'll have a good, big, fond farewell, and I will move on to my next project, whatever it is. I have some ideas. One of them will be right.

Now finally, this is all, of course, in the hands of fate and fortune. Things can change at any time, but this is where I'm at right here, sitting here, recording this in January of 2020. So there's still lots left to do, lots of material left to cover, lots more episodes to publish, but please enjoy it while you can, because all good things must come to an end.