Show Notes
Welcome back to a new season of 15-Minute History! Jon, Joe, and the rest of the team are glad to be back for season 10, where we are looking at the forces that made us, both the good and the bad. It was November 15, 1884, and the German chancellor had company. Representatives from fourteen powers arrived at his home in Berlin that day, including Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, and the United States. Otto von Bismarck had called them together because the governments of Europe all wanted pieces of Africa, their claims were starting to overlap, and he wanted it settled before it turned into another war on the continent. The conference lasted three months. The delegates spent most of that time on trade, on who could use the Congo and Niger rivers, and on what it would take for one country to recognize another's claim to African land. They argued and disagreed. What they did not argue over was who belonged in the room. No African ruler had been invited to Berlin, and none had been consulted beforehand. The men at the table had already decided that this was their conversation to have, and they were entitled to make whatever decision they wanted. They went home without a finished map, since most of the borders were worked out in later years by treaty and force. But the terms were set, and over the next thirty years nearly all of Africa came under European rule. Join us as we show you imperialism, how it worked in King Leopold's Congo and in British India, how the people behind it justified it, and how it still affects the world today.
More from 15-Minute History
In the summer of 1184, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa sent his eighteen-year-old son, King Henry VI, to Erfurt to settle a land dispute between Archbishop Conrad of Mainz and Landgrave Ludwig III of Thuringia. The two had been in open conflict since Conrad returned to Mainz the year before, and Henry called a royal assembly in the cathedral provost’s residence to hear them out. Everyone gathered on the upper floor. Nobody seemed too concerned about the open cesspit under the building until the beams gave out. This is the first episode of Weird History, a new monthly segment from 15-Minute History hosted by Dan Lindsay. Each month he’ll bring a story from the stranger side of the past, as long as it actually happened. Join us as we go through what the medieval chroniclers wrote about the collapse, including who died in the pit and how the king and the archbishop got out. We’ll also find out what came of the feud. A room full of the empire’s most powerful men fighting over land on top of a pit of human waste. If that isn’t a metaphor for medieval Europe, we don’t know what is.
Our first episode of "Weird History" will be delayed with our apologies!
Last episode was about imperialism, creating multi-ethnic empires that spanned the globe. This is about nationalism, concentrating state power on building and maintaining an ethnic or civic identity. It can lead to greater unity among peoples, but it can also cause world-shattering upheaval! If you want to learn more about Germany's nationalist unification, check out this episode from Season 8--it's a good one!
In September 2026, an AI researcher quit Anthropic and posted a warning that the industry was gambling with our lives. Within days, insiders agreed, and a CEO called for slowing down as a senator pushed a bill to pause advanced AI. Then a second story took off: the whole thing is a psyop, cooked up by AI companies that are losing money and politicians who need an issue to run on.
Last week, we covered imperialism through two examples, King Leopold's Congo and India under the British Empire. This week, we discuss the hard questions about imperialism, starting in Berlin, where fourteen powers divided Africa without inviting anyone from the countries being redefined. What do you think? Let us know in your comments.