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  • The Time Britain Ran Out of Cheese

    The Time Britain Ran Out of Cheese
    2026/08/21
    In 1665, the British Crown made cheese contraband. The Second Anglo-Dutch War was raging at sea, and Charles II's ministers decided to weaken the United Provinces by banning the import of every wheel of Edam, Gouda, and Leyden crossing the Channel. It sounded decisive. It sounded mercantile. It was the most peculiar foreign policy decision of the seventeenth century. This is the story of what happened next.

    This week on Dark Ages: a thriving black market, a price spike across London, Samuel Pepys grumbling in his diary, a plague that turned contraband cheese into a public health hazard, and a Great Fire that quietly erased the policy from the books.

    00:00 — The Absurd Proposal
    07:10 — The Cheese Itself
    14:21 — The Blockade Begins
    21:32 — The Plague Intersection
    28:42 — The Great Fire Connection
    35:53 — The Quiet Collapse
    43:04 — Lessons in Foreign Policy
    50:14 — Outro

    seventeenth century, Anglo-Dutch War, food sanction, Charles II, Samuel Pepys, Great Plague of London, Great Fire of London, Dutch cheese, Edam, Gouda, Broken Wharf, mercantile policy, smuggling, Restoration England, history podcast, dark ages

    This episode was produced with the assistance of generative tools, then shaped, edited, and narrated by a human producer. Historical research draws on the diary of Samuel Pepys, the diary of John Evelyn, the State Papers Domestic at the National Archives, the Clarendon State Papers at the Bodleian, and modern scholarship by Paul Slack, Colin Platt, and Peter Earle.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-ages--7248287/support.

    History is stranger, darker, and far more chaotic than the stories we were taught. Follow Dark Ages so you never miss another unbelievable true moment from the past.

    If you enjoy forgotten wars, bizarre inventions, historical disasters, and the strangest stories history has to offer, you can support Dark Ages here:

    https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-ages--7248287/support

    Your support helps us research, produce, and share more extraordinary stories buried in the forgotten corners of history.

    Dark Ages is a HustleStudios Podcast Network production.
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    58 分
  • The War That Lasted 335 Years (And Had Zero Battles)

    The War That Lasted 335 Years (And Had Zero Battles)
    2026/08/10
    What if two nations went to war... and nobody noticed for 335 years?

    In 1651, Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp sailed to the Isles of Scilly, demanded reparations for seized merchant ships, and when nobody agreed to pay, he declared war. Not on England. On a tiny cluster of islands off Cornwall with a population smaller than most market towns. Then he left. Without firing a shot.

    The war that followed lasted from 1651 to 1986 -- longer than the United States has existed. It outlasted the British Empire. It outlasted four more Anglo-Dutch wars. It survived the Napoleonic era, two World Wars, and the birth of the United Nations. And through all of it, the Isles of Scilly and the Netherlands remained, on paper, technically at war. Zero battles. Zero casualties. Zero shots fired.

    CHAPTERS:
    0:00 - The Hook: A Dutch Admiral Declares War on Islands
    1:15 - The English Civil War and the Royalist Retreat to Scilly
    3:30 - Dutch Merchant Ships Under Attack
    5:00 - Admiral Tromp's Declaration of War
    7:15 - The Authority Question: Could an Admiral Declare War?
    8:45 - Robert Blake and the Surrender That Changed Nothing
    10:30 - The Treaty of Westminster and the Scilly Oversight
    12:45 - Three Centuries of Technical Hostility
    15:00 - Roy Duncan and the Discovery
    16:30 - The Dutch Ambassador's Visit and the Peace of 1986
    18:00 - Legacy: What the Longest War Teaches Us About Diplomacy

    DARK AGES explores the conflicts, catastrophes, and catastrophically bad ideas that history would rather forget. Hosted by Oliver Grey.

    This episode was created with AI assistance.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-ages--7248287/support.

    History is stranger, darker, and far more chaotic than the stories we were taught. Follow Dark Ages so you never miss another unbelievable true moment from the past.

    If you enjoy forgotten wars, bizarre inventions, historical disasters, and the strangest stories history has to offer, you can support Dark Ages here:

    https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-ages--7248287/support

    Your support helps us research, produce, and share more extraordinary stories buried in the forgotten corners of history.

    Dark Ages is a HustleStudios Podcast Network production.
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    20 分
  • The Great Emu War — Australia vs. Birds (1932)

    The Great Emu War — Australia vs. Birds (1932)
    2026/08/09
    In this episode of Dark Ages, we dig into the case file on The Great Emu War — Australia vs. Birds (1932).

    Today's case: The Great Emu War — Australia vs. Birds (1932).

    This is Episode 73686530 of Dark Ages — the show that examines the cases, suspects, and investigations that didn't get the spotlight they deserved.

    What we cover in this episode:
    • The victim: who they were and what happened
    • The investigation: what police did, what they missed
    • The suspects: who was looked at, who wasn't
    • The evidence: what the forensic team found
    • The verdict: where the case stands now

    Subscribe so you never miss a case. Listener tips welcome — we follow up on everything.

    Subscribe, share, and leave us a 5-star review — every share helps us reach the next listener.

    #thegreatemuwaraustraliavsbirds #TrueCrime #CrimePodcast #ColdCase #MysteryPodcast #CrimeFiles

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-ages--7248287/support.

    History is stranger, darker, and far more chaotic than the stories we were taught. Follow Dark Ages so you never miss another unbelievable true moment from the past.

    If you enjoy forgotten wars, bizarre inventions, historical disasters, and the strangest stories history has to offer, you can support Dark Ages here:

    https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/dark-ages--7248287/support

    Your support helps us research, produce, and share more extraordinary stories buried in the forgotten corners of history.

    Dark Ages is a HustleStudios Podcast Network production.
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    18 分