1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: If you ask the average American what they know about 7 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: Catherine the Great of Russia, they'll probably say nothing. And 8 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 1: that's a shame, because she was one of the more 9 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: effective rulers in Russian history. Catherine the greats was actually 10 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: Prussian and her original name was Sophie. After she married 11 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: into the Russian royal bloodline, she quickly took power and 12 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: transformed the country from a stalled feudal state into a 13 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: modern imperial power. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. 14 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 1: It's ironic that Americans don't know much about Catherine, because 15 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: they might just owe her their country. The story of 16 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: Catherine's involvement in the American Revolution starts in seventeen seventy 17 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: five with a man named Sir Robert Gunning. He was 18 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: the British ambassador to Russia at the time, and he 19 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: was given a difficult task request Russian military aid in America. 20 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: It was a tricky situation for two reasons. For one, 21 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: Sir Robert needed to keep the British monarch, King George 22 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: the Third from looking like he was begging, and second, 23 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,479 Speaker 1: he really needed the request to be granted. The Americans 24 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,320 Speaker 1: were doing much better than expected in the war. They 25 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,759 Speaker 1: had both France and Spain on their side. Sir Robert 26 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: and his colleagues carefully drew up a ten point treaty 27 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: to present to the Russians, clarifying everything from the number 28 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: of troops they were asking for to how much the 29 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: troops would be paid. They wanted to come across as 30 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: competent and authoritative. Gunning first met with Catherine's foreign policy adviser, 31 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 1: Nikita Pannon, who gave Sir Robert the impression that England's 32 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: request would be granted. Why shouldn't two monarchs help each 33 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: other out, But the matter still needed to be approved 34 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: by Catherine herself. Sir Robert met with her and Nikita, 35 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,920 Speaker 1: expecting to finalize the details of the arrangement, but he 36 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: failed to realize that Catherine had other plans. She treated 37 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: the request with some shock, and she would never agree 38 00:02:26,919 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: to send troops to America. She thought that the whole 39 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: America business was embarrassing. How could George have allowed it 40 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: to spiral so out of control? Nikita feigned shock as well, 41 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: claiming that he thought the request was to send troops 42 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: to Spain and not America. To add insult to injury, 43 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: Catherine dictated a letter for Sir Robert to deliver directly 44 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:50,920 Speaker 1: to King George. She used over the top language to 45 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: make it clear to her fellow monarch where she stood. 46 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 1: She addressed it to my brother and claimed that the 47 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: American Revolution was and I quote, a rebellion which no 48 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: foreign power supports. Even so, she gave a firm no, 49 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: in writing, nor can I stop thinking about what should 50 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: have resulted from our own dignity if two monarchies and 51 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: two nations had thus joined of our forces simply to 52 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: calm a rebellion. In other words, she thought it would 53 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:21,640 Speaker 1: look tacky for two monarchs to team up just to 54 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: defeat the Americans. Little did Sir Robert know he was 55 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: caught up in a larger web that Catherine was weaving. 56 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: Catherine wasn't necessarily for or against the Americans. She followed 57 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: the principles of the Enlightenment, which was an intellectual movement 58 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: in Europe at the time, emphasizing reason over superstition and 59 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: the rights of a common man within a monarchy. So 60 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 1: while she wouldn't have believed in the revolutionary concept of 61 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: American democracy, she would have seen George's heavy taxation of 62 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: the Americans as misrule. She also saw the opportunity to 63 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: broke her peace in Europe. By refusing to support the English. 64 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: She further isolated them as they were already at war 65 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: with France and Spain. You may have wondered why so 66 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 1: few foreign powers intervened in the American Revolution, while in 67 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty Catherine formed the League of Armed Neutrality, a 68 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: diverse coalition of nations like Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, and the 69 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: Ottoman Empire that agreed to protect one another's shipping interests, 70 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: and they all agreed not to enter the war on 71 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: either side. By seventeen eighty three, England had no real allies, 72 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: and they agreed to end the war with both America 73 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,000 Speaker 1: and France. The United States was born, and there was 74 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: peace in Europe. Catherine had established herself as a major 75 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: player in European politics, perhaps she would have behaved differently 76 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: if she had known how the future would unfold as 77 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: centuries later, the United States is Russia's greatest international rival. Oh, 78 00:04:50,000 --> 00:05:07,839 Speaker 1: how curious history can be. No joke at the expense 79 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: of an entire nationality is ever fair or good, whether 80 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:15,880 Speaker 1: aimed at underrepresented groups who can't defend themselves, or countries 81 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: with a heritage that folks in a certain era had 82 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: prejudice against. These wise cracks can often be insulting, but 83 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: in very rare instances you can see how real events 84 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,760 Speaker 1: from history might have helped make those jokes possible. Take, 85 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,720 Speaker 1: for example, the Great Whisky Fire. It was a real 86 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 1: life tragedy that occurred in eighteen seventy five and one 87 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: of the largest fires in the Irish city of Dublin's history. 88 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: The fire began in Malone's Bonded Storehouse, a building in 89 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 1: the Liberties, a Dublin neighborhood known for its pubs and distilleries. 90 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 1: We don't know exactly what triggered the blaze, but in retrospect, 91 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: the situation was asking for trouble. Malone's storehouse alone held 92 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,480 Speaker 1: some five thousand casks of undiluted whisky and others spirits. 93 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: This can be dangerous since the volatile, high proof spirits 94 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: give off flammable fumes that can seep through the wooden containers, 95 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: and on one hot summer evening in particular, those five 96 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: thousand casks were a powder keg waiting to go off. 97 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: Around eight pm that evening, smoke was seen drifting from 98 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:22,120 Speaker 1: the storeroom. The first cask exploded, then another, and another, 99 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 1: a chain reaction of bursting barrels, each one spraying hot, 100 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: flaming liquor across the warehouse. Soon the entire building was 101 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,359 Speaker 1: a billowing inferno. As the walls collapsed, a river of 102 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: flaming liquor was released. It flowed into the streets, igniting 103 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: everything in its path and plunging the liberties into chaos. 104 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: In addition to pubs and distilleries, the neighborhood had several 105 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: large tenement houses, as well as pens where livestock were housed. 106 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: Soon the streets were teeming with squealing pigs, galloping horses, 107 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: barking dogs, and entire families, all of them racing to 108 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: keep ahead of the spreading blaze. Meanwhile, a crowd gathered 109 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,280 Speaker 1: to gawk at the fire. Some onlookers saw the river 110 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: of burning whisky as an opportunity for a free nightcap. 111 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: While people ran home to get pots and pitchers, others 112 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: simply knelt and cut the whisky in their hands or 113 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: scooped it into hats or boots, and this revelry continued 114 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: well after the authorities arrived on the scene. The police 115 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: quickly arrested the most inebriated onlookers, some of whom were 116 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:29,120 Speaker 1: now trying to rescue barrels of whisky from buildings that 117 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: had yet to catch fire. Meanwhile, the Dublin Fire Brigade 118 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:36,560 Speaker 1: got to work controlling the blaze. Captain James Ingram quickly 119 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: realized that the fire would be a challenge to contain. 120 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: Dousing the streets with water would simply cause the flames 121 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:45,559 Speaker 1: to spread to new areas, since the burning liquor would 122 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: float on top of the water. He tried building dams 123 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: of gravel to block the flow, but the whiskey soaked 124 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: right through, carrying the flames with it. At that point, 125 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: Ingram realized he needed something thicker. In a burst of ingenuity, 126 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: he sent his men to the near by manure yards, 127 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:04,320 Speaker 1: where the excrement created by the city's countless horse drawn 128 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: carriages was stored. The firemen came racing back with wheelbarrows 129 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: full of dung, which they dumped onto the street to 130 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: block the burning liquor, and this thankfully contained the blaze 131 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: while rendering the whisky undrinkable. The fire and the party 132 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: were finally over, but the cleanup was still getting started. 133 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: As dawn broke, authorities began to take stock of the damage. 134 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: Adjusted for inflation, six million euros worth of whiskey had 135 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: been destroyed, and that's not even accounting for the property 136 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: damage or the physical injuries. And thirteen people had been killed, 137 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: although curiously none of them suffered from burns or smoke inhalation. 138 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: In fact, they weren't directly affected by the fire at all. 139 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: All thirteen of them had died of alcohol poisoning from 140 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 1: drinking the undiluted whisky. History is full of tragic tales, 141 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: none deserving of a joke, So let's remember the Great 142 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:01,400 Speaker 1: Whisky Fire of eighteen seventy five for what it really was, 143 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: an accident followed by a party that ended in a 144 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: curious disaster. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 145 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 146 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 147 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Mankey 148 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:29,320 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 149 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 150 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: and television show and you can learn all about it 151 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,960 Speaker 1: over at the Worldolore dot com. And until next time, 152 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: stay curious.