1 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and there's Jerry, and this is short stuff, 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 1: so let's get to it. We're talking about a war. 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: Started buying ear go. My favorite thing is how you 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: try to keep us so on track and now I 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:21,440 Speaker 1: try to throw us off. You really do, and you're 7 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,000 Speaker 1: doing it now, and it's what I love it, all right. 8 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: The War of jenkins Ear, which there's a lot of 9 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: misnomers in this war because first of all, the War 10 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 1: of jenkins Ear was not called that until a hundred 11 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:42,839 Speaker 1: and ten years later, is that right? Yeah? An essayist, uh, 12 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: what's his name, Thomas Carlyle dubbed dubbed it the War 13 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,599 Speaker 1: of jenkins Ear dred and ten years later. And what 14 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: it really was was just a part of a larger war, 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: the War of Austrian secession, Yeah, succession, right, because it 16 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: was it was a question about who was going to 17 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: take over the throne. Yeah, but I don't want to 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: poopo it. Let's just go back and tell the story 19 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: because it is pretty good. It is. It's a good story. 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: That whole succeeding to the throne thing that was a 21 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: big deal in Europe in the eighteenth century and long 22 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: before the eighteenth century too, But by this time Europe 23 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: had basically formed a really intertwined set of economies and 24 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: set of governments, so that if if you were saying, like, 25 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: um a prince in Spain, you may end up being like, 26 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: running the show is the king of Austria at some 27 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,320 Speaker 1: point because your father married an Austrian princess and you 28 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: have Austrian blood and there's no clear heir to the throne, 29 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: and so you are being called upon in Spain. Is like, yes, 30 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: I'm so glad we have somebody over there in Austria 31 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: because now Austria is gonna do right by us. And 32 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: when that didn't happened, and whether alliance is broken, and 33 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: when there was a conflict over who had the rightful 34 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: um claim on a throne, when when it came up 35 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: for grabs, that's when wars broke out. So you've got 36 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: like Spain, Austria, France, England, all of them are alternately 37 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: forming alliances, warring with each other and taking the throne 38 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: from one another, taking a seat on one another's throne, 39 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: which usually brought those two countries together. And that's what 40 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: happened in this case too. That kicked all of this off. Yeah, 41 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,640 Speaker 1: this happened in Spain with King Charles the Second dying 42 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: no clear air. So obviously all of Europe basically is like, oh, 43 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: I want to be the king of Spain, uh, or 44 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,399 Speaker 1: you know someone from our country, because that will really 45 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: help us out. So France and Austria got involved in 46 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: boss isn't hey we have a claim to the Spanish 47 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: throne and um France and Spain basically, uh, they all 48 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: started plotting. All these countries started plotting with one another, 49 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: and the Emperor of Austria and the King of France 50 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: I think while Charles the Second was still alive, divided 51 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: up Spanish territory of Italy between them. Charles got upset 52 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: willed his throne to a French prince, and then France 53 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: was like, wait a minute, Austria, did we really have 54 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: a deal right, because I don't remember that. All I 55 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: know is that we're next in line in Spain. Austria 56 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: got mad. That started the War of Spanish Succession, and 57 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: that is important to this not because it was the 58 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: ward Jenkins ear, but it just sort of set the 59 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: stage and that Spain and England, even though France and 60 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: Austria were fighting. They were sort of involved on the 61 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: fringe and just ticked each other off basically right exactly. 62 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: So there's already hostilities and this was not helping things 63 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: in the colonies, especially in Georgia and Florida where France 64 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: and Spain who were hostile to one another. As the 65 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: results of this War of Spanish Succession, Um, we're butted 66 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: upright against one another, and there was a lot of 67 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:14,040 Speaker 1: border skirmishes. Um. I think by the time rolled around 68 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,839 Speaker 1: and the hostilities really came to a head. Uh, Georgia 69 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,839 Speaker 1: had only been formed as an English colony like six 70 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: years before, so it was real tentative and tenuous, and 71 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:30,039 Speaker 1: that with the Spanish really had a respectable navy that 72 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,720 Speaker 1: could take out a coastal town if it wanted to, 73 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: and so Georgia was in a really vulnerable position. So. UM, 74 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: one of the things from that War of Spanish Spanish 75 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: Succession that it addressed the Treaty of You Trecked that 76 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: came out of it, said okay, Spain, you you in England, 77 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 1: we haven't forgotten about you guys. We need to make 78 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: trade amongst you much more smooth and legal and maybe 79 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 1: that will keep some of the skirmishes from from happening. 80 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: And so the English were allowed, for i think the 81 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: first time, to actually trade with Spain from Georgia to Florida, 82 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: which seems like it would be a good move, but 83 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 1: it ultimately led to disaster. Yeah, and what you know, 84 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:14,560 Speaker 1: there were a lot of things at stake here, but 85 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: we shouldn't whitewash this and leave out that what England 86 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: was really doing here and all these all the battling 87 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: was trying to improve their their trade capabilities in the Caribbean, 88 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: not just with stuff, but with human beings and slaves. 89 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, true. So it was very very ugly 90 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: what was going on. And in the Treaty of Utrecht, uh, 91 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,840 Speaker 1: they they set all these guidelines. Um, England had all 92 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: these ambitions in that area, and Spain though says, all right, 93 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: you know what, though, we're going to act as the 94 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,080 Speaker 1: I guess sort of the the coast guard and the 95 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: cops um of the high seas. And if we think 96 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:00,840 Speaker 1: that you're smuggling something you shouldn't be smuggling, we're gonna 97 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: board your ship. And maybe we should take a break 98 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: here and finish the story right after this okay, chuck. 99 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: So the Spanish Armada, the Spanish navy is acting as 100 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,679 Speaker 1: the coast guard because technically the English traders are allowed 101 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: into trade, but they're they're supposed to be like their 102 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: cargo is supposed to pay taxes, tariffs, duties, all this stuff. 103 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: The problem is is that the English were um rampant 104 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 1: uh smugglers, and it was way easier to say like, oh, hey, 105 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: you in Florida, you need scissors and yarn and I 106 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: want some of your silver. So I'm just gonna sneak 107 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: some of those things past the Spanish coast guard in 108 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 1: the hopes that they won't find it and then we 109 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: can trade. And that's what the Spaniards called contraband. And 110 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: so the Spanish was well aware that this was going on, 111 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:16,920 Speaker 1: so they would board ships routinely um and search them. 112 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: And on I believe April April nine, they happened to 113 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 1: board a ship in particular called the Rebecca that was 114 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: captained by a guy named Robert Jenkins. Yeah, and this 115 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: was one of those Spanish patrol boats. It was called Isabella, 116 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: and they said we're coming aboard and we're gonna check 117 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:38,880 Speaker 1: out what you got here. There was a bit of 118 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: a um. Well, they found them out they were smuggling 119 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: things that they shouldn't have had after they expected the 120 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: manifest in the cargo, and there was punishment levied one 121 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:55,239 Speaker 1: Juan de Leon Fandino, who uh was the Spanish captain 122 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: tried to send a message straight to the king and 123 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: said with his sword you like that, he said, with 124 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,440 Speaker 1: his sword, off with your ear and cut off Captain 125 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: jenkins ear. And Captain Jenkins ostensibly picked it up, put 126 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: it in his pocket, and later pickled it. He did 127 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: pickle it, and he carried it around with him for 128 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: like seven years, and finally one day, I don't know how, 129 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: but he managed to get into the House of Commons 130 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: and said, look at this, look at what the Spanish 131 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: captain did to my ear, um, just for trying to 132 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: be like a respectable businessman smuggling a little contraband into Florida. 133 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: And he said that if the King of England were 134 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: here and in violation of law, he would have done 135 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: it to the King of England too, And Parliament said, 136 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: that is it. We are declaring war on Spain Georgia. 137 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: Go get him. Yeah, he was actually called in to testify, 138 00:08:55,360 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: so okay, um, he was an important, um, important witness 139 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,240 Speaker 1: I guess to the activities down there. Maybe that's why 140 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: they called him in. The one bad part about that 141 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: story is supposedly there is no evidence that he actually 142 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: presented his ear, and people think that it may have 143 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: just been sort of gussied up through history and telling 144 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: him this tale. But he did testify, we know that. 145 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: But it certainly makes for a great story that he 146 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: actually held his ear up and said, look at this 147 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,839 Speaker 1: pickled ear. I'm hoping that at the very least they 148 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,679 Speaker 1: inspected to make sure he was missing an ear. Yeah, 149 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: it would be so um obviously, I think we should say, like, 150 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,839 Speaker 1: no one ever started a war over somebody's ear being 151 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 1: lopped off. That just became shorthand. Again, the tensions between 152 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: England and Spain and the tensions between their their colonial 153 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: presence was already simmering. Uh. There have been a lot 154 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: of overland skirmishes between Georgia and Florida, and this was 155 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,559 Speaker 1: This is pointed to historically as the thing that that 156 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: the straw that broke the camel's back. I guess. Yeah. 157 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,360 Speaker 1: And the sort of the um anticlimax of this story 158 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:13,680 Speaker 1: is the War of Jenkins. Ear was not much of 159 00:10:13,679 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: a war um. Like we said, it was sort of 160 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: part of smaller wars that they just gave a name 161 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,199 Speaker 1: to ten years later. But there wasn't much that got 162 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: accomplished during the War of Jenkins. Ear Over that that 163 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 1: few years that they had these battles, well, a couple 164 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: of things did come out of it. One there was 165 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: something called the Battle of Bloody Marsh. So you're thinking, like, 166 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: oh man, a lot of people died. Now it was 167 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 1: called Bloody Marsh already that just happened to be where 168 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: the battle was was staged on St. Simon's Island and Georgia. 169 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: But in that battle, like five thousand Spanish troops sailed 170 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: to Georgia and landed and came came into Georgia and 171 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: were repelled by the Georgian colonial defense people, the Georgia 172 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: defensive line exactly. They pushed him back, pushed him back 173 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: way back, right, and that was huge for them because 174 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: up to this point, remember the Spanish were like like 175 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,839 Speaker 1: inconceivably powerful, and Georgia said, oh wait, we actually can 176 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 1: defeat them. So that was one big thing. And then 177 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: it also solidified George's position safely as an English colony. 178 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:24,679 Speaker 1: That it was like, hey, man, we're here to stay. 179 00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:27,880 Speaker 1: You stayed down in Florida, we'll stay up here in Georgia. 180 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: We're an English colony, you're a Spanish colony. Don't mess 181 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:33,960 Speaker 1: with us anymore. So those two things did kind of 182 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 1: come out of it. Actually. Yeah, and Oglethorpe he mounted 183 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:42,040 Speaker 1: his own campaign to invade St. Augustine and did okay there, 184 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: but eventually retreated and even left his armaments and weapons 185 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: and stuff. Uh so there, I mean, there were some 186 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: major battles, but I think in the end, the War 187 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 1: of jenkins Ear is just sort of, um, a bit 188 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: of a historical footnote in a lot of ways. Yeah. 189 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: Historically it got absorbed in the larger King George's War, 190 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: which was a part of the War of Austrian Succession, 191 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: I think, right exactly. So it was a war within 192 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,440 Speaker 1: a war within a war. It was like inception in 193 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: colonial America. And Ellen Page will be here in just 194 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,320 Speaker 1: a minute to fully explain it over and over. Right, 195 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: thank you for listening to our attempt at explaining the 196 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 1: War of jenkins Ear. Uh, we'll see you next time 197 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:23,920 Speaker 1: on short stuff.