Colonising Nicaragua: William Walker

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the mid-19th century, William Walker led a group of fellow US Expansionists to Nicaragua, in an attempt to seize the country as their own. Some of the first successful filibuster’s, they were on a mission to bring a form of US Democracy to central America - the unexpected catch in a somewhat familiar story of colonisation? They were welcomed with open arms. But soon, Walker’s promises of a new state and open democracy faded away, and a terrifying reign of terror set in. So, what happened in Nicaragua in the 19th century? And just who was William Walker?

In this episode, James welcomes Professor, and Author, Michel Gobat to the podcast to help unravel this difficult story. Looking at the politics of 19th century America, the conservative rule that had defined Nicaragua up to this point, and delving into what the contemporary sources say about Walker - is it possible to piece together a complete image of what Walker achieved? And just what happened to him after his reign of terror finished?

For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Manifest Destiny. It was a belief enshrined within the foundations of the United States.
0:07.0	It was the belief that it was necessary to expand the nation westwards towards California.
0:12.0	Many saw it as their duty to settle the continent, conquer, and
0:15.6	prosper.
0:16.6	Yet this belief wasn't limited to North America alone.
0:19.9	Instead, it inspired a number of people, including the movement known as the
0:23.2	filibusters, who without the consent of the American government tried to
0:27.1	assume power in a number of Central American and Caribbean countries.
0:30.8	I'm your host, James Patton Rogers. This is the warfare
0:33.5	podcast and thanks to a listener suggestion from Marcus Haynes, we're going to
0:37.4	explore one of these filibuster wars, the war in Nicaragua. To help us on this
0:42.3	journey back to the 1850s and to explain this little-known conflict,
0:46.4	I've invited Professor Michelle Gobe on to the podcast. Michelle is the author of Empire by invitation,
0:53.0	and is from his first-hand research
0:55.4	that we hear about Manifest Destiny in Central America,
0:58.4	the war in Nicaragua,
1:00.0	and the controversial American who assumed
1:02.1	the presidency in the country, William Walker.
1:05.3	Enjoy.
1:06.3	Hi Michelle, welcome to Warfare.
1:11.5	How are you doing today? Fine, thanks for having me on the show. Well, that's great to Warfare. Warfare. How are you doing today?
1:13.0	Fine. Thanks for having me on the show.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.