S8 Ep373: Londinium Winter 92AD. In this dialogue, the "Emperor" (the U.S. President) is chastised by King Charles III for disparaging the British military, leading to a swift reversal by the American leader. Germanicus argues that despite the 18th-century revoluti

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🗓️ 26 January 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Londinium Winter 92AD. In this dialogue, the "Emperor" (the U.S. President) is chastised by King Charles III for disparaging the British military, leading to a swift reversal by the American leader. Germanicus argues that despite the 18th-century revolution, the U.S. never truly disentangled itself from Great Britain, eventually inheriting its imperial role and institutions. The speakers note that American elites retain a deep, nostalgic reverence for the British monarchy, often viewing the U.K. as a cultural font similar to how Rome viewed Greece, though they observe that modern Britainstruggles to defend its borders and identity.
1690 CHARLES II AND JANE LANE

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The This is Lunditium 92 AD.
0:39.9	I'm Gaius.
0:40.8	Germanicus is here.
0:41.8	The retired centurions are here.
0:43.7	We entertain the retired centurions by making certain that they understand their sacrifice
0:48.8	and their colleagues' sacrifice for the legions of the empire
0:53.3	is to be rewarded for 2,000 years.
0:56.7	And more, America has inherited their empire, their institutions, their language, their might,
1:05.3	their confidence.
1:08.7	In between the Roman Empire and the American Empire, there was the British Empire.
1:14.9	Once upon a time, Britain inherited that role.
1:19.6	English common law is Roman law.
1:22.8	English institutions are Roman.
1:25.2	The classicists of the education system of Great Britain
1:29.5	inspired several wars over the last several hundred years. And yet, America supplanted Britain,
1:38.6	but an incident in these last days brings in an interesting what-if.
1:45.8	As I understand, the emperor spoke poorly of the British military's presence in Afghanistan,
1:52.4	an adventure, saying not exactly on the front line, something like that,
1:58.1	in the emperor's best style of double talk.
2:02.3	That led to an enormous outburst of fury in Britain and around the world, the whole of the
2:09.6	Commonwealth.
	...

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