You know, I should be horrified that Blunt managed to pull this off... but I can't do anything else than _laugh_ at the genius of this magnificent bastard.
He truly is a magnificent bastard, a kind of villain who you really root for despite his underhanded deeds because he's an absolute genius at what he does.
Mandemon1990 I know what you mean. I can just picture this guy sat in a leather armchair by the fire, sipping tea form a china cup and saying, "I say, Reginald? How much money do I have?" To which the elderly butler replies. "Mmm... sir appears to have... mmm... more money than the... mmm... country strictly issued, sir." At which point Blunt smiles, carefully sips his tea, and says, "bully."
Yeah, I find people like him facinating even though I think they're bastards for cheating people. Then again, I've always had a weakness for clever characters historical or fictional.
wolfson109 I will guess,but i fell ubisoft make watch dogs the biggest hype train in history(And guess what?It failed so badly my mouth is in pain when i say Ubisoft or watch dogs.Sorry but i have to stop talking for a minute or two.)
I bet William III was rolling over in his grave. But frankly at this point the purpose of the war had gone. They had gone to war to keep the French from annexing Spain or even just keeping a French Bourbon off the throne of Spain. But the death of Emperor Leopold II and his son, meant that the Austrian candidate, Charles, was now Emperor. So putting him on the Spanish throne would be even more destabilizing, effectively recreating the Empire of Charles V. No one, wanted that. So frankly, some Italian horse trading of small principalities to compensate for the shift in power and also a firm proclamation that the Spanish Bourbons would never sit on the French throne (French ultra-legitimists say hi), was enough to roll out the Mission Accomplished banner, anyway. With or without Great Britain.
I saw someone suggesting something more like The Wolf of Wallstreat. But I wonder if the level of addiction to sex, alcohol and drugs of the British High class can compare to those displayed in that movie.
Gareth Brooks-Martin Both symbols, for whatever reason, are both called pound signs. Also not to be confused with lb. Which is the abbreviation of pound. Or a building of abandoned dogs, which is also a pound.
Dear lord. I've never looked up the South Sea Company before, and... wow. Just wow. I thought it was more or less like the East India Company, just one of the successful trading companies of the time. And the ridiculous, incredibly absurd thing is, so did the people back then! Whereas in reality, this absurd charade did more or less nothing and still managed to be the biggest goddamn thing of the time. This reads like some bad comedy. And it's awesome.
In fairness to Blunt, if I were in his shoes at the time, looking at all the ways in which the Government debt could make me money, I'd be quite tempted to take the road he did.
Jay Well, a lot of it also banked (pun totally intended) on politicians and rich people in England being completely gullible and never questioning him even as his position got more and more suspicious. All it'd take is one savvy skeptic to figure out what he was doing to bring him down, but it never happened.Then again, this video also shows that he was very good at spinning stories and discrediting anyone who WAS in a position to call him out.
Extra Credits *screams in excitement* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"I know what to do," Blunt said with desire. And he cranked up the stock prices higher and higher. And he chuckled and clucked, "What a great, Blunty thing! With this hype and this cash, I'll be rich as the king!"
"The Honourable East India Company" I assume it was the Department of Newspeak that put "Honourable" in the name of that company. They were even worse than Blunt's scheme. I vote for an Extra History on them at some point.
By the morals of the day they weren't, for a couple of hundred years, the take over and control of under developed countries was considered fine. Slavery was not made illegal until 1833, and the Opium Trade was the only viable way of trading tea.
CornishCreamtea07 At first when the first traders of the East India Company came to India they were noble people for the time they would dress to similar indian fashion, dine with the Indian Nobility, have Indian families while marrying Indian women and mistresses, it is also said some of the English Nobles showered in the Indian Rivers with the local people, it was when the greed for power grew that the strangle hold on India came the harsh attitude and the Indian Revolts. So yea I would so love to see the East Indian Company being covered :)
Rabbit Cube has an amazing point. The East India company, a corporation, single handed, declared war on China, and won. Just to push their drugs. I love those guys :)
To be fair I think its competitor the United East India Company (Of the Netherlands) would be much more interesting as an Extra History topic. It won a war against the Crown of Portugal, traded with Japan when most outsiders were killed, and still remains the most profitable company in history
I just thought, if Britain still owes all this debt, who do they owe the debt to? A lot countries than time have changed, France lost the war, and most, if not all, of those companies no longer exist.
CornishCreamtea07 Britain is a very old country, and you'd be amazed at how many organisations have endured through the ages. It is also possible Britain owes money to families. You know how George I and George II were involved in this little scam? Well, it seems logical that anyone who owes money to the South Sea Company at that point, by extension, owes money to the Royal Family. Keep in mind that the House of Windsor can trace itself back to the House of Wettin, from 10th century Saxony. If you owed money to a Saxon Duke in 1032 and never paid up, then strictly speaking Elizabeth II could be charging you interest.
+Gunnery Sergeant Buck Our chief weapon is fear. Fear and surpri- our two chief weapons are fear, surprise, and an almost fanatical devotion to the po- our three chief weapons are fear, surprise, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope. (I forgot the rest)
When the Spanish 🇪🇸 inquisition come and its many no one expct the Spanish 🇪🇸 inquisition memes. Me: i gusse i will use my uno reverse card. The Spanish inquisition never happened. Every No one expect the Spanish 🇪🇸 inquisition memes: oofs.
I really like how Britain is represented by a psychotic looking anime girl dual wielding swords. XD Also, the company gains more worth than ALL the money in England?! ...Oh dear. Oh dear that's never a good thing. XD
This is genuinely some of the most interesting historical stuff I have heard in a while. Something that doesn't seem initially "interesting" is actually some House of Cards stuff. You guys should do more parts of history that don't seem "interesting" and I'm sure you'll do an awesome spin on it.
These segments are fantastic. Engaging, informative and entertaining all at once.Thanks for all the hard work in creating this and I look forward to more.
Er, Marlborough was locked in the tower of London on suspicion of Jacobitism, not for favouring the war. Actually, Jacobitism and the Glorious Revolution really needs to be addressed at this point, because quite a bit of this seems out of context. Fantastic job, but I think more context would be beneficial. I can only really follow bits of this because I'm doing this period at the moment for my degree.
+joinmarch76 I'm imagining a movie based on this as being like a mashup of The Producers and The Wolf of Wall Street. Specifically, I'm imagining Blunt turning to the camera and saying, "Point is, was any of this legal? Abso-fuckin-lutely not."
Personally, I don't think this was a bad idea, just piss poor execution. If the South Sea Company had managed to obtain a viable trade agreement and thus become successful, than it could have potentially fulfilled its duty of funding the government.
Warrior of Virtue yeah problem is like now UK was fighting against every other empires and they fucked up in order to make profit so now same with the EU.
Wow. I am re-watching this in 2022, and the parallels with the Cryptocurrency / NFT markets are astonishing. You even have influencers (Defoe and Swift as mentioned) hawking this stuff! Amazing.
Fun side fact, Queen Anne was so unhealthy and there were reports that she had died so many times that there is still an expression in English English, 'Queen Anne is dead' which means something like, 'yeah tell me something I don't know'.
5:04 but isn't issuing stock like printing money, in that doing so lowers the value of that stock? also at 7:18, is it a mistake that you have a picture of the hollow sword blades company rather than the south sea company?
It does lower the value, if supply increases when demand stays the same. However, if the demand is higher than the current supply, the value will likely stay the same, increasing profits. Using Amiibos as an example, which are sold by Nintendo, the demand for them is high, but the items are scarce despite that. If Nintendo sold more at the same price, they would get more profits, because the demand would be met and cut into the profits made by those selling their amiibos on eBay.
d13sel1990 Thank you. I find examples which aren't about currencies, but tangible goods, are easier to understand when trying to explain economics. Well it works for me, and I haven't studied economics since highschool. I'm sure there are better economists than me hiding somewhere in the comment section.
And then Blunt wrote the song "You're Beautiful" and Al Yankovic wrote a parody of it with Blunt's approval, but then Atlantic Records got its panties in a wad and threw a hissy-fit so Al ended up releasing the parody for free because that's the kind of great guy he is. ...Oh, _John_ Blunt. Never mind.
I would like a channel dedicated to Extra History. Your execution is smooth and fluent so you keep up the pace of the episode well. The animation gives us something very nice to look at while listening. You explain interesting topics in a way that's it doesn't feel overly simple, yet you explain everything briefly, in detail, with no more words than you need.
I'm devastated. My wife and I were sitting down to watch this on my Xbox, a youtube ad plays and it's this KILLER rap song. I think it's called "Sauce". The dude rapping makes a bunch of anime references and there are clips from the opening of Samurai Champloo cut between the music video. It's great, but we were so caught up in the moment that we didn't catch the name of the dude rapping!( I think it starts with an A) It's been like 3 days, so not only am I on the edge of my seat for the THIS Extra history series, I STILL can't find that song. I've reloaded this video like 20 times trying to get that ad. UGH!
Oh my god. This is awesome. Why have I never heard of this insanity before? XD I guess because some of the concepts are a little difficult to word plainly and clearly? Man! This is still so much fun!
Dollar sign evolved from the "PS" abbreviation for the piece of eight (aka Spanish dollar, aka peso aka tons of other names) so, in a weird way, it's actually appropriate...
Phoelinaeen Yeah and in modern days there isn't a single portuguese port in Brasil... Anyways, from around 1500 to 1807 Brasil was just another colony of Portugal, Spain was on the other side of south america. These two nations even made a treaty to divide the world's lands between themselves (Spain got most or all of Asia and the west part of America while Portugal would get the East part of America and all of Africa), called the treaty of tordesillas. Long story short there was never a Spanish port in Brasil (although there were Dutch and I think French territories there for a time)
labrynianrebel I never said they OWNED it... I'm saying that back then it was more often that people took things from people sometimes without much of a fuss. And it was usually expected. Stop assuming what I was trying to convey. Sure I was vague, but I was saying the above. As with people going into America and taking land from the Native Americans. There were all kinds of people there are we can go all day on how many other places had people who didn't 'own' the place. Back then in America there were also TONS of other people from other places until the original people were then forced out from their homes. It is expected that back then there are many different people in different places that don't belong. French people, Spanish people, British people, and more all had territories and colonies in the 'new' world until one eventually won the war and bought the land away. Sadly, people didn't care if your people had the land for hundreds of years. It's theirs now. And honestly, it will probably stay that way for the time humans will exist. Just because you were on the land doesn't mean you 'own' it forever. Example: Trail of tears, Cherokee Native Americans.
I hope we can come to a proper understanding so that we don't waste both of our times complaining over misunderstanding. I have a lots of games I want to play. (League mostly, because I absolutely suck at that game..) :l
SuperHamsterhuey the Spanish had the same problem with their trade with China and limited it to just two shiploads a year. The Manila galleons were the largest wooden vessels of the time.
You could talk about the rise to power of some random unknown tribal chieftain in some old part of africa in some distant uncertain part of history, and you guys would STILL make it sound interesting to listen to. I love you guys, and I hope you never stop with extra history! edit: Actually, that african tribe thing actually sounds a bit interesting now when I brought it up .. if you guys can find some interesting historic fact about something like that feel free to make an episode about it :D
Would be interisting if they did one on the African world war, or some of the events surrounding that en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War ,or an other important event or person in africa would also be interesting.
Dahxelb I would love to hear about something that happened in Africa. It is a chunk of the world whose history is frequently overlooked by people on other continents.
You exactly described Shaka Zulu and his tribe called the Zulus. They're basically the African Tribal version of Sparta. He made the Zulu tribe so strong that they were able to defeat the British Army...I'll just let that sink in.
Classic Gamer They didn't defeat the British army, but their defeats were better for them than the victories for the British. There are many defeats better than victories throughout history, like Thermopylae, where about 9,000 Greeks held out for 3 days against the Persian army. However, the Anglo invasion of Zululand was successful, unlike the Persian invasion of Greece.
Love this Channel. After watching many of your videos the one thing in common is always good vs bad in human character. I would so much love love to watch videos done on Human and/or Government corruption. Being a student of human nature this kind of study would be fascinating and freeing. Thank you so much.
'Jacobites', i.e James II was removed in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution, not during the Civil War, so only about 20 years earlier than the period you're discussing, not 70!
Cracked Rearview ImperialPsychopath all true, but 'Jacobite' refers to supporters of the Stuart line that was disinhereted as a result of the Glorious Revolution. They're named after James II. The civil war involved getting rid of Charles I and bringing Charles II back, so the term Jacobite doesn't apply to them at all.
Parker8752 I don't know of any school of thought that calls the Glorious Revolution a Civil War. The Civil War in the 1640s is considered three different civil wars. In fact if you factor in the Irish Rebellion and the Bishops' War with Scotland there could be seen to be 5 wars in the period 1640-51 - Russell among others call is the British Civil Wars for this exact reason. The Glorious Revolution was certainly a separate event however, and not a Civil War (although there was a Jacobite Rebellion in Ireland 1689-92).
Oh man, I now remember how much detail you dive toward and I'm just waiting for the connection of The Atlantic Slave Trade since The South Seas Company is founded 2 years before the Peace Treaty of Utrecht (sp?). This ended the conflict between England and Spain and conceded to England the ability to monopolize the sole commodity of slaves. You win the war. Kind of. And your reward is a financial disaster at home brought on by idiocy which leaves no other option but to sue for peace and take whatever money you can start making, now. And it's the least desirable commodity to be responsible for controlling. It was essentially an insult and mockery of England's realistic money situation at home. Like "keep this up and your country can end really quick because of that stupid debt bubble."
Oh, and keep in mind that African Maroons and other rebels were recurring allies when England was fighting Spain. Privateering, pirates, good ol' Treasure Island life. Having to make money off only the enslavement of peoples whom are very similar to your own previous military allies has to just suck on a basic human level. Forced to betray people that look like new friends.
Very cool video! A few small inaccuracies that don't detract from the main story but may be worth pointing out: - 2:44: Walpole" appears spelled as "Warpole." - 4:10: The crowning of George I was not the result of debates in 1714. The succession after Anne had already been determined by the 1701 Act of Settlement. - 6:50: The Jacobites were not a branch of the English government overthrown during the Civil War. They were supporters of the Stuart dynasty after James II was dethroned in 1688.
Now nobody cry for poor England. One must remember what the South Sea Company was supposed to be trading was slaves. After the war of Spanish Succession Britain won the right to take over the Caribbean slave trade; that and Gibraltar. So the fact that they never traded anything doesn't make Blunt a bad man in a way it makes him a MORE principled one.
Seriously, you guys should simply replace most History classes with your videos. I love history, but there are some parts that are simply boring, you make even the boring parts of history seem awesome and amazing.
I just watched this for the second time, both in a row, and it took me those two times to understand to the full extent what John Blunt had done. And I got chills up my spine. Real chills up my spine. That is evil.
I have so many questions: How can you give a company a monopoly like the government did with the south seas? The government debt was only 9m pounds, why did they have the south seas company issue 10m pounds of stock to cover debt and still need to give them more debt? Why didn't investors leave after they realized the south seas company wasn't making any money (and thus couldn't pay them higher dividends) how did hyping the defeat of the jacobites raise the stock prices of the south seas company? when to whigs got back in power, why didn't they just get money from the bank that they made?
Here's the answers I can think of, forgive me if I'm wrong. You can give a company a monopoly by refusing to let other companies do what it's doing. (Ex. Making it illegal for anyone to sell burgers but McDonalds.) As time goes on, the government will get even more debt. No idea. Still none. They thought the South Sea Company would make more money.
***** It´s me or the whole idea of monopoly by the South Sea Company is just flawed? As said, Spain (and Portugal) pretty handle all South America. If you´re at war, you´re not going anywhere near those ports. if you´re at peace, Spain (which btw had the monopoly on the spanish colonies) is gonna sell you far more products of the region that you can. How exactly anyone fell for this is beyond me.
You know, I should be horrified that Blunt managed to pull this off... but I can't do anything else than _laugh_ at the genius of this magnificent bastard.
He truly is a magnificent bastard, a kind of villain who you really root for despite his underhanded deeds because he's an absolute genius at what he does.
Mandemon1990 I know what you mean. I can just picture this guy sat in a leather armchair by the fire, sipping tea form a china cup and saying, "I say, Reginald? How much money do I have?"
To which the elderly butler replies. "Mmm... sir appears to have... mmm... more money than the... mmm... country strictly issued, sir."
At which point Blunt smiles, carefully sips his tea, and says, "bully."
JasanQuinn I need a picture of this to hang up for my office now
+Mandemon1990 i have 5 cents in my pocket i think i can pull this off in a week
Yeah, I find people like him facinating even though I think they're bastards for cheating people. Then again, I've always had a weakness for clever characters historical or fictional.
Blunt created a multi-million dollar company with literally nothing to back it up. Gotta admit, guy's a genius.
Those guys are a dime a dozen these days in the tech sector lol.
Sounds like WeWork
@@ciarancassidy7566 Damn savage 😂
Nikola.
dollar?
So the South Sea Company was essentially a giant hype train?
One of the biggest in history, after the Dutch tulip bubble.
All aboard the South Sea Hype Ship! Setting sail for South America...once a year.
wolfson109 U.S. does roughly the same *right now* - issuing bonds on a huge debt they are never planning to repay.
wolfson109 I will guess,but i fell ubisoft make watch dogs the biggest hype train in history(And guess what?It failed so badly my mouth is in pain when i say Ubisoft or watch dogs.Sorry but i have to stop talking for a minute or two.)
Latham Hendrickson It was almost as hyped as Titanfall.
"They would simply end a decades-long multinational war."
Really now. Really.
Why let a decade-long multinational war get in the way of a good trade?
+TheMasterchiefan You beat me to it.
I bet William III was rolling over in his grave. But frankly at this point the purpose of the war had gone. They had gone to war to keep the French from annexing Spain or even just keeping a French Bourbon off the throne of Spain. But the death of Emperor Leopold II and his son, meant that the Austrian candidate, Charles, was now Emperor. So putting him on the Spanish throne would be even more destabilizing, effectively recreating the Empire of Charles V. No one, wanted that.
So frankly, some Italian horse trading of small principalities to compensate for the shift in power and also a firm proclamation that the Spanish Bourbons would never sit on the French throne (French ultra-legitimists say hi), was enough to roll out the Mission Accomplished banner, anyway. With or without Great Britain.
Me when my allies sue for peace in EU4.
Probably the last time I can remember when the biggest company influencing the government wanted peace.
Blunt was a fucking maniac and I love him. I need a House of Cards-esque TV series based on this right goddamn now.
Yep
Yep
Yep
I saw someone suggesting something more like The Wolf of Wallstreat.
But I wonder if the level of addiction to sex, alcohol and drugs of the British High class can compare to those displayed in that movie.
Absolutely
Wouldn't Blunt see £ signs not $ signs?
Yeah, but then you might mistake them for #.
Prof. Luigi How does a £ look like a #.
Gareth Brooks-Martin Both symbols, for whatever reason, are both called pound signs. Also not to be confused with lb. Which is the abbreviation of pound. Or a building of abandoned dogs, which is also a pound.
Alex Havener
Or what is done to a hot iron at a blacksmith shop, which is also called pound.
Alex Havener Over here we call # a hash. But anyway, they're pretty visually distinct, which I think is the point.
Dear lord. I've never looked up the South Sea Company before, and... wow. Just wow. I thought it was more or less like the East India Company, just one of the successful trading companies of the time. And the ridiculous, incredibly absurd thing is, so did the people back then! Whereas in reality, this absurd charade did more or less nothing and still managed to be the biggest goddamn thing of the time.
This reads like some bad comedy. And it's awesome.
They were such good scam artists they're scamming you even centuries later! Curse you John Blunt!
"This reads like some bad comedy. And it's awesome."
Isn't that just Britain in one sentence; some bad comedy but freaking awesome?
Enron before Enron.
In fairness to Blunt, if I were in his shoes at the time, looking at all the ways in which the Government debt could make me money, I'd be quite tempted to take the road he did.
Jay Same.
Especially considering his lineage stayed rich for a very long time: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blunt_baronets
Jay Well, a lot of it also banked (pun totally intended) on politicians and rich people in England being completely gullible and never questioning him even as his position got more and more suspicious. All it'd take is one savvy skeptic to figure out what he was doing to bring him down, but it never happened.Then again, this video also shows that he was very good at spinning stories and discrediting anyone who WAS in a position to call him out.
2:44 Oh! My first appearance!
In jail...
Such a humble beginning. Oh look at how you have grown.
WALPOOOLE
WAAAAAAAALLLLLLLPPPPPPPOOOOOOLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEE
@@user-hg9vr7gh2q CYKA BLYAT YOU DARE SAY HIS NAME?! SAY JOSEPH STALIN RIGHT NOW COMRADE
Blunt managed to pull of the greatest pyramid scheme ever and he did it with such brilliance that I don't know whether to be angry or impressed
Why not both?
Well that solution was blunt.
Palm: Apply directly to the forehead.
I dub the king of bad puns for ONE day. XD
***** *slow clap and rise* You, dear sir or madam, deserve a cookie medal.
The man sure is pretty sharp.
fictionfan0 Recalculating route to forehead...
One meter from your destination, head straight ahead.
*Facepalm *
You have reached your destination.
Damn, you guys need to crank these out a bit faster, I'm kinda addicted...
after this the south sea co is finished they are going to be doing weekly episodes :D
Jack Cuthbertson Are they actually? Source? :D
Blaiz1t Films Can confirm! -Soraya
Extra Credits *screams in excitement* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Extra Credits
*Breakdances in excitement* AAAGGRGHH!!--I broke my leg...
Getting a terrifying "Oh god this is where Crypto is heading fast" vibe from this...
This is where crypto always was🤣
it’s the same thing that happened to dutch tulips and beanie babies
7:56 John Blunt got an idea.
An awful idea.
John Blunt got a wonderful, awful idea.
Courtney Woodbury WHAT IS THIS A REFERENCE TO I KNOW IT BUT CANNOT THINK OF IT
It's from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
you're a mean one, mr. blunt
"I know what to do," Blunt said with desire.
And he cranked up the stock prices higher and higher.
And he chuckled and clucked, "What a great, Blunty thing!
With this hype and this cash, I'll be rich as the king!"
"The Honourable East India Company"
I assume it was the Department of Newspeak that put "Honourable" in the name of that company. They were even worse than Blunt's scheme. I vote for an Extra History on them at some point.
By the morals of the day they weren't, for a couple of hundred years, the take over and control of under developed countries was considered fine. Slavery was not made illegal until 1833, and the Opium Trade was the only viable way of trading tea.
CornishCreamtea07 At first when the first traders of the East India Company came to India they were noble people for the time they would dress to similar indian fashion, dine with the Indian Nobility, have Indian families while marrying Indian women and mistresses, it is also said some of the English Nobles showered in the Indian Rivers with the local people, it was when the greed for power grew that the strangle hold on India came the harsh attitude and the Indian Revolts.
So yea I would so love to see the East Indian Company being covered :)
Rabbit Cube has an amazing point. The East India company, a corporation, single handed, declared war on China, and won. Just to push their drugs. I love those guys :)
To be fair I think its competitor the United East India Company (Of the Netherlands) would be much more interesting as an Extra History topic. It won a war against the Crown of Portugal, traded with Japan when most outsiders were killed, and still remains the most profitable company in history
JKAzrael247 Weren't they infamously corrupt? I know that helped trigger the Boston Tea Party.
I just thought, if Britain still owes all this debt, who do they owe the debt to? A lot countries than time have changed, France lost the war, and most, if not all, of those companies no longer exist.
If a company owes debt they would sell that off before going under so the debt has probably been traded around alot.
mainly private investors. business people, lords and noble houses, or just regular citizens.
CornishCreamtea07 Britain is a very old country, and you'd be amazed at how many organisations have endured through the ages.
It is also possible Britain owes money to families. You know how George I and George II were involved in this little scam? Well, it seems logical that anyone who owes money to the South Sea Company at that point, by extension, owes money to the Royal Family.
Keep in mind that the House of Windsor can trace itself back to the House of Wettin, from 10th century Saxony. If you owed money to a Saxon Duke in 1032 and never paid up, then strictly speaking Elizabeth II could be charging you interest.
CornishCreamtea07 *COUGH* Mayer Amschel Rothschild and Co., LLC. *COUGH*
JasanQuinn This is actually amazing how sacred a debt is - compared to truces, for example.
i was expecting to not expect the spanish inquisition :(
The anticipation of this expected unexpectation was unanticipated.
katten elvis **fanfare**
+Gunnery Sergeant Buck Our chief weapon is fear. Fear and surpri- our two chief weapons are fear, surprise, and an almost fanatical devotion to the po- our three chief weapons are fear, surprise, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope. (I forgot the rest)
+MMSINCsidecars I betcha if they listed a whole lot of history moments they wanted to do nobody would expect the Spanish inquisition to win
When the Spanish 🇪🇸 inquisition come and its many no one expct the Spanish 🇪🇸 inquisition memes.
Me: i gusse i will use my uno reverse card.
The Spanish inquisition never happened.
Every No one expect the Spanish 🇪🇸 inquisition memes: oofs.
I really like how Britain is represented by a psychotic looking anime girl dual wielding swords. XD
Also, the company gains more worth than ALL the money in England?! ...Oh dear. Oh dear that's never a good thing. XD
Putting all the eggs in one basket always end up flawless and never fails, said no one ever.
FlyingJetpack1 Hi, my name is No One Ever, heir to the Ever fortune. I keep all my eggs in one basket, and so should you!
FlyingJetpack1 So you put 1 egg in 1 basket?
Ethan Ferry I have a basket for every situation.
John Doe Most of those contracts net each other out, however.
What could possibly go wrong?!?!?!?
dfadg sadfga XD
Putting all the eggs in one basket always end up flawless and never fail. History shows it all the time :D
Famous last words,mate.Famous last words...
EVERYTHING.
Tune in next time to see what went wrong.
This whole thing reminds me of Kickstarter.
indeed
Eh, Kickstarter can be used for good things.
This is genuinely some of the most interesting historical stuff I have heard in a while. Something that doesn't seem initially "interesting" is actually some House of Cards stuff. You guys should do more parts of history that don't seem "interesting" and I'm sure you'll do an awesome spin on it.
I'm getting lost in all this talk of economics...
Rewatch it. It helps.
Economics isn't hard when you look at it closely.
Like seriously, it's not hard.
You're not the only one having trouble following it @_@
cat command You where after the third try I got it. :)
It's not economics, it's fraud.
This is the absurdity of capitalism at its finest.
These segments are fantastic. Engaging, informative and entertaining all at once.Thanks for all the hard work in creating this and I look forward to more.
This series about the South Sea Company is so damn entertaining that I go back and watch it again from time to time. Great storytelling, folks!
Er, Marlborough was locked in the tower of London on suspicion of Jacobitism, not for favouring the war. Actually, Jacobitism and the Glorious Revolution really needs to be addressed at this point, because quite a bit of this seems out of context.
Fantastic job, but I think more context would be beneficial. I can only really follow bits of this because I'm doing this period at the moment for my degree.
I have to say, this is the only history series on youtube that I'll notice in my feed and go 'oh fuck yeah' while bypassing my gaming vids
This is like The Wolf of Wall Street, only even more farcical and blackly funny.
The South Sea Bubble; A.k.a.: The Producers, Financial Edition.
+joinmarch76 I'm imagining a movie based on this as being like a mashup of The Producers and The Wolf of Wall Street. Specifically, I'm imagining Blunt turning to the camera and saying, "Point is, was any of this legal? Abso-fuckin-lutely not."
The South Sea Bubble: A.K.A - Capitalism in General
It was a government endorsed scheme to finagle revenue out of private citizens for government use. Not sure why you are blaming Capitalism.
joinmarch76 or The Big Short, 18th century style.
John Blunt is the luckiest scam artist... ^_^
You know it
Hissssssss
Personally, I don't think this was a bad idea, just piss poor execution. If the South Sea Company had managed to obtain a viable trade agreement and thus become successful, than it could have potentially fulfilled its duty of funding the government.
Yeah I always had that it mind things rarely ever goto plan
Warrior of Virtue yeah problem is like now UK was fighting against every other empires and they fucked up in order to make profit so now same with the EU.
i feel like i need an Extra Education: Economy and Debt 101.
oh, nice!
then i'll have to re-watch this series when it comes out.
What
@@TheDiloEmpire schizophrenia moment
Blunt sounds like the criminal mastermind that every good T.V. drama needs.
Wow. I am re-watching this in 2022, and the parallels with the Cryptocurrency / NFT markets are astonishing. You even have influencers (Defoe and Swift as mentioned) hawking this stuff! Amazing.
Fun side fact, Queen Anne was so unhealthy and there were reports that she had died so many times that there is still an expression in English English, 'Queen Anne is dead' which means something like, 'yeah tell me something I don't know'.
5:04 but isn't issuing stock like printing money, in that doing so lowers the value of that stock?
also at 7:18, is it a mistake that you have a picture of the hollow sword blades company rather than the south sea company?
It does lower the value, if supply increases when demand stays the same. However, if the demand is higher than the current supply, the value will likely stay the same, increasing profits.
Using Amiibos as an example, which are sold by Nintendo, the demand for them is high, but the items are scarce despite that. If Nintendo sold more at the same price, they would get more profits, because the demand would be met and cut into the profits made by those selling their amiibos on eBay.
Core Brute I love the use of a modern example that's easy to understand, bravo.
d13sel1990 Thank you. I find examples which aren't about currencies, but tangible goods, are easier to understand when trying to explain economics.
Well it works for me, and I haven't studied economics since highschool. I'm sure there are better economists than me hiding somewhere in the comment section.
Please put this series out more often! It's so interesting. Also, one of my favorites series on this channel. Nice job guys. Nice job.
And then Blunt wrote the song "You're Beautiful" and Al Yankovic wrote a parody of it with Blunt's approval, but then Atlantic Records got its panties in a wad and threw a hissy-fit so Al ended up releasing the parody for free because that's the kind of great guy he is.
...Oh, _John_ Blunt.
Never mind.
I like this. Presenting history like a story, makes it much more approachable.
2:43 ITS WALPOLE
AaaAaAAaaAAaAaaA HOW ARE PEOPLE NOT FREAKING OUT
Because Walpole wasn't as famous as he is now... AS A MEME I mean!
I would like a channel dedicated to Extra History. Your execution is smooth and fluent so you keep up the pace of the episode well. The animation gives us something very nice to look at while listening. You explain interesting topics in a way that's it doesn't feel overly simple, yet you explain everything briefly, in detail, with no more words than you need.
John Blunt: What we need is.... money....
God, Dan's delivery this episode is perfect. "They decided to offload more government debt onto the South Sea Company, because why wouldn't you?"
0:40 Yeah Blunt, who died sixty years before the creation of the dollar, totally saw dollar signs. I buy that
...for a dollar?
For a good British pound
He knew so much about economics that he was able to see an American dollar before the American dollar existed.
Ashley Thomas And probably predicted 2008 US crisis as well :P
IIRC the dollar was Dutch before the US used it.
Really nice music! (and the rest of the episode was great as always, don't cry!)
Genius. So genius. Possible anomaly, requesting backup.
It’s nice that your videos don’t get outdated
Blunt was an Evil genius and I find this Hilarious, though it goes to show how no one ever learns from history. Keep up the great stuff guys!
I'm devastated. My wife and I were sitting down to watch this on my Xbox, a youtube ad plays and it's this KILLER rap song. I think it's called "Sauce". The dude rapping makes a bunch of anime references and there are clips from the opening of Samurai Champloo cut between the music video. It's great, but we were so caught up in the moment that we didn't catch the name of the dude rapping!( I think it starts with an A) It's been like 3 days, so not only am I on the edge of my seat for the THIS Extra history series, I STILL can't find that song. I've reloaded this video like 20 times trying to get that ad. UGH!
Wait, why would he see dollar signs instead of pound signs?
Also, this is a bit like reading a real life Terry Pratchett's "Making Money"
Blunt seems more like Reacher Guilt than Moist to me though
TheBespectacledN00b +Tommy Laukkanen He is reacher, if Mr. Gilt had sided with the Angels at the end of Going postal.
These are great!! Very informative and easy to follow with great illustrations. Second video of yours that I've watched and I'm hooked!
Oh my god. This is awesome. Why have I never heard of this insanity before? XD I guess because some of the concepts are a little difficult to word plainly and clearly? Man! This is still so much fun!
Oh god this is amazing! How have I not heard about this before? This guy is an economic genius!
no self respecting English man would have a vision of dollar signs. :-)
retromurdok What about visions of tea
What about John Blunt made you think he was a self respecting individual?
Dollar sign evolved from the "PS" abbreviation for the piece of eight (aka Spanish dollar, aka peso aka tons of other names) so, in a weird way, it's actually appropriate...
Seriously? Spain ports in Brazil?
We aren't talking about modern day stuff.
This was a long time ago.
Phoelinaeen Yeah and in modern days there isn't a single portuguese port in Brasil...
Anyways, from around 1500 to 1807 Brasil was just another colony of Portugal, Spain was on the other side of south america. These two nations even made a treaty to divide the world's lands between themselves (Spain got most or all of Asia and the west part of America while Portugal would get the East part of America and all of Africa), called the treaty of tordesillas. Long story short there was never a Spanish port in Brasil (although there were Dutch and I think French territories there for a time)
Phoelinaeen
Spain NEVER owned Brazil.
labrynianrebel I never said they OWNED it... I'm saying that back then it was more often that people took things from people sometimes without much of a fuss. And it was usually expected. Stop assuming what I was trying to convey. Sure I was vague, but I was saying the above. As with people going into America and taking land from the Native Americans. There were all kinds of people there are we can go all day on how many other places had people who didn't 'own' the place. Back then in America there were also TONS of other people from other places until the original people were then forced out from their homes. It is expected that back then there are many different people in different places that don't belong. French people, Spanish people, British people, and more all had territories and colonies in the 'new' world until one eventually won the war and bought the land away. Sadly, people didn't care if your people had the land for hundreds of years. It's theirs now. And honestly, it will probably stay that way for the time humans will exist. Just because you were on the land doesn't mean you 'own' it forever.
Example: Trail of tears, Cherokee Native Americans.
I hope we can come to a proper understanding so that we don't waste both of our times complaining over misunderstanding. I have a lots of games I want to play.
(League mostly, because I absolutely suck at that game..) :l
Wait a minute. Walpole and... Churchill? Proof that Robert Walpole decided the outcome of WWII.
Fucking walpole
I NEED an animated GIF of John Blunt frothing at the mouth at hallucinations of dollar signs
Wait, couldn't the solution to only being allowed 1 ship a year be to just make 1 REALLY, REALLY, big ship?
SuperHamsterhuey the Spanish had the same problem with their trade with China and limited it to just two shiploads a year. The Manila galleons were the largest wooden vessels of the time.
I really love these extra history episodes, I just get introduced to such new topics!
You could talk about the rise to power of some random unknown tribal chieftain in some old part of africa in some distant uncertain part of history, and you guys would STILL make it sound interesting to listen to. I love you guys, and I hope you never stop with extra history!
edit: Actually, that african tribe thing actually sounds a bit interesting now when I brought it up .. if you guys can find some interesting historic fact about something like that feel free to make an episode about it :D
Would be interisting if they did one on the African world war, or some of the events surrounding that en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War
,or an other important event or person in africa would also be interesting.
Dahxelb I would love to hear about something that happened in Africa. It is a chunk of the world whose history is frequently overlooked by people on other continents.
You exactly described Shaka Zulu and his tribe called the Zulus. They're basically the African Tribal version of Sparta. He made the Zulu tribe so strong that they were able to defeat the British Army...I'll just let that sink in.
Classic Gamer
The Zulu Empire was one of the proposed topics, if I recall correctly. The South Sea Bubble simply got more votes.
Classic Gamer
They didn't defeat the British army, but their defeats were better for them than the victories for the British.
There are many defeats better than victories throughout history, like Thermopylae, where about 9,000 Greeks held out for 3 days against the Persian army.
However, the Anglo invasion of Zululand was successful, unlike the Persian invasion of Greece.
Finally, the next episode! Been waiting all week for this.
No wonder they are still paying all that debt, not a lot of trading in ports of an Empire that is constantly at war with you.
This is so wonderful! Many thanks for doing this! :D
Wow, in the words of the Aimless Rogue, :This is so god damn illegal."
TheGeoshark Fellow homestuck?
Love this Channel. After watching many of your videos the one thing in common is always good vs bad in human character. I would so much love love to watch videos done on Human and/or Government corruption. Being a student of human nature this kind of study would be fascinating and freeing. Thank you so much.
"Honourable" East India Trading Company -_-
selling drugs to get tea ... much honorable...
this was before that
i know
Sid Panicker that was the companies full name like a lord it was the name given to the company by the crown
I looooooove extra history, thank you guys for making them it is awesome!!!
This John Blunt reminds me of Littlefinger.
This series is awesome!!!!!! :D
I'm so glad you guys did the South Sea Company!
'Jacobites', i.e James II was removed in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution, not during the Civil War, so only about 20 years earlier than the period you're discussing, not 70!
I mean, the Stuarts were removed in the civil war. But then they came back! Had a party! And then got too Catholic.
ImperialPsychopath And were conquered and replaced by a man married to a Stuart. And then the government appointed a german aristocrat king.
Cracked Rearview ImperialPsychopath all true, but 'Jacobite' refers to supporters of the Stuart line that was disinhereted as a result of the Glorious Revolution. They're named after James II. The civil war involved getting rid of Charles I and bringing Charles II back, so the term Jacobite doesn't apply to them at all.
To be fair, we did have two civil wars - at least, when I was in school, they were referred to as the first and second civil wars.
Parker8752 I don't know of any school of thought that calls the Glorious Revolution a Civil War. The Civil War in the 1640s is considered three different civil wars. In fact if you factor in the Irish Rebellion and the Bishops' War with Scotland there could be seen to be 5 wars in the period 1640-51 - Russell among others call is the British Civil Wars for this exact reason.
The Glorious Revolution was certainly a separate event however, and not a Civil War (although there was a Jacobite Rebellion in Ireland 1689-92).
It’s such a relatively obscure topic but I think they do some their best comedic writing in this
Marked as the first mention of Walpole
"But oh the irony: by locking themselves into peace, they locked themselves out of the peace they wanted."
Every 4X player: **knowing nod**
I can't believe it but this is actually a more interesting story that most wars.
Such a well researched video, great content....
Oh man, I now remember how much detail you dive toward and I'm just waiting for the connection of The Atlantic Slave Trade since The South Seas Company is founded 2 years before the Peace Treaty of Utrecht (sp?). This ended the conflict between England and Spain and conceded to England the ability to monopolize the sole commodity of slaves.
You win the war. Kind of. And your reward is a financial disaster at home brought on by idiocy which leaves no other option but to sue for peace and take whatever money you can start making, now. And it's the least desirable commodity to be responsible for controlling. It was essentially an insult and mockery of England's realistic money situation at home. Like "keep this up and your country can end really quick because of that stupid debt bubble."
Oh, and keep in mind that African Maroons and other rebels were recurring allies when England was fighting Spain. Privateering, pirates, good ol' Treasure Island life. Having to make money off only the enslavement of peoples whom are very similar to your own previous military allies has to just suck on a basic human level.
Forced to betray people that look like new friends.
This story is getting so spicy! Can't wait to hear more!
I Blunt secretly a James Bond villain or something? The guy seems like he's going to build a doomsday cannon by the end of this.
Very cool video! A few small inaccuracies that don't detract from the main story but may be worth pointing out:
- 2:44: Walpole" appears spelled as "Warpole."
- 4:10: The crowning of George I was not the result of debates in 1714. The succession after Anne had already been determined by the 1701 Act of Settlement.
- 6:50: The Jacobites were not a branch of the English government overthrown during the Civil War. They were supporters of the Stuart dynasty after James II was dethroned in 1688.
This is turning into: South Sea Company - one mans quest to get ALL the money. xD
Can we just acknowledge that the music at the end is awesome?
0:43. Pound signs
Now nobody cry for poor England. One must remember what the South Sea Company was supposed to be trading was slaves. After the war of Spanish Succession Britain won the right to take over the Caribbean slave trade; that and Gibraltar. So the fact that they never traded anything doesn't make Blunt a bad man in a way it makes him a MORE principled one.
Your next Extra History (after this period of course) should be on the Golden Age of Piracy
please!!!
I find myself waiting for these more than the Extra Credits videos.
On the seventh run through the series lol
John Blunt is an insane genius. I'm really liking this series.
0:40 dollars ??????
Love the dual-wielding Vixen representation of Britain btw.
I don't even wanna read about it in Wikipedia. NO SPOILERS!!!!!
I found myself cackling the whole time at their schemes. It's so devilishly brilliant.
Seriously, you guys should simply replace most History classes with your videos. I love history, but there are some parts that are simply boring, you make even the boring parts of history seem awesome and amazing.
"Honorable East India Company" As an Indian, I can do nothing but laugh.
Man, that Moist von Lipv.... i mean John Blunt sure was a smart fellow.
Xqwzts Veni Vici Blunt
I just watched this for the second time, both in a row, and it took me those two times to understand to the full extent what John Blunt had done. And I got chills up my spine. Real chills up my spine. That is evil.
I'm currently studying this part of British history for my final. My head's about to explode. :'(
John blunt may now be one of my favorite historical figures besides walpole!! Cause i mean what the sweet christ. The balls on this man and the wits!
if i could live anyones life, itd be that guy
this series deserves way more views then it gets
I have so many questions:
How can you give a company a monopoly like the government did with the south seas?
The government debt was only 9m pounds, why did they have the south seas company issue 10m pounds of stock to cover debt and still need to give them more debt?
Why didn't investors leave after they realized the south seas company wasn't making any money (and thus couldn't pay them higher dividends)
how did hyping the defeat of the jacobites raise the stock prices of the south seas company?
when to whigs got back in power, why didn't they just get money from the bank that they made?
Here's the answers I can think of, forgive me if I'm wrong.
You can give a company a monopoly by refusing to let other companies do what it's doing. (Ex. Making it illegal for anyone to sell burgers but McDonalds.)
As time goes on, the government will get even more debt.
No idea.
Still none.
They thought the South Sea Company would make more money.
***** TO answer the second question remember that the lottery that John blunt ran put the government MORE in debt.
Leafie the Great not sure why you put defeated in commas, they were most certainly beaten in battle and never again proved a threat.
***** It´s me or the whole idea of monopoly by the South Sea Company is just flawed?
As said, Spain (and Portugal) pretty handle all South America. If you´re at war, you´re not going anywhere near those ports. if you´re at peace, Spain (which btw had the monopoly on the spanish colonies) is gonna sell you far more products of the region that you can.
How exactly anyone fell for this is beyond me.
Love this series! good job peeps