EPISODE · May 9, 2026 · 14 MIN
The Ear That Launched a War
from Snarkives: The Fire · host Professor Angie Bouma PhD
A whole war. Fifty thousand dead. Six hundred ships lost. And it might have started with a jar containing a severed ear that may or may not have ever been shown to Parliament. This week I found the War of Jenkins' Ear and I cannot stop thinking about it. Snarkives Podcasts will always be free to listen. If you want to help keep the lights on, Moxie in treats, and me caffeinated enough to keep posting episodes, you can toss a few dollars in the tip jar: https://ko-fi.com/snarkives Sources Robert Gaudi, The War of Jenkins' Ear: The Forgotten Struggle for North and South America, 1739-1742 (Pegasus Books, 2021) https://amzn.to/42ql3Bt J.K. Laughton, "Jenkins's Ear," English Historical Review 4 (1889): 741-749 Evan M. Graboyes and Timothy E. Hullar, "The War of Jenkins' Ear," Otology and Neurotology 34 (February 2013): 368-372 Philip Woodfine, Britannia's Glories: The Walpole Ministry and the 1739 War with Spain (Royal Historical Society/Boydell Press, 1998) Jeremy Black, Walpole in Power (Sutton, 2001) Pennsylvania Gazette (Benjamin Franklin), October 7, 1731 Treaty of Utrecht, 1713
What this episode covers
A whole war. Fifty thousand dead. Six hundred ships lost. And it might have started with a jar containing a severed ear that may or may not have ever been shown to Parliament. This week I found the War of Jenkins' Ear and I cannot stop thinking about it. Snarkives Podcasts will always be free to listen.If you want to help keep the lights on, Moxie in treats, and me caffeinated enough to keep posting episodes, you can toss a few dollars in the tip jar: https://ko-fi.com/snarkives Sources Robert Gaudi, The War of Jenkins' Ear: The Forgotten Struggle for North and South America, 1739-1742 (Pegasus Books, 2021) https://amzn.to/42ql3Bt J.K. Laughton, "Jenkins's Ear," English Historical Review 4 (1889): 741-749 Evan M. Graboyes and Timothy E. Hullar, "The War of Jenkins' Ear," Otology and Neurotology 34 (February 2013): 368-372 Philip Woodfine, Britannia's Glories: The Walpole Ministry and the 1739 War with Spain (Royal Historical Society/Boydell Press, 1998) Jeremy Black, Walpole in Power (Sutton, 2001) Pennsylvania Gazette (Benjamin Franklin), October 7, 1731 Treaty of Utrecht, 1713
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The Ear That Launched a War
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