Shows / History Unplugged Podcast
History Unplugged Podcast
For history lovers who listen to podcasts, History Unplugged is the most comprehensive show of its kind. It's the only show that dedicates episodes to both interviewing experts and answering questions from its audience. First, it features a call-in show where you can ask our resident historian (Scott Rank, PhD) absolutely anything (What was it like to be a Turkish sultan with four wives and twelve concubines? If you were sent back in time, how would you kill Hitler?). Second, it features…
Episodes
History Unplugged PodcastGreenland is Nothing: American Nearly Acquired El Salvador, Canada, and the Kamchatka Peninsula
America’s desire to expand its borders has existed since its first colonies – from attempts to settle beyond the Appalachian Mountains in the 18th…
History Unplugged PodcastFrom Big Village to Global Power: The Thousand-Year Rise of Moscow, Russia's Fortress Capital
When St. Petersburg nobility mockingly called Moscow a "big village," in the 19th century – a time when they lived in all the excess found in a Tolstoy…
History Unplugged PodcastAmerican Civilians Caught Behind Enemy Lines After Pearl Harbor, and How They Were Repatriated
In the wake of Pearl Harbor, more than ten thousand Americans living abroad became trapped in Japanese-controlled territories, and with rumors of ill treatment…
History Unplugged PodcastWashington's Crossing from the Other Side: Three Hessian Soldiers' Stories of Defeat and Capture at the Battle of Trenton
Emanuel Leutze's iconic painting Washington Crossing the Delaware shows the general standing heroically at the bow of his boat, staring toward an unseen enemy…
History Unplugged PodcastFrom Bronze to Blood: How the Sword Became Humanity's First Murder Weapon
For nearly two thousand years, swords reigned as humanity's weapon of choice—the first tools designed exclusively to kill other humans rather than hunt…
History Unplugged PodcastScientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right
Science progresses through breakthrough discoveries, but behind many of the field's greatest advancements lies a darker history of scientific…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Two California Wines Shattered Centuries of French Supremacy in a Blind Taste Test
In 1976, nine French wine judges did the unthinkable: they blindly selected two California wines over France's most elite vintages in what became known as the…
History Unplugged PodcastHow an Italian Engineer with 700 Knights Defeated 100,000 Ottoman Troops at the Siege Rhodes
Throughout the 16th century, one man stood between the Ottoman Empire and European domination, yet his name has been largely forgotten. Gabriele Tadino was an…
History Unplugged PodcastWhy America's Military Never Became a Threat to Democracy
America's Founding Fathers feared a standing army would inevitably threaten civilian governance. Yet 250 years later, the U.S. military remains a strange…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Christianity Shaped America's 500-Year Mission to Become a Holy Land
Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists famously described the First Amendment as building a "wall of separation between church and…
History Unplugged PodcastEvery Communication Breakthrough—From Cave Art to AI Video—Exists to Tell Stories
There’s an argument to be made that every technology advance in communication – from cave paintings to fake AI movie trailers – is at its…
History Unplugged PodcastThe East’s Auschwitz: How Imperial Japan’s Secret Experimenters Escaped Justice
During the Holocaust, Josef Mengele discarded every medical ethic to perform horrific human experiments at Auschwitz, including non-consensual vivisections…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Chemistry of Conquest: Behind the USSR’s State-Sponsored (and Steroid-Powered) Olympic Glory
Since the era of Joseph Stalin, Moscow’s rulers have sent Russian athletes into the Summer and Winter Olympics with one command: you must win. These…
History Unplugged PodcastDaniel Boone’s Life as a Frontiersman and Adopted Son of a Shawnee Chief
Daniel Boone is considered one of the United States' first folk heroes for his exploration beyond the thirteen colonies into Kentucky. His exploits are…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Loss and Re-Discovery of the $20 Billion Imperial Spanish Treasure Ship
The most valuable shipwreck of all time is the San José galleon—an 18th century Spanish ship that carried 11 million gold coins, silver, and…
History Unplugged PodcastThomas Willing: The Revolutionary War Arms Dealer Who Led the First Bank of the United States
America’s revolutionary war would have almost certainly been lost if not for the colony’s wealthiest merchant. Thomas Willing was a prominent…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Man Who Sold the War: Tom Paine's Journey from Common Sense to Global Firebrand
Most of us only know Thomas Paine for one thing: writing Common Sense in 1776, which helped kickstart the Revolution by selling hundreds of thousands of…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Original Body Builders: How Greek Halteres and Celtic Gabal Stone Lifts Built the World's First Strongmen
Fad workouts have been with us for decades, but they go back much further than we realize. Long before CrossFit, Zumba, P90X, Tae Box, Jazzercise or Jack…
History Unplugged PodcastTruman’s Deep Regret at the Atomic Age He Created
In the eight decades since the United States deployed the most destructive weapon ever used, conventional wisdom has held that American leaders were faced with…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Soccer Created African and Latin American Nations
National pride often comes from shared heritage—like a common language or ethnic background. Religious Nationalism can be seen in historical Russia…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Sawmill – Along With Gunpowder and the Printing Press – Created the Modern World
The wind-powered sawmill was invented around 1592 in the Netherlands, immediately transforming the nature of labor and industry. This mechanical marvel…
History Unplugged PodcastGears, Gold, and Global Peace: A Steampunk Bitcoin Journey Through an Alternate 20th Century
We have paper money today because it functioned as an IOU, certifying that the holder could redeem it for an equivalent amount of physical gold or silver from…
History Unplugged PodcastBefore the Cold War, Russia and America Were the Closest of Distant Friends
Nearly a century of Cold War tensions between the United States and Russia hide the incredibly close friendship that the two nations enjoyed before this…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Horrifying Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Titanic of the Great Lakes
One of the worst nautical disasters in recent American history is the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. On November 10, 1975, the “storm of the…
History Unplugged PodcastInside the Deadly German U-Boats That Brought Britain to Its Knees (But Were Deadlier for Their Own Crews)
Over the course of World War II, Germany’s submariners sank over three thousand Allied ships, nearly three-quarters of Allied shipping losses in all…
History Unplugged PodcastManifest Destiny, Powered by Coal: How “Black Gold” Conquered the American Continent
America’s growth from a rugged frontier nation to the globe’s industrial superpower in the space of 100 years can be explained by one word: coal…
History Unplugged PodcastAncient Athens Picked Its Leaders by Lottery for Over 200 Years. Some Think This System Should Replace Electoral Democracy
For almost two centuries, Ancient Athens—the most successful democracy in history—selected citizens by lottery to fill government positions. Athens…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Would Nixon Have Handled the Cuban Missile Crisis?
The "Madman Theory" was Richard Nixon's foreign policy strategy during the Vietnam War era, where he deliberately cultivated an image of being unpredictable…
History Unplugged PodcastDiogenes, the Father of Ancient Greek Stoicism, Loving Trolling His Audience and Could Out-Shock Borat
The famous street artist Banksy shocked the art world in 2018 when his painting, Girl with Balloon, partially shredded itself moments after selling it for over…
History Unplugged PodcastBlown Off Course: How History’s Windy Turning Points Sank the Armada and Saved Japan from the Mongols
The greatest energy source for civilization before the steam engine was wind. It powered the global economy in the Age of Sail. Wind-powered sail ships made…
History Unplugged PodcastMaps Have Bigger Problems Than the Mercator Projection. They Invent Mountain Ranges and Usually Eliminate New Zealand
Maps have always had problems. Five hundred years ago, maps were wildly inaccurate simply because cartographers were drawing the edge of the known world…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Great Mathematicians of the Early 1900s Ran into an Unsolvable Problem. They Realized Math Made No Sense
In the 1800s, it seemed like mathematics was a solved problem. The paradoxes in the field were resolved, and even areas like advanced calculus could be taught…
History Unplugged PodcastThe American Revolution was a World War in All but Name
The Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, known as the "shot heard round the world," marked the first military engagements of the American…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Napoleon and Churchill Used Neuroscience to Make a Better Soldier and More Loyal Public
The brain acts in strange ways during wartime. Even in active combat situations, when soldiers are one mistake away from death, many can’t fire on their…
History Unplugged PodcastWilliam F. Buckley JR.'s Guide to Friendship in a Polarized Era
William F. Buckley Jr., the charismatic intellectual who defined modern American conservatism, was famously skilled at forging friendships across the…
History Unplugged PodcastWhat it Was Like Living Through the USSR’s Collapse
The Collapse of the Soviet Union was twice as devastating as the Great Depression for those who lived there. It immediately led to widespread economic chaos…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Battle of Agincourt, 1415: Longbowmen, Bands of Brothers, and Henry V’s Triumph
From Shakespeare's 'band of brothers' speech to its appearances in numerous films, Agincourt rightfully has a place among a handful of conflicts whose names…
History Unplugged PodcastClarence Dillon: The Roaring 20s Wall Street Baron Who Wrote the Rules for Corporate Takeovers, Junk Bonds, and Bankruptcy
J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles E. Mitchell are names that come to mind when thinking of the most prominent icons of wealth and influence during…
History Unplugged PodcastA Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trails, Horse Stealing, and Becoming Mormon
The American Indian leader Wakara was among the most influential and feared men in the nineteenth-century American West. He and his pan-tribal cavalry of horse…
History Unplugged PodcastWhy Did Rome Fall? Wrong Question. How Did it Last 2,000 Years Despite Changing its Religion, Language, and Government?
Rome began as a pagan, Latin-speaking city state in central Italy during the early Iron Age and ended as a Christian, Greek-speaking empire as the age of…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Real Deadwood: A Gold Rush Town Built in a War Zone but Obliterated in an Inferno
Gunslinging, gold-panning, stagecoach robbing, whiskey guzzling – the myth and infamy of the American West is synonymous with its most famous town…
History Unplugged PodcastAmerica's Pacific Dawn: The Spanish-American War Ushered In Global Reach and Savage Conflict
Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was in Havana in 1898, investigating the terrible conditions endured by Cubans whom the Spanish government had…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Unhealed Wounds of WW2 POWs and Combat Veterans
Nearly 16.4 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, and for millions of survivors, the fighting left many of them physically and…
History Unplugged PodcastRobert McNamara Thought Enough Data Could Win Any War. Instead, It Led America to the Vietnam Quagmire
Robert S. McNamara, who was Secretary of Defense during JFK and LBJ’s administrations, and one of the chief architects of the Vietnam war, made a…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Philistine Connection: Do the Roots of October 7 Go Back 3,000 Years?
The October 7th attacks of Hamas on Israel were an unprecedented, surprise incursion by land, sea, and air that stunned the world and prompted Israel to…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Thucydides Trap: How A Rising Athens Made The Peloponnesian War Inevitable
The Peloponnesian War is considered one of the most famous wars of the ancient world not only because it was a massive and devastating conflict that reshaped…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Free French Army in North Africa, 1940-1945
One of the principal architects of Allied Victory in North Africa during World War Two was French General Louis Dio. His importance in North Africa lies in his…
History Unplugged PodcastAn Inventor’s Quest to Build a Pneumatic Subway System in 1870s New York
Alfred Beach built America’s first operational subway in secret beneath 1860s Manhattan, decades before the city’s official electric subway line in…
History Unplugged PodcastSpirited Rivalry: Did Ireland or Scotland Invent Whisky?
There’s a divide between Scotland and Ireland as fierce as the Protestant/Catholic split during the Thirty Years’ War or the battles between Sunnis…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Horse That Ate the Legion: Rome’s Cavalry's Triumph Over the Infantry
The cavalry 'wings' that probed ahead of the Roman Army played a key role in its campaigns of conquest, masking its marching flanks and seeking to encircle…
History Unplugged PodcastBeyond Joan of Arc and Agincourt: How the 100 Years War Crushed Medieval Europe and Launched its Global Order
Modern France and Britain were forged in the fires of the Hundred Years War, a century-long conflict that produced deadly English longbowmen, Joan of…
History Unplugged PodcastReverse Ellis Island: American Migrants Who Fought for Mussolini and Built Stalin’s USSR
America saw a significant reverse-migration in the 1800s and 1900s, with 20–50% of Italian immigrants returning to Italy as ritornati and tens of…
History Unplugged PodcastDon’t Use Rome as a Model of Why Societies Collapse; Use Crime Syndicates and Somalia Instead
12,000 years ago, human history changed forever when the egalitarian groups of hunter-gathering humans began to settle down and organize themselves into…
History Unplugged PodcastA Union General Found a Loophole in the Fugitive Slave Act, Causing 1 Million Slaves to Flee North
After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, enslaved people feared running away to the North, as their return was mandated, and they faced brutal…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Civil War’s Brutal Finale: A War of Attrition as Terrible as WW2-Pacific and the Napoleonic Wars
In 1864, the American Civil War reached a critical juncture with Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, including the brutal battles of the Wilderness and…
History Unplugged PodcastCamp David Looks Like a 1970s Lakeside Retreat. Why is it the Site of the World’s Biggest Political Summits?
Camp David, nestled in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, spans about 125 acres, making it significantly smaller than other presidential getaways like Lyndon…
History Unplugged PodcastHow British Scientists' Self-Experiments on Underwater Rebreathing Created D-Day Submarine Tech (And Nearly Killed Them in the Process)
In August 1942, over 7,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, in a largely forgotten landing, with only a small fraction surviving…
History Unplugged PodcastOver 200,000 Allied Troops Tried and Failed to Crush the Soviet Revolution After World War One
The Allied Intervention into the Russian Civil War remains one of the most ambitious yet least talked about military ventures of the 20th century. Coinciding…
History Unplugged PodcastHow the U.S. Occupation of Japan After WW2 Forged the Most Durable Peace of the 20th Century
During World War II, the U.S. and Japan were locked in bitter hatred, fueled by propaganda portraying each other as ruthless enemies, exemplified by…
History Unplugged PodcastHomer Couldn't Have Written the Iliad, But He Probably Dictated it Word for Word
The Iliad is the world’s greatest epic poem—heroic battle and divine fate set against the Trojan War. Its beauty and profound bleakness are…