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 PodcastThe Arsenal of Democracy: How the Revolver and Repeating Rifle Democratized Gun Ownership and Armed the United States
The United States is the most heavily armed nation in the world, with an estimated 400 million guns in private hands. But few know that this legacy can be…
History Unplugged PodcastOwning Land Was The Best – and Usually Only – Way to Be Rich in the Ancient World
For millennia, humans eked out survival atop the surface of the Earth and land had no unique value. Eventually, however, humans turned land into an advantage…
History Unplugged PodcastBenjamin Franklin – In the 200 Years After His Death – Funded New Businesses, Supported Boston and Philadelphia, and Play Pranks
When Benjamin Franklin died on April 12, 1790, he made a final bet on the future of the United States -- a gift of 2,000 pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to…
History Unplugged PodcastWhen American Gilded Elite Bought Up English Country Houses, It Create an Epic Transatlantic Clash of Cultures
For generations, the great palaces of Britain were home to living histories, noble families that had reigned for centuries. But by the end of the nineteenth…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Untold History of Earth: Hobbits Really Existed, Dinosaurs Had Feathers, and Yetis Roamed Our Planet
The Old English poem Beowulf is a vital source of information on history, language, story and belief from the darkest of the Dark Ages. Only one copy is known…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Did Gold Beat Out Every Other Precious Metal To Become Humanity’s Dominant Currency For the Last 2,600 Years?
Why has gold reigned as the world’s go-to precious metal for over 2,600 years? It’s not as rare as platinum, durable as diamonds, or malleable as…
History Unplugged PodcastThe 160-Minute Race to Save the Titanic
One hundred and sixty minutes. That is all the time rescuers would have before the largest ship in the world slipped beneath the icy Atlantic. There was…
History Unplugged Podcast200 Years Before the French Revolution, German Peasants Tried to Overthrow The Holy Roman Empire
The German Peasants’ War of 1524-1525 was the largest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. Somewhere between seventy and a…
History Unplugged PodcastWhat the Middle Ages Can Teach Us About Pandemics, Mass Migration, and Tech Disruption
The medieval world – for all its plagues, papal indulgences, castles, and inquisition trials – has much in common with ours. People living the…
History Unplugged PodcastDid Orson Welles’s 1938 ‘War of the Worlds’ Broadcast Really Cause a Mass Panic?
On a warm Halloween Eve, October 30, 1938, during a broadcast of H G. Wells' War of the Worlds, Orson Welles held his hands up for radio silence in the CBS…
History Unplugged PodcastA Talk With The Polar Geographer Who Discovered Shackleton’s Endurance Under 10,000 ft of Frozen Water
On August 1, 1914, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackelton and his crew sailed from England, set on making history as the first to cross Antarctica. Their ship…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Founding Fathers Were 20 and 30-Somethings. Why Is America Now a Gerontocracy?
A house on the Florida coast. An assisted living program. A lively retirement community. Medicare. Our modern concept of old age—and even the idea of old age…
History Unplugged PodcastA Pre-WWI French Philosopher Was More Popular Than Elvis and Possibly Entered the US Into the Great War
In New York City, 1913, French philosopher Henri Bergson gave a lecture at Columbia University, resulting in fanfare, traffic jams, and even fainting spells…
History Unplugged PodcastWhile Starving at Besieged Leningrad, Scientists Hid Drought-Resistant Crop Seeds That Could Prevent Future Famines
In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad—now St. Petersburg—and began the longest blockade in recorded history, one that…
History Unplugged PodcastSurviving Nearly 2 Years of Shipwreck on a South Pacific Island in the 1880s
Today, half of the world’s population lives around the Pacific Rim. This ocean has been the crossroads of international travel, trade, and commerce for…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Did 450 Boers Defeat 15,000 Zulus at the Battle of Blood River in 1838?
By the 1830s, the Zulu kingdom was consolidating its power as the strongest African polity in the south-east, but was under growing pressure from British…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 9: The End of North African Piracy and the Beginning of American Global Naval Hegemony
In this final episode of our series on the Barbary Wars, we look at the fates of the Barbary States. After 1815, the Barbary States lost their independence…
History Unplugged PodcastWhen Did Americans Become Americans? 1945, 1865, 1787, or 1776?
When news reached Parliament of the Boston radicals’ destruction of the Royal East India Company’s tea, it passed the Coercive Acts, a collection of punitive…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 8: The Second Barbary War (1815)
The conclusion of the War of 1812 elevated America's naval reputation and marked the start of the "Era of Good Feelings," a period of national pride. With…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Much of a Nation’s Fate is Bound Up In Its Geography?
Napoleon Bonaparte is reported to have said. “The policies of all powers are inherent in their geography. Is he correct? How much does geography determine the…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary War, Episode 7: An Uneasy Peace -- The Interbellum Period and the War of 1812
The 1807 Treaty with Tripoli ended the First Barbary War, allowing American ships to sail freely in the Mediterranean without tribute payments. This victory…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Scramble for More Aircraft Carriers in WW2 Meant Retrofitting Cruisers Into These Sorts of Ships
With the Japanese taking control around the Pacific in early 1941, it became apparent that more resources and ships would be needed if there was any hope to…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary War, Episode 6: Swashbuckling Ship Battles and 500-Mile Desert Marches Won the First Barbary War
In Episode 6, we dive into two pivotal battles in the First Barbary War: Tripoli and Derne. It starts with Stephen Decatur's dramatic assault on Tripoli Harbor…
History Unplugged PodcastKnights Could Still Be Found on English Battlefields in the 1640s. What Were They Doing There?
The 17th-century battlefield ushered in a new era, with formed musketeers and pistol-wielding cavalry gradually taking over from the knights and men-at-arms…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 5: The Destruction of the USS Philadelphia
The USS Philadelphia, launched in 1799, played a crucial role in early American naval history but was captured by Tripolitan forces in 1803 after running…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Jewish Confederates
Over a 100,000 Jewish Americans lived in the Old South before the Civil War. They were active members of society, involved in farming, business, and politics…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 4: The First Barbary War (1801-05)
The First Barbary War began in response to decades of harassment of American traders by North African pirates. Before becoming president, Thomas Jefferson…
History Unplugged PodcastWas The Vietnam War Unwinnable?
It’s been fifty years since the end of the Vietnam War, yet the memory of the war lives on, the nationwide protests of the 1970s mirroring ones happening on…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 3: The Barbary States and Their 300-Year Reign of Mediterranean Piracy
The Barbary States (Morocco, Tripoli, Algiers, Tunis) were the greatest thorn in the side of the young American republic after it won independence, preying on…
History Unplugged PodcastWhat a Modern-Day Stonemason Can Tell Us About Hand Building 13th- Century Gothic Cathedrals and Carving Gargoyles
Churches are many things to us - they are places of worship, vibrant community hubs and oases of calm reflection. To know a church is to hold a key to the past…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 2: The British Origins of the US Navy
The American Navy was birthed in the Barbary Wars. Sure, there was a token navy in the Revolutionary War, but battles were mostly won in that war by American…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Conquest of Constantinople in 1453 Permanently Altered Siege Warfare, Middle Eastern Demographics, and Global Trade
On May 29, 1453, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II captured Constantinople, bringing an end to over a thousand years of Byzantine rule. The city's formidable walls…
History Unplugged PodcastKey Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 1: America Wanted to Take 1776 to the High Seas. North African Pirates Disagreed.
In this new mini-series, Scott Rank is rejoined by James Early (his co-host on many other military history mini-series, covering the Civil War, World War One…
- History Unplugged Podcast
New Series Launches Tomorrow: Key Battles of the Barbary Wars (with James Early)
James Early and Scott will be doing a nine-part series starting tomorrow called Key Battles of the Barbary Wars (1801-1815). We look at an infant United States…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Civil War Vets Continued Living Despite Being Double, Triple, or Even Quadruple Amputees
The Civil War wrought horrible devastation on its soldiers: Nearly 500,000 were wounded by bullets, shrapnel or sabers and bayonets. Medicine was still…
History Unplugged PodcastWhat’s the Difference Between a Pirate, a Privateer, and a Naval Officer? In the 1700s, Very Little
The pirates that exist in our imagination are not just any pirates. Violent sea-raiding has occurred in most parts of the world throughout history, but our…
History Unplugged PodcastAfter Genghis Khan Conquered the Earth, Kublai Khan Conquered the Seas
Genghis Khan built a formidable land empire, but he never crossed the sea. Yet by the time his grandson Kublai Khan had defeated the last vestiges of the Song…
History Unplugged PodcastAesop’s Fables and Whether They Were Written By an Ugly, Enslaved “Barbarian” Who Discretely Mocked His Masters
Aesop’s fables are among the most familiar and best-loved stories in the world. Tales like “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Dog in the Manger,” and “Sour…
History Unplugged Podcast"Thermopylae, the “300” Spartans, and the 26 Other Battles Fought There Over the Last 2,400 Years
Since the dawn of the Greek Classical Era up to World War II, thousands have lost their lives fighting over the pass at Thermopylae.. The epic events of 480 BC…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Last Emperor of Mexico: How a Habsburg Archduke Set Up a Kingdom in the New World in the 1860s
In 1864, a young Austrian archduke by the name of Maximilian crossed the Atlantic to assume a faraway throne. He had been lured into the voyage by a…
History Unplugged PodcastFirst-Hand Account of Hiroshima: Before, During, and After the Atomic Bomb Drop
Over the past few years, much has been written and created around Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, but little attention is paid to those whose lives were…
History Unplugged PodcastAmerica’s Professional Sports Grew From Farm Teams to Multi-Billion Dollar Franches Thanks to the Harlem Globetrotters Founder
The original Harlem Globetrotters weren’t from Harlem, and they didn’t start out as globetrotters. The talented team, started by Jewish immigrant Abe…
History Unplugged PodcastWhy Did Presidents Seem Incredibly Rich Yet Were Completely Broke Most of the Time?
Was Harry Truman really our poorest president or simply a man up at 2 a.m. struggling with financial anxiety? Did Calvin Coolidge get bad advice from his…
History Unplugged PodcastA 1,300 History of the Middle East in Seven Religious Wars
From the taking of the holy city of Jerusalem in the 7th century AD by Caliph Umar, to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I…
History Unplugged PodcastWhen Good Ideas Were Bad Medicine: Why Vitamin C and Handwashing was Rejected by the Medical Establishment
More Americans have peanut allergies today than at any point in history. Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that…
History Unplugged PodcastAppleton Oaksmith: The Confederate Blockade Runner Who Became Lincoln’s Public Enemy #1
Appleton Oaksmith was a swashbuckling Civil War-era sea captain whose life intersected with some of the most important moments, movements, and individuals of…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Bible Triggered Two Communications Revolutions: The Codex and the Printing Press
For Christians, the Bible is a book inspired by God. But it has been received by different cultures and language groups in (sometimes) radically different…
History Unplugged PodcastSteering an Aerial Plywood Box Through Enemy Fire: The Glider Pilots of WW2
In World War II, there were no C-130s or large cargo aircraft that could deliver heavy equipment – such as a truck or artillery piece – in advance of an…
History Unplugged PodcastWhy Few Presidents Had Beards, And Only One Had a Mullet
From George Washington’s powdered pigtail to John Quincy Adams’ bushy side-whiskers and from James Polk’s masterful mullet to John F. Kennedy’s refined Ivy…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Much Did Average Germans Know About the Holocaust During World War Two?
This is the question that historians have argued since the end of World War Two. How much did an average person know, and, more importantly, how responsible…
History Unplugged PodcastCarthage Lost the 2nd Punic War from Hannibal’s Logistics Failure and His Brother’s Bad Strategy
Iberia was one of three crucial theatres of the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome. Hannibal of Carthage’s siege of Saguntum in 219 BC triggered a…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Real Robin Hood May Have Been an Anglo-Saxon Hitman Who Killed an English King
Contrary to popular belief, Robin Hood may not have been the merry medieval outlaw of Sherwood Forest. Rather, a look at real historical figures who inspired…
History Unplugged PodcastCivilization Owes Its Existence to the Horse
The use of horses by humans began roughly 5,500 years ago on the windswept grasslands of the Pontic- Caspian Steppe when a daring man (or a woman – we have no…
History Unplugged PodcastCharles Cowlam: The Civil War Con-Man Who Received Presidential Pardons From Both Lincoln and Jefferson Davis
Charles Cowlam’s career as a convict, spy, detective, congressional candidate, adventurer, and con artist spanned the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Gilded…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Extent of Soviet Infiltration Into Depression and Cold War America
Soviet espionage existed in the United States since the U.S.S.R.’s founding and continued until its dissolution in the 1990s. It reached its height in World…
History Unplugged PodcastAmerica’s First Crime Boss Was Female Immigrant-Turned-Criminal Mastermind
In 1850, an impoverished twenty-five-year-old named Fredericka Mandelbaum came to New York in steerage and worked as a peddler on the streets of Lower…
History Unplugged PodcastThe War Under No-Man’s Land: Military Mining and Tunnel Combat in World War One
Beneath the trench warfare of World War One existed an entirely separate war underground: battles in the mines and dugouts between the Great Powers. In…
History Unplugged PodcastEisenhower’s Logistics and Diplomatic Nightmare: Planning and Executing D-Day
In the months leading up to D-Day, Eisenhower’s attention was in relentless demand, whether he was negotiating, rallying troops, or solving crises from his…
History Unplugged Podcast53 Days on Starvation Island: How The US Marines Fought on Guadalcanal While Completely Surrounded
On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from…
History Unplugged PodcastTaiwan’s 100-Year Rise From Japanese Colony to Monopoly Producer of Microchips
When global supply chains were shut down in 2020 and messily rebooted after COVID lockdowns ceased, one island nation emerged as the most important player in…