Beste History Unplugged podcasts (2024)

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The Scramble for More Aircraft Carriers in WW2 Meant Retrofitting Cruisers Into These Sorts of Ships 54:06

1h ago54:06

54:06

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 defend against and defeat those forces. It was determined that several previously manufactured vessels could be converted to better suit the needs for this type of warfare. This is why a Clevel…

1
Key Battles of the Barbary War, Episode 6: Swashbuckling Ship Battles and 500-Mile Desert Marches Won the First Barbary War 41:30

5d ago41:30

41:30

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 in August 1804, where he led American gunboats against a larger Tripolitanian fleet, avenging his brother's death in single combat and shelling the city. Commodore Preble's daring attempts t…

1
Knights Could Still Be Found on English Battlefields in the 1640s. What Were They Doing There? 42:03

7d ago42:03

42:03

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 that had dominated the European battlefield. But knights could still be found on these battlefields as late as the 1640s, proudly donning their full-plated armor as their lightly clad compatrio…

1
Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 5: The Destruction of the USS Philadelphia 37:13

12d ago37:13

37:13

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 aground near Tripoli during the Barbary Wars. Captain William Bainbridge attempted to prevent its capture by lightening the ship and destroying key materials but was ultimately forced to surrender…

1
The Jewish Confederates 56:49

14d ago56:49

56:49

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 (one Secretary of State of the Confederacy was Jewish). One of which was Emma Mordecai. She was Jewish when Jews comprised less than 1 percent of the population of the Old South. She also live…

1
Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 4: The First Barbary War (1801-05) 37:00

19d ago37:00

37:00

The First Barbary War began in response to decades of harassment of American traders by North African pirates. Before becoming president, Thomas Jefferson faced renewed Barbary pirate attacks, with the Pasha of Tripoli threatening war unless more tribute was paid. Despite being known for his frugality and opposition to a naval buildup, Jefferson de…

1
Was The Vietnam War Unwinnable? 59:27

21d ago59:27

59:27

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 college campuses today. In today’s episode we take a panoptic overview of the political debates in Washington, the ground and air operations in Southeast Asia, and the shocking erosion of Ameri…

1
Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 3: The Barbary States and Their 300-Year Reign of Mediterranean Piracy 38:06

26d ago38:06

38:06

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 trade ships, enslaving American crews, and demanding levels of ransom that consumed much of the federal budget. But why did the Barbary states rely on piracy for economic survival and why cou…

1
What a Modern-Day Stonemason Can Tell Us About Hand Building 13th- Century Gothic Cathedrals and Carving Gargoyles 40:45

28d ago40:45

40:45

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 that unlocks an understanding of our shared history. Andrew Ziminski, today’s guest and author of “Church Going – A Stonemason’s Guide” has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservat…

1
Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 2: The British Origins of the US Navy 40:49

1M ago40:49

40:49

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 privateers (or, if you were British, pirates). To understand where the U.S. Navy came from, we need to take a step back and look at the stake of naval warfare in the 18th century. The early Am…

1
The Conquest of Constantinople in 1453 Permanently Altered Siege Warfare, Middle Eastern Demographics, and Global Trade 39:51

1M ago39:51

39:51

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, which had stood nearly impenetrable for eight centuries, finally fell to hisforces. With its conquest, Constantinople was declared the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. Some historians marked t…

1
Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 1: America Wanted to Take 1776 to the High Seas. North African Pirates Disagreed. 30:21

1M ago30:21

30:21

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, and the Revolutionary War) to look at a little-known war that pitted the infant United States against the Barbary States of North Africa. The Barbary Wars were a series of conflicts between t…

1
New Series Launches Tomorrow: Key Battles of the Barbary Wars (with James Early) 1:35

1M ago1:35

1:35

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 try to assert itself in the Atlantic World, as North African pirates demand tribute, capture crews, and do everything it can to humiliate the nation as European powers looked on, wondering i…

1
How Civil War Vets Continued Living Despite Being Double, Triple, or Even Quadruple Amputees 55:14

1M ago55:14

55:14

The Civil War wrought horrible devastation on its soldiers: Nearly 500,000 were wounded by bullets, shrapnel or sabers and bayonets. Medicine was still primited, and often a doctor could do little more than amputee an injured limb. As a result, thousands of veterans were left missing one to four limbs, yet still needed to attempt providing for thei…

1
What’s the Difference Between a Pirate, a Privateer, and a Naval Officer? In the 1700s, Very Little 55:23

2M ago55:23

55:23

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 popular stereotype of pirates has been defined by one historical moment: the period from the 1660s to the 1730s, the so-called "golden age of piracy." The Caribbean and American colonies of Brit…

1
After Genghis Khan Conquered the Earth, Kublai Khan Conquered the Seas 49:47

2M ago49:47

49:47

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 empire and established the Yuan dynasty in 1279, the Mongols controlled the most powerful navy in the world. How did a nomad come to conquer China and master the sea? Kublai Khan is one of hi…

1
Aesop’s Fables and Whether They Were Written By an Ugly, Enslaved “Barbarian” Who Discretely Mocked His Masters 33:09

2M ago33:09

33:09

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 Grapes” have captivated audiences for roughly 2,600 years. Written by a non-Greek slave (who may not have existed but was reported to be very ugly), Aesop was an outsider who knew how to skerwer …

1
"Thermopylae, the “300” Spartans, and the 26 Other Battles Fought There Over the Last 2,400 Years 51:24

2M ago51:24

51:24

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 when 300 Spartans attempted to hold the pass has been immortalized in poetry, art, literature and film. But that is not the only battle fought there. Twenty-six other battles and holding act…

1
The Last Emperor of Mexico: How a Habsburg Archduke Set Up a Kingdom in the New World in the 1860s 51:43

2M ago51:43

51:43

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 duplicitous Napoleon III (the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte). Keen to spread his own interests abroad, the French emperor had promised Maximilian a hero's welcome. Instead, he walked into a bloody guerr…

1
First-Hand Account of Hiroshima: Before, During, and After the Atomic Bomb Drop 39:56

2M ago39:56

39:56

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 ended or forever changed when the bombs dropped in Japan. In this episode, we delve into the experiences of the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, …

1
America’s Professional Sports Grew From Farm Teams to Multi-Billion Dollar Franches Thanks to the Harlem Globetrotters Founder 38:19

2M ago38:19

38:19

The original Harlem Globetrotters weren’t from Harlem, and they didn’t start out as globetrotters. The talented team, started by Jewish immigrant Abe Saperstein, was from Chicago’s South Side and toured the Midwest in Saperstein’s model-T. But with Saperstein’s savvy and the players’ skills, the Globetrotters would become a worldwide sensation At 5…

1
Why Did Presidents Seem Incredibly Rich Yet Were Completely Broke Most of the Time? 48:49

2M ago48:49

48:49

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 stockbroker to buy stocks in 1930 as the market continued to crash? Is it true George Washington enhanced his net worth by marrying up? We often think of the US presidents as being above the fray.…

1
A 1,300 History of the Middle East in Seven Religious Wars 49:13

2M ago49:13

49:13

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, Christian popes, emperors and kings, and Muslim caliphs and sultans were locked in a 1300-year battle for political, military, ideological, economic and religious supremacy. Some of the most sig…

1
When Good Ideas Were Bad Medicine: Why Vitamin C and Handwashing was Rejected by the Medical Establishment 44:23

3M ago44:23

44:23

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 parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they're three years old. Getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure, the US now leads …

1
Appleton Oaksmith: The Confederate Blockade Runner Who Became Lincoln’s Public Enemy #1 50:13

3M ago50:13

50:13

Appleton Oaksmith was a swashbuckling Civil War-era sea captain whose life intersected with some of the most important moments, movements, and individuals of the mid-19th century, from the California Gold Rush, filibustering schemes in Nicaragua, Cuban liberation, and the Civil War and Reconstruction. But in his life we also see the extraordinary l…

1
The Bible Triggered Two Communications Revolutions: The Codex and the Printing Press 52:21

3M ago52:21

52:21

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 ways. Following Jesus’s departing instruction to go out into the world, the Bible has been a book in motion from its very beginnings, and every community it has encountered has read, heard, and s…

1
Steering an Aerial Plywood Box Through Enemy Fire: The Glider Pilots of WW2 41:55

3M ago41:55

41:55

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 airborne invasion. For that, you needed to put that equipment, along with its crew, in a glider. These were unpowered boxes of plywood, pulled by a towing plane into enemy territory by a single cab…

1
Why Few Presidents Had Beards, And Only One Had a Mullet 35:04

3M ago35:04

35:04

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 League coif, the tresses of American leaders have long conveyed important political and symbolic messages. There are surprising, and multi-dimensional ways that hair has influenced the personali…

1
How Much Did Average Germans Know About the Holocaust During World War Two? 40:28

3M ago40:28

40:28

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 were they? What made people “perpetrators,” “bystanders,” and “victims” within a wider context of coercion and consent? To explore this question is today’s guest, Richard Evans, author of “Hitl…

1
Carthage Lost the 2nd Punic War from Hannibal’s Logistics Failure and His Brother’s Bad Strategy 48:00

3M ago48:00

48:00

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 conflict that led to immense human and material losses on both sides, pitting his brother Hasdrubal against the Republican Roman armies seeking to gain control of the peninsula. Then, in 208 BC, …

1
The Real Robin Hood May Have Been an Anglo-Saxon Hitman Who Killed an English King 43:34

3M ago43:34

43:34

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 the legend are narrowed down to the most unlikely suspect: an Anglo-Saxon hitman who may have assassinated the King of England. Today’s guest, Peter Staveley, proposes that Robin Hood lived du…

1
Civilization Owes Its Existence to the Horse 40:41

3M ago40:41

40:41

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 way of knowing) jumped on the back of a docile mare. Thus began the horse’s unrivalled historical influence across millennia to the present day. The horse dominated every facet of humanity—as…

1
Charles Cowlam: The Civil War Con-Man Who Received Presidential Pardons From Both Lincoln and Jefferson Davis 35:49

4M ago35:49

35:49

Charles Cowlam’s career as a convict, spy, detective, congressional candidate, adventurer, and con artist spanned the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Gilded Age. His life touched many of the most prominent figures of the era, including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Ulysses S. Grant. One contemporary newspaper reported that Cowlam “has as man…

1
The Extent of Soviet Infiltration Into Depression and Cold War America 49:48

4M ago49:48

49:48

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 War 2 and the early Cold War, especially to steam atomic weapon’s technology (revealed to the public with the trials and executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, two Americans who fed intellig…

1
America’s First Crime Boss Was Female Immigrant-Turned-Criminal Mastermind 43:21

4M ago43:21

43:21

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 Manhattan. By the 1870s she was a fixture of high society and an admired philanthropist. How was she able to ascend from tenement poverty to vast wealth? In the intervening years, “Marm” Mandelbaum h…

1
The War Under No-Man’s Land: Military Mining and Tunnel Combat in World War One 45:32

4M ago45:32

45:32

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 1914–17, the underground war was a product of static trench warfare, essential to survive it and part of both sides' attempts to overcome it. In the stagnant, troglodyte existence of trench warfare,…

1
Eisenhower’s Logistics and Diplomatic Nightmare: Planning and Executing D-Day 1:01:49

4M ago1:01:49

1:01:49

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 headquarters in Bushy Park, London. He projected optimism outwardly but resisted it inwardly. The day of the invasion, he gave the most rousing speech of his life, exhorting the tens of thousand…

1
53 Days on Starvation Island: How The US Marines Fought on Guadalcanal While Completely Surrounded 59:23

4M ago59:23

59:23

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 sending more men and supplies to "Starvation Island," as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base…

1
Taiwan’s 100-Year Rise From Japanese Colony to Monopoly Producer of Microchips 43:20

4M ago43:20

43:20

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 getting critical components to factories around the world. That was Taiwan, which produces 90 percent of the world’s advanced semiconductors. Without this island nation of 23 million, there ar…

1
When States Rights Were Emancipatory and Federalism was Restrictive: The Interbellum Constitution of 1812-1865 48:37

4M ago48:37

48:37

Today, the words “federalism” and “originalism” are bandied about in the news almost daily, but to get at the underpinnings of these modern interpretations of constitutional law, it is essential to look at how the Constitution was being interpreted and applied during the crucial period of 1815-1861, between the end of the War of 1812 and the beginn…

1
Is America Going Through a Late Roman Moment of Its Own? 47:06

5M ago47:06

47:06

Every citizen of every state for the last two thousand years has compared his nation to Rome at some point. Americans considered Geroge Washington their Cincinnatus for taking on supreme power and giving it up once his work was done. Inflation hawks call for a Diocletian to end the debasing of national currency. Upset citizens call their leader a N…

1
How Five Castaways Survived After Being Left for Dead on the Falklands in 1812 45:03

5M ago45:03

45:03

Charles H. Barnard, captain of the American sealing brig Nanina, had only the best of intentions. His aim was to ensure the survival of the people under his care. On June 11, 1813, Barnard and four other volunteers disembarked the anchored Nanina, climbed into a small boat, and sailed about 10 miles from New Island to Beaver Island, both part of th…

1
The Capetians: The Dynasty That Made Medieval France and Gave Us the Fleur-De-Lys 56:14

5M ago56:14

56:14

If Gothic cathedrals, troubadours, and the Crusades evoke a certain picture of medieval Europe, you might be surprised that these foundations of a shared French culture continue to shape European society, all beginning with a single dynasty. Reigning from 987 to 1328, the Capetians transformed an insecure foothold around Paris into the most powerfu…

1
Why the Book is Humanity’s Most Important Invention 49:10

5M ago49:10

49:10

Even in our increasingly digitized world, the print book endures as a technology at the heart of human culture. Throughout its 550-yearhistory, the book has transformed at the hands of countless printers, bookbinders, typographers, and illustrators who have yet to see their own stories of innovation on the printed page. In “The Book-Makers: A Histo…

1
How and Why Humans Started Speaking 53:00

5M ago53:00

53:00

Most people know at least 50,000 words and speak around 16,000 per day. We speak between 120 and 200 words per minute and read them at twice that speed. We invent word games like crosswords, Scrabble, and Wordle, and we are constantly adding new terminology and slang to our dictionaries. Our love of words is no secret, but how we evolved to acquire…

1
The American Detective Who Fought the Kaiser’s Spy Ring and an Anarchist Bombing Syndicate 43:43

5M ago43:43

43:43

America in the early twentieth century was rife with threats. Organized crime groups like the Mafia, German spies embedded behind enemy lines ahead of World War I, package bombs sent throughout the country, and the 1920 Wall Street bombing dominated headlines. And one man was tasked with combating these threats. Born to working-class parents in 186…

1
Patton’s Tactician: Geoffrey Keys, “The Best Tactical Mind” of WWII 40:01

5M ago40:01

40:01

Nineteen months after Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor and forced the United States to enter World War II, boats carrying the 7th US Army landed on the shores of southern Sicily. Dubbed Operation Husky, the campaign to establish an Allied foothold in Sicily was led by two of the most noted American tacticians of the twentieth century: George S…

1
The Seven Cleopatras Who Ruled Egypt 47:03

5M ago47:03

47:03

Behind the legendary, singular figure of Cleopatra stood six other women who bore her name. The infamous Cleopatra we think we know was actually the seventh queen in a long line of powerful female rulers whose stories have been lost to history. The seven queens named Cleopatra, ruling from 192–30 BC, defied the stereotype of the nameless, faceless …

1
Modern Black Ops Warfare Began with a British WW2 Operation to Steal Boats Off Africa’s Coast 53:01

6M ago53:01

53:01

When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, Churchill declared that Britain would resist the advance of the German army--alone if necessary. Churchill commanded the Special Operations Executive to secretly develop of a very special kind of military unit that would operate on their own initiative deep behind enemy lines. The units would be licensed to ki…

1
The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World Were Colossal, Prone to Destruction, and Not All May Have Existed 46:59

6M ago46:59

46:59

For millennia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been known for their aesthetic sublimity, ingenious engineering, and sheer, audacious magnitude: The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. E…

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