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Did the South Lose the Entire Civil War Because One General Got Lost at the Battle of Gettysburg?

Did the Confederacy lose the entire Civil War on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 because one of their generals showed up late to a battle site? That’s a very simple answer to a very complicated question, but as early as the 1870s, former Confederate generals…

Alexander the Great’s Final Battle Nearly Killed Him with Drowning and War Elephants

In the years that followed Alexander the Great’s victory at Gaugamela on October 1, 331 BC, his Macedonian and Greek army fought a truly ‘Herculean’ series of campaigns in what is today Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. But it was in the Indus Valley, on the banks of the Hydaspes…

In 1938, America Underwent a 7-Year Transformation From an Weak, Pacifist Nation to the Arsenal of Democracy

Nobody would have thought that the United States could fight in a world war in 1938, let alone be a major reason for victory. That year, it was so politically isolationist and pacifist that its defense forces were smaller than Portugal’s, and Charles Lindbergh was so forceful in his public…

Exploring the Aztec Empire and Indigenous Mexico

This is a preview of Mark Vinet's "History of North America." Explore one of the most glorious Mesoamerican societies and encounter the Pre-Hispanic Mexico ancient culture & civilization that was the Aztec Empire with this special episode from the History of North America podcast, hosted by Mark Vinet. Subscribe to…

The First War on Terror: How Europe Fought Anarchist Suicide Attacks, From 1850 to WW1

At the end of the nineteenth century, the world came to know and fear terrorism. Much like today, this was a time of progress and dread, in which breakthroughs in communications and weapons were made, political reforms were implemented, and immigration waves bolstered the populations of ever-expanding cities. This era…

The Italian Squad: A Group of 1920s NYPD Immigrant Detectives Who Fought the Rise of the Mafia

The story begins in Sicily, on Friday, March 12th, 1909. Three gunshots thundered in the night, and then a fourth. Two men fled, and investigators soon discovered who they had killed: Giuseppe Petrosino, the legendary American detective whose exploits in New York were celebrated even in Italy. He was part…

Conspiracy Theories Haunt the Assassination of MLK 55 Years After His Death

Doubts about James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King’s lone assassin, arose almost immediately after the civil rights leader was fatally shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4, 1968. From the start, his aides voiced suspicions that a conspiracy was responsible for their leader’s…

Early 1800s Newspaperman William Hunter Was a British Soldier’s Son Who Built Early America

In June 1798, President John Adams signed the now infamous Alien & Sedition Acts to suppress political dissent. Facing imminent personal risks, a gutsy Kentucky newspaper editor ran the first editorial denouncing the law's attempt to stifle the freedom of the press. Almost immediately, government lawyers recommended his arrest and…

How the 1910 Return of Halley’s Comet (Almost) Destroyed Civilization

Halley’s Comet visits the earth every seventy-five years. Since the dawn of civilization, humans had believed comets were evil portents. In 1705, Edmond Halley liberated humanity from these primordial superstitions (or so it was thought), proving that Newtonian mechanics rather than the will of the gods brought comets into our…

The Coronation of Charles III and the Meaning Behind His Vestments, 5-Pound Crown, and the “Sovereign Orb”

Charles III was crowned king of England on May 6, 2023, the first of its kind in 70 years. He wore regalia that look straight out of a portrait of Charlemagne: the St. Edward’s Crown, which wegiths five pounds and has 444 gemstones; the “Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross,” a three-foot…