History on Fire: Recent Episodes
Daniele Bolelli
Where history and epic collide--"History on Fire" is a podcast by author and university professor Daniele Bolelli.
In this first episode of a three-part series, we’ll introduce the early part of John Brown’s lifeand his crusade against slavery. Among today’s topics, we’ll have the ethics of punching aNazi, how the beating of an enslaved child set Brown on his path, how both pro and anti-slavery forces used Christianity to justify their stances, racism masquerading asphilanthropy, the Nat Turner rebellion, grief & PTSD, the Underground Railroad, themurder of Elijah Lovejoy, and much more.
It's the finale of this series on the Genpei War (1180-1185); the showdown between the two most powerful clans of the age. This episode is one of the most drama & action packed that I have ever covered in History on Fire. We'll discuss Minamoto Yoritomo's Godzilla-sized ego, the Minamoto killing each other when they are not busy warring against the Taira, the legendary female samurai Tomoe Gozen, a ritual suicide to urge your commander to stop having sex and concentrate on military maneuvers instead, the charge at Ichi No Tani, the mythical fight between Kumagai Naozane and Taira Atsumori, a victory party in Kyoto parading enemy heads, Yoshitsune's utter fearlessness, a feat of archery so amazing that it convinced the enemies to stop battle and cheer for the archer, the child emperor's grandmother drowning herself and her grandson, samurai crabs, Benkei being a pal and holding back an army so that Yoshitsune can kill himself, and much more.
The Genpei War (1180-1185), pitting against one another the two most powerful clans of the era, the Minamoto and the Taira, is one of the most crucial turning points in Japanese history. Movies and video games have usually overlooked this conflict in favor of the civil wars of the warring states period of the 1500s. Big mistake since the story of the Genpei War is packed with drama and larger than life characters—from the tragic hero Minamoto Yoshitsune, his brother in arms the gigantic warrior monk Benkei, the female samurai Tomoe Gozen and many others. And on top of it, this civil conflict ushered major changes in Japanese society, shifting power from a nobility made of imperial bureaucrats into the hands of landowning samurai families. In this first of two episodes dedicated to the Genpei War, we’ll tackle one of the most important works in Japanese literature, Buddhist impermanence, the 1156 Hogen Rebellion, the 1160 Heiji Rebellion, revenge, exorcisms, the rise of the Taira family, emperors struggling with loss of power, warrior monks, the battle at the Uji River, announcing your family lineage before cutting heads off, inviting the gods to witness battle, Minamoto Yorimasa’s suicide, Yoshitsune learning swordsmanship from the demons of the forest, the duel between Yoshitsune and Benkei, the Taira burning down the monasteries of Nara, Kiyomori’s death, and much more.
“He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honor for this man. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.” — Future Italian President Sandro Pertini about Benito Mussolini
“The world unfortunately continues to be a battlefield where different egos clash, repeating the mistakes of the past.” — Federigo Giordano
“Death to the Nazi-Fascists.” — The closing quote of most letters written by Federigo Giordano during WWII
I am not done with stories of resistance from Italy during WW II. Today, I’ll tell the story of a friend, one of the very last partisan commanders to still be alive—Federigo Giordano (battle name “Gek.”) His name is still recognized in some towns in Northern Italy since he was the one to lead his men to liberate them from Fascists and Nazis. In this episode we’ll tackle the growth of racism within Fascist ideology, becoming a partisan in the mountains of Northern Italy, rejecting the Alexander Proclamation, saving American aviators, participating in the capture of Benito Mussolini, Mussolini ‘hanging’ in Piazzale Loreto, drunk Nazis in one room while partisans hide in the attic, having to explain to a 90+ year old lady why you killed her sister over 70 years earlier, and much more.
“He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honor for this man. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.” — Future Italian President Sandro Pertini about Benito Mussolini
“The world unfortunately continues to be a battlefield where different egos clash, repeating the mistakes of the past.” — Federigo Giordano
“Death to the Nazi-Fascists.” — The closing quote of most letters written by Federigo Giordano during WWII
I am not done with stories of resistance from Italy during WW II. Today, I’ll tell the story of a friend, one of the very last partisan commanders to still be alive—Federigo Giordano (battle name “Gek.”) His name is still recognized in some towns in Northern Italy since he was the one to lead his men to liberate them from Fascists and Nazis. In this episode we’ll tackle the growth of racism within Fascist ideology, becoming a partisan in the mountains of Northern Italy, rejecting the Alexander Proclamation, saving American aviators, participating in the capture of Benito Mussolini, Mussolini ‘hanging’ in Piazzale Loreto, drunk Nazis in one room while partisans hide in the attic, having to explain to a 90+ year old lady why you killed her sister over 70 years earlier, and much more.
“Women must obey… My opinion of women’s role within the state is against any kind of feminism. In our state, women must not count.” — Benito Mussolini
“Yes, I participated in the actions. I usually had the task of carrying the weapons and would hand them to our shooters. As soon as they had used them, I’d get them back from them—still hot.” — Liana Germani
“I was mostly afraid of torture had they captured me, of the terrible suffering on the way to the concentration camps. Death seemed simple, something quick, liberating. Fear was a constant element of our daily lives.” — Liana Germani
This is a tale of Italian Resistance during WW II. Unlike nearly all History on Fire episodes, this is not a story I researched in books. It’s a much more personal one—these are my grandparents’ experiences. The starring role goes to my grandmother, Liana Germani, who as a teenager was a combat partisan active against the Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation. What I remember of her... there was a constant hint of sadness and pessimism hanging around her. It may have to do with the fact that during WW II, she found her boyfriend murdered--cut into pieces by fascists. She spent the rest of her teenage years smuggling guns & bombs, and doing what she could to kill them all.
Honorable mention also to my paternal grandparents—in particular my grandfather Stelio Bolelli, who found his way into fighting alongside Allied troops all the way through the Gothic Line.
In the course of this episode we’ll talk about a brief history of Fascism, DMX & the Matteotti murder, the collusion between fascist leaders and Sinclair Oil, the Badoglio government, the Nazi occupation, the massacre of St. Anna di Stazzema, guerrilla in the streets of Milan, gender roles in fascist Italy, my grandma’s friends being executed, PTSD, carrying bombs & smuggling weapons, my grandfather avoiding execution, the Gorla massacre, and much, much more.
This is a tale of Italian Resistance during WW II. Unlike nearly all History on Fire episodes, this is not a story I researched in books. It’s a much more personal one—these are my grandparents’ experiences. The starring role goes to my grandmother, Liana Germani, who as a teenager was a combat partisan active against the Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation. What I remember of her... there was a constant hint of sadness and pessimism hanging around her. It may have to do with the fact that during WW II, she found her boyfriend murdered--cut into pieces by fascists. She spent the rest of her teenage years smuggling guns & bombs, and doing what she could to kill them all.
Honorable mention also to my paternal grandparents—in particular my grandfather Stelio Bolelli, who found his way into fighting alongside Allied troops all the way through the Gothic Line.
In the course of this episode we’ll talk about a brief history of Fascism, DMX & the Matteotti murder, the collusion between fascist leaders and Sinclair Oil, the Badoglio government, the Nazi occupation, the massacre of St. Anna di Stazzema, guerrilla in the streets of Milan, gender roles in fascist Italy, my grandma’s friends being executed, PTSD, carrying bombs & smuggling weapons, my grandfather avoiding execution, the Gorla massacre, and much, much more.
“From an author’s perspective, writing about sex is risky, because if you write well enough, evocatively enough, vividly enough, you make the reader want to put the book aside and go get laid.” — Tom Robbins
“Let's live and love, Caring less than nothing for The moralizing of stern old men. The sun sets and rises back again, But an eternal night of sleep awaits us When our brief light turns to darkness. Give me a thousand kisses, and a hundred more. Then a thousand, and another hundred. And then more thousands and hundreds. Let's scatter them, then, So that no one can envy us By knowing how many kisses we have shared.” — Catullus
“You know how today some people have garden gnomes? Ancient Romans had their own version, and of course... the Romans being Romans, their garden gnomes were endowed huge penises and an enthusiasm for raping anyone entering the garden uninvited.” — Daniele Bolelli
This is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure. Rather, sex was primarily seen as something to reinforce dominance and hierarchy. In this episode, we’ll cover prison sex, rapey garden gnomes, the similarities and differences between ancient Roman and Christian sexualities, the origin of the word ‘family’ (it’s not pleasant), threatening sexual violence to prove one’s manliness, the violent myths about Rome’s founding, the Rape of the Sabine women, sex and slavery, prostitution, why speaking of homosexuality or heterosexuality made no sense in Ancient Rome, legal trials as rap battles, Cicero & the art of character assassination, Mark Anthony & the art of assassinating Cicero, Augustus’ puritanism, gladiators fighting against their own wildcat-shaped phalli, Roman sexual art, and much, much more.
“I didn't know what to do. They were killing my children. I knew that If I went back there to help my children I would be cut to pieces. But I couldn't stand to hear it, I couldn't bear it. I was afraid that I would cry out, that I would scream, that I would be crazy. I couldn't stand it, and I prayed God to help me.” — Rufina Amaya
“In El Salvador the rich and powerful have systematically defrauded the poor and denied 80 percent of the people any voice in the affairs of their country.” — Ambassador Robert White
“In 1981, as the ambassador to El Salvador, I refused a demand by the secretary of state, Alexander M. Haig Jr., that I use official channels to cover up the Salvadoran military's responsibility for the murders of four American churchwomen. I was fired and forced out of the Foreign Service.” — Ambassador Robert White
“Presidents and senators don't have men killed." "Who's being naïve, Kay?” — From The Godfather
I am sorry to be taking you on this dark journey, but I strongly feel this is an important story that everyone should know. Over the years, I've tackled some heavy topics. This is definitely one of the heaviest. This episode covers some of the things that happened in El Salvador in the 1980s, in particular the story of the massacre at El Mozote, and how policies formulated by the White House supported death squads unleashing hell on civilians. As much as humanly possible, I'll try to let the facts speak for themselves and not inject too much of my own commentary. I'll pose here again the question that I asked in my previous episode… I'd like you to picture some of the most awful human beings you could possibly imagine… genocidal maniacs, torturers, child rapists. Got the picture? Ok. Now I'd like you to imagine if you can conceive of any circumstances in which not only you wouldn't do everything in your power to stop them, but you would actually support them. Can you think of any scenario that would warrant you supporting people like that? Can you picture yourself fighting hard to make sure they have millions of dollars and supplies to carry out their activities? Keep your answer in mind as you listen to this episode.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli
Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q
Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast
Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started https://purestmushrooms.com/ where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
Please, check out https://www.fieldofgreens.com/ and use code HISTORY at checkout for a 15% discount
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter he kingdom of God.” Matthew 19: 24
"And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored the three cries of history. The land fell into fewer hands, the number of the dispossessed increased, and every effort of the great owners was directed at repression. The money was spent for arms, for gas to protect the great holdings, and spies were sent to catch the murmuring of revolt so that it might be stamped out. The changing economy was ignored, plans for the change ignored; and only means to destroy revolt were considered, while the causes of revolt went on." John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath.
I’d like you to picture some of the most awful human beings you could possibly imagine… genocidal maniacs, torturers, child rapists. Got the picture? Ok. Now I’d like you to imagine if you can conceive of any circumstances in which not only you wouldn’t do everything in your power to stop them, but you would actually support them. Can you think of any scenario that would warrant you supporting people like that? Can you picture yourself fighting hard to make sure they have millions of dollars and supplies to carry out their activities? Keep your answer in mind for the remainder of this series.
This is a story about what happened in El Salvador in the 1970s and 1980s, and the role that democratic as well as republican administrations played in this tale. As much as humanly possible, I’ll try to let the facts speak for themselves and not inject too much of my own commentary. It’s not always going to be easy since it’s an intensely emotional subject. In a larger sense, this tale is a microcosm of the Cold War itself. It’s a disturbing, unsettling story about starving peasants and impossible choices. It’s about President Carter’s words weighed against his actions. It’s about the US government’s efforts to cover up the murders of four American churchwomen. And it’s about the heroism of one man, Oscar Romero, willingly sacrificing himself to shine a light into the darkness.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli
Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q
Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast
Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started https://purestmushrooms.com/ where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” — Zeng Guofan
“Infants but recently born were torn from their mother’s breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” — A British testimony on the Qing treatment of POWs
If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you, which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I’d bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I’d also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time.
It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God’s son, and Jesus’ younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.
In this episode, we run into Christian missionaries floating on a river of death, Hong’s descent into further layers of madness, the Second Opium War, Zeng Guofan’s comical pessimism, the wavering French-British policy, the Empress Dowager Cixi being a gangster, the battle for Shanghai, the Ever Victorious Army, a cholera outbreak, the asexual crusader Charles Gordon, the death of a Christian kingdom in China, and much more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli
Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q
Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast
Throughout history, people have used mushrooms (such as Lion’s Mane, Turkey Tail, Cordyceps, Reishi and Chaga) for their medicinal properties. My friends started https://purestmushrooms.com/ where they offer some of the best quality mushrooms you can find on the market at affordable prices. Use code historyonfire at checkout for a discount.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
A big thank you to the sponsor for today’s episode, Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. https://factormeals.com/historyonfire50
Millions of people struggle with premature hair thinning and hair loss. If you are among them, you may want to address this by getting 10% off at https://proviahair.com/HOF
“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together with us… is it not a remarkable era in China?” — A Christian missionary wife about the Taiping Rebellion
“Jesus our Elder Brother showed us the treacherous heart of this demon follower.” — Sign hanging around the neck of a man executed by the Taiping
“Those who believe not in the true doctrine of God and Jesus, though they be old acquaintances, are still no friends of mine, but they are demons.” — Hong Xiuquan
If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I’d bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I’d also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time.
It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God’s son, and Jesus’ younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.
In this episode, we follow Hong Xiuquan as he graduates from religious intolerance to armed insurrection against the government. We also run into angels torturing Confucius, ‘God’ & ‘Jesus’ & ‘Jesus’ younger brother’ leading an army to topple the Qing Dynasty, a massive army of sexually frustrated people, the capture of Nanjing, Quentin Tarantino’s Biblical tales, the Taiping turning into The Sopranos, ‘Jesus’ younger brother’ placing a hit on ‘God’s Voice’, and much more.
“The entire story of the Taiping Rebellion might be told, from one perspective, as the rage of a failed exam candidate writ large.” — Stephen Platt
“They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others.” — Lin Zexu about British opium traders
“Heaven is furious with anger, and all the gods are moaning with pain!... A murderer of one person is subject to the death sentence; just imagine how many people opium has killed! This is the rationale behind the new law which says that any foreigner who brings opium to China will be sentenced to death by hanging or beheading.” — Lin Zexu
“… soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure.” — Queen Victoria about opium
If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I’d bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I’d also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time.
It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God’s son, and Jesus’ younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.
In this episode, we tackle ethnic conflicts in China, Christian missionaries in Canton, uber-difficult Imperial exams, the Pablo Escobar of the 1800s having the British navy on her side, foot binding, Great Britain solving a trade deficit by flooding China with drugs, the First Opium War, and much more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli
Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q
Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
And a big thank you to the sponsor for today’s episode, Factor, America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Delivery Service. Head to FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 and use code historyonfire50 to get 50% off. That’s code historyonfire50 at FACTOR MEALS dot com slash historyonfire50 to get 50% off!
“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.” — Miyamoto Musashi
Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go.
Musashi has been the subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa that sold over 120 million copies. And yet, the story of his life is mixed with so many myths and legends that it’s rather difficult to separate fact from fiction. He lived across the late 1500s and early 1600s, during the waning phases of the Warring States period. By that point, after over 100 years of on and off civil war, Japan was a country suffering with PTSD. Soldiers and civilians alike had all been exposed to insane amounts of bloodshed and brutality during the Sengoku Jidai. Musashi was born in the midst of that, so it’s little surprised that his is a tale filled with intensity and violence.
In this second and final chapter of this series, I’ll explore some of the key events in the latter parts of Musashi’s life: from the siege of Osaka to the Shimabara Rebellion, from his adopting sons to his grief over the death of his daughter, from his exploration of Zen Buddhism to his writing of the Book of Five Rings, and much more!
“All warfare is based on deception.” — Sun Tzu
Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go.
Musashi has been the subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa that sold over 120 million copies. And yet, the story of his life is mixed with so many myths and legends that it’s rather difficult to separate fact from fiction. He lived across the late 1500s and early 1600s, during the waning phases of the Warring States period. By that point, after over 100 years of on and off civil war, Japan was a country suffering with PTSD. Soldiers and civilians alike had all been exposed to insane amounts of bloodshed and brutality during the Sengoku Jidai. Musashi was born in the midst of that, so it’s little surprised that his is a tale filled with intensity and violence.
In this first of two episodes, I’ll dive in to make sense of the contradictory evidence available: from his childhood marred by a terrible relationship with his father to his possible participation in the uber-famous battle of Sekigahara, from his first duel to the death at the age of 13 to his conflicts with the Yoshioka family and with Sasaki Kojiro, and much more!
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli
Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q
Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
Also, thank you to St. John's College for sponsoring this episode. Please, check out https://www.sjc.edu/podcast
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Shoutout to the podcast Echoes of History, a deep dive into history Inspired by Ubisoft’s famous video game series Assassin’s Creed. Check it out wherever you listen to podcasts.
“But the years of peace and plenty was not to last. Slowly the days turned sour and the watchful nights closed in. Thrór's love of gold grown too fierce and sickness had begun to grow within him. It was a sickness of the mind. And where sickness thrives, bad things will follow...” — JRR Tolkien
“The more White investigated the flow of oil money from Osage headrights, the more he found layer upon layer of corruption. Although some white guardians and administrators tried to act in the best interests of the tribe, countless others used the system to swindle the very people they were ostensibly protecting. Many guardians would purchase, for their wards, goods from their own stores or inventories at inflated prices.” — David Grann
You may have heard of Killers of the Flower Moon, a new movie by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. Or, maybe you have heard of the best-selling book by David Grann, on which the movie is based. In this episode, I do a deep dive into the murders at the root of the story. Back in the late 1800s, the Osage tribe was kicked out of their homes and pushed onto a plot of poor land where few people wanted to live. But the Universe has a sense of humor. Fast-forward a few years, and in a surprising twist of events it is discovered their land is not so poor after all, since it sits on some of the largest oil deposits in United States. Overnight, the Osage go from the deepest poverty to extreme wealth. A happy, feel-good story then, right? Not so fast. By the early 1920s, many Osage die in the prime of their lives—some are mysterious deaths. Others are clearly murders by poison, shooting and explosives. In this tale, I’ll tell you about oil, greed, murder mysteries, the birth of the FBI, and much more!
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli
Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q
Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
Also, thank you to Hillsdale College for sponsoring this episode. Checkout Hillsdale.edu/historyonfire to have access to free online courses.
“The universities do not teach all things, so a doctor must seek out old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveler… Knowledge is experience.” — Paracelsus
“They indulged in disgraceful immodesty, for many women, during this shameless dance and mock-bridal singing, bared their bosoms, while others of their own accord offered their virtue.” — C. Browerus describing the 1374 Dancing Plague
Weird seems like the most appropriate word to describe today’s subject, and yet ‘weird’ feels like an understatement. On July 14, 1518, in Strasbourg, a lady named Troffea began dancing in the streets.
Ok… that doesn’t sound too weird.
Just bare with me…
Troffea didn’t reply to questions or requests from her frustrated husband that she stopped. She had somehow slipped in a whole different state of consciousness and kept dancing until she passed out from exhaustion. As soon as she woke up, she started dancing again. This process of compulsive dancing and passing out went on for days until Troffea’s feet were covered in blood. But the real problem began when others fell under the same spell and joined in the dance… And that’s not the worst part. Before long, many of them began dropping off dead from heart attacks caused by the excessive effort. No matter how self-destructive the dance could be, the people afflicted simply couldn’t stop. Strasbourg had been hit with the weirdest plague in history… a dancing plague.
As we explore the mystery of the dancing plague, we end up discussing the black plague, anti-Semitism, the corruption of the church, martyrs and saints, creepy fairy tales, the origin of Tarantella music, the limits of medicine in the 1500s, Paracelsus, mass hallucinations, collective hysteria, the placebo effect, and much more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli
Including the HOF YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFCiqHbWJO26nFzUP-Eu55Q
Substack: https://substack.com/@danielebolelli
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyonfire/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@historyonfirepodcast
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
This episode is sponsored by HelloFresh, America’s # 1 meal kit. Go to https://www.hellofresh.com/hof16 and get 16 free meals plus free shipping!
Also, thank you to Hillsdale College for sponsoring this episode. Checkout Hillsdale.edu/historyonfire to have access to free online courses.
“We are all ghosts now. But once we were men.” — Anonymous POW from Cabanatuan camp
“Never in history had the United States Army been called on to rescue such a large number of POWs from so deep in enemy territory.” — William Breuer
“We were in the best shape of our lives, and with this mission we understood why he had driven us so hard.” — Alvie Robbins speaking about Henry Mucci’s physical training
“As far as we were concerned, they were gods.” — Bob Body about the Rangers who rescued him and his fellow POWs.
“Nothing in this entire campaign has given me so much personal satisfaction.” — General MacArthur
“I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life that I had a chance to do something in this war that was not destructive. Nothing for me can ever compare with the satisfaction I got from helping to free our prisoners.” — Robert Prince
This is the tale of one of the most daring missions in the history of WWII. After being defeated by the Japanese in 1942, by 1945 American forces were back in the Philippines ready to retake the islands. But their very success may have spelled doom for some survivors of the Bataan Death March, who had spent nearly three years as prisoners of the Japanese. Plenty of evidence, in fact, suggested that Japanese guards were ready to kill them all rather than letting them be freed. The only way to stop this imminent massacre was for a newly formed unit of Rangers, along with Filipino guerrilla fighters, to travel 30 miles behind enemy lines, face off with numerically superior forces, and rescue the POWs. By every logical metric, this had suicide mission written all over it. And ye, the Rangers and guerrilla, all volunteered. Rarely are war stories feel-good stories. But this may be the exception to the rule.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
This episode is sponsored by HelloFresh, America’s # 1 meal kit. Go to https://www.hellofresh.com/hof16 and get 16 free meals plus free shipping!
Also, thank you to Hillsdale College for sponsoring this episode. Checkout Hillsdale.edu/historyonfire to have access to free online courses.
“Brother, this is the greatest sorrow and the greatest trial that could happen to me in the whole course of my life. But don’t despair; before you lose sight of him who did the mischief, you shall see yourself revenged by my hand.” — Benvenuto Cellini
“Folk too gathered round us, for it had become clear that our words meant swords and daggers.” — Benvenuto Cellini
Italian artists from the Renaissance often lived lives that would make artists-gangsters a la Biggie or Tupac blush. Born at a time and place when colorful individuals abounded, Benvenuto Cellini was the wildest of them all. He is remembered as one of the greatest artists of the era, and at the same time as a man of explosive passions, equally inclined to murder and disturbing sexual escapades. In this second episode: Cellini and his path to vengeance, summoning demons inside the Colosseum, the 48 Laws of Power at the court of the French King, escaping from prison, surviving poisonings, Perseus and Medusa, and much, much more. If you are looking for entertainment set in the Renaissance, you really can’t ask for anything better.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
Big thank you to Babbel for sponsoring this episode. Right now, get up to 55% off your subscription when you go to https://babbel.com/HOF
Also, thank you to Hillsdale College for sponsoring this episode. Checkout Hillsdale.edu/historyonfire to have access to free online courses.
Foto di Copertina: Paolo Villa
“If one of you comes out of the shop, let the other run for a priest, because there’ll be no need for a doctor.” — Benvenuto Cellini
“The whole world was now in warfare.” — Benvenuto Cellini
“And then falling on my knees, I begged him to absolve me of that homicide, and of the others I had committed while serving the Church in the castle. At this the Pope raised his hand, carefully made a great sign of the cross above my head, and said that he gave me his blessing and that he forgave me all the murders I had ever committed and all the murders I ever would commit in the service of the Apostolic Church.” — Benvenuto Cellini
Italian artists from the Renaissance often lived lives that would make artists-gangsters a la Biggie or Tupac blush. Born at a time and place when colorful individuals abounded, Benvenuto Cellini was the wildest of them all. He is remembered as one of the greatest artists of the era, and at the same time as a man of explosive passions, equally inclined to murder and disturbing sexual escapades. In this first episode, we’ll witness Cellini surviving the plague and pirates, multiple street fights with blades drawn and the 1527 Sack of Rome. Along the way, we’ll see how Italian honor culture may help explain the Will Smith-Chris Rock clash at the Oscars. The characters that show up in our tale from kings and prostitutes, mercenaries and artists, necromancers and cardinals, servants and guards. If you are looking for entertainment set in the Renaissance, you really can’t ask for anything better.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
This episode is sponsored by HelloFresh, America’s # 1 meal kit. Go to https://www.hellofresh.com/hof16 and get 16 free meals plus free shipping!
“On these hills, where everywhere were rolling skulls, skeletons, and decaying body parts, Baron Ungern used to like to go to rest.” — Quote from one of Roman von Ungern-Sternberg’s officers
“Look at [Europe's] past full of fire and blood and the vicious, savage struggle of man against God. The West has given man science, wisdom, and power, yet it has also brought godlessness, immorality, treason, the abnegation of truth and goodness. There, in the West, the destruction of entire empires has begun. Whole nations are being led to their deaths.” — Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
“The Baron's soldiers had spent a desperate winter struggling to live off an alien landscape, and the last time any of them had been in a city was a year or more ago. They were veterans of two of the most brutalizing wars in history, they were led by a madman, and they had very little prospect for the future. They went berserk…” — James Plamer
“This is the product of someone suffering from megalomania and a thirst for human blood” — Admiral Kolchak commenting about Roman von Ungern-Sternberg’s writings
A recurring thread in History on Fire episodes is my soft spot for individuals who are mildly mentally deranged, but have something lovable about them. Today, thaqt thread doesn’t quite apply. The subject of our story gets an A+ in mental derangement (nothing mild about that), but is severely lacking in the lovable department. The man is a fascinating character—no doubt. But fascinating in the way Vlad the Impaler or Darth Vader or Walter White are. This series is a tale of insanity and bloodshed. It’s the story of a monster consumed by his love of warfare, a defender of monarchy in an age of revolutions, a bloodthirsty killer who took delight in persecuting Russian Jews, a soldier in both WW I and the Russian Civil War, an independent warlord who ended up riding at the head a multi-ethnic horde and conquered Mongolia. He is Baron Roman Nikolaus Maximillian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg, better known as the Bloody White Baron. In this episode, we follow the second life of his life, including his conquering the Mongolian capital, and his deadly showdown with Bolshevik authorities.
“My name is surrounded with such hate and fear that no one can judge what is the truth and what is false, what is history, and what is myth.” — Roman von Ungern-Sternberg
“Ungern had fused with the war, and equally, the war, in turn, had fused with him.” — Willard Sunderland
A recurring thread in History on Fire episodes is my soft spot for individuals who are mildly mentally deranged, but have something lovable about them. Today, thaqt thread doesn’t quite apply. The subject of our story gets an A+ in mental derangement (nothing mild about that), but is severely lacking in the lovable department. The man is a fascinating character—no doubt. But fascinating in the way Vlad the Impaler or Darth Vader or Walter White are. This series is a tale of insanity and bloodshed. It’s the story of a monster consumed by his love of warfare, a defender of monarchy in an age of revolutions, a bloodthirsty killer who took delight in persecuting Russian Jews, a soldier in both WW I and the Russian Civil War, an independent warlord who ended up riding at the head a multi-ethnic horde and conquered Mongolia. He is Baron Roman Nikolaus Maximillian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg, better known as the Bloody White Baron. In this episode, we will follow his life from his troubled childhood until the early days of the Russian Civil War.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
This episode is sponsored by HelloFresh, America’s # 1 meal kit. Go to https://www.hellofresh.com/hof16 and get 16 free meals plus free shipping!
“Most people go through life thinking they’re totally safe. People like us, we know the truth. Life is hard and dangerous, and sometimes you just got to chop off somebody’s head to survive.” — Ash vs. Evil Dead
“No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.” — Lucius Cornelius Sulla
“Around four o’clock on that Monday afternoon of the thirteenth, with a light rain falling, the bandits attacked. To the sound of a trumpet—for Lampiao did things in style—and the rumble of thunder in the cloudy sky, the outlaws entered the city, on foot and divided into groups.” — Billy Jaynes Chandler
“The first step toward becoming a true outlaw is the refusal to be victimized.” — Tom Robbins
This is the tale of the most famous outlaw operating in Brazil in the early 1900s. Much like the Old West in the 1800s in U.S., the backcountry of North-Eastern Brazil was a rough place where disputes were often settled with guns. Extreme wealth inequality, and a lack of opportunities to climb out of poverty, pushed many people toward criminality. Lampiao was the most legendary of them all. After turning to banditry in 1916, Lampiao led a gang that battled with rivals and with the police all the way until 1938. News of his feats reached around the globe, even making the pages of the NY Times. Some people considered him a popular hero. Others believed he was a blood-thirsty criminal. In this episode, we’ll explore his story.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
This episode is sponsored by https://tawkify.com/, the country’s #1 modern matchmaking service that is designed to help you achieve relationship success. History on Fire listeners get a 20% discount by going Tawkify.com/HISTORYONFIRE
Big thank you to the podcast "Echoes of History: Assassins vs. Templars” for sponsoring this episode. Please listen to "Echoes of History” wherever you get your podcasts.
Also, big thank you to Babbel for sponsoring this episode. Right now, get up to 55% off your subscription when you go to https://babbel.com/HOF
“There a papoose cries by its mother’s breast which, cold and insensible, can nourish it no more; there lies a young girl with her long hair sticky of blood, hiding her mutilated face… And here—here rests the beautiful young squaw whom yesterday I offered a cigarette—dying, with both her legs shot off. She lies there without wailing and greets me with a faint smile on her pale lips.” — First Sergeant Ragnar Ling-Vannerus
“The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.” — Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
“Who would have thought that dancing could make such trouble? We had no thought of fighting.” — Short Bull
“When he went to the bottom of the ravine, he saw many little children lying dead… He was now pretty weak from his wounds. Now when he saw all those little infants lying there dead in their blood, his feeling was that even if he ate one of the soldiers, it would not appease his anger… The Indians all knew that Dewey was wounded, but those in the ravine wanted him to help them. So, he fought with his life to defend his own people.” — From The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge
“What we saw was terrible. Dead and wounded women and children and little babies were scattered all along there where they had been trying to run away. The soldiers had followed along the gulch, as they ran, and murdered them in there. Sometimes they were in heaps because they had huddled together, and some were scattered all along. Sometimes bunches of them had been killed and torn to pieces where the wagon guns hit them. I saw a little baby trying to suck its mother, but she was bloody and dead. There were two little boys at one place in this gulch. They had guns and they had been killing soldiers all by themselves. We could see the soldiers they had killed. The boys were all alone there, and they were not hurt. These were very brave little boys.” From Black Elk Speaks
By 1890, the Ghost Dance religion was spreading like wildfire in many reservations across United States. At a time when most Natives were facing utter hopelessness, it gave them something to hope in. But the murder of Sitting Bull orchestrated by a reservation agent, and the political machinations of the Harrison administration initiated a military crackdown against an otherwise peaceful movement. The sequence of events thus started would end in bloodshed at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890, as the 7th Cavalry massacred nearly 300 Lakota—mostly women and kids. In this final episode of the Sitting Bull series, we explore the dynamics that led to Wounded Knee, the insane story of Iron Hail (aka Dewey Beard), how the Yanktons dealt with a traitor, the genocidal fantasies of the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and how Lakota culture endured—in spite of it all.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
For the rest of the year, History on Fire will be sponsored by BlueChew. BlueChew is a unique online service that delivers the same active ingredients as Viagra, Cialis,and Levitra -- but in CHEWABLE tablets and at a fraction of the cost!
Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code HISTORY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. Go to https://bluechew.com
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
This episode is also sponsored by https://tawkify.com/, the country’s #1 modern matchmaking service that is designed to help you achieve relationship success. History on Fire listeners get a 20% discount by going Tawkify.com/HISTORYONFIRE
“Sent to report on a story that wasn’t there, reporters invented one.” — Heather Cox Richardson
“Lakota will kill you.” — A meadowlark speaking to Sitting Bull in a vision
“If the white men want me to die, they ought not to put up the Indians to kill me… Let the soldiers come and take me away and kill me, wherever they like. I am not afraid. I was born a warrior.” — Sitting Bull
In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans.
In this fourth episode of this series, we’ll see how incompetent government agents, unscrupulous journalists, corrupt politicians, and army officers blinded by their egos manufactured a crisis where there wasn’t one. We’ll also discuss Sitting Bull’s take on the Ghost Dance, Agent McLaughlin’s murderous plans, Buffalo Bill trying to save Sitting Bull, and a murder that sets in motion a much bigger tragedy.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
For the rest of the year, History on Fire will be sponsored by BlueChew. BlueChew is a unique online service that delivers the same active ingredients as Viagra, Cialis,and Levitra -- but in CHEWABLE tablets and at a fraction of the cost!
Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code HISTORY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. Go to https://bluechew.com
Bison is some of the healthiest meat you could possibly eat. Get yours at https://dakotapurebison.com/ History on Fire listeners get a discount by using the code HOF10 at checkout.
Big thank you to Wondery for sponsoring this episode. Follow their American History Tellers podcast wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Their most recent season focuses on The Insurrection of Aaron Burr - a Founding Father who fought valiantly for the Revolution – and would later become the highest ranking American official ever charged with treason.
“Kill the Indian and save the man.” — Richard Pratt
“The life my people want is a life of freedom. I have seen nothing that a white man has, houses or railways or clothing or food, that is good as the right to move in the open country, and live in our own fashion.” — Sitting Bull
“The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it.” — Sitting Bull
“Possession—a war that doesn’t end.” — John Trudell
“We were faint with hunger and maddened by despair. We held our dying children and felt their little bodies tremble as their souls went out and left only a dead weight in our hands. They were not very heavy, but we ourselves were very faint, and the dead weighed us down. There was no hope on earth, and God seemed to have forgotten us.” — Red Cloud
“Don’t talk to me about Indians; there are no Indians left except those in my band.” — Sitting Bull
“We shall live again.” — Comanche Ghost Dance song
In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans.
In this third episode of this series, we’ll see how the U.S. government forcibly tried to change Lakota culture by outlawing their religion, removing kids from parents, and taking their land through laws such as the Dawes Ac. We’ll also discuss the corruption of the agents in charge of reservations, Sitting Bull joining the Wild West Show, adopting Annie Oakley, befriending William Cody, giving away all he earned, Senator Henry Dawes wanting to ‘teach Indians to be selfish’, President’s Harrison terrible policies, the birth of the Ghost Dance movement, and much, much more.
“I don’t want to have anything to do with people who make one carry water on the shoulders and haul manure. You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hardtack, and a little sugar and coffee. The whites may get me at last, but I will have good times till then.” — Sitting Bull
“Let me live deep while I live.” — Robert E. Howard
“Were I to run away from the enemy, no one will consider me a man.” — Kit Fox warrior society song
“A warrior I have been. Now it is all over. A hard time I have.” — Sitting Bull song
In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans. In this second episode of this series, we’ll see Sitting Bull emerging as the main leader for the free Lakota, fighting in a brutal intertribal battle, challenging the expansion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, saving the Cheyenne from starvation, Sun Dancing and having premonitory visions of the Little Big Horn battle, leading his people to Canada, befriending a major for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, helping Nez Perce’ refugees across the border, fighting in a duel at 49 years of age, returning to the U.S. as a POW, and much, much more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
For the rest of the year, History on Fire will be sponsored by BlueChew. BlueChew is a unique online service that delivers the same active ingredients as Viagra, Cialis,and Levitra -- but in CHEWABLE tablets and at a fraction of the cost!
Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code HISTORY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. Go to https://bluechew.com
“Sitting Bull, leader of the largest Indian nation on the continent, the strongest, boldest, most stubborn opponent of European influence, was the very heart and soul of the Frontier. When the true history of the New World is written, he will receive his chapter. For Sitting Bull was one of the Makers of America.” — Stanley Vestal
“If you intend to do this for my sake, take good care of them and let them live. My father is a man and death is his.” — Sitting Bull addressing his fellow tribesmen who wanted to kill some captives
“I told them I did not want their annuities, nor could I sell my country. My father lived and died here; so would I. And if our white brothers would do right, we would never have had war.” —Sitting Bull
“At no other time or place in the history of the Indian Wars, before or after, would the U.S. Army voluntarily destroy a major defensive line in order to appease an enemy.” — Bill Yenne
In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans. In this first episode of this series, we’ll see Sitting Bull dueling man-to-man against a Crow chief, adopting a boy from an enemy tribe, avenging his father (Conan The Barbarian-style), having visions, acquiring shamanic powers, dealing with marriages and grief, leading the first round of warfare against the U.S., and much, much more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
For the rest of the year, History on Fire will be sponsored by BlueChew. BlueChew is a unique online service that delivers the same active ingredients as Viagra, Cialis,and Levitra -- but in CHEWABLE tablets and at a fraction of the cost!
Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code HISTORY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. Go to https://bluechew.com
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.BetterHelp.com/HOF to get 10% off your first month and get on your way to being your best self.
“…we venerate the crooks, rapists, and pillagers credulous historians have repackaged as ‘founders,’ ‘conquerors,’ and ‘civilize.’ We erect statues and consecrate tombs to commemorate their difference-making. But in fact, most of these monuments memorialize the dark deeds of unhinged lunatics driven by rampant ego and raving greed… most of the supposed ‘great men of history’ were criminals on a rampage. We celebrate them because they ‘changed the world.’ But where’s the evidence that they changed it for the better?” — Chris Ryan
“He who dies with the most toys wins.” — Malcolm Forbes
“If we don’t put aside our enmities and band together, we will die. And then it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne.” — Davos Seaworth, Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 3
In most episodes I tell a story about a specific event with a clear beginning and end. Occasionally, I tackle a theme and look at how it plays out throughout history. This is one of those times. Simple stories are great, but sometimes looking at the big picture is even more interesting.
I am joined by Aziz Al-Doory from the History of Westeros podcast to chat about a central theme in history and, of course, in JRR Martin’s work: the drive that makes individuals struggle for power throughout history. In particular, we look at the more extreme (but by no means rare) examples: what makes someone risk his position and wealth in an effort to plunge a country into civil war for the sake of power? What goes through someone’s head who is willing to murder his siblings to get to the throne? Can uber-powerful people who executed their children and spouses ever have been happy? Why so many people have become addicted to a struggle that seems to be antithetical to having a good life?
As we ponder the answer to these questions, we tackle multiple case studies: from the Japanese warring states period to Shaka Zulu’s career, from the power struggle after the death of Alexander the Great to the conflict between Kublai Khan and his brother, and many more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
For the rest of the year, History on Fire will be sponsored by BlueChew. BlueChew is a unique online service that delivers the same active ingredients as Viagra, Cialis,and Levitra -- but in CHEWABLE tablets and at a fraction of the cost!
Try BlueChew FREE when you use our promo code HISTORY at checkout--just pay $5 shipping. Go to https://bluechew.com
A big thank you to Trade Coffee. Right now, Trade is offering our listeners a free bag of coffee with any subscription at https://www.drinktrade.com/historyonfire
Big thank you to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this episode. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit https://athleticgreens.com/HOF
“Until the philosophy
Which hold one race superior and another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned
Everywhere is war” — Bob Marley, War, inspired by a speech by Haile Selassie
“Emmett Till is dead and gone… Why can’t people leave the dead alone and quit trying to stir things up?” — Roy Bryant
“I think black peoples' reaction was so visceral. Everybody knew we were under attack and that attack was symbolized by the attack on a 14-year-old boy.” — Rose Jourdain
“The audience fell silent, wondering if Wright would risk his life to accuse a white man in open court. For a moment no one moved. Excruciating tension filled the room while people waited for Wright’s reply. Then, in one of the most dramatic moments in Mississippi trial history, Mose Wright, a poor Black sharecropper, stood up, raised his arm, pointed at Milam, a white man, and said, ‘There he is.’” — Chris Crowe
By 1955, in United States, people liked to say that the worst racial abuses belonged to the past—that the culture that had led to nearly 5,000 people getting lynched between the end of Reconstruction and the mid-1940s no longer existed. But then a 14-year old boy from Chicago jokingly whistled at a white lady in Mississippi, and what followed was a familiar script: the flashing of guns in the middle of the night, kidnapping, torture, African Americans looking for their relatives where bodies were normally dumped, and a justice system that was anything but just. What was not part of the familiar script was Mamie Till’s choice that led to a public funeral attended by tens of thousands, and—many people argued—that lit the spark for the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.
Among other things, in this episode:
- The culture of lynching and the gutsy Southern ladies standing up against it
- How ‘Brown vs. Board of Education’ set the South on fire
- Paranoia over integration and Communist plots
- William Faulkner and the fear at the roots of white supremacy
- Getting away with murder and boasting about it
- How white supremacists won a battle and lost the war
But the craziest thing in this whole story is realising this happened not so long ago…
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to True Classic for sponsoring this episode. For incredibly soft, great-fitting t-shirts, please enjoy a 25% discount at @trueclassic with promo code HISTORYONFIRE at trueclassictees.com/HISTORYONFIRE
Big thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring this episode. Visit https://www.BetterHelp.com/HOF to get 10% off your first month.
Big thank you to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this episode. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit https://athleticgreens.com/HOF
“The Puritans feared that which was undomesticated.” — Jeff Hendricks
“Our earliest American heroes were Morton’s oppressors, Endicott, Bradford, Miles Standish. Merry Mount’s been expunged from the official version because it’s the story not of a virtuous utopia but of a utopia of candor. Yet it’s Morton whose face should be carved in Mount Rushmore.” — Philip Roth
“He held out the promise of America as an earthly paradise, a pagan, not a protestant prospect, a zone of pleasure, not salvation through suffering.” — John Seelye
“Drink and be merry, merry, merry boys;
Let all your delight be in the Hymens joys…
Or make green garlands, bring bottles out
And fill sweet nectar freely about.
Uncover thy head and fear no harm;
For here’s good liquor to keep it warm.
Then drink and be merry,
Or yet, lasses in beaver coats come away,
Yee hall be welcome to us night and day.
To drink and be merry.” — Thomas Morton
Today we are going to play with one of the greatest stories you probably have never heard of. Even in U.S. very little known about this story and it’s a crime. If you have even a superficial knowledge of American history, you have almost certainly heard about the settlers who came to Plymouth in 1620. What you may not have heard about is that shortly thereafter a gentleman named Thomas Morton set up a different colony just down the road from Plymouth. At a time when most people arrived to Plymouth in chains, as indentured servants, Morton abolished servitude in his settlement he called Merrymount. At a time when his neighbors in Plymouth were brutally squashing religious dissent, Morton encouraged religious freedom. And on top of it all, he and his friends entertained extremely friendly relations with Native tribes even openly intermarrying. What makes the story even crazier is that Merrymount was well on its way to be more successful than Plymouth. When new settlers arrived on American shores, many took one look at ultra-strict Plymouth, another look at the freedom to be enjoyed at Merrymount and didn’t need to be told twice which way to go. The only reason why Merrymount didn’t make it in the history books you may have read is because the pilgrims turned to violence to destroy a community whose existence was a challenge to all of their beliefs.
From that day forward, the name of Thomas Morton has largely been erased from history. Some people could refer to Morton as a victim of the Puritan brand of cancel culture. The Puritan story became mainstream, and Morton’s name disappeared. This episode fixes this mistake.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to Wondery’s ‘This Job Is History’ for supporting the show. You can listen to ‘This Job Is History” on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts or by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.
Also a big thank you to Trade Coffee. Trade is offering our listeners a total of $30 off your subscription plus free shipping at https://www.drinktrade.com/historyonfire
“I teach Kodokan judo as a way of life.” — Jigoro Kano
“Even though he was drunker than usual, Saigo came to the driver’s aid. The burly sailors laughed out loud: “Scram, midget!” Much to their great surprise and considerable pain, in a flash, the pocket Hercules subsequently hurled each of them into the river.” — John Stevens
“I have not been able to transmit my ideals to many students, and there are unfortunately few instructors who can impart proper Kodokan values.” — Jigoro Kano
“The teaching of one virtuous person can influence many.” — Jigoro Kano
In the second half of the 1800s, after the United States made Japan an offer it couldn’t refuse, Japan experienced a period of crisis and extremely fast modernization. Swept by efforts to copy everything that made the West powerful, Japan turned its back on much of its traditional culture. Martial arts were considered anachronistic and irrelevant, and looked well on their way to disappear into the dustbin of history—much in the same way as they had done in other parts of the world. In 1882, a small, nerdy man named Jigoro Kano made his stand to reverse this process. Kano was only 22 years old, and had only little over 5 years of martial arts practice. But what 22-year old Kano started in some spare rooms in a Buddhist temple was going to affect the lives of millions of people.
This story is about martial arts, but is also about much more. This story is about the dramatic transformations in Japanese history in the 1800s (and without understanding them, it’s pretty much impossible to understand the role played by Japan in WWII.) It is a story about how one individual can radically impact millions. It’s about how cultural traditions that are seemingly anachronistic can be reinvented to provide value in a modern context. It’s a story about Taoist philosophy, Olympic Games and U.S. presidents, pro-wrestling and helping society, the tension between globalization and nationalism, the role that physical education can play in shaping a person’s character, and a bunch of other things that have only marginally to do with martial arts per se. Among other things, in this episode:
- Shiro Saigo, Kano’s pocket-sized enforcer
- Blood oaths
- History’s first black belts
- The four ‘heavenly lords’ of the Kodokan
- Judo gaining a reputation through challenge fights
- Leglocks
- Shiro Saigo and his NWA attitude
- Akira Kurosawa movies
- Kano clashing with nationalism and militarism
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Mitsuyo Maeda
- The origins of pro-wrestling
- The Olympic Games
So, with this in mind, let’s get rolling.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this episode. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit https://athleticgreens.com/HOF
Also a big thank you to Trade Coffee. Trade is offering our listeners a total of $30 off your subscription plus free shipping at https://www.drinktrade.com/historyonfire
History on Fire is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit https://www.BetterHelp.com/HOF to get 10% off your first month.
Where the oddest jobs from the past meet a comedian from the present… and it’s awkward! On this weekly show, Chris Parnell (SNL, Rick and Morty) welcomes guests who have held some of human history’s most unexpected and downright bizarre jobs: funeral clowns, garden hermits, VHS clerks, and everything in between. With the help of his tireless producer, Chris hears from the essential workers from decades and centuries past. Because before there were actual medical doctors, there were barber surgeons. And before there was Instacart, there were milkmen. Wondery’s This Job Is History is a funny, absurd, and informative look into how time can change the way we live and work.
“It was a period of stupendous change and immense challenge; the entire social, political, and economic landscape of Japan would be transformed within a few decades. Just as this new era was dawning in Japan, Jigoro Kano was born, on October 28, 1860.” — John Stevens
“In my childhood, I had heard that there was a thing called jujutsu thanks to which even a weak person could defeat a strong person. I definitely thought about learning it.” — Jigoro Kano
“Some people believe that Judo means simply practicing at the dojo. This is applying the principle of judo at the dojo when practicing defense against attack, and through it is certainly one aspect of judo, it is only a small part of it.” — Jigoro Kano
In the second half of the 1800s, after the United States made Japan an offer it couldn’t refuse, Japan experienced a period of crisis and extremely fast modernization. Swept by efforts to copy everything that made the West powerful, Japan turned its back on much of its traditional culture. Martial arts were considered anachronistic and irrelevant, and looked well on their way to disappear into the dustbin of history much in the same way as they had done in other parts of the world. In 1882, a small, nerdy man named Jigoro Kano made his stand to reverse this process. Kano was only 22 years old, and had only little over 5 years of martial arts practice. But what 22-year old Kano started in some spare rooms in a Buddhist temple was going to affect the lives of millions of people.
This story is about martial arts, but is also about much more. This story is about the dramatic transformations in Japanese history in the 1800s (and without understanding them, it’s pretty much impossible to understand the role played by Japan in WWII.) It is a story about how one individual can radically impact millions. It’s about how cultural traditions that are seemingly anachronistic can be reinvented to provide value in a modern context. It’s a story about Taoist philosophy, Olympic Games and U.S. presidents, pro-wrestling and helping society, the tension between globalization and nationalism, the role that physical education can play in shaping a person’s character, and a bunch of other things that have only marginally to do with martial arts per se. So, with this in mind, let’s get rolling.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this episode. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit https://athleticgreens.com/HOF
Also a big thank you to Trade Coffee. Trade is offering our listeners a total of $30 off your subscription plus free shipping at https://www.drinktrade.com/historyonfire
History on Fire is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit https://www.BetterHelp.com/HOF to get 10% off your first month.
“The adopted father gave away many presents to the people, and these in turn gave presents to me. Thus I became a Crow Indian, a brother of Three Irons and a son of Yellow Leggings, who was a leading counselor of Blackbird, chief of the Mountain Crow tribe.” — Tom Le Forge
“Cherry was utterly cool… under fire. She was as brave as the bravest. She liked to sing and pray, she was jolly and amiable, but on proper occasion she would stand her ground and fight bravely if that were necessary.” — Tom Le Forge about his wife Cherry
“The white-man system of continual struggle for money began to pall upon me. My thoughts dwelt more and more upon the simplicity of Crow Indian life, where I had acquired moderate wealth without special effort, or by efforts entirely to my liking. In fact, among them, great accumulation of material wealth was not of importance. Nobody having an amiable disposition ever came to dire want among them.” — Tom Le Forge
“I worship the Sun and the Bighorn Mountains. The towering range just south of my present home is to me both father and mother. My stomach craves meat cooked in the Indian way… I was born an Ohio American. I shall die a Crow Indian American. My last white wife, in Seattle, got a divorce from me, because of my desertion of her. She was a good woman, but I could not live any longer the life of a white man. When comes the time for me to leave this earth I want to dwell wherever are the spirits of my wives—my Indian wives—both of them.” — Tom Le Forge
I am fascinated by tales of people who lived across cultures—particularly back in the day when knowledge of different ways of living was severely limited. The tale of Tom Le Forge reads like a real-life Dances with Wolves story. Born as an Anglo-American in 1850, when he was still a teenager he was adopted by a family from the Crow nation, and for all intents and purposes became a Crow, marrying into the tribe, living as one of them, and going to war with them against their traditional enemies. Le Forge also joined the ranks of Crow scouts that helped the U.S. army during the last phase of the Plains Indian wars. His story is a love letter to a way of life that disappeared once the buffalo were gone and the frontier was no more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to BetterHelp for sponsoring this episode. Visit https://www.BetterHelp.com/HOF to get 10% off your first month.
Also a big thank you to Trade Coffee. Trade is offering our listeners a total of $30 off your subscription plus free shipping at https://www.drinktrade.com/historyonfire
“In order to depict a battle, there is required one of those powerful painters who have chaos in their brushes” — Victor Hugo
“Inconceivable!” — From The Princess Bride
A little over 2,000 years ago, Rome was a well-oiled war machine crushing everything in its path. At that time, the Roman legions were the most deadly military force in the Western world, and possibly in the whole world. Every year, they conquered new peoples and pushed the boundaries of their empire. Rape and pillage was the name of the game, and they were masters at it. But in the year 9 CE, something happened in the forests of Germany that was going to have a profound impact on the destiny of the world. Some historians go so far as to suggest that both the German and English languages may not exist as we know them, had things gone differently. News arriving from Germany, along with a severed head delivered by courier, threw Emperor Augustus in a deep depression.
In this second and final part of the series (for the first part you can check Episode 47)about the clash between Rome’s power with Germanic tribesmen, we’ll consider topics such as how suicide post-defeat in battle was a family tradition for one of the key characters in our story, when Varus ordered 2,000 people crucified, the training of the Roman army, Arminius’ skill at playing the long con, the battle that changed history, having to cut your friends’ throat out of kindness, the German passion for human sacrifice, Roman vengeance, how these events may be tied to the creation of the English language, and much more.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this episode. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit https://athleticgreens.com/HOF
“Reflecting upon the chiefs I had known, I realized that here had never been one who was very well off. Poverty was part of a chief’s obligations…” — Frank Bird Linderman
“While we painted ourselves the drums kept beating, and our women sang war-songs. No man can feel himself a coward at such a time. Every man that lives will welcome battle while brave men and women sing war-songs. I would have willingly gone alone against our enemies that day.” — Plenty Coups
“To be alone with our war-horses at such a time teaches them to understand us, and us to understand them. My horse fights with me and fasts with me, because if he is to carry me in battle he must know my heart and I must know his or we shall never become brothers. I have been told that the white man, who is almost a god, and yet a great fool, does not believe that the horse has a spirit. This cannot be true. I have many times seen my horse’s soul in his eyes.” — Plenty Coups
"The story of Joseph Medicine Crow is something I've wanted to tell for 20 years." — Ken Burns
“I felt good. I was a Crow warrior. My grandfathers would have been proud of me.” — Joe Medicine Crow
Lakota history has been the subject of many episodes of History on Fire. Today, however, we’ll see history through the eye of their traditional enemies, the Crow. Part of the episode will cover the history and culture of the Crow nation up to the late 1800s. The other part will move into the 1900s and follow the tale of Joe Medicine Crow, the last man to achieve the status of war chief of the Crow Nation thanks to the coups he counted during WWII against the Nazi. The fact that Joe Medicine Crow’s story has not been made into a movie is a crime. I can’t fix that, but at least I can dedicate a podcast to him.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to True Classic for sponsoring this episode. For incredibly soft, great-fitting t-shirts, please enjoy a 25% discount at @trueclassic with promo code HISTORYONFIRE at trueclassictees.com/HISTORYONFIRE
Also, to thank you to Magic Mind for sponsoring this episode. For an incredible energy drink that will keep you alert through the day go to https://www.magicmind.co/hof for 20% off. And for the first 10 days, use code HOF20 for a 40% off a subscription.
And for some of my favorite CBD products on the market, check out https://palomaverdecbd.com/ and use the promo code history for a 20% discount.
“This animal is a monster whose father is a lion; it remains open what the mother is.” — Jean-Baptiste Boulanger Duhamel
“I would be tempted to imagine that we are dealing with a witch, or the devil in person, if only I could believe it.” — Jean-Baptiste Boulanger Duhamel
It’s the 1760s, in the Gevaudan area of South Central France. Imagine being a kid. Maybe 12 years old. Maybe as young as 8. You have heard the rumors. Maybe, you saw the mangled bodies. There’s a monster out there. A monster that hunts people and eats them. It has killed people in the woods, on the pastures, and even just a few feet out of their homes. Time and time again, the men have gone out to try to put an end to the monster’s reign of terror, but time and time again the monster has outsmarted them. Some say it’s an animal that escaped a private zoo—a lion or a hyena, or something else you have never seen. Some people say it’s a giant wolf. Some say a demon that can’t be killed by bullets. Maybe, it’s a werewolf.
Just knowing that this monster wanders the countryside, right around your village… that would be terrifying. With this bloodthirsty beast roaming around, the door to your house doesn’t seem that solid anymore, and any suspicious noise outside can make you jump. So, it’s more than legitimate for you to think this is scary. But the reality is that this is nothing. Things don’t get truly scary until you take into account the fact that someone has to go outside and take care of the animals. And I don’t mean simply walking to the barn a few yards away from your house. I mean having to leave the relative safety of your home, go out there in the forest, and take them to the pastures, possibly for days at a time. Authorities have been warning people to stay home. Yeah… right… that’s a sweet concept but is practically impossible. If you stay home, your whole family starves. Your father and mother have other jobs that require their presence on the land. Taking animals to pasture… that’s your job. If you are lucky, you get to band with few other friends your age, and tend to the animals together, while you pray that the monster doesn’t choose to come for you. Think about being a 10-year old kid, and that’s your lot in life.
This is the story of a monster that killed in the neighborhood of 100 people during the 1760s in France as well as the story of the men sent to hunt it. In the course of this episode, we’ll tackle the entire saga of the monster’s reign of terror, the mystery of the monster’s identity, and the role that the press played in shaping the events. Honorable mentions to the film Brotherhood of the Wolf, Georges St. Pierre, Alan Watts & The Wisdom of Insecurity.
If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.
If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
Big thank you to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this episode. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit https://athleticgreens.com/HOF
“…a mad, wicked folly…” — Queen Victoria about the notion of women having the right to vote
“When I watched a policeman fell a girl to the ground and kick her across the platform, my only regret was that I had no weapon with which to strike him an effective blow.” — Eunice G. Murray
“£100 to any man who can defeat him. Notwithstanding the physical disadvantages against heavier men (for Tani weighs 9 stone only), Apollo will pay any living man twenty guineas who Tani fails to defeat in fifteen minutes: Professional champion wrestlers specially invited.” — Music Hall advertisement
“Physical force seems to be the only thing in which women have not demonstrated their equality to men, and whilst we are waiting for the evolution which is slowly taking place and bringing about that equality, we might just as well take time by the forelock and use ju-jitsu." — Edith Garrud
These days, pretty much any time I run into a movie or a book or a tv series with a strong woman among the lead characters, almost inevitably I run into comments by people whining about it, basically implying that strong women are a Hollywood invention created purely to satisfy some PC, affirmative action requirement. What we play with today is not that kind of a story. There’s nothing fictional about the rather intense ladies starring in this episode. One of them, in particular, Edith Garrud is Exhibit A when it comes to real life tough women from humanity’s past.
Our story takes place at the very beginning of the 1900s in England, and it weaves together some rather unlikely elements: how the upper classes’ fear of crime associated with urbanization led to the popularization of Asian martial arts, how the very legitimate request for women to have the right to vote unleashed some rather extreme violence… We’ll talk about suffragettes and terrorism, the early days of pro wrestling, Sherlock Holmes, and some Japanese expats (including that Mitsuyo Maeda destined to set in motion a sequence of events leading to the creation of modern MMA and the UFC.) And most of all, we’ll talk about Edith Garrud, one of the very first women to become a martial arts teacher and to star in the granddaddy of martial arts movies.
Please support History on Fire at www.patreon.com/historyonfire
“We heard that D’Annunzio was coming, and Italy and freedom were coming with him.” — Anonymous Italian citizen of Fiume
“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” — William Blake
“Legionaries adore him. The men from the palace fear him. Little kids think he’s the devil.” — Leon Kochnitzky about Guido Keller
This is the tale of one of the weirdest cultural-political experiments in modern history. The brutal end of WWI left many Italian soldiers dissatisfied, since the Allies refuse to grant them lands they had conquered at the price of rivers of blood. Feeling cheated by their own government and the Allies, some of these soldiers turned to the most popular man in the entire country: Gabriele D’Annunzio. Saying that he was a famous writer and a veteran of WWI doesn’t capture the magnetic power the man possessed. He was a true rock star before rock stars were a thing. He stopped traffic wherever he went. He made army units desert without using any weapon but his voice. Countless women risked their marriages, families and careers for a chance to have a fling with him. Casanova was an amateur compared to D’Annunzio. In 1919, D’Annunzio agreed to lead renegade units of the Italian Army to taking over the border city of Fiume. Despite the fact that this infuriated the Italian, French, British and American governments, D’Annunzio would go on to rule for fifteen months over an outlaw state where things that were not looked kindly upon in the world of 1919 (from drug use to free love, from the right to vote for women to nudism, from homosexuality to piracy) were widely practiced.
Part One of this two-part series tackles the Italian experience in WWI, D’Annunzio’s literary and military career, the raid to occupy Fiume, the Futurist movement, the wild culture that sweeps through town, a pre-1960s sexual revolution, Guido Keller (the craziest man in town), and much more.
This series is dedicated to Franco Bolelli
“I cut off their heads. I burned them with fire. With their blood I dyed the mountain red like red wool. Men I impaled on stakes. The city I destroyed, devastated… the young men and maidens I burned in the fire.” Ashurnairpal II
“I filled the wide plain with the corpses of his warriors…. These [rebels] I impaled on stakes. …A pyramid of heads I erected in front of the city.” Salmaneser III
“Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?” Isaiah 36:18-20
History is a fickle beast. Some events may not seem like much at the time when they happen, but they end up radically shaping all events afterwards. For example, had just one event turned out different—an event largely forgotten today, such as the siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE—and all of history would have changed. If the siege had ended in the way everyone expected it to end, Judaism would have disappeared from the pages of history, and Christianity and Islam would have never been born. Can you imagine how different the world would be if you were to remove the entire history of the three main monotheistic religions?
In this episode we’ll tackle this greatest of ‘what ifs.’ In the process of doing so, we’ll discuss the origins of Western monotheism, Assyrian culture, Hebrew legends, the Assyrian protection racket, the clash between monotheistic Hebrews and polytheistic Hebrews, how the Assyrians turned 10 of the tribes of Israel into the “lost tribes”, committing ‘suicide by Assyrian’, the destruction of Lachish, what may have happened in Jerusalem in 701 BCE, and much more.
“Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques or means which serve its ends.” — Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee’s methodology : “1. Research your own experience. 2. Absorb what is useful. 3. Reject what is useless. 4. Add what is specifically your own.”
“I maintain that truth is a pathless land and you cannot approach it by any religion. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others.” — Jiddhu Krishnamurti “This doesn’t look like success to me.” — Sovannahry Em
“A martial artist is a human being first. Just as nationalities have nothing to do with one’s humanity, so they have nothing to do with the martial arts.” — Bruce Lee
Ask anyone for one name they associate with martial arts, and odds are they will mention Bruce Lee. Because of his career, millions of people were introduced to martial arts. Thanks to his movies, Lee achieved enduring, worldwide fame, broke plenty of box office records, and forever changed the aesthetics of action films. Not bad for a skinny kid from Hong Kong who arrived in United States with the proverbial shirt on his back. The image of his hyper-muscular body in combat pose has become iconic. But there was a lot more to Bruce Lee than meets the eye. He could have been a rock star or a spiritual leader or anything else he had wished… Martial arts was just a channel for his energy. Had he put that same energy anywhere else, he’d have probably had similar success. Despite Hollywood turning him down time and time again due to racial prejudices, Lee refused to take no for an answer and more or less single-handedly changed the way in which Asian people were perceived in the West. His philosophical insights also changed the face of martial arts training, and introduced masses of people to Taoism and Zen Buddhism. His creative & anti-authoritarian approach to life captured the best of the essence of the 1960s. Get ready for a ride because this is an incredible story I have wanted to tell since I first started podcasting.
This episode covers Bruce Lee’s philosophy and life from 1965 through his death in 1973.
“Energy is eternal delight.” William Blake
“Hong Kong in the 1950s was a depressed place. Post–World War II Hong Kong had suffered from unemployment, a poor economy, over-crowding, homelessness, and people taking advantage of each other. Gangs roamed the street, and juvenile delinquents ran rampant.” Hawkins Cheung
“Teachers should never impose their favorite patterns on their students—he said—They should be finding out what works for them, and what does not work for them. The individual is more important than the style.” Bruce Lee
“I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all of these combined…” Bruce Lee
Ask anyone for one name they associate with martial arts, and odds are they will mention Bruce Lee. Because of his career, millions of people were introduced to martial arts. Thanks to his movies, Lee achieved enduring, worldwide fame, broke plenty of box office records, and forever changed the aesthetics of action films. Not bad for a skinny kid from Hong Kong who arrived in United States with the proverbial shirt on his back. The image of his hyper-muscular body in combat pose has become iconic. But there was a lot more to Bruce Lee than meets the eye. He could have been a rock star or a spiritual leader or anything else he had wished… Martial arts was just a channel for his energy. Had he put that same energy anywhere else, he’d have probably had similar success. Despite Hollywood turning him down time and time again due to racial prejudices, Lee refused to take no for an answer and more or less single-handedly changed the way in which Asian people were perceived in the West. His philosophical insights also changed the face of martial arts training, and introduced masses of people to Taoism and Zen Buddhism. His creative & anti-authoritarian approach to life captured the best of the essence of the 1960s. Get ready for a ride because this is an incredible story I have wanted to tell since I first started podcasting.
This episode covers Bruce Lee’s life from birth to his famous fight with Wong Jack Man in 1964.
“He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honor for this man. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.” — Future Italian President Sandro Pertini about Benito Mussolini
“The world unfortunately continues to be a battlefield where different egos clash, repeating the mistakes of the past.” — Federigo Giordano
“Death to the Nazi-Fascists.” — The closing quote of most letters written by Federigo Giordano during WWII
I am not done with stories of resistance from Italy during WW II. Today, I’ll tell the story of a friend, one of the very last partisan commanders to still be alive—Federigo Giordano (battle name “Gek.”) His name is still recognized in some towns in Northern Italy since he was the one to lead his men to liberate them from Fascists and Nazis. In this episode we’ll tackle the growth of racism within Fascist ideology, becoming a partisan in the mountains of Northern Italy, rejecting the Alexander Proclamation, saving American aviators, participating in the capture of Benito Mussolini, Mussolini ‘hanging’ in Piazzale Loreto, drunk Nazis in one room while partisans hide in the attic, having to explain to a 90+ year old lady why you killed her sister over 70 years earlier, and much more.
“Women must obey… My opinion of women’s role within the state is against any kind of feminism. In our state, women must not count.” — Benito Mussolini
“Yes, I participated in the actions. I usually had the task of carrying the weapons and would hand them to our shooters. As soon as they had used them, I’d get them back from them—still hot.” — Liana Germani
“I was mostly afraid of torture had they captured me, of the terrible suffering on the way to the concentration camps. Death seemed simple, something quick, liberating. Fear was a constant element of our daily lives.” — Liana Germani
This is a tale of Italian Resistance during WW II. Unlike nearly all History on Fire episodes, this is not a story I researched in books. It’s a much more personal one—these are my grandparents’ experiences. The starring role goes to my grandmother, Liana Germani, who as a teenager was a combat partisan active against the Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation. What I remember of her... there was a constant hint of sadness and pessimism hanging around her. It may have to do with the fact that during WW II, she found her boyfriend murdered--cut into pieces by fascists. She spent the rest of her teenage years smuggling guns & bombs, and doing what she could to kill them all.
Honorable mention also to my paternal grandparents—in particular my grandfather Stelio Bolelli, who found his way into fighting alongside Allied troops all the way through the Gothic Line.
In the course of this episode we’ll talk about a brief history of Fascism, DMX & the Matteotti murder, the collusion between fascist leaders and Sinclair Oil, the Badoglio government, the Nazi occupation, the massacre of St. Anna di Stazzema, guerrilla in the streets of Milan, gender roles in fascist Italy, my grandma’s friends being executed, PTSD, carrying bombs & smuggling weapons, my grandfather avoiding execution, the Gorla massacre, and much, much more.
“If I knew the way, I would take you home.” — From the song Ripple by the Grateful Dead
“The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.” — Bertrand Russell
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” — Michael Jordan
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” — Tao Te Ching
In most fields, we are taught that people in your same profession are your competitors, and you need to do whatever you can to prevent them from rising above you. In podcasting I found the opposite attitude—people helping each other out and doing whatever possible to facilitate things for other podcasters in the same field. In this spirit, today we’ll do something unique: six history podcasters cooperating, with each one tackling a segment, to create a super-episode together. As the host, yours truly will get the ball rolling setting the theme and offering some examples of ‘historical ripples’—events that end up having unforeseen consequences years, or decades, or centuries after they take place. Alexander Rader Von Sternberg (History Impossible) will chat about how a man who died feeling like he had failed to make his mark in history ended up—possibly more than any other—shaping the culture of several Asian civilizations. CJ Killmer (Dangerous History) will tackle the Bacon’s Rebellion and its ramifications. Sebastian Major (Our Fake History) will play with the myth and lasting impact of Homer’s telling of the Trojan War. Sam Davis (Inward Empire) will be discussing the impact of Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience on the Civil Rights Movement about a century later. And Darryl Cooper (Martyrmade) will make a case for the Japanese origin for suicide bombings in the Middle East.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“If I knew the way, I would take you home.” From the song Ripple by the Grateful Dead “The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.” Bertrand Russell “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Michael Jordan “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Tao Te Ching
In most fields, we are taught that people in your same profession are your competitors, and you need to do whatever you can to prevent them from rising above you. In podcasting I found the opposite attitude—people helping each other out and doing whatever possible to facilitate things for other podcasters in the same field. In this spirit, today we’ll do something unique: six history podcasters cooperating, with each one tackling a segment, to create a super-episode together. As the host, yours truly will get the ball rolling setting the theme and offering some examples of ‘historical ripples’—events that end up having unforeseen consequences years, or decades, or centuries after they take place. Alexander Rader Von Sternberg (History Impossible) will chat about how a man who died feeling like he had failed to make his mark in history ended up—possibly more than any other—shaping the culture of several Asian civilizations. CJ Killmer (Dangerous History) will tackle the Bacon’s Rebellion and its ramifications. Sebastian Major (Our Fake History) will play with the myth and lasting impact of Homer’s telling of the Trojan War. Sam Davis (Inward Empire) will be discussing the impact of Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience on the Civil Rights Movement about a century later. And Darryl Cooper (Martyrmade) will make a case for the Japanese origin for suicide bombings in the Middle East.
“The universities do not teach all things, so a doctor must seek out old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveler… Knowledge is experience.” — Paracelsus
“They indulged in disgraceful immodesty, for many women, during this shameless dance and mock-bridal singing, bared their bosoms, while others of their own accord offered their virtue.” — C. Browerus describing the 1374 Dancing Plague
Weird seems like the most appropriate word to describe today’s subject, and yet ‘weird’ feels like an understatement. On July 14, 1518, in Strasbourg, a lady named Troffea began dancing in the streets.
Ok… that doesn’t sound too weird.
Just bare with me…
Troffea didn’t reply to questions or requests from her frustrated husband that she stopped. She had somehow slipped in a whole different state of consciousness and kept dancing until she passed out from exhaustion. As soon as she woke up, she started dancing again. This process of compulsive dancing and passing out went on for days until Troffea’s feet were covered in blood. But the real problem began when others fell under the same spell and joined in the dance… And that’s not the worst part. Before long, many of them began dropping off dead from heart attacks caused by the excessive effort. No matter how self-destructive the dance could be, the people afflicted simply couldn’t stop. Strasbourg had been hit with the weirdest plague in history… a dancing plague.
As we explore the mystery of the dancing plague, we end up discussing the black plague, anti-Semitism, the corruption of the church, martyrs and saints, creepy fairy tales, the origin of Tarantella music, the limits of medicine in the 1500s, Paracelsus, mass hallucinations, collective hysteria, the placebo effect, and much more.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“A Socrates gone mad.” Plato referring to Diogenes
“Had I not been Alexander, I would have liked to have been Diogenes.” Alexander the Great "If I wasn't Diogenes, I would be wishing to be Diogenes too." Diogenes
“There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers… To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.” Henry David Thoreau
“I am a citizen of the world.” Diogenes
“Free from what? As if that mattered. . . . But your eyes should tell me brightly: free for what?” Friedrich Nietzsche
“He maintained, moreover, that nothing in life has any chance of succeeding without strenuous practice, which is capable of overcoming any obstacles.” Diogenes Laertius
2,400 years ago, long before punk rock was created, there was a man in ancient Greece who embodied the spirit of punk as much as anyone ever did. He was known as Diogenes The Dog. And Sid Vicious had nothing on him. Between the end of the Peloponnesian War, the bloody reign of the Thirty Tyrants, Socrates’ death… the times he lived in were wild ones, but Diogenes was considerably wilder than his historical context. As a master of frugality, he lived on the streets as a homeless philosopher inviting people to stop being slaves of their possessions. In this episode, we’ll see him clashing with the father of Western philosophy, getting busted for manipulating the currency, being the recipient of the good graces of celebrity sex workers, planting the seeds at the roots of Stoicism, defying Alexander the Great, getting kidnapped by pirates, rejecting nationalism, and pushing forward ideas that were as outlandish in Ancient Greece as they are today. The Amazons, the Oracle at Delphi, Game of Thrones, The Clash, The Temptations, The Princess Bride, and Nicki Minaj also make an appearance in this episode. And before we wrap things up, we’ll consider the limitations of punk as a worldview.
“That is the nicest guilt trip anybody has ever given me in my entire life.” — Dan Carlin
Dan Carlin is one of my all time favorite human beings, and on top of that an incredible podcaster. He’s now a published author as well. In this episode we chat about his new book, The End is Always Near. The conversation covers more than should theoretically be possible to cover in little over an hour—from Dan’s understanding for Thanos’ plight to the collapse of civilizations, the concept of Gross National Happiness, the delusion of infinite growth in a finite system, Jared Diamond, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, meteors, nuclear weapons, James Burke, the need for nuance, the future of Common Sense, what to do when people can’t agree on basic evidence, social media, incredibly fast historical changes, and the nicest guilt trip in Dan’s life.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“Kill the Indian and save the man.” — Richard Pratt
“The life my people want is a life of freedom. I have seen nothing that a white man has, houses or railways or clothing or food, that is good as the right to move in the open country, and live in our own fashion.” — Sitting Bull
“The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it.” — Sitting Bull
“Possession—a war that doesn’t end.” — John Trudell
“We were faint with hunger and maddened by despair. We held our dying children and felt their little bodies tremble as their souls went out and left only a dead weight in our hands. They were not very heavy, but we ourselves were very faint, and the dead weighed us down. There was no hope on earth, and God seemed to have forgotten us.” — Red Cloud
“Don’t talk to me about Indians; there are no Indians left except those in my band.” — Sitting Bull
“We shall live again.” — Comanche Ghost Dance song
In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans.
In this third episode of this series, we’ll see how the U.S. government forcibly tried to change Lakota culture by outlawing their religion, removing kids from parents, and taking their land through laws such as the Dawes Ac. We’ll also discuss the corruption of the agents in charge of reservations, Sitting Bull joining the Wild West Show, adopting Annie Oakley, befriending William Cody, giving away all he earned, Senator Henry Dawes wanting to ‘teach Indians to be selfish’, President’s Harrison terrible policies, the birth of the Ghost Dance movement, and much, much more.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“That is the nicest guilt trip anybody has ever given me in my entire life.” Dan Carlin
Dan Carlin is one of my all time favorite human beings, and on top of that an incredible podcaster. He’s now a published author as well. In this episode we chat about his new book, The End is Always Near. The conversation covers more than should theoretically be possible to cover in little over an hour—from Dan’s understanding for Thanos’ plight to the collapse of civilizations, the concept of Gross National Happiness, the delusion of infinite growth in a finite system, Jared Diamond, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, meteors, nuclear weapons, James Burke, the need for nuance, the future of Common Sense, what to do when people can’t agree on basic evidence, social media, incredibly fast historical changes, and the nicest guilt trip in Dan’s life.
“I don’t want to have anything to do with people who make one carry water on the shoulders and haul manure. You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hardtack, and a little sugar and coffee. The whites may get me at last, but I will have good times till then.” — Sitting Bull
“Let me live deep while I live.” — Robert E. Howard
“Were I to run away from the enemy, no one will consider me a man.” — Kit Fox warrior society song
“A warrior I have been. Now it is all over. A hard time I have.” — Sitting Bull song
In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans. In this second episode of this series, we’ll see Sitting Bull emerging as the main leader for the free Lakota, fighting in a brutal intertribal battle, challenging the expansion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, saving the Cheyenne from starvation, Sun Dancing and having premonitory visions of the Little Big Horn battle, leading his people to Canada, befriending a major for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, helping Nez Perce’ refugees across the border, fighting in a duel at 49 years of age, returning to the U.S. as a POW, and much, much more.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“It's just incredible that this little hand has killed Nazis, has scythed them down by the hundreds, without missing…” Charlie Chaplin “Miss Pavlichenko's well known to fame, Russia's your country, fighting is your game, Your smile shines as bright as any new morning sun, But more than three hundred Nazi dogs fell by your gun.” Woody Guthrie “Charging together, we would dash into battle and forget about everything else in the world.” Lyudmila Pavlichenko “Gentlemen, I am 25 years old and I have already managed to kill 309 of the fascist invaders. Do you not think, gentlemen, that you have now been hiding behind my back for rather too long?” Lyudmila Pavlichenko During WW II, women in the Soviet Union had many reasons to fear German soldiers. But in some cases it was the German soldiers’ turn to be the targets of Soviet ladies. Among the many women who would fight tooth and nail and send quite a few Axis soldiers to a premature death, one stood out among the rest. Germans would know her by name, and would grow to fear her. And they had good reasons to fear her since it was by killing 309 of them that she would become the most deadly female sniper in history. Legends about her would grow both among her own comrades and among the terrified Nazi soldiers who heard rumors about this vengeful female demon who seemed to have made it her personal mission to make them pay for any outrage committed by anyone wearing their same uniform had ever. Some told stories about how a witch in some village near Odessa had cast a spell deflecting enemy bullets away from her. Others swore that she was followed by the lord of the forest himself—a wood sprite with a huge tree-like body who protected her, made her invisible and gave her the supernatural ability to move through the forest without making a sound, to know what was happening a mile away, and to see in complete darkness as well as normal people see in daylight. She was Lyudmila Pavlichenko aka Lady Death. Among other things, in this episode: Operation Barbarossa, caught between vicious dictators, Stalin (even better than Nazis at killing his own people), Nazi guns in front of you and Soviet guns pointed at your back, a song by Woody Guthrie, Charlie Chaplin kissing her hand, Lyudmila disappoints Yoda, bringing Belgian chocolates as a gift for your girlfriend (after looting them from a corpse), love found & love lost, bloody revenge, hanging out with the American First Lady.
“Sitting Bull, leader of the largest Indian nation on the continent, the strongest, boldest, most stubborn opponent of European influence, was the very heart and soul of the Frontier. When the true history of the New World is written, he will receive his chapter. For Sitting Bull was one of the Makers of America.” — Stanley Vestal
“If you intend to do this for my sake, take good care of them and let them live. My father is a man and death is his.” — Sitting Bull addressing his fellow tribesmen who wanted to kill some captives
“I told them I did not want their annuities, nor could I sell my country. My father lived and died here; so would I. And if our white brothers would do right, we would never have had war.” — Sitting Bull
“At no other time or place in the history of the Indian Wars, before or after, would the U.S. Army voluntarily destroy a major defensive line in order to appease an enemy.” — Bill Yenne
In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United States were still firmly in the hands of nomadic, buffalo hunting tribes. The looming threat of American expansion was still barely noticeable. But things changed quickly, and soon the tribes were locked in an existential struggle with the U.S. for control of the heartland of North America. One man rose among these tribes to lead his people to resisting the inevitable for over two decades. By the time he was 10 years old, the boy who would become the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, had killed his first bison by running him down and putting an arrow through its heart. In the opinion of his fellow tribesmen, his ability as a hunter and as a warrior was only second to his generosity in taking care of widows and orphans. In this first episode of this series, we’ll see Sitting Bull dueling man-to-man against a Crow chief, adopting a boy from an enemy tribe, avenging his father (Conan The Barbarian-style), having visions, acquiring shamanic powers, dealing with marriages and grief, leading the first round of warfare against the U.S., and much, much more.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“A Socrates gone mad.” — Plato referring to Diogenes
“Had I not been Alexander, I would have liked to have been Diogenes.” — Alexander the Great
"If I wasn't Diogenes, I would be wishing to be Diogenes too." — Diogenes
“There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers… To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.” — Henry David Thoreau
“I am a citizen of the world.” — Diogenes
“Free from what? As if that mattered. . . . But your eyes should tell me brightly: free for what?” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“He maintained, moreover, that nothing in life has any chance of succeeding without strenuous practice, which is capable of overcoming any obstacles.” — Diogenes Laertius
2,400 years ago, long before punk rock was created, there was a man in ancient Greece who embodied the spirit of punk as much as anyone ever did. He was known as Diogenes The Dog. And Sid Vicious had nothing on him.
Between the end of the Peloponnesian War, the bloody reign of the Thirty Tyrants, Socrates’ death… the times he lived in were wild ones, but Diogenes was considerably wilder than his historical context. As a master of frugality, he lived on the streets as a homeless philosopher inviting people to stop being slaves of their possessions. In this episode, we’ll see him clashing with the father of Western philosophy, getting busted for manipulating the currency, being the recipient of the good graces of celebrity sex workers, planting the seeds at the roots of Stoicism, defying Alexander the Great, getting kidnapped by pirates, rejecting nationalism, and pushing forward ideas that were as outlandish in Ancient Greece as they are today. The Amazons, the Oracle at Delphi, Game of Thrones, The Clash, The Temptations, The Princess Bride, and Nicki Minai also make an appearance in this episode. And before we wrap things up, we’ll consider the limitations of punk as a worldview.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“Until the philosophy
Which hold one race superior and another
Inferior
Is finally
And permanently
Discredited
And abandoned
Everywhere is war” — Bob Marley, War, inspired by a speech by Haile Selassie
“Emmett Till is dead and gone… Why can’t people leave the dead alone and quit trying to stir things up?” — Roy Bryant
“I think black peoples' reaction was so visceral. Everybody knew we were under attack and that attack was symbolized by the attack on a 14-year-old boy.” — Rose Jourdain
“The audience fell silent, wondering if Wright would risk his life to accuse a white man in open court. For a moment no one moved. Excruciating tension filled the room while people waited for Wright’s reply. Then, in one of the most dramatic moments in Mississippi trial history, Mose Wright, a poor Black sharecropper, stood up, raised his arm, pointed at Milam, a white man, and said, ‘There he is.’” — Chris Crowe
By 1955, in United States, people liked to say that the worst racial abuses belonged to the past—that the culture that had led to nearly 5,000 people getting lynched between the end of Reconstruction and the mid-1940s no longer existed. But then a 14-year old boy from Chicago jokingly whistled at a white lady in Mississippi, and what followed was a familiar script: the flashing of guns in the middle of the night, kidnapping, torture, African Americans looking for their relatives where bodies were normally dumped, and a justice system that was anything but just. What was not part of the familiar script was Mamie Till’s choice that led to a public funeral attended by tens of thousands, and—many people argued—that lit the spark for the birth of the Civil Rights Movement.
Among other things, in this episode:
- The culture of lynching and the gutsy Southern ladies standing up against it
- How ‘Brown vs. Board of Education’ set the South on fire
- Paranoia over integration and Communist plots
- William Faulkner and the fear at the roots of white supremacy
- Getting away with murder and boasting about it
- How white supremacists won a battle and lost the war
But the craziest thing in this whole story is realising this happened not so long ago…
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“In order to depict a battle, there is required one of those powerful painters who have chaos in their brushes” — Victor Hugo
“Inconceivable!” — From The Princess Bride
A little over 2,000 years ago, Rome was a well-oiled war machine crushing everything in its path. At that time, the Roman legions were the most deadly military force in the Western world, and possibly in the whole world. Every year, they conquered new peoples and pushed the boundaries of their empire. Rape and pillage was the name of the game, and they were masters at it. But in the year 9 CE, something happened in the forests of Germany that was going to have a profound impact on the destiny of the world. Some historians go so far as to suggest that both the German and English languages may not exist as we know them, had things gone differently. News arriving from Germany, along with a severed head delivered by courier, threw Emperor Augustus in a deep depression.
In this second and final part of the series about the clash between Rome’s power with Germanic tribesmen, we’ll consider topics such as how suicide post-defeat in battle was a family tradition for one of the key characters in our story, when Varus ordered 2,000 people crucified, the training of the Roman army, Arminius’ skill at playing the long con, the battle that changed history, having to cut your friends’ throat out of kindness, the German passion for human sacrifice, Roman vengeance, how these events may be tied to the creation of the English language, and much more.
If you'd like to keep following my work on Luminary, please follow my personal link to their platform to sign up. Thank you for understanding that this move is necessary to keep History on Fire viable. luminary.link/history
Onnit has shown me love from day 1. So, please check out their supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
“Bits of weapons and horses' limbs lay about, and human heads fixed to tree-trunks. In groves nearby were barbaric altars, where the Germans had laid the tribunes and senior centurions and sacrificed them.” Tacitus “It stands on record that armies already wavering and on the point of collapse have been rallied by the women, pleading heroically with their men, thrusting forward their bared breasts…” Tacitus “They are not so easily convinced to plough the land and wait patiently for harvest as to challenge an enemy and run the risk to be wounded. They think it is weak and spiritless to earn by sweat what they might purchase with blood.” Tacitus A little over 2,000 years ago, Rome was a well-oiled war machine crushing everything in its path. At that time, the Roman legions were the most deadly military force in the Western world, and possibly in the whole world. Every year, they conquered new peoples and pushed the boundaries of their empire. Rape and pillage was the name of the game, and they were masters at it. But in the year 9 CE, something happened in the forests of Germany that was going to have a profound impact on the destiny of the world. Some historians go so far as to suggest that both the German and English languages may not exist as we know them, had things gone differently. News arriving from Germany, along with a severed head delivered by courier, threw Emperor Augustus in a deep depression. In this first of two parts about the clash between Rome’s power with Germanic tribesmen, we’ll look at what we know about Germanic tribal cultures from those days, walk among the grisly remnants of a battlefield with Roman general Germanicus, and consider how Tacitus’ work was fuel to the fire of Nazi ideology 2,000 years later. Also, in this episode: Europe’s pre-Christian religions, naked tribesmen snowboarding on their shields, the dramatic encounter between Gaius Marius with Cimbri & Teutones, Gaius Julius Caesar making a larger-than-life entrance into Germany, Drusus’ campaign beyond the Rhine, racing on horseback for 200 miles to see one’s brother, slavery with golden chains, and much more as we set the stage for part 2, when the big showdown will take place.
So many History on Fire episodes feature incredibly violent pages from humanity’s past. This is not one of those episodes. The hero of our tale was too busy enjoying life in 15th century Japan to join the civil wars raging around him or to go around killing people. As the illegitimate son of the Emperor of Japan, Ikkyu Sojun experienced the harsh side of life from the moment he was born, but always looked for a way not to let it spoil his good mood. His main passions (in no particular order) were Zen Buddhism, sex and drinking. And in the midst of the endless party that was in life, he managed to have a tremendously powerful impact on Japanese culture. In this episode, we see Ikkyu’s wanderings taking him through torrid love affairs, friendships with pirate-merchants, and clashes with the Zen establishment. Living in an age of shoguns being assassinated, peasant uprisings, and the fury of the Onin War, Ikkyu found the time to save very Zen temple he had criticized throughout his life, and to launch an artistic renaissance that would have a lasting impact on Japanese history. In the course of our journey, we’ll find out how Ikkyu affected the creation of tea ceremony, how he and Lady Mori shared the greatest love story in Japanese history, and Ikkyu can teach about finding joy in the midst of suffering
So many History on Fire episodes feature incredibly violent pages from humanity’s past. This is not one of those episodes. The hero of our tale was too busy enjoying life in 15th century Japan to join the civil wars raging around him or to go around killing people. As the illegitimate son of the Emperor of Japan, Ikkyu Sojun experienced the harsh side of life from the moment he was born, but always looked for a way not to let it spoil his good mood. His main passions (in no particular order) were Zen Buddhism, sex and drinking. And in the midst of the endless party that was in life, he managed to have a tremendously powerful impact on Japanese culture. In this episode, we will tackle the odd phenomenon of people being more comfortable with warfare and violence than sex, how Tom Robbins introduced me to Ikkyu, Sovannahry’s Ikkyu painting (the first thing I see every morning), the odd circumstances of Ikkyu’s birth, a history of Zen, Ikkyu’s training and attempted suicide, Ikkyu’s burning of his ‘certificate of enlightenment’, his clashes with the Zen establishment, Jack London’s Call of the Wild, becoming ‘the Crazy Cloud’, Drukpa Kunley and his… ehm… ‘flaming thunderbolt of wisdom’…
Dan Carlin is the undisputed king of historical podcasting, and one of my favorite human beings. Today we sit down to chat about the differences between Nazism and Socialism, the right-wing vs. left-wing paradigm, our favorite past U.S. presidents, the feeling you have when witnessing slow moving historical catastrophes, and much more.
In the midst of The Peloponnesian War (431-401 BCE), the Athenians paid a visit to the inhabitants of the island of Melos and tried to make them an offer they couldn’t refuse. The dialogue that emerged from their negotiations is a classic in political philosophy, and raises fascinating questions about the nature of morality in history. In this episode, Darryl Cooper (from “The Martyrmade Podcast”) and I tackle them all, and leave no stones unturned.
By 1429, the heir to the French throne was about to give up and flee in exile. The English and their Burgundian allies controlled huge parts of the country. With Orleans likely to fall in a not too distant future, the path was open for the English to conquer the rest of France. It looked like the game was up for him. As much as he tried, he couldn’t see any logical path to victory. But little did he know that help was on its way—a kind of help that didn’t seem to be logical, reasonable or likely. Help was coming in the form of an illiterate teenage peasant—a female at that—who was going to change his fortunes; a young woman who through sheer willpower would radically change the course of the war. She arrived at the royal court during France’s darkest hour with news that God had sent her to lift the siege of Orleans, and make sure the heir to the throne would be crowned King of France.
By 1429, the heir to the French throne was about to give up and flee in exile. The English and their Burgundian allies controlled huge parts of the country. With Orleans likely to fall in a not too distant future, the path was open for the English to conquer the rest of France. It looked like the game was up for him. As much as he tried, he couldn’t see any logical path to victory. But little did he know that help was on its way—a kind of help that didn’t seem to be logical, reasonable or likely. Help was coming in the form of an illiterate teenage peasant—a female at that—who was going to change his fortunes; a young woman who through sheer willpower would radically change the course of the war. She arrived at the royal court during France’s darkest hour with news that God had sent her to lift the siege of Orleans, and make sure the heir to the throne would be crowned King of France.
By 1429, the heir to the French throne was about to give up and flee in exile. The English and their Burgundian allies controlled huge parts of the country. With Orleans likely to fall in a not too distant future, the path was open for the English to conquer the rest of France. It looked like the game was up for him. As much as he tried, he couldn’t see any logical path to victory. But little did he know that help was on its way—a kind of help that didn’t seem to be logical, reasonable or likely. Help was coming in the form of an illiterate teenage peasant—a female at that—who was going to change his fortunes; a young woman who through sheer willpower would radically change the course of the war. She arrived at the royal court during France’s darkest hour with news that God had sent her to lift the siege of Orleans, and make sure the heir to the throne would be crowned King of France. The young woman was Joan of Arc, and she was one of the most unusual individuals in history.
By 1429, the heir to the French throne was about to give up and flee in exile. The English and their Burgundian allies controlled huge parts of the country. With Orleans likely to fall in a not too distant future, the path was open for the English to conquer the rest of France. It looked like the game was up for him. As much as he tried, he couldn’t see any logical path to victory. But little did he know that help was on its way—a kind of help that didn’t seem to be logical, reasonable or likely. Help was coming in the form of an illiterate teenage peasant—a female at that—who was going to change his fortunes; a young woman who through sheer willpower would radically change the course of the war. She arrived at the royal court during France’s darkest hour with news that God had sent her to lift the siege of Orleans, and make sure the heir to the throne would be crowned King of France. The young woman was Joan of Arc, and she was one of the most unusual individuals in history.
What I am going to tell you is one of the craziest serial killer stories that you have never heard of. And there are very good reason why most people have never heard of this. In 1942, Death stalked London. Death came from the sky in the form of German bombs. And on the ground it came in the form of the blackout ripper—this is the name by which the monster came to be known. But publicizing the infamous activities of the Blackout Ripper is not something that was in the best interest of the nation at that time. The reaction of the citizens of London in the face of the German Blitz, the bombing campaign unleashed by the German Luftwaffe, has always been portrayed in heroic terms. The traditional version tells us that tough British people took the bombing in strides. They’d get bombed all night only to emerge with a smile in the morning ready to go to work as if nothing had happened. In part this was certainly true, many British people displayed incredible courage and resilience in the face of the German attacks. And this was a great propaganda weapon for the British government. It allowed them to tell Germany ‘your bombs can’t shake our resolve. They are having no effect on us, so feel free to stop any time you want and spare yourself further embarrassment.’ There clearly is something powerful in the ability to take your enemy’s best shot and smile back at them. It discourages them, and forces them to reconsider their strategy. So, of course, the last thing you want is to let them know that their strikes are hurting you. If you were to admit that the blackout is giving rise to a huge black market, if you were to talk too loudly about the doubling of the murder rate in your city, if you were to discuss how the bombing campaign indirectly gave a perfect cover for an incredibly brutal serial killer, then it’d be like admitting that bombs were working in opening fissures in British society. And if you were to admit that, then you could be sure that the bombs would keep on falling. And thousands would keep on dying. So, the Blackout Ripper was not just any other serial killer. He was a potential propaganda weapon in the hands of the enemy. For this reason, he had to be stopped, and stopped quickly. And better yet, he should be talked about as little as humanly possible. So, if you are wondering why his Ripper-colleague, Jack the Ripper, is pretty much a household name, whereas few have heard of the Blackout Ripper, you don’t have to wonder no more. The context of WWII made burying this tale a wartime necessity. This is simply not a story that anyone in Britain at the time had any interest in publicizing.
The tale of the 47 Ronin is one of the most renowned revenge tales to ever come out of Japan. It is the subject of countless books, plays, and movies. It is also a story that has ignited never-ending debates. Some people argue that the 47 Ronin were paragons of virtue—perfect embodiments of the loyalty and honor that should be expected from the samurai. They offered the answer to the riddle that was plaguing the samurai at the beginning of the 1700s: what does being a member of a warrior class at a time of enduring peace? Other people instead look at the same story and walk away feeling like the 47 Ronin were violent thugs animated by questionable motives. In this two-part series of History on Fire, we dive deep into legend & history to find answers. In this episode: -A crash course in Japanese history -The transformation of the status of the samurai -The curious institution of seppuku -Ritual disembowelment as a way to say ‘sorry’ -Death poems -The ‘Kaishakunin’—a pal who would cut your head off to spare you the prolonged agonies of ritual disembowelment -The “Dog Shogun” -Asano Naganori: “Given to pleasure in preference of the sober business of government.” -The consequences of pulling a blade inside the Shogun’s palace -Bonus revenge story: two angry sisters against a samurai
The tale of the 47 Ronin is one of the most renowned revenge tales to ever come out of Japan. It is the subject of countless books, plays, and movies. It is also a story that has ignited never-ending debates. Some people argue that the 47 Ronin were paragons of virtue—perfect embodiments of the loyalty and honor that should be expected from the samurai. They offered the answer to the riddle that was plaguing the samurai at the beginning of the 1700s: what does being a member of a warrior class at a time of enduring peace? Other people instead look at the same story and walk away feeling like the 47 Ronin were violent thugs animated by questionable motives. In this two-part series of History on Fire, we dive deep into legend & history to find answers. In this episode: -A crash course in Japanese history -The transformation of the status of the samurai -The curious institution of seppuku -Ritual disembowelment as a way to say ‘sorry’ -Death poems -The ‘Kaishakunin’—a pal who would cut your head off to spare you the prolonged agonies of ritual disembowelment -The “Dog Shogun” -Asano Naganori: “Given to pleasure in preference of the sober business of government.” -The consequences of pulling a blade inside the Shogun’s palace -Bonus revenge story: two angry sisters against a samurai
This series is about the rise of a street gang that took over Rome in the 1970s and 1980s. The Magliana gang was not just one of many criminal organizations who operated in Italy. Among their business partners, they counted Italy’s most important politicians, bankers, secret services, and possibly the Vatican itself. The gang left an indelible mark on Italian history. The story of their rise to power and of the heyday of their rule truly is stranger than fiction. It’s the kind of story that makes you think that the Godfather 3 perhaps was a documentary after all. There are lots of books and documentaries about this story but they are nearly all in Italian, so it looks like I’m your man if you wanna hear this story in English—or whatever approximation of English I speak.
This series is about the rise of a street gang that took over Rome in the 1970s and 1980s. The Magliana gang was not just one of many criminal organizations who operated in Italy.
What makes seemingly normal men commit horrific acts against civilians during war? What allows some people to act heroically in the darkest circumstances and what makes others turn into monsters? How does training and leadership play into this? After discussing the stories of Sand Creek and My Lai in Episodes 32A and 32B, in this episode Darryl Cooper (The Martyrmade Podcast) and I sit down with retired Navy Seal, author and podcaster Jocko Willink (The Jocko Podcast) to tackle these questions.
In part B, I hand the microphone to my friend and master podcaster Darryl Cooper (from The Martyrmade Podcast.) Darryl explores the context of the Cold War in order to come to terms with what happened at My Lai, in Vietnam, in 1968. Horror abounds, but if you are looking for heroes in the midst of the horror, you can do a lot worse than hear about the story of Hugh Thompson.
I’m not going to lie. This is one of the darkest episodes of History on Fire. But there are reasons for this journey into the heart of darkness. The stories of Sand Creek and My Lai offer an opportunity to explore human agency, the choices separating good and evil, and how some individuals can choose to become sources of light even in the most horrible circumstances. In this first part, we will explore the events that in Colorado in the late 1850s and early 1860s led to a dramatic clash between the Cheyenne tribe and the United States. Within the context of this painfully ugly story, 26-year-old Captain Silas Soule offers a shining example of heroism.
In this episode: how gladiators were both superstars and despised outcasts at the same time, gladiators’ groupies, Marcus Aurelius’ wife taking a bath in gladiator’s blood, Commodus and his 620-0 record in the arena, the clash between Christianity and gladiators, the evolution of MMA in the early 1990s, having your violent cake and eating it too, gladiatorial video games, Titus Pullo’s badassery, Conan’s prayer
Ancient Romans were obsessed with gladiatorial combat. In this two-part series, we time-travel back to get a sense of what the Games (of which gladiatorial combat was the main attraction) were like. In this episode: the origins of gladiators, human sacrifice, Achilles and the Iliad, feeding the dead with blood, who were the gladiators, female gladiators, the ludus, the different types of gladiators, the battles among the damnati, the naumachia, executions and ‘snuff plays’, the venatio, crushed by elephants or eaten by lions, the collapsing arena that killed over 20,000, the editor of the games, poor Romans eating lion for dinner, thumbs (up and down)...
In this episode, I am joined by Aziz Al-Doory from The History of Westeros Podcast, and together we discuss some (definitely not all) of the ways in which history has influenced Game of Thrones. In this episode we’ll tackle: The Wall & Hadrian’s Wall, flaying, human sacrifice, feeding enemies to dogs, Agamemnon and Stannis Baratheon, parallels with the Bible, the Dothraki and nomadic steppe peoples, execution by molten gold, the real life examples of the High Sparrow, the walk of shame, the inquisition, the Red Wedding, the siege of Constantinople & the battle of Blackwater Bay, and much more.
By 1900, the federal government had long abandoned Reconstruction, and white supremacy was returning to the South with a vengeance. Jim Crow was in full swing. Segregation was the law of the land. And Fifty years before Jackie Robinson challenged segregation in baseball, there was Jack Johnson. Lynching was a weekly event. Any black man in the South not acting subservient could find himself dangling from a tree. Even African American leaders like Booker T. Washington preached that accepting segregation, keeping one’s head down, and working hard were the best options for black people. Jack Johnson clearly didn’t get the memo.
In this episode: -Public Enemy Number One -At home in the integrated criminal underworld -Ladies and fast cars -Jack Johnson’s intellectual side -The Great White Hope -Knocking out and befriending Stanley “The Assassin” Ketchel -“I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a negro.” Jim Jeffries -Why the Governor of California prohibited the fight -Death threats and attempted poisonings -Jack Johnson’s eerie calm under pressure -A spectator: “He’ll kill you, Jack.” Jack Johnson: “That’s what they all say.” -The verbal fight with Jim Corbett -Triumph and riots in over 50 cities
By 1900, the federal government had long abandoned Reconstruction, and white supremacy was returning to the South with a vengeance. Jim Crow was in full swing. Segregation was the law of the land. And Fifty years before Jackie Robinson challenged segregation in baseball, there was Jack Johnson. Lynching was a weekly event. Any black man in the South not acting subservient could find himself dangling from a tree. Even African American leaders like Booker T. Washington preached that accepting segregation, keeping one’s head down, and working hard were the best options for black people. Jack Johnson clearly didn’t get the memo. At this time when simply looking a white man in the eyes, or talking to a white woman, could get one lynched, Jack Johnson made a living beating the hell out of white men in the ring. Living defiantly as if prejudice didn’t exist—he felt—was the best way to defeat racism. It would be easy to mistake Jack Johnson’s story simply as a tale of standing up to racism. It’s about that—sure. But it’s also about a lot more. Because as much Jack Johnson stared down white supremacy, he also battled those black people who insisted that he behaved like a hard-working, God-fearing role model. But JJ wasn’t about to trade a cage for another. He wouldn’t be anyone’s puppet. He would have no master telling him how to live—not white ones, but no black ones either. His story is the tale of a man who, in spite of a time and place that would not allow it, was on a defiant quest to be free, and live life on his own terms.
In this episode: -How a man who would be among the best fighters in the world grew up as a wimp having his sisters protecting him -The color line in boxing -The 1900 Galveston Flood -Joe Choynski: first KOs Jack Johnson and then teaches him how to fight… in jail -JJ’s complicated fascination with white women -The curious story of Saverio Giannone (aka Joe Grim): “I am Joe Grim and I fear no man” -Chasing Tommy Burns around the world -Jack Johnson’s defiant smile -“Jim Jeffries must emerge from his alpha alpha farm, and remove that golden smile from Jack Johnson’s face. Jeff, it’s up to you. The White Man must be rescued.” Jack London
Mike Duncan is one of the pioneers of historical podcasting. His “History of Rome” is iconic. And his current “Revolutions” is equally compelling. In this episode, we sit down to chat about Roman history, Rome in cinema, the inevitable comparisons between Ancient Rome and the United States, the factionalism and corruption that brought down the Republic, the connection between ‘The Walking Dead’ + ‘Game of Thrones’ and Roman history, his upcoming book “The Storm Before the Storm,” and the future of his “Revolutions” podcast.
At the very beginning of the 1800s, a Chinese woman went from being employed as a prostitute in the floating brothels close to Canton to becoming the leader of the biggest pirate confederacy in modern history. Despite ending up as one of the most successful pirates ever, little is known about her. Today, we dive into the mystery and explore her story.
In the 1500s, two highly militaristic peoples fueled by religious ideologies requiring bloodshed clashed with one another. This is the tale of what happened when a band of Spaniards run into the Mexica (Aztec) empire. By the time the dust will settle, out of the 25 million indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, little over a million will be left standing.
In the 1500s, two highly militaristic peoples fueled by religious ideologies requiring bloodshed clashed with one another. This is the tale of what happened when a band of Spaniards run into the Mexica (Aztec) empire. By the time the dust will settle, out of the 25 million indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, little over a million will be left standing.
In the 1500s, two highly militaristic peoples fueled by religious ideologies requiring bloodshed clashed with one another. This is the tale of what happened when a band of Spaniards run into the Mexica (Aztec) empire. By the time the dust will settle, out of the 25 million indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, little over a million will be left standing.
In the 1500s, two highly militaristic peoples fueled by religious ideologies requiring bloodshed clashed with one another. This is the tale of what happened when a band of Spaniards run into the Mexica (Aztec) empire. By the time the dust will settle, out of the 25 million indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, little over a million will be left standing.
My favorite podcaster and one of my favorite humans joins me for an epic chat ranging across topics
To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were—and still are—‘the heart of everything that is.’ To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time.
To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were—and still are—‘the heart of everything that is.’ To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time
To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were—and still are—‘the heart of everything that is.’ To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time
He was the first American to receive a brown belt in Judo. He won the largest percentage of the vote ever by a third-party candidate. He once took a bullet to the chest shot at point blank range, and rather than going to the hospital went to deliver a 90 minute speech.
He was the first American to receive a brown belt in Judo. He won the largest percentage of the vote ever by a third-party candidate. He once took a bullet to the chest shot at point blank range, and rather than going to the hospital went to deliver a 90 minute speech.
He was the first American to receive a brown belt in Judo. He won the largest percentage of the vote ever by a third-party candidate. He once took a bullet to the chest shot at point blank range, and rather than going to the hospital went to deliver a 90 minute speech.
In this second and last part of this two-part series, we find out why it is a very bad idea to get on the wrong side of Parysatis, one of the most ruthless queens of the ancient world. We will also run into betrayal, prophetic dreams, epic battles, Xenophon’s rise to leadership, heartbreaking moments, tribal guerrillas in the mountains, poisoned honey, athletic competitions, sweet revenge, and the planting of the seeds for Alexander the Great’s campaigns.
This episode is sponsored by www.geeknationtours.com In addition to offering tours to many locations that would be of interest to fans of history, this summer they will lead a tour to the Little Big Horn Battlefield in Montana, site of the 1876 epic clash between the 7th Cavalry and the Lakota and Cheyenne forces. Incidentally, I plan on dedicating a multi-part series to this topic within the next few months.
Also, please show some love to my regular sponsors by shipping for supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount. And if you are in the market for backpacks, computer bags and other hemp gear, check out my favorites at www.dsgear.com and use the code "daniele" at checkout for a discount.
And a big thank you to http://www.aumcellars.com/ for providing me with a case of their amazing organic wines!
Legendary historian Will Durant has described the subject of this episode as “One of the great adventures in human history”. In the first part of this two-part series, we meet the main characters of our tale, when a band of over 10,000 Greek mercenaries agree to serve under the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger in a fratricidal civil war against Cyrus’ brother, King Artaxerxes II.
This episode will also include a brief history of the Persian empire, tattooed, head-hunting + marijuana-consuming + sweat lodge-partaking tribal peoples, plagues, a cameo by Socrates, Machiavellian political games, the great battle of Cunaxa, and a eunuch worthy of Game of Thrones.
Please support our sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
If you are in the market for backpacks, computer bags and other hemp gear, check out my favorites at www.dsgear.com and used the code “daniele” at checkout for a discount.
And for great t-shirts, please check out www.suredesigntshirts.com (use the code “warrior” for a discount).
This episode focuses on one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the late 20th century: the oldest, fully preserved human body ever found. The man emerged from the ice in the Alps over 5,000 years after his death. The more archaeologists discovered about him, the more haunting the mystery of his fate became. This is a tale of murder, Neolithic battles, the possibly European origins of acupuncture, the best mountain climber who ever lived, Brad Pitt’s tattoo, and one of the oldest cold cases ever. This is what history looks like when you have no written sources.
This episode is brought to you by Audible: thanks to Audible for supporting the podcast. Get a free 30 day trial at www.audible.com/hof
Please support our other sponsors: shop for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.
If you are in the market for backpacks, computer bags and other hemp gear, check out my favorites at www.dsgear.com and used the code “daniele” at checkout for a discount.
If you are looking for great Green Revolution strain t-shirts, please check out www.strainprinted.com (enter the Promo Code “HISTORYONFIRE” at checkout for a 15% discount) and/or www.suredesigntshirts.com (use the code “warrior” for a discount).
One of the most legendary characters in history comes to visit us in this episode: Spartacus was an auxiliary soldier in the Roman army, a deserter, an outlaw, a gladiator, and the leader of one of the greatest slave rebellions in history. Under his leadership, over 70,000 people defeated the Roman legions multiple times. This episode features mass crucifixions, Dionysian orgies, a master course in guerrilla warfare, walls built with corpses, the most brutal punishment in military history, pirates, and overambitious Romans losing their heads.
Please support our sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment atwww.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount. If you are in the market for coffee, please consider doing business athttp://www.kimerakoffee.com/ and use the code "history" at checkout for a 10% discount. Also, for my favorite backpacks, computer bags, and other hemp gear, go to www.dsgear.com and use the code "daniele" at checkout for a discount.
A discount exclusive to our listeners is also available on clothing using the code "warrior" at www.suredesigntshirts.com
In the space of a few decades, three major slave wars threatened the Roman Republic. In this episode, we see how the greed of land speculators, tax collectors and slave owners unleashed an orgy of bloodshed as tens of thousands of escaped slaves went to battle against Rome’s armies. Part I of this story covers the first two of the servile wars, and features political intrigues, fire-breathing Syrian prophets, cannibalism, love struck aristocrats arming their slaves, and heroic mass suicides.
Please support our sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount. Also, if you are in the market for coffee, please consider doing business at http://www.kimerakoffee.com/ and use the code “history” at checkout for a 10% discount.
Discounts exclusive to our listeners are also available on hemp gear using the code “daniele” at www.dsgear.com”, and on clothing using the code “warrior” at www.suredesigntshirts.com
In this quick intro, we explore the guiding philosophy of the podcast, Dan Carlin’s influence, and future plans.
Please support our sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount. Also, if you are in the market for coffee, please consider doing business at Kimera Koffee and use the code “history” at checkout for a 10% discount.
Discounts exclusive to our listeners are also available on hemp gear using the code “daniele” at www.dsgear.com, and on clothing using the code “warrior” at www.suredesigntshirts.com