What Came Before

He travelled with a zoo of elephants and giraffes, spoke six languages, and was excommunicated four times. To the Pope, Frederick II was the Antichrist; to his admirers, he was the Stupor Mundi (Wonder of the World). This episode dives into the wild life of the 13th-century Emperor who prioritized scientific observation over religious dogma. From his ruthless experiments on human subjects to winni...

In 1324, Mansa Musa, the ruler of the Mali Empire, embarked on a journey that would redefine wealth and power in the medieval world. We explore the logistical marvel of the trek, the diplomatic standoff in Cairo that crashed the Egyptian economy, and the enduring architectural legacy that transformed Timbuktu into a global center of learning. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : http...

On a January day in forty-one AD, the Roman Empire's future was hiding behind a curtain. When soldiers found Claudius trembling after Caligula's murder, they made him emperor - not because he was capable, but because they thought they could control him. They were wrong. This episode follows the man Rome mocked for his stammer and limp as he outmaneuvers the Senate, conquers Britain with war elepha...

On Sunday, January 22nd, 1905, tens of thousands of unarmed workers marched through St. Petersburg to deliver a petition to their emperor, Tsar Nicholas II. Led by the charismatic priest Father Georgy Gapon, they carried religious icons and portraits of the Tsar, whom they called their "Little Father," believing he would protect them from the brutal conditions of their lives. Instead of finding th...

Six months after Pearl Harbor, the US Navy was on the brink of collapse, and the victorious Japanese fleet planned a final, decisive blow. At a tiny atoll named Midway, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto prepared an intricate trap to annihilate America's last aircraft carriers. What he didn't know was that US naval intelligence had broken Japan's codes, turning his ambush into a deadly gamble for both sides...

In the summer of 1381, an army of tens of thousands of commoners - farmers, blacksmiths, and villagers - marched on London with a revolutionary list of demands. This was the Peasants' Revolt, one of the most terrifying, violent, and significant popular uprisings in English history. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts : ht...

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall, the most potent symbol of the Cold War, crumbled overnight. This episode tells the incredible true story of how a series of miscalculations, growing protests, and one fumbled sentence at a routine press conference accidentally triggered the fall of the Wall. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple...

He was shot in the face, head, stomach, leg, and hip. He survived multiple plane crashes, tore off his own fingers when a doctor hesitated, and escaped a POW camp in World War Two while in his sixties. This is the story of Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, the man Winston Churchill called a "model of chivalry and honour." Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCa...

This episode charts the rise of Agrippina the Younger from political exile to the heights of power as she schemed to place her son, the infamous Nero, upon the imperial throne. But her ultimate triumph became her undoing. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id183969...

In the 14th century a disputed papal election sparked a spiritual civil war. European kingdoms were forced to take sides, powerful dynasties backed their chosen pontiff, and the two Popes busied themselves excommunicating each other and their followers. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/p...

Juan Pujol Garcia was a Spanish chicken farmer who became the most important double agent of the Second World War. Initially rejected by British intelligence, he conceived an audacious plan: become a fake Nazi spy to get their attention. Eventually recruited by the British and codenamed "Garbo," his masterful performance culminated on D-Day, where he convinced the German High Command that the Norm...

In October 1962, the world stood on the precipice of nuclear annihilation for thirteen agonizing days. When U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba, a high-stakes political thriller unfolded in real-time. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id18...

July 14th, 1789. In a city simmering with hunger, fear, and revolutionary fervor, the eyes of Paris turn to a single, ominous structure: the Bastille. It was the ultimate symbol of royal tyranny, a place where the king could make his enemies disappear without a trial. Its fall would become the single most iconic event of the French Revolution. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube : htt...

For three decades in the 15th century, England was ripped apart by a dynastic civil war known as the Wars of the Roses. The red rose of Lancaster, the ruling house, was pitted against the white rose of York, its ambitious challenger. What began as a political struggle over the weak and ineffectual King Henry VI soon exploded into open warfare, launching a cycle of betrayal, revenge, and slaughter....

This episode tells the story of the great solar storm of 1859, from the amateur astronomer who first saw the flare to the global chaos that followed. We then explore how a similar event today could cripple power grids, destroy satellites, and plunge our planet into a prolonged blackout. Discover the science behind space weather and the race to protect our civilization from a cosmic knockout punch....

In the year 69AD, the Roman Empire was torn apart by a devastating civil war. Following the death of Emperor Nero, a power vacuum emerged, leading to the rapid and violent rise and fall of four different emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and the eventual victor, Vespasian. This episode explores that tumultuous year, a conflict that revealed the true power of the legions and forever changed how a R...

This episode explores the single invention that dragged the world out of the age of scribes and into the modern era: the printing press. We begin not in Germany, but centuries earlier in China and Korea, uncovering the remarkable but often overlooked history of woodblock printing and the world's first movable metal type. We then travel to fifteenth-century Mainz to meet Gutenberg himself, revealin...