Historically High

The fallout of the 1929 crash proved that financial ruin is the ultimate catalyst for chaos. As global trade collapsed, countries turned inward ensuring their own survival. Germany's Weimar Republic fractured under catastrophic unemployment, creating the perfect environment for Adolf Hitler to market radical nationalism as the ultimate cure. Desperate populations traded democratic institutions for...

When you think of the Great Depression, you probably picture frantic guys in three-piece suits yelling on Wall Street as the tickers went wild. But the fuse for the greatest economic crash in history wasn’t lit in New York. It was lit in the wheat fields of the American Midwest during World War I. This week, we are kicking off a massive two-part series on The Great Depression. We start at home in...

Butch Cassidy was born Robert Leroy Parker to a mormon family in Utah. The man who would become The Sundance Kid would first be known as Harry Longabaugh from Pennsylvania. Butch, Sundance, and the rest of the Wild Bunch would make a name for themselves during the death rattle of the outlaw American west. To the public they appeared to be a group of Robin Hood-esque bandits and although they reall...

Just a few months after the Battle of Stalingrad ended in a crushing German defeat, Hitler decided he needed to reverse course on the Eastern Front. Enter Operation Citadel, the Nazi plan to pincer a large bulge (salient) the Soviets had caused in the German defensive line taking a large amount of Soviet troops prisoner. To make this happen Hitler would repeatedly delay the operation for months in...

Disneyland officially opened in Anaheim, California, on July 17, 1955 one year and one day after they broke ground. Originally built on 160 acres of former orange groves, it featured 5 distinct lands all inspired by Walt's loves. Main Street U.S.A, opened up to other lands of Adventure, Fantasy, The American Frontier, and Tomorrowland. Disneyland was an audacious idea to say the very least but was...

Catherine the Great, born a minor Prussian princess, transformed herself into one of Russia’s most famous rulers after orchestrating a coup to overthrow her unpopular husband, Tsar Peter III. Her 34-year reign saw the Russian Enlightenment begin to transform Russia, heavily expanding the empire’s borders and cementing them as a dominant European power. She did this by charming the pants off anyone...

The story of Margarita Robaval sees a French noblewoman marooned on the notoriously brutal Isle of Demons off the coast of Quebec after she infuriates her uncle by having an illicit affair with a young officer on board. Scottish privateer Alexander Selkirk tell his captain he won't get back on the leaky, worm-eaten state of their ship. Demanding to be left ashore on an uninhabited South Pacific is...

Escaping captivity, Spartacus and his army eventually reached over 100,000 former slaves, tearing across mainland Italy for two years and beating everything the Roman Republic could throw at them. Eventually they would be defeated by a man named Crassus, who would eventually go on to share power with Julius Caesar. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to hit subscribe, leave a 5-star rating and w...

This week we come to the chilling story of Harold Fredrick Shipman. Over Dr. Shipman's 28ish year medical career, he treated thousands of patients. He also may have killed 250 of his patients. The uncertainty isn't because he may not have killed them. The uncertainty is because he may have killed many more. The case of Harold Shipman is a bit of a head scratcher. His early life and motivations see...

We start out with the Monroe Doctrine - the legal and political "rules" the U.S. used to claim dominance over Central America and the Caribbean. This set the stage for the rise of corporate giants like the United Fruit Company and Standard Fruit, who grabbed so much control over land and labor that they literally controlled the operational infrastructure (ports, railways, communication)...

Benjamin Franklin was born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as one of 17 children. The future Founding Father became his brother's printing assistance at 12, in a form of familial slavery before escaping to Philadelphia. He got his first taste of the motherland during a trip to England in his teens. He loved the Empire, as was as loyal a subject as they came. Returning to the colonies he become wea...

The Borgia were a noble family of Spanish origin who came to control the Catholic Church for a period of roughly 45 years. It began when Pope Callixtus III made his nephew Rodrigo the Vice Chancellor of the church at 27 years old, making him the most influential and powerful administrator in Christendom at the time. Throughout his tenure in the Papacy Rodrigo would lie, scheme, cheat, and murder t...

The Weaver family moved to Boundary County in Idaho after a number of visions. The end times that were supposed to follow, never came. The Weaver's found their way into the White Nationalist movement that had infiltrated Northern Idaho. Randy would find himself involved with an ATF informant which got him jammed up. When he refused to work with them, they charged him. After he missed his court dat...

The man who would become Genghis Khan (a title he took after uniting the peoples of the Steppe) started out as Temujin. Born into one of the smaller nomadic tribes of The Steppe (the vast stretch of plains that cover the middle of the asian continent), he was able to conquer the Steppe people's over a 20 year period until there were all under the Mongol banner. Once that was complete he turned his...

The men who would first comprise E Company (Easy) would begin their journey at Camp Taccoa, Georgia. Parachute Infantry or Paratroopers were a new concept in WW2. They would be the pioneers. Jumping from planes behind enemy lines, they were supposed to fight surrounded. Engaging the enemy with limited weaponry and fighting with without vehicles or tanks required them to be in exceptionally well tr...

The Challenger Disaster marked one of the lowest points in the history of NASA, and what's worse is it was completely preventable. The Space Shuttle program had been kicked off in April 1981 and had executed 24 successful launches prior to January 28th, 1986. For a while it had been known by Morton Thiokol, the builders of the solid fuel rocket boosters that carried the shuttle into orbit, and NAS...

Books close, pull out your Pens and Papers. Time to find out if you know your sweets, or if you're just a salty little bitch. Snacks....we're talking about the origins of some of history's greatest snacks.  Subscribe to Patreon.com/historicallyhigh to support the show and get weekly bonus content like this and other things.  Support the show Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswiz...

We're big fans of Princess Di here at Historically High. She had it all, the looks, the brains, the cheeky sense of humor. But what she really wanted was a family. Diana Spencer grew up in the aristocracy. Her parents divorced early in her life due to her dad being an asshole creating her desire for a stable family. Her father was Earl Spencer (Earl being a Title) which made Di and her siblings Lo...

The fabled lost city of Atlantis was introduced to the world by the Father of Western Philosophy, Plato himself. He described in detail an advanced island civilization who's unmatched navy came from west of the Mediterranean attempting to destroy Athens, only to be driven back by the scrappy smaller city-state. Due to their slight against a favored city of the gods and their continued hubris a gre...

After the success of the D-Day landings in France and the break out from the Normandy area, momentum was on the side of the Allies. The German Army was being pushed back across a wide front and had yet to put up a resistance capable of halting the advance. Confidence was sky-high and the Allies thought ending the war by Christmas of 1945 was a real possibility. All that was needed was a corridor i...

Al Capone came to the head of the Chicago Outfit at 26 years of age. Now leading the largest organized crime family outside of New York, Al made a fortune by bootlegging in liquor during prohibition. He definitely did all the other mob stuff, Gambling, Sex Work, Racketeering, but booze is where he hit it big. Fighting for control of the lucrative alcohol game spilled onto the streets of Chicago in...

Yes we know that's a lengthy title. By the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, it had been 20 years since the U.S. won the gold. Those two decades saw a dominance unlike any other at the time by the Soviet Union and their seemingly unbeatable team. The Cold War was front and center. Expectations were pretty low for the U.S. Men's team going into the games but through a series of lucky e...

The man who would come to be known as The Bard, was born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom. One of, if not the greatest playwright in human history, William Shakespeare is responsible for 38 plays, 154 Sonnets, and credited with the invention of over 600 words in the English language. We still use phrases he invented on a daily basis. The man lived the theater and had a gift for...

The Red Ball Express was the life line of supplies that kept the allies going after the D-Day landings. The Allies had no port in mainland Europe capable of bringing in the supplies needed right after the invasion. Enter the Red Ball Express, a literal army of trucks and drivers moving an almost unimaginable amount of ammo, fuel, etc to the allied armies as they moved to push the Germans out of Fr...

World War 1 features a couple battles that stand out above the rest. The Battle of the Somme is one, The Battle of Verdun would be the other vying for the top spot. Now where the Somme was a nasty meat-grinder, of trench warfare, Verdun was all about laying siege to forts. Lasting over 300 days it was by far the longest battle of The Great War. Verdun was a fortress town that served as the symboli...