History Loves Company

Early Christians called him "the Scourge of God." Romans, the most powerful military force in the Ancient World, feared him. Every land from China to Italy experienced his wrath firsthand. He was Attila, leader of the Huns, and he's the subject of today's epic episode. Tune in to learn all about this fascinating character and if he really was as bloodthirsty as history remembers.

There were several cradles of civilization throughout the world. The Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Yellow River in China...the list goes on and on. But in Mesoamerica, one noteworthy cradle of civilization was born on what's now Mexico's Caribbean Coast and would go on to influence future civilizations throughout the region. These were the mighty Olmec and for 1200 ye...

Oxford University is considered one of the most prestigious institutions for higher learning in the world, but did you know that it was also the first university in England? Founded, in some form or other, in 1096, just thirty years after the famed Battle of Hastings, it has since blossomed into a world-class university with a rocky, tumultuous history. Tune in this week to find out all about it!

The 19th Century was a tremendously exciting time for Japan. By then, the island country had been isolated from the rest of the world for some three centuries. But now, having been forced to open its doors by the Americans, Japan was exposed to both the wider world as a whole as well as Western ideals. But not everyone welcomed such changes. One who was perhaps the most resistant to such changes w...

Wreaths, gift-giving, elaborate feasting...these are just some of the traditional practices associated with Christmas. But it might surprise you to learn that the Christian holiday was by no means the first to incorporate such practices. That's because they were borrowed from an earlier, pagan holiday celebrated each year by the Romans: Saturnalia. How exactly did this ancient holiday come about?...

For the better part of a millennium, the city of Paris was more or less the same. A crowded, Medieval city of narrow, twisting streets and people living virtually on top of one another, it was, by the 19th Century, mired in rampant crime and disease and was in desperate need of an overhaul. But who would rise up to accept such a monumental task? Find out in this week's episode!

Today, the 18th Amendment, better known to history as Prohibition, is seen as one of greatest (to say nothing of disastrous) social experiments in American history. In that volatile thirteen-year period, the production and sale of alcohol was banned, at least on paper, in the United States. Initially, crime syndicates, especially the mob, turned to Canada and Mexico for help, smuggling whiskey, be...

For centuries, Africa was known to Europeans as "the Dark Continent," not so much for the complexion of many of its native inhabitants inasmuch as for the fact that its interior remained largely unexplored. With the Age of Exploration came the full exploration of the interior of Africa, though little, if any, of the Europeans who mapped it likely knew that they weren't the first outsiders to do so...

In the autumn of 1620, a rickety old ship made landfall just off the coast of what's now Massachusetts. Having been blown way off course on the journey over and as well as losing nearly half its crew on the voyage, the survivors now found themselves far removed from civilization and deeply afraid of the uncertain fate that awaited them. Half the survivors were talking of venturing out on their own...

Strategically located in the northwest and northeast corners of Italian Peninsula respectively, Genoa (or Genova) and Venice were, historically, two independent republics who grew rich through maritime trade. But as their wealth and power continued to grow, they soon each other as a threat to their dominance, which quickly escalated into war. But unlike other conflicts, this series of skirmishes w...

What do 17th Century England, the Devil, aliens and unusual weather patterns all have in common? They're linked to the mysterious and unusual phenomenon we now know as crop circles. What are some of the events from history regarding these most curious and, oftentimes, unsettling monumental creations? What causes them? And of these causes, are any of them definitive? You'll have to listen to find o...

Few monumental sculptures throughout the world have captured humanity's collective imagination quite like the Sphinx. Now part of a vast archaeological complex at Giza in Egypt, it's served as a curiosity to several generations of visitors and even thinkers and statesmen. But what is it about this mysterious sculpture that enthralls us? How and why was it made? And, most importantly, how did it lo...

These days, people dance 'til they drop for fun, often at competitions for prize money or other rewards. But in early 16th Century Strasbourg, a town now situated along the French-German border, dancing 'til one dropped took on an entirely new meaning when a so-called dance outbreak swept through the city and its environs, affecting hundreds of people and even claiming the lives of several victims...

For the most part on this podcast, we've focused on the factual. History is, of course, chock full of a near-infinite selection of interesting stories that bear repeating. But what of the fictional? Surely, there's history behind such things that never were, as fantasy writers Michael Page and Robert Ingpen once referred to them. In this, the first installment in a series of spooky-themed topics t...

The Southern Colombian and Northern Ecuadorian coasts are home to a large rainforest, likely one of the wettest in the world. With average annual rainfall exceeding over forty feet (around thirteen meters) per year, it hardly seems the place for a great civilization to emerge. And yet, in the mid-4th Century BC, it did in the form of the amazing Tumaco Culture. Tune in this week to find out how th...

Everyone knows about the October Revolution, the genesis of the greater Russian Revolution that took place in the final days of the Great War (World War One). But what many people don't realize is that this wasn't the first revolution to grip the country. Almost a century earlier, a failed revolt led by generals and military leaders attempted to bring an end to the absolute monarchy, one of the la...

Last time, we charted Vlad the Impaler's ascent to the Wallachian throne and how he earned his notorious moniker. But even he couldn't rule forever and the latter half of his life reflects this as he became embroiled in conflict after conflict, not just with those longing for his own throne, but with outside forces as well. Find out what ultimately became of Vlad in part two of his amazing story!

In the years since the late 19th Century, the name Dracula has conjured up images of a vampire living in a secluded castle, but what if I told you that the name comes directly from an actual historical figure? Not a vampire, mind you, but someone who was just as bloodthirsty. Join me this week for a look at the meteoric, albeit chaotic, rise of Vlad the Impaler, one of the most notorious figures i...

The human desire to create art isn't a new one. In fact, it dates back to our very beginnings, when various hunter-gatherer societies wandered the world in search of food and proverbial greener pastures. One such work to survive from that metaphorically dark period of human history is the so-named Venus of Willendorf. Discovered during an archaeological dig in Austria in 1908, she's become legenda...

With the Great Famine in 1845 in Ireland, millions of destitute Irish fled to the United States in search of a better life. But their arrival on these shores was anything but warm and welcome. So harshly were they treated and severely discriminated against that, by the time the country entered into a war with Mexico, several troops of Irish ancestry defected to the other side. But this is more tha...

With both societal and government acceptance of homosexuality in Britain these days, it's hard to imagine that there was ever a time when such expressions were outlawed. And yet, throughout much of that country's history, gay men were chastised, shunned, even arrested simply because of who they loved. Join me this week for a look at the steps the British government took towards decriminalizing hom...

We use them every day. Whether on foot or bicycle, by car or bus, the traffic signal has become so integral to our daily lives that we're hardly conscious of them anymore. But did you know that several makes and models were implemented before the final form we use today? Find out just how many (and how many equally brilliant people) were involved in their creation, development and evolution, this...

Chances are, you heard it in school, or else used it yourself so as not to have your other classmates (or worse, the teacher) eavesdrop. And yet, while it may have played a fundamental, to say nothing of fun, role in our childhoods, the history of Pig Latin is complex and, above all, amusing. Une-tay in-nay (tune in) to this week's episode to learn more about it!

No longer safe in the United States with so many local law enforcement agencies hot on their trail, Butch Cassidy, Harry Longabaugh and the latter's girlfriend, Etta Place, make for South America, where they plan to start life anew. But old habits, as they say, die hard and they're soon back in the robbery business. But what ultimately becomes of the trio in this new, exotic locale? Find out in Pa...

Several outlaws shaped and defined the myth of the American West, though were as wild and tenacious as the man known to history as Butch Cassidy. From humble beginnings in the wilds of Utah, he'd go on to gain notoriety on, not just one, but two continents. Tune in to part one of his incredible but absolutely true story.