History on Fire

“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 a...

“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 rescu...

“On these hills, where everywhere were rolling skulls, skeletons, and decaying body parts, Baron Ungern used to like to go to rest.” One of 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 trut...

“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 some...

“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 Sergean...

“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...

“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 D...

“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 t...

“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...

“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...

“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 li...

“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 fo...

“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 att...

“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...

“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...

“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, th...

“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…...

“Even if I go to Hell, I’ll find a way to enjoy it.” Ikkyu “Watching my four year old daughter dance, I can’t break free of her. Forgetting my duties, I slip into freedom.” Ikkyu "After ten days in this temple, my mind is spinning. Between my legs the red thread stretches and stretches. If you wish to find me in the future, you better look for me in a fish shop, a sake parlor, or a brothel.” Ikkyu...

“The autumn breeze of a single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sterile sitting meditation.” Ikkyu "Thirsty, you dream of water. Cold, you want fire. Not me: I want the firm warm breasts and wetness of a woman." Ikkyu "Drinking and lust, no man can match me in these things.” Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones “You will always be wild and strange among men—wild and strange...

"You keep using this word. I don't think it means what you think it means." The Princess Bride "Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both of the old parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests which use them impartially to serve the...

“The strong do what they want, and the weak suffer what they must.” Athenian embassy to Melos via Thucydides   “As far as right and wrong are concerned, our people think there is no difference between the two—that those who still preserve their independence do so because they are strong, and that if we fail to attack them it is because we are afraid.” Athenian embassy to Melos via Thucydides   “Th...

“It is true that I wished and still wish to escape, as is lawful for any captive or prisoner.” Joan of Arc “I have greater fear of failing my voices in saying something that displeases them than I have of answering you.” Joan of Arc addressing a group of theologians in charge of deciding whether to burn her alive “Tear me limb from limb. I would rather have you cut my throat than tell you all I kn...

“We know that everything that she has said has come to pass, that her words are always confirmed by the event—she has in truth come to achieve great things in this world.” Antonio Morosini “Go and camp for today, because it is quite late. But tomorrow, at the pleasure of God and Our Lady, we will look more closely at you.” Joan of Arc By 1429, the heir to the French throne was about to give up and...

“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” Star Wars “… No one else, neither a king nor a duke nor the daughter of the king of Scotland, nor any other who can recover the kingdom of France, and he will have no help, if not through me…” Joan of Arc “You know as little of war as that Hobbit. When the fear takes him, and the blood, and the screams, and the horrors of battle take hold, do you thi...

“No person in the Middle Ages, male or female, has been the subject of more historical studies than Joan of Arc.” Kelly Devries “The life of Joan is such a flagrant beating of the odds that no facts sufficiently explain the course of it. She was born during one of the most corrupt, demoralized periods of French history; she is considered a religious and military hero, but she had neither religious...