History on Fire

“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...

“Not since the panic-ridden days in 1888, when Jack the Ripper was abroad in the East End, had London known such a reign of terror as that which existed in this wartime February...” Scotland Yard Chief Superintendent Fred Cherrill     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 hear...

“Among other things, the Way of the Samurai requires that he realize that something may occur at any moment to test the depth of his resolution, and day and night he must sort out his thought and prepare a line of action. Depending on the circumstances, he may win or lose. But avoiding dishonor is quite a separate consideration from winning or losing.” Hagakure  “It would not befit a samurai wife...

“Death poems Are a delusion. You just die.” Zen monk Kanzawa Toko     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 e...

“There was money that wasn’t coming back and the choice was between leaving some cardinal dead on the street or to strike someone close to the Pope. We chose the second path.” Antonio Mancini   “We of the Magliana gang were street bandits. We loved robberies, without asking anyone’s permission, without compromises. I wanted a Ferrari? One hit and I’d buy it. Cops would take it from me? Another rob...

“A lifetime serving one machine Is ten times worse than prison” The Clash (from the song Bankrobber) “We were treated like movie stars with muscle. We had it all, just for the asking… Anything I wanted was a phone call away. Free cars. The keys to a dozen hideout flats all over the city…When I was broke, I would go out and rob some more. We ran everything. We paid off cops. We paid off lawyers. We...

“Most people are not evil. Most people are weak. And weakness is fertile ground where evil can thrive.” DB   "Every Day/ On our fellow man we prey/ Dog eat Dog/ To Get by/ Hope you like my genocide” The Offspring “Hello darkness, my old friend…” Simon and Garfunkel   What makes seemingly normal men commit horrific acts against civilians during war? What allows some people to act heroically in the...

"Because I felt like I was ordered to do it, and it seemed like that, at the time I felt like I was doing the right thing." Private First Class Paul Meadlo explaining his role in the My Lai Massacre. "How do you shoot babies?" Meadlo was then asked. His reply... "I don't know. It's just one of them things."   "I felt then and I still do that I acted as I was directed, and I carried out the order t...

"Every Day/ On our fellow man we prey/ Dog eat Dog/ To Get by/ Hope you like my genocide” The Offspring “Hello darkness, my old friend…” Simon and Garfunkel “I believe now it is but the commencement of war with this tribe, which must result in their extermination.” Major Jacob Downing “Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! ... I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable...

“It’s the steel that they love” Juvenal “I needed money for wine” Titus Pullo in HBO’s series Rome “We can live vicariously through that moment, or use it to fuel what we desire in life.” Jake Rossen     "You must die erect and invincible. What difference will it make if you gain a few more days or years? We are born into a world in which no quarter is given." Seneca “He who has learned how to die...

"The stupid crowd is waiting eagerly For the two valiant heroes to contend.                                                          No farther than their noses can they see; A spectacle is all they comprehend.” Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 30.27   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 gl...

“No matter how much I make up, there’s stuff in history that’s just as bad, or worse.” George R.R. Martin  “Though I would treasure your friendship, I am mainly interested in your facility with murder” Tyrion Lannister “That’s what I do. I drink and I know things.” Tyrion Lannister “If we don’t put aside our enmities and band together, we will die. And then it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits on...

“He refused to allow anyone—white or black—or any laws and customs—to dictate his place in society or the manner in which he should live.” Al-Tony Gilmore   “This negro, in the eyes of many, has been persecuted. Perhaps as an individual he was. But it was his misfortune to be the foremost example of the evil in permitting the intermarriage of whites and blacks.” Asst Atty. Gen. Harry Parkin “No br...

“And it was fast cars and whiskey Long legged girls and fun I had everything that money could bring And I took it all with a gun” from the song I’ve Never Picked Cotton “Johnson did not care. He had no use for the bourgeois values of thrift and respectability.” Randy Roberts   “You don’t catch Jim Jeffries losing to a colored man.” Jim Jeffries “Quite conceivably there had never been a more import...

Back in the day when you could still pay your ticket on the spot in cash, a cop pulled over Jack Johnson for speeding. “Hey boy—said the cop—This is going to cost you $ 50!” Johnson handed him $ 100. The cop tried to protest he didn’t have change, but Johnson waved him off. “I will be coming back this same way, and I’ll be driving at the same speed, so I’m just paying you in advance.” “His story i...

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’ +...

“I never planted wheat and never will, so long as there are other harvests to be reaped with the sword.” Robert E. Howard (from ‘Beyond the Black River’) “In the rough and violent world of seafaring, mariners could not afford to always abide by the niceties of the law or proper etiquette.” Robert J Anthony “There is no greater calamity than not knowing what is enough”. Tao Te Ching At the very beg...

“After getting this information, he had the arms, feet, and heads of our unfortunate companions cut off, and sent them round to various towns of our allies and those who had made peace with us, with the message that he did not think one of us would be left alive to return to Texcoco. Then he offered their hearts and blood to his idols.” Bernal Diaz “Eat the flesh of your brothers, for we are full....

“And when we saw all those cities and villages built in the water, and other great towns on dry land, and that straight and level causeway leading to Mexico, we were astounded. These great towns and cues and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision from the tale of Amadis. Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream. It is not surpri...

“My advice is not to allow into your house someone who will put you out of it.” Cuitlahuac “He added that we could look for no help or assistance except from God, for now we had no ships in which to return to Cuba. Therefore we must rely on our own good swords and stout hearts.” Bernal Diaz “We knew that they had come determined to leave none of us alive except those who were to be sacrificed to t...

“We came to serve God and get rich”—Bernal Diaz “Behold this torch which we will light and place between our armies. If you do not make haste and retreat before the torch is burned, you will die. We do not want you as guests.” Maya warning to the Spaniards in 1518 “Do not lose your soul for the sake of an Indian woman” Geronimo de Aguilar to Gonzalo Guerrero In the 1500s, two highly militaristic p...