History Shorts

When the British evacuated New York in 1783, suspected Loyalists found themselves in danger. Among the most suspicious was Hercules Mulligan, an Irish tailor who had spent the entire Revolutionary War making clothes for British officers. To his neighbors, he looked like a collaborator. In reality, he had been one of George Washington's most valuable spies. Working from his tailor shop, Mulligan ga...

Everyone knows Alan Turing helped break the Enigma code. Far fewer know that the first breakthrough came years earlier—from Poland. In 1932, mathematician Marian Rejewski reconstructed the Enigma machine using pure mathematics, allowing Polish intelligence to read German communications throughout the 1930s. Weeks before Germany invaded Poland, the Poles handed their methods, replicas, and discover...

Buried more than 100 feet beneath the Greenland ice sheet lies one of the Cold War's most astonishing secrets. In 1959, the U.S. Army built Camp Century—an underground town complete with living quarters, a chapel, library, barbershop, and even a portable nuclear reactor. Officially, it was a scientific research station. In reality, it was the proving ground for one of the most ambitious military s...

The first hospital ship in U.S. Navy history wasn't purpose-built—it was a captured Confederate steamer transformed into one of the Civil War's greatest innovations. Commissioned in 1862, the  Red Rover featured an operating room, a patient elevator, advanced ventilation, and even hundreds of tons of ice to help fight disease. But her greatest legacy was the people aboard. On Christmas Eve 1862, t...

In the early nineteenth century, the idea of shipping ice to the tropics sounded ridiculous. After all, who would pay for something that melted before it arrived? In this episode of History Shorts , we tell the remarkable story of Frederic Tudor , the ambitious Boston merchant who refused to believe the impossible. After early shipments ended in disaster and repeated business failures landed him i...

In this episode of History Shorts , we explore the remarkable story of Nicolas Appert , the Paris confectioner who revolutionized the way the world eats. Hoping to win a prize offered by the French government during the French Revolutionary Wars , Appert discovered that sealing food in glass bottles and heating them for hours kept it fresh for astonishing lengths of time. He had accidentally inven...

In this episode, I sit down with Hans Zeiger, President of the Jack Miller Center and former Washington State legislator. Hans shares how a childhood love of presidential biographies and interviewing WWII veterans in his hometown of Puyallup sparked his lifelong commitment to history and public service. Hans offers thoughtful insights on self-government, the role of education in sustaining democra...

Everyone knows the story of the Navajo Code Talkers in World War II. Far fewer know that the first Native American code talkers helped change the course of a war more than two decades earlier. In this episode of History Shorts , we uncover the extraordinary story of the Choctaw Code Talkers during the final weeks of World War I. In October 1918, with German forces intercepting American communicati...

In 1841, a thirty-one-year-old lawyer from Illinois wrote a heartbreaking letter to his law partner: "I am now the most miserable man living." That lawyer was Abraham Lincoln. Long before he became one of America's greatest presidents, Lincoln battled severe, recurring depression that brought him to the brink of despair. Twice, friends feared he might take his own life and stayed with him around t...

In 1675, King Charles II of England declared war on an unlikely enemy: the coffeehouse. These weren't taverns or gambling halls—they were places where ordinary people gathered to read newspapers, exchange ideas, and debate politics over a cup of coffee. In an age when unsafe drinking water meant beer was often the everyday beverage, coffee created something revolutionary: rooms full of sober, aler...

Welcome back to THE HISTORIANS — the series here on History Shorts where I sit down with two leading historians for an unscripted conversation about the questions that have shaped how we understand our past. For episode two, I sat down with two of the foremost authorities on the American Wild West to ask one deceptively simple question: How wild was the Wild West, really? Paul Andrew Hutton is a D...

When the American Civil War ended, the fighting was over—but for thousands of families, the agony had only just begun. Sons, husbands, and brothers had vanished without a trace, leaving loved ones desperate for answers the government could not provide. In this episode of History Shorts , we tell the remarkable story of Clara Barton and her creation of the Missing Soldiers Office in Washington . Be...

In the 1970s, a tiny electronic device sparked one of the most unexpected battles in education. It wasn't over politics, funding, or curriculum. It was over whether students should be allowed to use calculators. In this episode of History Shorts , we explore the surprising controversy known as the "Calculator Wars." As handheld calculators became affordable and classrooms across America began adop...

I'm delighted to be joined by acclaimed historian and author Jane Rogoyska . In her powerful new book, Hotel Exile: Paris in the Shadow of War , Jane tells the extraordinary true story of one iconic Parisian hotel — the Hôtel Lutetia — and uses it as a haunting window into the human drama of World War II. Once a glamorous Left Bank landmark and favorite haunt of artists and writers like Picasso, M...

One of the most famous pieces of furniture in the world wasn't built for a president. It was built from the timbers of a ship that refused to die. In this episode of History Shorts , we uncover the remarkable journey of the Resolute Desk, the iconic centerpiece of the Oval Office . Its story begins not in Washington, but in the frozen Arctic, where the British exploration ship HMS Resolute became...

Every December, millions of bright red poinsettias decorate homes, churches, and holiday tables around the world. Few people realize that the beloved Christmas plant is named after an American diplomat—and that his greatest legacy may have been one of the strangest diplomatic disasters in U.S. history. In this episode of History Shorts , we explore the remarkable story of Joel Roberts Poinsett , t...

In the years after World War I, millions of people of African descent dreamed of a future free from colonialism, discrimination, and racial oppression. No one embodied that dream more boldly than  Marcus Garvey . In this episode of History Shorts , we tell the remarkable story of the Black Star Line , the ambitious shipping company Garvey created to connect people of African descent across the glo...

In this timely episode, we sit down with #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Clavin to discuss his gripping new book Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull . Marking the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (the Battle of the Greasy Grass), Tom delivers a fresh, balanced retelling through 95 vivid vignettes. We explore the vengeance cycles, leader...

Hollywood remembers Merrill's Marauders as fearless jungle fighters. The reality was far harsher. In this episode of History Shorts , we follow the elite American unit that marched roughly 750 miles behind Japanese lines through the jungles of Burma during World War II. Battling impossible terrain, monsoon rains, malaria, dysentery, exhaustion, and constant combat, the Marauders pushed toward the...

In the spring of 1933, thousands of Soviet citizens were dumped onto a small island in Siberia with virtually nothing—no food, no tools, no shelter, and no realistic chance of survival. In this episode of History Shorts , we uncover the horrifying story of Nazino Island, later known as "Cannibal Island." Intended as part of Joseph Stalin's vast deportation system, the experiment quickly descended...

Today I'm honored to be joined by one of the world's foremost historians of modern international relations, Professor Odd Arne Westad . He is a Professor of History at Yale University, and the author of several landmark books, including the acclaimed The Cold War: A World History . His latest book, The Coming Storm: Power, Conflict, and Warnings from History , is a timely and urgent warning about...

The Parthenon remains one of the greatest architectural achievements in human history. But what did it really cost? In this episode of History Shorts , we explore the Age of Pericles—the remarkable period that transformed Athens into the cultural center of the ancient world. Democracy flourished, philosophers challenged old ideas, playwrights reshaped theater, and magnificent temples rose above th...

Most people know Alexander Hamilton died after his infamous duel with Aaron Burr. Fewer know he survived for another 31 agonizing hours. In this episode of History Shorts , we follow Hamilton from the moment the bullet struck him on July 11, 1804, through his final day of life. With the projectile lodged near his spine and 19th-century medicine offering little hope, Hamilton remained conscious, sp...

Before sunrise on May 26, 1637, English colonists and their Native allies surrounded a fortified Pequot village near Mystic, Connecticut. Their orders were simple—and devastating: set it on fire. Within hours, hundreds of Pequot men, women, and children were dead, many trapped inside the burning village. One colonial leader described the destruction as "a wonderful work of God," a chilling reminde...

What does World War II still have to teach us in a world where fewer and fewer people remember it firsthand? In this episode of History Shorts: Conversations , host Peter Zablocki sits down with Cory Graff, teh Curator and Restoration Manager at The National WWII Museum, for a wide-ranging discussion about memory, sacrifice, leadership, and the enduring legacy of the most consequential conflict in...