History with Dad

What was it like to grow up under the hammer and sickle? In this Dad Tangent, we sneak into the classrooms, cafeterias, and whispered corners of Soviet schools to uncover the not-so-glorious daily life of a kid in the USSR. From itchy uniforms and loyalty oaths to gray cafeteria cutlets and history lessons with a party-approved twist, Soviet school life was part education, part indoctrination, and...

Before Ukraine declared independence, everyday life came with its own special challenge: Soviet bureaucracy . In this Dad Tangent, we explore the epic quest to get anything done in the USSR—whether it was fixing your roof, buying a hammer, or just figuring out which line was the right line (spoiler: it wasn’t). From stamp-happy clerks to documents in triplicate, we laugh our way through the absurd...

Episode 10 kicks off with a chill—literally—as the Iron Curtain descends across Eastern Europe and Ukraine finds itself locked behind it. We dive into the Sovietization of postwar Ukraine, the brutal suppression of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and the gray grind of rebuilding Soviet-style. From Stalin’s death and Khrushchev’s Thaw to Brezhnev’s stagnation and the rise of underground resistance, w...

Just joining History with Dad or need a refresher? This TL;DR Dad episode zooms through the first 10 episodes — from Viking raiders and Kyivan Rus, through tsars, revolutions, Stalin, and World War II, all the way to Chernobyl, glasnost, and Ukraine's 1991 independence. It’s a fast, funny, and punchy recap that highlights how Ukraine went from medieval powerhouse to Soviet republic to finally brea...

June 24, 1945 — Red Square turns into a theater of triumph. In this Dad Tangent, we take a closer look at Stalin’s over-the-top Victory Day Parade, complete with rain-soaked generals, dramatic symbolism, and one very famous moment: Nazi flags hurled at Lenin’s Mausoleum. But behind the spectacle? A carefully staged message of Soviet power and control. Come for the horses and goose-stepping — stay...

What do you do after you win a war? If you’re Stalin, you send in the Trophy Brigades! In this lighter Dad Tangent, we dig into one of the strangest chapters of postwar history: the Soviet teams tasked with looting Nazi Germany…for everything . We’re talking pianos, bathtubs, livestock, entire libraries — and more than a few chandeliers. Part revenge, part reconstruction, part high-speed antique s...

In this episode of History with Dad , we follow the Red Army's march into Eastern Europe — and the tangled legacy it left behind. From the crushed dreams of the Warsaw Uprising to Romania’s hijacked revolution and Tito’s defiant break with Stalin, this is the story of “liberation” that looked a lot like occupation. We’ll explore the fall of East Prussia, the muted relief of Victory Day in the East...

After World War II, Ukraine was in ruins — but there was one thing the Soviets never ran short on: Lenin statues. Big ones, small ones, golden ones, even a few with mystery accessories. In this Dad Tangent , we dive into the weird and wonderful world of postwar propaganda monuments,where copy-paste Lenins ruled every town square and birds were the real revolutionaries. It’s a tale of hammers, sick...

World War II left Ukraine in ruins — and its youngest citizens in crisis. In this Dad Tangent , we explore what happened to the hundreds of thousands of children orphaned by the war. From overcrowded state homes to military indoctrination pipelines, these kids weren’t just survivors — they were shaped by a system that prized obedience over healing. It’s a story of loss, resilience, and growing up...

World War II is drawing to a close, but for Ukraine, the struggle is far from finished. In this episode of History with Dad , we explore what “liberation” really meant under Stalin. From mass deportations and cultural erasure to shattered cities and tightly controlled reconstruction, we unpackhow Ukraine was rebuilt — not just with bricks and railroads, but with surveillance, fear, and ideology. V...

In May 1944, the Crimean Tatars were given fifteen minutes to pack. In this Dad Tangent, we explore one of the most tragic — and least known— stories of World War II: the forced deportation of an entire people fromtheir homeland. Accused without trial, loaded into freight cars, and sentthousands of miles away, the Crimean Tatars paid the price not for what theyhad done, but for who they were. From...

What happens when the army leaves… and the secret police move in? In this Dad Tangent, we dive into the chilling aftermath of Soviet “liberation” during World War II. As the Red Army pushed the Nazis out of Ukraine, Stalin’s secret police — the NKVD — rolled in behind them with lists,suspicions, and a very broad definition of guilt. From arrests without evidence to gulags in Siberia, we explore ho...

The tide has turned — and the Red Army is on the move. In this episode of History with Dad , we follow the Sovietcounteroffensive as it rolls across Ukraine in 1943 and 1944. From thesmoldering aftermath of Stalingrad to the frozen crossings of the Dnipro River,Soviet forces push westward, liberating cities, reclaiming factories,and—unfortunately—bringing Stalin’s paranoia with them. We explore th...

Napoleon. Hitler. Charles XII of Sweden. Three men, three empires — all frozen in their tracks by the same unbeatable opponent: General Winter . In this chilly Dad Tangent, we explore how Russia’s infamous winter has stopped some of the most powerful armies in history. From Charles XII’s doomed march in 1708 , to Napoleon’s icy retreat in 1812 , to Hitler’s stalled invasion of Moscow in 1941 , thi...

The tide begins to turn. In this episode of History with Dad , we pick up in the frozen winter of 1941–42, as the German advance stalls outside Moscow and the Red Army begins to fight back. From there, we follow Hitler’s disastrous southern gamble into the oil fields of the Caucasus, and then dig deep into the rubble of Stalingrad — the city that refused to fall. We spotlight snipers, saboteurs, a...

When the Nazis surrounded Leningrad, 11-year-old Tanya Savicheva picked up a pencil and quietly wrote the names and dates of each loved one she lost. Just nine pages — but they became one of the most haunting records of World War II. In this Dad Tangent, we explore Tanya’s diary, the brutal reality of the Siege of Leningrad, and how a child’s words became powerful evidence at the Nuremberg Trials....

At just 14 years old, Valya Kotik wasn’tplaying games — he was blowing up German trains, sneaking through Nazi lines,and spying for the Soviet resistance in occupied Ukraine. In this Dad Tangent,we dive into the incredible true story of the youngest Hero of theSoviet Union — a boy who turned courage into sabotage andbecame a legend before his fifteenth birthday. Join Dad for a short, powerful side...

Hitler breaks the Nazi-Soviet pact and launches the largest invasion inhistory. Stalin panics, armies clash, and civilians are caught in the middle asthe Eastern Front erupts in fire, frost, and fury. In this episode of History with Dad , we followthe brutal opening phase of Operation Barbarossa: the fall of Kyiv, the siegeof Leningrad, and the desperate defense of Moscow. We meet resistance fight...

Born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, Trotsky was Lenin’s right-hand man, the mastermind of the Red Army, and Stalin’s biggest rival. In this Dad Tangent, we trace Trotsky’s rise, his dramatic exile, and his tragic end in Mexico—with an ice axe. History, betrayal, revolution—and yes, a few sharp-edged dad jokes.

How did a Georgian kid named Ioseb Jughashvili become Joseph Stalin, one of history’s most feared dictators? In this Dad Tangent, we dig into Stalin’s rise from seminary student to Soviet strongman. Hear how he outmaneuvered rivals, ruled with terror, and left a legacy soaked in fear—and grain quotas. It’s dark, it’s gripping, and yes, there’s still room for a dad joke or two.

Caught between Hitler’s Nazis and Stalin’s Soviets, Ukraine became one of the deadliest battlegrounds of World War II. In this episode, Dad unpacks the invasion, resistance, tragedy, and impossible choices Ukrainians faced. From Babyn Yar to the Red Army to stolen factories—this is the war like you’ve neverheard it. Heavy history, human stories, and a few dad jokes to help it go down.

In this Dad Tangent, we meet Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov—better known as Lenin. Yes, that Lenin. Revolutionary, political mastermind, and the guy who decided Russia needed a total system reboot. We’ll talk about his wild journey from exiled bookworm to leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, why he was obsessed with Marxism, and how one sealed train ride across Europe flipped history upside down. Oh—and i...

In Episode 3 of History with Dad , we plunge into the chaos of the early 20th century, when Europe was a pressure cooker and Ukraine was stuck between the lid and the flame. We’ll track how World War I broke out, how empires collapsed under the weight of their own ambitions, and how Ukraine’s brief shot at independence got tangled in revolution, invasion, and civil war. You’ll meet Rasputin, the c...

In this Dad Tangent, we take a detour into the bizarre life and even weirder death of Grigori Rasputin—the mystical monk who somehow became BFFs with the Russian royal family. Was he a healer? A fraud? A hypnotist? A time-traveling rock star who got lost on the way to the 1970s? We’ll look at how Rasputin earned the trust of Tsarina Alexandra, how he became a walking scandal, and how his enemies t...

In this Dad Tangent, we dig into one of the most dramatic “you’re free… but not really” moments in Ukrainian history: the abolition of serfdom. When Tsar Alexander II ended serfdom in the Russian Empire in 1861, millions of Ukrainian peasants were technically freed—but what did that freedom actually look like? Spoiler alert: it didn’t come with land, money, or much say in the matter. We’ll explore...