Myth of the 20th Century

In 480BC at the Battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas led a valiant defense of Sparta with a contingent of 300 men against the overwhelmingly numerically superior Persian army, tens of thousands of whom the Spartans and Greek allies killed in the 3 day struggle. While the ultimate outcome of Thermopylae was a tactical defeat and loss of life for the defenders, the fact that they held off such a for...

Much of WWII history revolves around the major powers and conflict zones of Northern Europe and East Asia. But the North African desert witnessed some of the wildest swings in territory gained and lost as the opposing armies of Italy, Germany, Britain, and America first tested their land tactics in a major way against each other in the war in fierce aerial and tank battles. To help us understand t...

As the European powers emerged from World War I and the Great Depression, Japan faced its own challenges on the Pacific Rim. Aiming to build a power base independent of the imperial powers of Britain, France, Russia and the United States encroaching on China and the surrounding nations over the past century, Japan had embarked on an industrial and military modernization program that resulted in a...

As the summer of 1941 approached, the geopolitical map of the world hinged around three main power blocs: the Anglo-American alliance, the Soviet Union, and the nascent but growing empires of the fascist world. Having witnessed the rapid expansion of Nazi Germany into occupying France, Norway, the low countries and portions of Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union for its part in 1940 annexed sections...

After jointly declaring war on Germany in September, 1939 and with France capitulating in June, 1940, Great Britain stood alone in its quest to subdue Nazi Germany and prevent its emerging continental empire from eclipsing Britain’s global one. Winston Churchill in particular proved decisive in refusing peace offers from Adolf Hitler, and despite protests from his cabinet, gambled the British Empi...

On June 21st, 2025, the United States launched a series of air strikes on Iranian installations allegedly containing facilities and equipment designed for building weapons grade nuclear material. The strikes follow a series of missile exchanges between Tel Aviv and Tehran over the past few weeks, which again follow a long standing series of proxy wars, sabotage and assassinations going back decade...

The 20th century war between the Western European powers, which began in earnest in 1914 and halted after four bloody years of fighting, resumed again officially in 1939. Following the swift occupation of Poland by Germany and the USSR, Britain and France declared war on Germany, but limited their actual fighting to leafleting and a few naval skirmishes. In May, 1940, however, Germany broke the de...

As the world’s largest scale conflict in terms of active battle space and commitment of men, material, and of course the tragic loss of over 70 million lives, World War II has been a topic this show has touched upon but never fully addressed. As this year is the 80th anniversary of the end of the war and our 10th year of podcasting, Myth of the 20th Century is embarking on a multi-part series stru...

On May 10th, 2025, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire, brokered by the United States, after weeks of fighting in one of the bitterest military exchanges in years. This followed an attack on Indian tourists in the disputed region of Kashmir where Pakistani militants executed 26 Indian civilians, and follows decades of border skirmishes and conflicts that has never fully abated since the two c...

On April 2nd, 2025, The Trump Administration announced what they called ‘Liberation Day’ for Americans. Rather than a reference to an occupation from a kinetic war, the White House was referring to liberation from a sociopolitical regime waging an economic war. The announcement focused on a series of tariffs designed to redress serious trade imbalances in manufactured goods with countries around t...

In the summer of 1941, Nazi Germany broke the peace and trade agreement they signed in 1939 with Moscow and invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land military operation the world had ever seen. Over the next four years as these two superpowers brutally killed each other, over 1 million ethnic Germans living in Russia whose settlement dated back to the 18th century, found themselves caught in a...

In 1998, Long Term Capital Management received a $3.6 billion bailout from a private consortium of Wall Street banks. This amount, while staggering to most, belied an even greater $1 trillion in notional liability LTCM was facing if circumstances had worsened. What led to the firm’s insolvency was a confluence of extreme events in the markets ranging from the Asian Financial Crisis to the Russian...

As the largest state in the lower 48 of the United States, and the second largest by population, Texas ranks prominently in the economic and political dynamics of the country, with a world leading energy sector and growing cities. Attracting people from all over the world looking for a place that balances independence with opportunity, Texas has developed a unique blend of people that combine the...

If the financial world were an iceberg, the tip would be our day to day experience at the checkout, what we read in the business press, and what even our own government tells us. The bulk of the financial system, however, is largely hidden, tucked away in offshore bank accounts, secret agreements between top bankers and regulators, and in understandings within the social clubs of the elite. Tonigh...

With the recent fires in Los Angeles capturing international headlines, with some estimates placing the property damage above that of Hurricane Katrina, America’s previous record holder for natural disasters, discussion is returning to the competency crisis in our elected officials and government services provided by the likes of FEMA, which have been slow to respond and ineffective to act over th...

Born into royalty in 356BC and tutored by none other than Aristotle himself, Alexander the Great was born into power and privilege. While lesser men would have opted for a life of ease and erudition - Alexander set out on a path that would change history forever. From the day he assumed power after witnessing his father’s assassination as a young man to conquering the Persian empire before he turn...

Plutarch, who lived in a Greek province during the height of the Roman Empire, is widely regarded for his biographies of great leaders in the ancient world. In his work on Tiberius Gracchus, a Roman politician killed for his advocacy of land reform, Plutarch wrote, “The rich men of the neighborhood contrived to get these lands again into their possession, under other people's names, and at last wo...

In the history of Western civilization, there have been periods of relative peace, followed by stagnation, war and rebirth. This cycle has repeated multiple times, and is seemingly brought about by inexorable cultural processes. Many have speculated the West is in a period of decline, but signs of a rebirth are not completely absent. Tonight’s guest, Mike from Imperium Press, has written ‘The Cult...

In the arena of competing ideas of the political right, some have argued for allowing the rot in the system to fall away and collapse, while others have advocated for taking a chainsaw to the problems. Our guest, Mr. Charles Haywood, unambiguously favors the latter. From his vantage point of having worked successfully in the legal and business world, Mr. Haywood lays out his vision for “human flou...

Legend has it that before setting out for the Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914, Ernest Shackleton posted an ad in a London newspaper proclaiming, "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success." If there is a parallel to the audacity of a leader in the 21st century, it has to be Elon Mus...

America has a relatively short modern history, often glossed over by historians more interested in the old and ancient world. To author and independent historian James LaFond, however, this has created an opportunity to uncover some of the more fascinating yet often unspoken truths spanning from the history of slavery, combat and sports culture, and the criminal underworld. Tonight James shares hi...

On December 10th, 1993, Id Software released the video game Doom, unleashing a wave of digital monsters on millions of plasma rifle wielding gamers eagerly awaiting this genre-piercing work of action horror. Considered the Godfather of first-person shooters, the game inspired hundreds of imitators in this category over the years, propelled by advances in graphics cards driving sales of the latest...

Capitalism, like any large scale socioeconomic system, has had its share of successes and failures. But the story of Enron, which went from the ranks of the Fortune 500 and darling of Wall Street to bankruptcy in a matter of months in late 2001, served as a lowmark for American business culture in terms of corporate greed as the largest bankruptcy to stem from fraud in United States history. Tonig...

Geography is the study of how people and place interact. In our modern, interconnected world, with globe-spanning supply chains and near-light speed internet, it becomes easy to forget just how critical the land we inhabit has shaped our civilization’s culture, technology, economy, and over time the very people that call these places home. Tonight, we are joined by Dark Enlightenment to survey his...

Recently we spoke with Corey from the Stone Choir podcast to talk about the moral, legal and societal ramifications of the CRISPR gene editing technology. Tonight we are honored to have a genetic researcher offer his technical expertise and experience with the inner workings of the biotechnology field, including areas ranging from the increasing computational demands of molecule discovery to the p...