Softcore History

The First Punic War was the first of three conflicts between the established Carthaginians and the rising, upstart Roman Empire. For 23 years these two forces slugged it out in the Mediterranean Sea, Siciliy, and North Africa and suffered immense loses on both sides before the Romans ultimately pulled off the upset and laid the foundation for their rise to becoming the dominant power in the region...

If you’ve ever wondered why whale sightings are such a big deal or why we need to “save the whales”… it’s because the Soviet Union killed them all. Find out why the communist super power had such a lust for whale blood in this week’s episode. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, an...

For decades Americans have sneered at the French for taking a big, fat L in World War 2 -- but are we too hard on France? How many of their contributions to this country -- let alone its freedom -- have we overlooked?? Special guest Jack Mandaville helps us dive in. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, histor...

A brief overview of warfare's long, rich tradition of using animals in creative and horrifying ways, from Alexander the Great's war pigs all the way up to... pretty much modern day, actually. It's not great. Featuring special guest host Jessie Wiseman of Crime Corner. Listen to Crime Corner wherever you get podcasts! Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history...

Joshua Norton was a 19th century English immigrant who became financially ruined after a deal went south with a Peurivian rice company. After a long legal battle that reached the California Supreme Court, banks took all of his assets and he wandered the streets of San Francisco for the next 20 years. Not one to accept his fate in the gutter, Joshua declared himself Emporer of the United States and...

King Mannesah of Judah is considered one of the worst kings in the Old Testament but is that the reality of the situation or just the perspective of the authors of the Bible? It turns out he might have had some surprisingly good reasons for doing (some) of the supposedly egregious things he did. DONATE to Iris Faust's College Fund GoFundMe HereSubscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds...

In Jake’s final episode, he takes us down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories -- and the history behind them -- that range from somewhat plausible to totally insane, and what unifies all of them. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes. Go to GhostBed.com/dr...

Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, but the Chinese are studying history with the explicit hope that they do, in fact, repeat it. National Security and the Rise and Fall of Great Powers is the Chinese Communist Party's examination of how nations over the last 500 years -- from Spain and Portugal to Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States -- gained and lost power. The i...

From cavemen to Rome to post-Civil War America and the present day, humans have been harvesting and eating oysters for hundreds of thousands of years. Jake, who just got back from working an oyster farm for a week (seriously), details how humans came to eat these little gooey delicacies, the wars we've fought over them, and the myths we've created about how horny they make you. Subscribe to the So...

In celebration of reaching 1,000 reviews on Apple Podcasts, and perhaps in a bit of method podcast hosting, Dan Regester attempts to tell the story of The London Beer Flood of 1814 while flooding his own body with a mixture of Guinness and whiskey. Like the flood itself, Dan's evening ends in disaster. (Maybe come back to this one if this is your first episode.)Subscribe to the Softcore History Pa...

Malcolm Caldwell was a professor at the University of London who loved two things: Communism, and publicly cheerleading Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia. The latter, he insisted, was a beacon of hope for humanity and definitely not killing people by the millions. In 1978, Caldwell was granted an audience with his political and humanitarian hero, but after his meeting with Pol Pot something... interest...

Thomas Midgley Jr. revolutionized the U.S. auto industry in the early 1900s. But, he may have also been responsible for a violent mid-century American crime wave and lowered IQs across the world. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes. Go to GhostBed.com/dri...

Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion that killed over 30 million people, the self-proclaimed celestial brother of Jesus Christ, and an inspirational figure to future chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong. He (initally) had the backing of Karl Marx and was a massive thorn in the side of the Qing Dynasty for 14 years after a mental breakdown from failing his civil servic...

The Agapemonites were a Victorian religious cult that checked all the boxes. A leader who thought he was God and also immortal and needed multiple wives? Check, check, and check. A way to separate idiots from their money and possessions? Check. A creepy compound with high walls? Check. But even for a relatively early modern cult Henry Prince and his followers found some fun (see: horrible) ways to...

In 1565 both the French and Spanish were competing to establish a colonial presence on Florida's east coast. That competition came to a quick and violent head (you'll see what we did there) and now the site of their confrontation might be the most haunted beach in America. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions,...

Unit 684 was a secret group created by the South Korean Air Force in 1968 tasked with assasinating North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. After three brutal years training on a remote island and suffering multiple executions at the hands of their own trainers, the surviving members and former convicts threw a mutiny and hijacked a bus back to Seoul. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds...

From ancient drug enemas to World War 1 era, steampunk-esque prostate vibrators, the history of doctors trying to treat what ails a man through his butt is as long as it is weird and gross and, quite often, extremely unfortunate. (Just ask a couple of our former presidents.)Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions...

Hate landlords? You can thank Rome for them. (Just kidding, you'd be paying someone to live on their property either way you bastards, but you just might not call them "landlord.") Either way, the fall of the Western Roman Empire paved the way for Feudalism and traditional monarchy in the Middle Ages. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content includin...

The Donner-Reed Party was a group of American pioneers who migrated west to California in a wagon train and slowly tumbled into madness after months of mishaps, moronic moves, and murder. After a "shortcut" added weeks to their journey, the group ran out of food, supplies, transportation and turned to cannibalism to survive a brutal winter in the Sierra Nevadas. Subscribe to the Softcore History P...

Though Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with conquering the Aztec Empire the conquest might actually be thanks to his native female interpreter and first baby mama, La Malinche. The Indian noblewoman, who was sold into slavery as a child before being gifted to Cortés after a battle with Mayans and rising to become his interpreter and top diplomat, is thought by many historians to be...

Did human beings domesticate wheat? Or did wheat domesticate humans? We dive into the long history of humanity's relationship with the plant and how we ultimately went from eating wild wheat to baking bread and conquering the planet. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly...

John Quincy Adams was the 6th president of the United States who won his election in controversial fashion over Andrew Jackson in 1824. He spent his youth gallivating around Europe on his daddy's dime, helped author the Monroe Doctirine as Secretary of State, brought Florida into the union, was an incredibly outspoken abolitionist, and kept a pet alligator in the East Room of the White House. Subs...

Justice is blind. So blind, apparently, that it doesn't mind if pigs, rats, statues, and other non-human entities are brought to trial. This is the history of the trials of animals and inanimate objects held over the centuries. The charges against them range from murder to vandalism and, as it turns out, these trials were often conducted for surprisingly existential reasons. Subscribe to the Softc...

Tampa Bay’s Gasparilla Pirate Festival is a huge city holiday and boasts the third-largest annual parade in the United States. It’s also a drunken, pirate-themed, rage fest based on a lie. Learn about its history as a holiday, Jake and Dan’s Gasparilla experiences, and all you ever wanted to learn about turn-of-the-century tourism. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of...

Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-American escape artist, illusionist, actor, and aviator who beefed with spirit mediums and psychics throughout the early 20th century. He went from poor immigrant slumming it with his family in Wisconsin to an international superstar traveling the globe and mystifiying audiences with his wife Bess all throughout Europe and the States. Subscribe to the Softcore History...