The Hungry Historian

Send us Fan Mail "Men, we are surrounded by the enemy. We have the greatest opportunity ever presented an army. We can attack in any direction." - Brig. General Anthony McAuliffe December 16th, 2024 will mark the 80th anniversary of what Sir. Winston Churchill proclaimed as the "greatest American battle of the war." It was on that date in 1944 that the last major German offensi...

Send us Fan Mail “We have devoured the land and our animals eat up the wheat and cornfields close. All the people retire before us and desolation is behind. To realize what war is one should follow our tracks.” - Maj. General William Tecumseh Sherman  Sherman’s March to the Sea was the name given to the American Civil War campaign from November 15th until December 21st, 1864 that concluded Union o...

Send us Fan Mail On November 9th, 1989, one of the defining moments of the twentieth century took place when the Berlin Wall, itself, an iconic symbol of the Cold War, effectively came down. For almost thirty years, the wall had divided East from West Berlin, and acted as the partition to keep the Eastern Soviet Bloc countries away from those of the democratic West. The wall was built with one spe...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine coming home from work, dealing with the family and all that goes into the nightly routine, and then finally settling into your own bed for a relaxing nights sleep in the shadow of a decrepit chemical plant that is one small error away from killing you and everyone you whole dear. In this year's edition of "Horrific History," the Hungry Historian brings to yo...

Send us Fan Mail "Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the Six Hundred." - Lord Tennyson History is loaded with moments full of bravery, courage, and determination in the face of overwhelming odds. It's why there is so much romanticism tied to something as horrific as war.  History is also brimming with inept, underqualified, and bumbli...

Send us Fan Mail "Wealth is like sea-water; the more we drink, the thirstier we become; and the same is true of fame." - Arthur Schopenhauer When gold was found in the Klondike region of Canada during the late summer of 1896, it kicked off a series of events that led to almost 100,000 people "stampeding" north in search of fame and fortune. Most, came in vain; searching in desp...

Send us Fan Mail "The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who reached Dawson City during the gold rush, only around 15,000 to 20,000 became prospectors.  Of these, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred became rich.  By the time most of the stampeders arrived in 1898, th...

Send us Fan Mail The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by some 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the present Yukon Territory, in north-western Canada. Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16th, 1896; with the news eventually reaching Seattle and San Francisco the following year. This triggered a proverbial stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority t...

Send us Fan Mail "It was a horrible picture of charred remains amid foot-deep embers and melted glass. I saw the blackened bits that were once people. There was a young woman clutching her baby. The remains crumpled when picked up by firemen." - Edwin Feeny, Toronto Evening Star The next time you're in downtown Toronto, near the waterfront, and you're close to the Westin Harbou...

Send us Fan Mail "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." - British Prine Minister, Neville Chamberlain, 1938. This upcoming September 1st will mark the 85th anniversary of the begi...

Send us Fan Mail "And Ty Cobb wanted to play. But none of us could stand the son of a bitch when we were alive so we told him to stick it, hahahahahaha!!!" - Ray Liotta, as Shoeless Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams" Ty Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players of all time and king of the so-called Deadball Era. He played in the major leagues from 1905 to 1928, and was the fi...

Send us Fan Mail "C is for Cobb, Who grew spikes and not corn, And made all the basemen Wish they hadn't been born."  - Ogden Nash, "Lineup For Yesterday" Ty Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players of all time and king of the so-called Deadball Era. He played in the major leagues from 1905 to 1928, and was the first player ever voted into the Hall of Fame.  His lifet...

Send us Fan Mail "I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.” – John Wayne John Wayne was an American actor tuned pop culture icon during Hollywood's Golden Age. His name is synonymous with Westerns and war movies.  His career spanned from the silent era through until the “new” Hollywood. Wayne...

Send us Fan Mail "Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness." - John Wayne  John Wayne was an American actor tuned pop culture icon during Hollywood's Golden Age. His name is synonymous with Westerns and war movies.  His career spanned from the silent era through until the “new” Hollywood. Wayne starred in over 179 film and television productions, 146 of which were motion pic...

Send us Fan Mail "Korea is where the cold war found it's hot edges." - General Matthew Ridgeway In his previous episode, the Hungry Historian was able to guide you through the last years of the Korean War. In it, you learned of the stalemate, the armistice, and the terrible human cost of the war. This time around, the Hungry Historian tries to answer a question that has been on his...

Send us Fan Mail "Old soldiers don't die. They just fade away..." - General Douglas MacArthur  After starting off with a great deal of action early on, the Korean War would quickly wind down into a stalemate, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't any mire excitement left in the conflict.  Join the Hungry Historian as he takes you through those tension filled years of the...

Send us Fan Mail “We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time now. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.” – Lewis “Chesty” Puller  Welcome back to Part IV of the Hungry Historian's (somewhat) in-depth series on the Korean War.  When we last spoke, war had officially broken out across the 38th peninsula, and the UN was trying to rally troops to stop the Communis...

Send us Fan Mail "If we let Korea down, the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another.” - President Harry Truman Through the first two episodes of this series, the Hungry Historian has set the scene for the moments and events that led to war in Korea being a possibility. This episode deals with the breakout of the war itself. June 25th, 1950, having been prec...

Send us Fan Mail "Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy. " - Mao Zedong Welcome back for part two of the Hungry Historian's look at the Korean War. In the first episode, Chef Money briefly discussed the modern history of the Korean peninsula up until the end of the Second World War.  In this episode, the Chef returns to walk you through the yea...

Send us Fan Mail "Eventually the Korean War will be understood as one of the most destructive and one of the most important wars of the twentieth century."   - Bruce Cumings, The Korean War: A History Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2024 and the THIRD season of the Hungry Historian! Chef Money has some great things coming your way this year and he is kicking it off with a multi episode look...

Send us Fan Mail “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!” — The Grinch Do you hear what I hear? It's the sound of Christmas! It's practically here!  Chef Money has been in full swing decking the halls and rockin' around many a Christmas tree.  In the true spirit of the holiday,the Chef has a gift to bestow upon you. Well, technica...

Send us Fan Mail "The more I think of our assault the more wonderful it appears, we were given almost the impossible to do and did it." - Lt. Col. Agar Adamson On part one of his look at the Battle of Passchendaele and the role of the Canadian Corps, Chef Money walked you through the background and events of The Third Battle of Ypres, in order to get you prepared for today. Despite being...

Send us Fan Mail "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." - John F. Kennedy November 22nd, 1963. Dallas, Texas.  It has been sixty years since the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by a lone gunman or a massive conspiracy. Whichever of those two you subscribe to.  Today, on the sixtieth anniversary of that day, I am not here t...

Send us Fan Mail “Hell is not fire; that would be the ultimate in suffering. Hell is mud.” – the Wipers Times, a trench newspaper produced secretly by British Troops With Remembrance Day upon us Chef Money has decided to cook up a story of one of Canada’s defining moments - The Battle of Passchendaele.  In this first of two parts, the Chef will briefly walk you through the background and events th...

Send us Fan Mail What is this?! ANOTHER episode on Curses?!?! And JUST in time for Halloween?! A perfect treat, and you didn't even have to go door to door in order to get it! That's right! The Chef has doubled down, returned to his bag of terrifying tales, and pulled out another episode on famous curses throughout history. This time, he focuses on those curses associated with the wide w...