History Unplugged Podcast

The Peloponnesian War is considered one of the most famous wars of the ancient world not only because it was a massive and devastating conflict that reshaped the Greek world, but also because its thorough documentation by the historian Thucydides transformed how we understand history and war. On the face of it, the Peloponnesian War, fought over 2000 years ago in a corner of the Mediterranean, shouldn’t have made history. While the war was quite long, lasting 27 years, and oftentimes brutal, the two major parties, Athens and Sparta, were politically irrelevant within a century of the war’s conclusion. Plus the war’s cause is murky and takes a detailed understanding of Greek’s chaotic political history.  And yet, it was this conflict which would be remembered for centuries. As the subject of a detailed history by Thucydides, an Athenian war general and historian, the story of the Peloponnesian War remains essential reading for politicians, historians, and students. Today’s guest is Polly Low, who authored part of a new translation of The History of the Peloponnesian War.  The translation depicts the events of the war between Athens and Sparta that began in 431 BC and would continue until 404, a conflict that embroiled not only mainland Greece but Greek states from the eastern Mediterranean and as far west as Italy and Sicily. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the principal architects of Allied Victory in North Africa during World War Two was French General Louis Dio. His importance in North Africa lies in his role as a key leader of the Free French forces and a trusted subordinate to General Philippe Leclerc. He participated in every battle from Douala to the Fezzan Campaigns in the early 1940s. The most heroic moment of General Louis Dio came during the siege of the Italian fort at Kufra, a key desert outpost in southern Libya, in 1941. During the intense fighting, Dio personally led a daring night grenade assault on an Italian position, an action for which he was seriously injured and later made a Companion of the Liberation by Charles de Gaulle.  Despite all that, he remains largely unrecognized because he was a modest and discreet man who left no memoirs and did not seek glory, preferring to live a simple life after the war. Many books exist in French to recount General Philippe Leclerc’s famous WWII epic, from his 1940 arrival in Cameroon until the final 1945 victory in Germany. However, few are dedicated to his fellow combatants.  In this episode, we  retrace the steps of this epic journey from the Free French soldiers fighting under Dio’s command.  They had started in the forests of Gabon and ended at Hitler’s Eagle Nest.  Particular interest is paid to the role of Dio Tactical Group in the seizure of the town of Alençon in Normandy, the liberation battles of the left bank of Paris, the thrust into Alsace and Lorraine, the conquest of Strasbourg (fulfilling Leclerc’s “Koufra Oath” to see the tricolor fly from the city’s cathedral. Today’s guest is Monique Seefried, author of “Général Louis Dio, the Wartime Epic of One of Free France’s Greatest Soldiers, 1940-1946.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alfred Beach built America’s first operational subway in secret beneath 1860s Manhattan, decades before the city’s official electric subway line in 1904. He designed and commissioned a 300-foot-long, eight-foot-diameter tunnel 20 feet underground, built with a tunneling machine he invented for this purpose. The car moved quietly and silently, pushed by a 50-ton, steam-powered fan nicknamed "the Western Tornado," which pushed and pulled the single subway car through its sealed tube. Beach envisioned a clean, quiet pneumatic railway that would shoot passengers up and down Broadway, revolutionizing urban transit. The entire city would enjoy this steampunk system of transportation. He was the right man for the job. As the editor of Scientific American magazine and the head of the nation’s leading patent agency, Beach was intimately connected with many of the nineteenth century’s most important inventors and inventions. When Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, the first person he showed it to was Alfred Beach. But his dream was derailed by powerful political enemies, most notably Boss Tweed and the corrupt machine of Tammany Hall. Dreams of the project died after an economic crash in 1873. Today’s guest is Matthew Algeo, author of New York’s Secret Subway: The Underground Genius of Alfred Beach and the Origins of Mass Transit. We look at a pivotal moment in the origin story of mass transportation in America, and themes that resonate strongly today: infrastructure gridlock, public-private conflict, and the long-standing resistance to bold transit reform.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s a divide between Scotland and Ireland as fierce as the Protestant/Catholic split during the Thirty Years’ War or the battles between Sunnis and Shias in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. It’s the debate over who invented whisky. Both Ireland and Scotland claim to have originated the spirit. Ireland cites its early monastic traditions and the term "uisce beatha" (Gaelic for "water of life") as evidence of whisky production dating back to the 12th century. Scotland, however, argues that its distillation practices, documented in the 1494 Exchequer Rolls mentioning "aqua vitae," predate Ireland’s clear records and point to their refined techniques in the Highlands. Irish advocates emphasize that their missionaries spread distillation knowledge to Scotland, while Scots counter that their innovations in barrel aging and malting set whisky apart as a distinctly Scottish craft. The argument often hinges on differing definitions of what constitutes "whisky," with no definitive proof resolving the dispute, leaving both sides to proudly defend their heritage. Whisky stands out from other alcohols, like beer, due to its intricate production process, which relies on advanced distillation technology to create a high-potency spirit from fermented grains. The use of oak barrels for aging imparts complex flavors, such as vanilla, caramel, and smoky notes, giving whisky its distinctive depth and character. Today’s guest is Noah Rothbaum, a world-renowned drinks expert and author of The Whiskey Bible: A Complete Guide to the World’s Greatest Spirit. He reveals the history and lore of whisky. We discuss the possibly 5,000-year history of distillation and whisky, how phylloxera wiped out Europe’s vineyards and decimated the market for wine in the early 19th century but kickstarted interest in spirits, how Americans created a separate and distinct spirit, and the future of the drink.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The cavalry 'wings' that probed ahead of the Roman Army played a key role in its campaigns of conquest, masking its marching flanks and seeking to encircle enemies in battle. However, at the very beginning of Rome’s history, it didn’t even have a cavalry, and relied on Greek-style phalanx formations instead. It began as a small cavalry arm provided by the citizen nobility, but this had proved inadequate before the end of the Republic, and Julius Caesar's cavalry was largely made up of hired allies. During the Early Principate, the armies under Augustus continued in this vein, incorporating large numbers of non-citizen auxiliary cavalry units. The provinces came under increasing attack throughout and following the chaotic mid-3rd century, and Rome took lessons from its 'barbarian' enemies in how to improve its military mobility, adopting both new, heavily armored shock cavalry and horse-archers, and vitally shaping the tactics employed during the Dominate. Today’s guest is Mike Bishop, author of “Roman Cavalry Tactics.” We discuss how the cavalry grew to become the dominant force in Roman field armies by the twilight of the Western Empire. Eight newly commissioned artwork plates and a rich selection of artefact photographs and archaeological sources provide vivid detail and insight, helping to bring to the life the evolving tactics, clothing and weaponry of Rome's cavalry from the 2nd century BC through to the 5th century AD.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Modern France and Britain were forged in the fires of the Hundred Years War, a century-long conflict that produced deadly English longbowmen, Joan of Arc’s heavenly visions, and a massive death toll from Scotland to the Low Countries. The traditional beginning and end of the Hundred Years' War are conventionally marked by the start of open conflict in 1337, when Edward III of England laid claim to the French throne – and France invalidated English claims to continental lands -- and its conclusion with the French victory at the Battle of Castillon in 1453, the fall of the last English holdings on the continent. But Michael Livingston, today’s guest and author of “Blood Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Years War” argues redefines the scope and length of the Hundred Years War, arguing it really lasted from 1292–1492. And it didn’t just engulf England and France, but into regions like the Low Countries, Italy, and the Holy Roman Empire. It spread to the whole European continent and, eventually, the globe as the war's end spurred European powers to pursue their imperial ambitions abroad. The Hundred Years' War was also a period of significant military innovation, particularly with the English longbow and the introduction of gunpowder Livingston revises our understanding of the Two Hundred Years War as one that set the stage for a new global imperial order with ripple effects across the centuries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

America saw a significant reverse-migration in the 1800s and 1900s, with 20–50% of Italian immigrants returning to Italy as ritornati and tens of thousands of Americans, including ideologues and workers, moving to Germany, Italy, and the USSR in the 1930s seeking political or economic opportunities. Some of these American expatriates were drawn to revolutionary movements in Europe and Asia, blending idealism with political activism Today’s guest is David Mayers, author of Seekers and Partisans: Americans Abroad in the Crisis Years, 1935–1941. We discuss alienated Americans who went abroad during the interwar years in search of a new home and/or to further deeply personal causes. They include John Robinson, a black aviator who in 1935 led the Ethiopian air force against the Italian invasion; Agnes Smedley, who joined the Chinese communists during the Sino-Japanese war; Helen Keller, an advocate of the seeing- and hearing-impaired; Ezra Pound, a lauded poet who championed Mussolini; and Anna Louise Strong, drawn to Stalin's USSR.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this discussion, Luke Kemp, a researcher at Cambridge specializing in societal collapse, unveils fascinating insights from his book, Goliath's Curse. He explores how modern societies, akin to ancient Goliaths, are fragile yet powerful. Kemp argues that while collapses can often improve the lives of ordinary people, they pose existential threats today. He delves into the characteristics of democratic vs. dominance hierarchies, the potential severity of modern collapses, and emphasizes the importance of community resilience and inclusivity for weathering future crises.

After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, enslaved people feared running away to the North, as their return was mandated, and they faced brutal punishment or even death upon return to deter others from escaping. But that changed during the Civil War. Black slaves in Confederate Virginia began hearing rumors that they could receive their freedom if they reached the Union’s Fort Monroe. Union General Benjamin Butler found a loophole in the Fugitive Slave Act that allowed slaves who fled to Northern lines to be treated as "contraband of war"—seized enemy property—under the Confiscation Act of 1861. This meant they would be set free instead of being returned to slaveholders. Butler did this to deplete the Confederacy's labor force and bolster Union morale by offering refuge to escaping enslaved people. Word spread across the state.  In a short time, nearly a thousand former slaves formed a camp outside the fort. Many worked to sustain the camps, growing crops like corn or cotton on nearby abandoned lands to feed themselves and generate resources. Men, women, and even children contributed to the war effort through various tasks, such as building fortifications, digging trenches, or serving as cooks, nurses, or laborers for Union troops. Freedpeople established schools, often with the help of Northern missionaries or organizations like the American Missionary Association, teaching literacy to adults and children. Other contraband camps sprang up, and by the end of the war, 800,000 former slaves had established over 200 of them. Today’s guest is Tom Zoellner, author of “The Road Was Full of Thorns: Running Toward Freedom in the American Civil War.” We discuss how these camps fostered interracial interactions that shifted public opinion toward abolition, highlighting the agency of enslaved people in their own liberation. The Emancipation Proclamation was a delayed response to these grassroots movements, not a singular heroic act. The camps’ role in challenging slavery’s legal and social foundations helped reshape the trajectory of the Civil War.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1864, the American Civil War reached a critical juncture with Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, including the brutal battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, which claimed over 60,000 casualties, surpassing Gettysburg as the Americas’ deadliest clash. Abraham Lincoln faced a contentious re-election against George B. McClellan, while Confederate General Jubal Early’s troops came within five miles of the White House. Abolitionists pushed for emancipation, and desperate Confederate plots, like the attempt to burn New York City’s hotels, marked the war’s final months, culminating in Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth in April 1865. Today’s guest is Scott Ellsworth, author of “Midnight on the Potomac: The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America.” We explore how the staggering losses of 1864 shaped Lincoln’s strategy of attrition amid political uncertainty. These include lesser-known moments, like the Washington Arsenal explosion that killed 21 workers and Early’s near-invasion of Washington, D.C., which could have altered the war’s course. We also examines the November 1864 Confederate plot to destabilize New York and the conspiracy behind Lincoln’s assassination, including the unresolved question of Confederate government involvement. Reflecting on the war’s toll—over 620,000 dead and four million African-Americans freed but facing new struggles—Ellsworth illuminates how these events reshaped America’s identity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.