History Unplugged Podcast

Being a Roman isn't easy. Running an intercontinental empire across hundreds of languages, customs, and ethnic groups without the benefit of telegraphs or steam power requires constant vigilance or the whole enterprise will fall apart. Let's look at the Roman borderland's with Persia to see what life was like on the periphery of the empire.   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you know that over 400,000 German POWs were settled in the United States during World War II? Did you know that they may have built some of the stone buildings that make up your town square? Or that they were responsible for bringing in America’s harvest in the fall of 1945 when most men were still off to war? Learn about this fascinating but understudied part of America’s history. TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Justinian I of Byzantium is among the most towering figure of the ancient and medieval periods. His innovations in governance, architecture, law, and welding together religion with imperial power were blueprints of governance for the next thousand years of kings and emperors. He rose to imperial power in 527 AD and reacquired Roman lands in Europe that were lost a century ago to Vandal and Ostrogothic invasions. He removed the rotting branches of his administration, replacing bureaucrats from the aristocracy with independent counselors.Justinian also rewrote the Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. He gathered together legal commentaries and laws of the Roman legal system into a single text that would hold the force of law. It was composed in Latin and is still the basis of civil law in many of the empire's descendant states. To talk with us about how Justinian changed the world is Robin Pierson, host of the History of Byzantium Podcast. Here are five parts of history that Justinian irrevocably changed: Laws Hagia Sophia Christianizing culture Slavs Islam   ABOUT ROBIN PIERSON Robin Pierson is from London in the UK. He writes about American TV shows at thetvcritic.org and works for his father (an actor). Robin created the show to continue the narrative established by Mike Duncan’s wonderful podcast “The History of Rome.” He uses the structure of half-hour instalments told from a state-centric perspective. He pauses the narrative at the end of each century to take time to cover wider issues to do with Byzantium RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The History of Byzantium: A podcast telling the story of the Roman Empire from 476 AD to 1453See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like much of the United States, Texas has a large popular whose ancestors originated in Germany. But Texas takes it a step further. In the 1840s a massive immigration of Germans arrived when the Adelsverein (The Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas) organized at Biebrich on the Rhine near Mainz. It assisted thousands in coming to Central Texas and establishing such settlements as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. So many arrived that Texas practically became an outpost of Germany.   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In mid-December 1773 a force of colonists, dressed up as Mohawk Indians, boarded the three boats and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The protest later became known as the Boston Tea Party, but many historians (and coffee afficionados) believe it also sparked an anti-tea (read anti-British) sentiment in the colonies. John Adams wrote to Abigail on July 6, 1774 that "...I have drank Coffee every Afternoon since, and have borne it very well. Tea must be universally renounced. I must be weaned, and the sooner, the better." Did Americans really ditch tea for coffee due to the American Revolution? Find out in this episode. The inspiration for this episode came from Black Rifle Coffee Company, a coffee roaster owned and operated by U.S. Veterans. Their stuff is really good; you should check it out.   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Archeological evidence proves that Leif Ericsson, the Icelandic Viking, arrived in the New World centuries before Columbus. But what if he was in turn beaten by an Irish monk a full five extra centuries. St. Brendan the Navigator is celebrate for his legendary journey to the "Island of the Blessed," described in the ninth-century work Voyage of St Brendan the Navigator. It tells of how he set out onto the Atlantic Ocean with dozens of pilgrims, accidentally camped out on a whale, and may have reached New England. For centuries historians dismissed his account as fiction. But true accounts sneak here. There are factual descriptions of sheep on the Faroe Islands. Volcanos and icebergs of Iceland are observed. Some archeologists even think there is evidence of a medieval Celtic church in New England. Find out in this episode if Leif Ericsson has lost his status as the first Westerner to reach the New World.   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emperor Norton is San Francisco's original oddball.  In 1859 he proclaimed himself "Norton I, Emperor of the United States." He later expanded his pretense by claiming to be "Protector of Mexico" as well. But rather than get in trouble with authorities for sedition, he became a beloved celebrity. Newspapers printed his imperial edicts. Local police paid for his uniform. He became the basis for some of Mark Twain's characters. To this day locals have petitioned to name bridges in his honor. Find out how a few delusions of grandeur can go a long way.   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a guy that lived 1,500 years ago, King Arthur has remarkable staying power. He became a stock figure in Welsh and Latin chronicles of Britain by the 800s. His story spread to France, Germany, Scandinavia, and Iceland after the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and books on him were best-sellers there. Cathedrals across Western European featured stained-glass Arthurian scenes. In modern times Arthur has been on the big screen non-stop. They include Camelot (1967), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), the Clive Owen flick King Arthur (2004), and this year's Guy Ritchie-directed King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, dubbed by critics for its tough-guy swagger as “Excalibro.” Even the new Transformers film features Arthur fighting directly alongside the Autobots (don't ask). Arthur's ongoing legend is even more remarkable considering he may very well have never existed. Historians speak of an “Arthur-like figure” when trying to pin down his origins because they are so obscure. The Gododdin and many other later poems speak of something important that happened in sixth-century Britain, when the Saxon advance was halted by a warlord. It may have been Arthur himself. Archeological and historical evidence supports the existence of an Arthur-like figure in early Britain, most famously Cadbury Castle in Cornwall, which was the center of operations for a leader of great military and logistical skill who thwarted the Saxon invasion. But many other researches think that “Arthur” was actually succession of warlords that tried, and utimately failed, to halt the Saxon onslaught. The Celtic monk Gildas wrote extensively of the Saxon invasion in The Ruin and Conquest of Britain, citing the critical siege at Badon Hills, and makes no mention of Arthur at all. But whatever historians say about Arthur or an Arthur-like figure, they all agree that Arthur, King of the Britons, never existed. For that, we have Arthurian legend to thank. Dorsey Armstrong, professor of medieval literature at Purdue University who has published extensively on Arthur discusses with us why the Arthurian narrative—despite, or because of, its tenuous connection to historical fact—has enthralled writers, artists, and a limitless audience in countries spanning the Western world and beyond for all these centuries. With origins in the exploits of a 5th-century Celtic warrior, the legend of a noble king and his knightly cohort caught fire across Europe, spawning a vast literary tradition that reached its height in the Middle Ages, with major contributions from writers both in Britain and throughout the Continent. By the 12th century Geoffrey of Monmouth added Merlin to the legend in his History of the Kings of Britain. Guinevere first appears here also, and French poet Chrétien de Troyes added Lancelot to the canon in 1177. But the appeal of the saga far outlived the medieval era. It remained dynamically alive in folk culture and theater through the Renaissance, only to see an epic literary and artistic resurgence in the 19th century. It continues to the present day in multiple forms—from fiction writing and visual arts to film and popular culture. No other heroic figure in literature compares with King Arthur in terms of global popularity and longevity; today, each year sees literally thousands of new versions of the story appear across diverse media. What does this amazing phenomenon tell us about our culture, our civilization, and ourselves? What is it about this particular story that has so deeply gripped the human imagination for so many centuries, in so many places? Find out in this episode RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Dorsey Armstrong's course King Arthur: History and Legend The Camelot Project Arthuriana: The Journal of Arthurian Studies The New Arthurian Encyclopedia TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Kurdish people are arguably the largest stateless people on Earth. An estimated 35 million live in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere, but do not have a nation to call their own. Despite this they have been critical power brokers in the military and political conflicts of the Middle East. What can we learn from the Kurdish people about nationalism and nation building even if they do not have a nation of their own? To answer this question I have called upon the help of Djene Bajalan, professor of history at Missouri State and specialist of the Kurdish regions of the Ottoman Empire. I can think of nobody who is more qualified to answer this question.   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smallpox is arguably the deadliest weapon in history. Ninety percent of some Native American tribes were wiped out by this disease when they first encountered Western explorers. But what if they hadn't been wiped out? Would Native American groups have been able to successfully repel Western powers and keep North America for themselves? Or would colonial history largely have played out the same?   TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or StitcherSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.