History on Fire

“You know what John Brown did? He went to war. He was a white man who went to war against white people to help free slaves. White people call John Brown a nut. Go read the history, go read what all of them say about John Brown. They’re trying to make it look like he was a nut, a fanatic… But they depict him in this image because he was willing to shed blood to free the slaves. And any white man who is ready and willing to shed blood for your freedom… So when you want to know good white folks in history where black people are concerned, go read the history of John Brown.” Malcolm X  “When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.” Exodus 21:20–21 “Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!” John Brown  The subject of this series is easily one of the most divisive individuals in U.S. history. The man we are talking about is Mr. John Brown. Many, in fact, see Brown’s actions as the spark that ignited the Civil War. He has been described as a civil rights hero, a terrorist, and everything in between. Some have argued he was clinically insane. Others believe he was the most principled man of his age. Regardless of how we interpret his story, certain facts are beyond dispute. Throughout his life, slavery was the law of the land in much of the United States. With hardly any abolitionist willing to do more than use words against slavery, while pro-slavery forces demonstrated they were quite skilled at using violence to further their worldview, it seemed inevitable that slavery would last for the foreseeable future. To John Brown, that was an unacceptable option. Allowing it to continue for one more second was cowardly and evil.  If pacifist means weren’t enough to bring about the end of slavery, then John Brown was more than ready to speak the language of violence. For the sake of destroying slavery, he would shed the blood of his enemies, the blood of his family, and his own blood.In this first episode of a three-part series, we’ll introduce the early part of John Brown’s life and his crusade against slavery. Among today’s topics, we’ll have the ethics of punching a Nazi, how the beating of an enslaved child set Brown on his path, how both pro and anti-slavery forces used Christianity to justify their stances, racism masquerading as philanthropy, the Nat Turner rebellion, grief & PTSD, the Underground Railroad, the murder of Elijah Lovejoy, and much more.If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover the harrowing wartime experiences of partisan commander Federico Giordano and his contributions against fascism. Explore the powerful connections between music, family, and resistance through the song 'Bella Ciao.' Hear personal narratives from WWII Italy that reveal the bravery of young fighters and the impact of Mussolini's oppressive regime. Learn about the complex strategies and moral dilemmas faced by partisans, culminating in the dramatic negotiation of surrenders and the controversial fate of fascist leaders.

“Women must obey… My opinion of women’s role within the state is against any kind of feminism. In our state, women must not count.” Benito Mussolini“Yes, I participated in the actions. I usually had the task of carrying the weapons and would hand them to our shooters. As soon as they had used them, I’d get them back from them—still hot.” Liana Germani“I was mostly afraid of torture had they captured me, of the terrible suffering on the way to the concentration camps. Death seemed simple, something quick, liberating. Fear was a constant element of our daily lives.” Liana Germani  This is a tale of Italian Resistance during WW II. Unlike nearly all History on Fire episodes, this is not a story I researched in books. It’s a much more personal one—these are my grandparents’ experiences. The starring role goes to my grandmother, Liana Germani, who as a teenager was a combat partisan active against the Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation. What I remember of her... there was a constant hint of sadness and pessimism hanging around her. It may have to do with the fact that during WW II, she found her boyfriend murdered--cut into pieces by fascists. She spent the rest of her teenage years smuggling guns & bombs, and doing what she could to kill them all.Honorable mention also to my paternal grandparents—in particular my grandfather Stelio Bolelli, who found his way into fighting alongside Allied troops all the way through the Gothic Line.In the course of this episode we’ll talk about a brief history of Fascism, DMX & the Matteotti murder, the collusion between fascist leaders and Sinclair Oil, the Badoglio government, the Nazi occupation, the massacre of St. Anna di Stazzema, guerrilla in the streets of Milan, gender roles in fascist Italy, my grandma’s friends being executed, PTSD, carrying bombs & smuggling weapons, my grandfather avoiding execution, the Gorla massacre, and much, much more.If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dive into the fascinating concept of how minor events can lead to monumental change in history. Explore the complexities of cultural identity within immigrant families, revealing humor amid challenges. Discover Tacitus' critique of Roman decadence and the unintended ideologies it spawned. The philosophical musings of Thoreau on civil disobedience resonate through ages, influencing movements worldwide. Lastly, examine the lasting legacies of the Trojan War through myth and history, and witness the tumultuous journey of revolutionary ideals and their violent repercussions.

“From an author’s perspective, writing about sex is risky, because if you write well enough, evocatively enough, vividly enough, you make the reader want to put the book aside and go get laid.” Tom Robbins“Let's live and love,Caring less than nothing forThe moralizing of stern old men.The sun sets and rises back again,But an eternal night of sleep awaits usWhen our brief light turns to darkness.Give me a thousand kisses, and a hundred more.Then a thousand, and another hundred.And then more thousands and hundreds.Let's scatter them, then,So that no one can envy usBy knowing how many kisses we have shared.” Catullus“You know how today some people have garden gnomes? Ancient Romans had their own version, and of course... the Romans being Romans, their garden gnomes were endowed huge penises and an enthusiasm for raping anyone entering the garden uninvited.” Daniele BolelliThis is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure. Rather, sex was primarily seen as something to reinforce dominance and hierarchy. In this episode, we’ll cover prison sex, rapey garden gnomes, the similarities and differences between ancient Roman and Christian sexualities, the origin of the word ‘family’ (it’s not pleasant), threatening sexual violence to prove one’s manliness, the violent myths about Rome’s founding, the Rape of the Sabine women, sex and slavery, prostitution, why speaking of homosexuality or heterosexuality made no sense in Ancient Rome, legal trials as rap battles, Cicero & the art of character assassination, Mark Anthony & the art of assassinating Cicero, Augustus’ puritanism, gladiators fighting against their own wildcat-shaped phalli, Roman sexual art, and much, much more.  If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” Zeng Guofan“Infants but recently born were torn from their mother’s breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” A British testimony on the Qing treatment of POWsIf I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you, which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I’d bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I’d also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God’s son, and Jesus’ younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we run into Christian missionaries floating on a river of death, Hong’s descent into further layers of madness, the Second Opium War, Zeng Guofan’s comical pessimism, the wavering French-British policy, the Empress Dowager Cixi being a gangster, the battle for Shanghai, the Ever Victorious Army, a cholera outbreak, the asexual crusader Charles Gordon, the death of a Christian kingdom in China, and much more.If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together with us… is it not a remarkable era in China?”A Christian missionary wife about the Taiping Rebellion“Jesus our Elder Brother showed us the treacherous heart of this demon follower.” Sign hanging around the neck of a man executed by the Taiping“Those who believe not in the true doctrine of God and Jesus, though they be old acquaintances, are still no friends of mine, but they are demons.” Hong XiuquanIf I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I’d bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I’d also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God’s son, and Jesus’ younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we follow Hong Xiuquan as he graduates from religious intolerance to armed insurrection against the government. We also run into angels torturing Confucius, ‘God’ & ‘Jesus’ & ‘Jesus’ younger brother’ leading an army to topple the Qing Dynasty, a massive army of sexually frustrated people, the capture of Nanjing, Quentin Tarantino’s Biblical tales, the Taiping turning into The Sopranos, ‘Jesus’ younger brother’ placing a hit on ‘God’s Voice’, and much more.If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The entire story of the Taiping Rebellion might be told, from one perspective, as the rage of a failed exam candidate writ large.” Stephen Platt “They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others.” Lin Zexu about British opium traders“Heaven is furious with anger, and all the gods are moaning with pain!... A murderer of one person is subject to the death sentence; just imagine how many people opium has killed! This is the rationale behind the new law which says that any foreigner who brings opium to China will be sentenced to death by hanging or beheading.” Lin Zexu“… soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure.” Queen Victoria about opiumIf I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at least according to most historians—I’d bet the number of raised hands would shrink quickly. And I’d also bet that a good percentage of those taking their chances with an answer would probably be wrong. So, welcome to the wildest, weirdest, biggest conflict in history that few people have heard about (that is…unless you are quite knowledgeable about Chinese history). Millions of troops took part in this war. Something in the neighborhood of 600 cities changed hands over decade and half of fighting. Conservative estimates place the dead around 20-30 millions (some estimates go as high as 100 millions.) For frame of references, this is deadlier than the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Spanish American War, the American Civil War and the American Revolution put together. We can also throw in the 7 Years War, all three Punic wars and all of the Crusades for good measure. In light of this, it may begin to make sense why several historians believe this is the bloodiest civil war of all time. It all began with a Chinese man who, in the mid-1800s, dreamed of becoming a scholar and receive a government job. Seems like an innocent start, right? Well, our wannabe intellectual, a certain Hong Xiuquan, experienced a major crisis when he realized that no matter how much he studied, he would not succeed at passing the imperial exams, that were the prerequisite to getting the career he dreamed of. The fact that he failed was more than a personal tragedy for Hong. Rather, this failure would trigger a sequence of events leading to the death of millions. This was easily the most costly F in the history of education. Broken to the core, he had a mental breakdown, and began to experience visions. These visions revealed to him that he was God’s son, and Jesus’ younger brother, and he was tasked by his heavenly relatives to clean China off any demonic influences in order to create the Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. His efforts to create this Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace heralded a bloody civil war with a body count that would make most video gamers blush.In this episode, we tackle ethnic conflicts in China, Christian missionaries in Canton, uber-difficult Imperial exams, the Pablo Escobar of the 1800s having the British navy on her side, foot binding, Great Britain solving a trade deficit by flooding China with drugs, the First Opium War, and much more.If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The universities do not teach all things, so a doctor must seek out old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveler… Knowledge is experience.” Paracelsus “They indulged in disgraceful immodesty, for many women, during this shameless dance and mock-bridal singing, bared their bosoms, while others of their own accord offered their virtue.” C. Browerus describing the 1374 Dancing PlagueWeird seems like the most appropriate word to describe today’s subject, and yet ‘weird’ feels like an understatement. On July 14, 1518, in Strasbourg, a lady named Troffea began dancing in the streets.Ok… that doesn’t sound too weird.Just bare with me…Troffea didn’t reply to questions or requests from her frustrated husband that she stopped. She had somehow slipped in a whole different state of consciousness andkept dancing until she passed out from exhaustion. As soon as she woke up, she started dancing again. This process of compulsive dancing and passing out went on for days until Troffea’s feet were covered in blood. But the real problem began when others fell under the same spell and joined in the dance… And that’s not the worst part. Before long, many of them began dropping off dead from heart attacks caused by the excessive effort. No matter how self-destructive the dance could be, the people afflicted simply couldn’t stop. Strasbourg had been hit with the weirdest plague in history… a dancing plague.As we explore the mystery of the dancing plague, we end up discussing the black plague, anti-Semitism, the corruption of the church, martyrs and saints, creepy fairy tales, the origin of Tarantella music, the limits of medicine in the 1500s, Paracelsus, mass hallucinations, collective hysteria, the placebo effect, and much more.If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content.All the links to History on Fire social media can be found at https://linktr.ee/danielebolelli  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Never in history had the United States Army been called on to rescue such a large number of POWs from so deep in enemy territory.” William Breuer “We were in the best shape of our lives, and with this mission we understood why he had driven us so hard.” Alvie Robbins speaking about Henry Mucci’s physical training“As far as we were concerned, they were gods.” Bob Body about the Rangers who rescued him and his fellow POWs.“Nothing in this entire campaign has given me so much personal satisfaction.” General MacArthur “I’ll be grateful for the rest of my life that I had a chance to do something in this war that was not destructive. Nothing for me can ever compare with the satisfaction I got from helping to free our prisoners.” Robert PrinceThis is the tale of one of the most daring missions in the history of WWII. After being defeated by the Japanese in 1942, by 1945 American forces were back in the Philippines ready to retake the islands. But their very success may have spelled doom for some survivors of the Bataan Death March, who had spent nearly three years as prisoners of the Japanese. Plenty of evidence, in fact, suggested that Japanese guards were ready to kill them all rather than letting them be freed. The only way to stop this imminent massacre was for a newly formed unit of Rangers, along with Filipino guerrilla fighters, to travel 30 miles behind enemy lines, face off with numerically superior forces, and rescue the POWs. By every logical metric, this had suicide mission written all over it. And yet, the Rangers and guerrilla, all volunteered. Rarely are war stories feel-good stories. But this may be the exception to the rule.   If you feel generous and enjoy History on Fire, please consider joining my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/historyonfire to access plenty of bonus content. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices