Conversations: What is actually taught in our history classrooms, w/ Brendan Gillis
Release Date: 05/02/2025
Killing Margaret Thatcher
History Shorts
In the early hours of October 12, 1984, a bomb detonated inside the Grand Hotel in Brighton, ripping through the building just feet from where British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was sleeping. The attack, carried out by the Irish Republican Army, was not random terror. It was a meticulously planned assassination attempt aimed at decapitating Britain’s political leadership in a single blow. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED BY:
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America’s Century of Foreign Regime Change
History Shorts
For more than a century, the United States has played a decisive—often secretive—role in the rise and fall of governments around the world. From Cold War coups and covert CIA operations to regime change justified in the name of stability, democracy, or anti-communism, America’s global footprint has frequently extended far beyond diplomacy. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED BY:
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The Rise and Fall of the Mongol Empire
History Shorts
In the early 13th century, a nomadic warrior from the windswept steppes of Central Asia forged the largest contiguous land empire the world has ever known. Under Genghis Khan and his successors, the Mongol Empire exploded outward, conquering cities, shattering armies, and redrawing the map of Eurasia in a single lifetime. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED BY:
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Kosciuszko's Last Will and Jefferson's Broken Promise
History Shorts
When Tadeusz Kościuszko, the Polish patriot and Revolutionary War hero, wrote his final will, he entrusted it to one man he believed shared his ideals of liberty: Thomas Jefferson. The will was explicit and radical. Kościuszko directed that his American assets be used to purchase enslaved people, including Jefferson’s own slaves, and free them, educate them, and set them up as independent citizens. Jefferson accepted the role of executor. And then… he did nothing. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ...
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Conversations: Unmasking Thomas Jefferson? w/ Andrew Burstein
History Shorts
In this episode of History Shorts, we sit down with acclaimed historian Andrew Burstein to discuss his newest book, Being Thomas Jefferson, a deeply human portrait of one of America’s most complex founders. Moving beyond marble statues and textbook myths, Burstein invites us inside Jefferson’s inner world: his ambitions and anxieties, his brilliance and blind spots, his ideals and contradictions. Together, we explore how Jefferson understood himself, how he navigated power, friendship, politics, and aging, and how a man who wrote so eloquently about liberty could remain entangled in...
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History’s Most “Unkillable” Soldier: Adrian Carton de Wiart
History Shorts
Shot through the face. Blinded in one eye. His hand shattered so badly he tore off his own fingers. Survived plane crashes. Escaped a prisoner-of-war camp. Fought in three major wars across four continents. And somehow, Adrian Carton de Wiart kept going. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED BY:
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Morristown 1779: The Winter That Nearly Ended the Revolution
History Shorts
The winter of 1779–1780 was the coldest the American colonies had seen in generations, and for George Washington and the Continental Army, it was a season of hunger, mutiny, and near collapse. Encamped in Morristown, Washington’s soldiers faced brutal temperatures, empty supply wagons, unpaid wages, and a civilian population stretched to its limits. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED BY:
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Voltaire and Frederick's Messy Friendship
History Shorts
In the 18th century, two of Europe’s most formidable intellects believed they had found a kindred spirit in each other. One was a king who dreamed of ruling through reason. The other was the era’s sharpest critic of power, superstition, and hypocrisy. Together, Frederick the Great and Voltaire forged one of history’s most fascinating and combustible friendships. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED BY:
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Copernicus Moves the Earth
History Shorts
In the 16th century, one quiet canon and mathematician made a claim so radical it shattered humanity’s place in the universe. Nicolaus Copernicus didn’t just challenge astronomers; he challenged kings, churches, and centuries of inherited truth. This episode tells the story of how Copernicus overturned the ancient belief that Earth stood motionless at the center of creation and replaced it with a sun-centered cosmos. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED...
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Brief History of Cemeteries
History Shorts
Cemeteries are more than resting places for the dead; they are mirrors of the societies that built them. From ancient burial mounds and medieval churchyards to sprawling Victorian “cities of the dead” and today’s memorial parks, cemeteries reveal how humans have understood death, memory, religion, class, and public health. In this episode of History Shorts, we trace how burial practices evolved across centuries, and why cemeteries moved from the heart of towns to the edges of cities. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SUPPORT THE...
info_outlinePeter speaks with the Director of Teaching and Learning at the American Historical Association about the organization's newest and largest-ever survey of history education in American secondary schools.
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