Killing Sitting Bull
History Shorts
Before dawn on December 15, 1890, a gunshot rang out on the Standing Rock Reservation, and Sitting Bull, the legendary Lakota chief, was dead. His assassination, carried out by Native police under U.S. government orders, marked not just the end of a man but the symbolic death of Native resistance on the Northern Plains. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE! SPONSORED BY THE PODCAST REPUBLIC: LEARN MORE AT: SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: SUPPORT THE SHOW: LEARN MORE:
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The Shame of Benedict Arnold
History Shorts
Benedict Arnold: the name alone still echoes with betrayal. But behind the infamous label of “traitor” lies a story that’s far more complex, and far more human. Once hailed as a hero of the American Revolution, Arnold’s fall from grace was not a sudden plunge, but a slow unraveling of pride, frustration, ambition, and perceived injustice. In this episode of History Shorts, we explore the dramatic arc of Benedict Arnold’s life, from his fearless leadership at Quebec and Saratoga to his covert dealings with the British and ultimate defection. Was Arnold merely a villain, or was he a...
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War Crimes Trial of Andersonville's H. Wirtz (Civil War True Crime)
History Shorts
On a cold November morning in 1865, just months after the Civil War’s end, a Confederate officer stood on the gallows in Washington, D.C. His name was Henry Wirz, the former commandant of the notorious Andersonville prison camp, a place of such suffering that it shocked even a war-weary nation. By the time the rope snapped his neck, over 13,000 Union prisoners had died under his watch, and the war’s first war crimes trial had delivered its judgment. But was Wirz a sadistic killer, or a scapegoat for a shattered Confederacy? This episode revisits one of the most chilling and consequential...
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Barbed Wire Tames the West
History Shorts
Barbed wire began as a humble solution to a humble problem: fencing the vast, treeless expanses of the American West. But this simple invention—two twisted strands studded with sharp steel barbs - would soon change the course of history. From reshaping the American frontier to fueling violence, displacing Indigenous nations, and fencing the battlefields and concentration camps of the 20th century, barbed wire earned its ominous nickname: The Devil’s Rope. In this episode, we trace the dramatic journey of barbed wire, from patent wars and range wars to trench warfare and totalitarian...
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Conversations: Everything is Tuberculosis, w/ John Green
History Shorts
In this thought-provoking episode of History Shorts, bestselling author John Green joins us, not to talk about fiction, but about the real-world epidemic that once shaped everything from art to architecture, medicine to morality. His new book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, traces how tuberculosis (TB) didn’t just ravage lungs, it infected our language, our culture, and our sense of beauty and tragedy. Together, we dive into how TB shaped the Romantic era, influenced urban design, gave us the sanatorium and the selfie, and why it became a metaphor for everything from genius to grief. This...
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Irish Americans Attack Canada
History Shorts
Between 1866 and 1871, a secretive Irish-American paramilitary group known as the Fenians launched a series of bizarre and audacious cross-border attacks from the U.S. into Canada. Their mission? To strike at the British Empire by seizing Canadian territory and ransoming it for Irish independence. Though the Fenian Raids failed militarily, they left a surprising legacy—spurring Canadian nationalism, hastening Canadian confederation, and complicating U.S.-British diplomacy. In this episode, we unpack the motives, missteps, and aftermath of one of the strangest invasions in North American...
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America's Stonehenge
History Shorts
Just off a quiet back road in Salem, New Hampshire, sits a baffling jumble of dolmen-like chambers, serpentine walls, and precisely aligned monoliths known today as “America’s Stonehenge.” Is it a colonial root-cellar maze, a Native ceremonial calendar, or proof of ancient trans-Atlantic voyagers? This episode traces the site’s discovery, fringe-theory circus, solar alignments, and ongoing archaeological tug-of-war, asking why a pile of rocks in the New England woods still sparks debate after 200 years. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU...
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Mad Gasser of Mattoon
History Shorts
In September 1944, while Allied troops battled overseas, the quiet Illinois town of Mattoon was seized by panic. Families awoke to a sickly-sweet odor, burning throats, and sudden paralysis, then glimpsed a shadowy figure slipping into the darkness. For two breathless weeks, newspaper headlines screamed of an “Anesthetic Prowler,” armed neighbors patrolled the streets, and the FBI weighed sabotage or chemical crime. Yet in the end, no culprit and no clear cause were ever found. Was it an industrial leak, a wartime spy, a malicious prankster, or mass hysteria born of home-front stress? This...
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Killing Wild Bill Hickok
History Shorts
Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 1876. A town of gold, grit, and gamblers. Among its rogues and prospectors walked a legend: Wild Bill Hickok, the Civil War scout turned gunslinger turned gambler. But on August 2nd, fate caught up to the myth. In a smoky saloon, with a hand of cards and his back to the door, Hickok was shot dead by a coward with a grudge. This episode unpacks the gripping true story of the man behind the legend and how the Old West’s most feared gunman met his end not in a duel, but in an ambush. DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN...
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TODAY IN CONTEXT: Third Parties in American Politics- A History
History Shorts
In this episode of History Shorts, we explore the fascinating and often frustrating history of third parties in American politics, just as Elon Musk launches his own. From the Republican Party's origins as a third-party insurgency to the fleeting promise of Ross Perot and the Reform Party, we trace the moments when political outsiders challenged the system, and when they crashed against it. What does history teach us about third parties? Why do they so often fail? And can Musk’s new venture break the mold, or is it destined to become a footnote? Join us as we walk through the surprising...
info_outlineBefore dawn on December 15, 1890, a gunshot rang out on the Standing Rock Reservation, and Sitting Bull, the legendary Lakota chief, was dead. His assassination, carried out by Native police under U.S. government orders, marked not just the end of a man but the symbolic death of Native resistance on the Northern Plains.
DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE AND LEAVE A RATING OR A REVIEW! THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!
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