Extra History(TV show/series, 2013-)

The Scottish Highlands, April 16th 1746. Prince Charles Edward Stuart has rallied a Rebel Jacobite Army. This group of Scottish Highlanders mixed with Lowland Scots and even French regimens set out to reclaim the throne for Charle's family. However, this would be the final confrontation of the Jacobites against the British

After decades of bombings, attacks, a swing to nonviolence, and even an attempted invasion of Canada, the Irish Republican Brotherhood is ready to seize Dublin. Rapidly and unexpectedly swinging back toward using physical force, the rebels rise in 1916 in hopes of taking advantage of the British Army's lower troop presence due to the First World War. For six days there's street-fighting through the alleys and squares of Dublin, with Irish republican rebels facing off against British troops and the Royal Irish Constabulary. By the time it's over, the revolt will be defeated and 16 of its leaders executed in hasty trials—but the heavy-handed use of British artillery and civilian deaths will push Ireland to vote for revolutionary parties in 1918, leading to a declaration of independence. Join us for an unusual war, one that ends in a negotiated peace rather than unconditional surrender... and that will lay the groundwork for regional difficulties and dangers that continue to this day.

The time the US government responded to a worker's strike with a full scale military engagement.

As Queen of France, Eleanor of Aquitaine feuded with the Pope, led troops during the Second Crusade, reformed maritime law and courted scandal—and that was just the first act of her life. One of the most clever, powerful and wealthy women of the Middle Ages, Eleanor took the unprecedented step of annulling her marriage to the King of France in order to marry the King of England, who she liked better anyway (though she had to avoid getting kidnapped by his brothers, first). Unfortunately, Henry II of England turned out to be only lightly better than Louis VII of France, and after fulfilling her duty of giving Henry sons, she decided to pack herself off to a castle and form the "Court of Love". Then, estranged from her second husband, she backed her son Henry the Young King against his father—an action that got her imprisoned. Free after sixteen years she became the matriarch of the most ridiculous family of the Middle Ages. She died, presumably of exasperation, at the age of 82.

In 1270, the great Emperor Yekuno Amlak seized the throne and started a dynasty that would last another seven hundred years. Claiming direct descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Amlak and his successors would take up the banner of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church—which had existed in some form since the time of the New Testament—and take their place as a Christian kingdom among the Muslim-dominated coast of East Africa. Over its centuries of history, it would try to secure its independence by launching crusades, fending off invasions, and battling (in a non-exhaustive list) the Egyptians, multiple local sultanates, the Ottomans, and the British. But it was their 1896 victory against Italian colonial expansion that would secure their lasting independence, and lead to the reign of Haile Selassie. This is a sweeping whistle-stop tour of one of Africa's most enduring, and incredible, states.

How a jazz singer came to be seen as a priority target for the US federal government.

A sobering look at the actions taken to exterminate indigenous culture in Canada and America.

In the 17th century, the Dutch Republic was one of the most prosperous, economically powerful and financially advanced countries in the world. Then, the tulips came. Brought to Europe via the Ottoman Empire, tulips quickly became a sought-after status symbol. And the financial betting began. Prices for tulip futures went sky-high between 1634 and 1637, with some going for 100,000 florins, when the average worker made only 300 florins a year—then the crash came. But how bad that crash was, what it looked like, and what caused it are debated even to this day. Is this a lesson in bubbles, or merely an early expression of consumer behavior, and how much economic pain did it really cause? Join us for an exploration of one of the world's first (and silliest) financial crises—and what it tells us about the Dutch Republic and early economies.

The story of that time New England started worrying about vampires...

The story of the mathematical proof promising the end of the world...and the hastily revised proof after it didn't come true.

Beer has been filling human bellies (and making them regret it the next morning) for roughly seven thousand years now—so long we have to rely on archaeology for its first appearance. And along the way, it's changed drastically, from the communal bowls and straws of Persia, to the chewy, malt-and-berry filled brews that helped medieval monks through fast days, to the industrialized global might of Anheuser-Busch, founded by German-American immigrants in 1852. But along the way, beer has changed us as well. From serving as a clean source of hydration, to the advent of pubs, to kickstarting food quality laws, it's been with us every step along the way—and may have even, in rise of agricultural cities, helped found civilization as we know it.

Mary Toft, Mother of Rabbits! First of her name and executioner to the medical community who was obsessed with the Maternal Impression Theory. It's true that pregnancy was a mystery to modern-day medicine not so long ago. Leading to medical myths and harmful runaway media campaigns. Which is perhaps are more common in today's society than we think.

A look at the life and works of Maya Angelou.

In 1808, the Prince Regent of Portugal fled his country ahead of Napoleon's armies and established a government-in-exile in Brazil. His thirteen years there would transform the colony into a new imperial capital, and when he eventually boarded a ship to assume the throne in Lisbon, he handed rule of Brazil off to his son Pedro I not as a colony, but as a kingdom. Thus began the formative period of Brazilian independence, as the new nation—under Pedro I, and later his son Pedro II—engaged in trade, wars, and a cultural awakening that would make Brazil not only the most powerful and stable Latin American nation of its time, but define much of what it is today. But though a constitutional monarchy rich in civil liberties, slavery still ruled, and military and political leaders increasingly plotted revolution. And as Pedro II aged without an heir, it was an open question whether the second King of Brazil would be its last...

British Foreign Affairs Office, London, February, 23rd 1917. In the afternoon, Arthur Balfour, the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, hands the American Ambassador Walter Page a sheet of paper. It's an intercepted message sent by Germany, encouraging Mexico to enter the Great War against the United States. In short, it's the type of message that can change the course of history! How will this staged and dramatic charade of the Zimmerman Telegram change the course of history?

The Holy Roman Empire 1504, Götz von Berlichingen was the youngest son of a Swabian noble. Inheriting nothing apart from a military education and a suit of armor. He joined the army as a Knight but an incompetent artillery crew changes his life. Severing his right hand and forging a the legend, Götz of the Iron Hand!

In 1932, an ultranationalist Buddhist preacher developed a kill list and distributed pistols to followers. Each man had a target, whether a liberal politician or trading company tycoon. One man, one kill. When bullets began flying and the plot was discovered, it shook Japan—particulalry after an associated group assassinated the Prime Minister. But the trials of these men did not go as anticipated, instead rallying public support for their "patriotic actions." It was the start of Japanese political norms eroding, paving the way for an era of bloody political violence, hyper-partisanship, and increasing military control that would put the Japanese government, as it then existed, irrevocably on the path to destruction in the Second World War. While much attention is given to the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany, there's very little popular exploration of how Japan descended from a democracy governed by a constitution to what amounted to miltiary control.

Bowling Green Plantation, Wilkinson County, Mississippi, 1795. Eli Whitney has planted the seed of the American cotton industry's industrial revolution by engineering the cotton gin! Which would revolutionize cotton production and create less of a need for slavery. However, these were just the seeds of a lie.

A look at the history of diabetes and the vital discovery of insulin.

It's one of history's great questions: how did the entire Indian subcontinent, made up of many millions of people, come to be dominated and controlled by a tiny number of British administrators and soldiers for nearly two hundred years? Usually the answer to this question involves talking about the technological and military strength of the British Empire, but this response ignores how the subcontinent's own history and politics played a role in Britain's success. To understand colonial conquest, it's often more important to understand the perspectives of the colonized than the colonizers...

A look at one of the most bizarre military engagements of all time, when the Australian military declared war with machine guns on a large herd of emus...and lost.

A look at the life and controversial legacy of Marcus Garvey and the Return to Africa movement.

Was Rasputin really blessed by mystic powers? Was he secretly controlling the Romonov's behind the scene? Or is he a product of the tumultuous times Russia was going through?

You ever have a meeting go so poorly that 60 men all fell into a latrine and drowned? Yeah it's a hard bar to clear. So let's talk about the Erfurt Latrine Disaster in the Holy Roman Empire and how Luis III came away somehow smelling of roses. (Not literally)

A look at the history of humanity's global addiction to coffee.

Vlad III or Vlad the Impaler, a man known for his brutality against the Ottoman army, and his own people. A ruler who stopped at nothing to grab his throne. And a man with a legacy so bloody it seeped into the legend of Dracula.

In 1930s America, we saw the rise of a new kind of organized crime in the big cities and fewer places are bigger than New York City. And there are huge personalities in this underground, from Dutch Schultz to Luck Luciano. But Stephanie St. Clair stands out for a number of reasons. From her work with the Harlem Numbers Racket, to her refusal to back down from anyone, Stephanie St Clair truly earned the name Madam Queen.

Let's dig into the origins of the Negro League Baseball, a baseball league that was created all the way back in the 1880s and the two players who were so successful, they broke the segregationist wall in baseball: Josh Gibson & Satchel Paige. Gibson was an absolute legend at the bat and Paige was one of the world biggest showmen as well as best pitcher. And both would pave the way for Jackie Robinson.

The Thirty Years War is one of the bloodiest conflicts in all of human history. Depending on which historian you're consulting, the death toll ranges from 4.5 to 8 million. The next conflict that would claim more lives would be WW1, several hundred years later. And civilians died at an astounding rate, nearly 7 to 1. While there is a lot of focus on the military aspect of this conflict, we want to try something different. We'll be examining the effects of the war as a humanitarian crisis. What started as a localized rebellion in Prague soon engulfed the entire Holy Roman Empire and a majority of Europe in a war that was so devastating, it must have felt like the end times.

A look at the ascents of the Matterhorn and the history of mountaineering as a sport.

A look at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, and how this one comparatively minor battle completely changed the course of world history.

A relatively new field of study, we take a look at the effects of the Jewish Diaspora caused by the Spanish Inquisition. As Jewish communities were forced from their homes, many of them took to the seas where they rebuilt communities and resources through a very popular method that also allowed them to strike back against the nation that destroyed their homes: piracy

A look at the life and assassination of civil rights hero Medgar Evers.

A horrifying look at the unethical practices and institutional racism in medicine and why many black people don't trust medical practitioners to this day.

Theodore Roosevelt goes to bat against some of the greatest obstacles of his age, Standard Oil & the meat packing industry. Rockefeller, the birth of investigative journalism exposes, congressional battles, and workplace abuses that will turn your stomach, this series showcases the dirty underbelly of the turn of the century.

A look at how civic engineering helped support and create segregation and perpetuate it long after legal equality.

A look at how systemic racist policies in housing continued to cause harm long after legal equality.

A look at the most famous black boxers and how they changed the sport forever.

Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, was known throughout the world. A thorn in the side of the European powers, a hero to his people, he did the unthinkable at the time and united the people of the Middle East against the Crusaders and took back Jerusalem. But that was far from the end of his story.

A look at the schemes and secret plots of Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster.

A look at how Polio galvanized a nation and changed the nature of charity.

A look at the Meiji Restoration and the End of the Samurai Era. Not as bloodless as you might have been led to believe.

A look at the revolutionary art and music scene of 1920s Harlem.

Werewolf, Demon, or mass hysteria? A look at the strange accounts of a massive beast savaging livestock in rural France.

A look at the history of how voting has worked in America.

The life and legacy of Cleopatra.

A look at an early 16th century Spanish priest who spent his life fighting for the abolition of slavery.

A look at the Harlem Hellfighters, examining the effects of institutional racism even in the middle of a World War.

The story of Syphilis from the ancient world to Naples to Tuskegee to today.

The Crisis of the Third Century and the reign of Diocletian

An exploration of the Trojan War, archaeological disasters and how to separate history from myth.

The elaborate heist that cost the new Queen of France her reputation.

A look into the seldom taught history of Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre.

The Austronesian expansion through the Pacific and its subsequent exploration by Europeans.

Thanks to 300, everyone is familiar with the Spartan troops & Spartan military power. But let's talk about the 300 that served the Theban army. An elite force of shock troops, these 300 men were well trained, fearsome in battle, and were the first to defeat the Spartans while having a smaller force. This was the Sacred Band and they had one very important trick up their sleeve: the literal power of love. Yup. Every member of the Sacred Band fought alongside their partner. It's pride month, baby.

The meeting and tournament between Henry VIII of England and François I of France to establish a formal treaty of European peace.

The partition of the Ottoman Empire following WWI and the bloody legacy of this haphazard nation building.

Black Tuesday and the start of the Great Depression.

April Fool's Day joke episode. Ra Ra Rasputin by Boney M.

A look at the famous travels of the Islamic World's favourite busybody.

A look at the inspiring and often confusing tangled mess that was the world's first successful slave revolution and the founding of the first Sovereign Black State by former slaves.

Allan Pinkerton and the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

The development of Edward Jenner's smallpox vaccine.

The founding of London's police force.

A revolutionary dreamer or a tyrannical despot? That is a question at the heart of Akhenaten's rule, a pharaoh so unusual, that his successors tried and almost successfully erased him from the historical records. You may know his more famous wife, Queen Nefertiti but Akhenaten was a fascinating ruler. He went against the grain of almost all of Egyptian traditions including trying to establish a monotheistic religion and unite the kingdom Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Egypt.

The story of how the Berlin Wall fell.

The history of space travel, from the first rockets, to crewed space flights, and beyond.

The history of Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world by land area.

The expedition of the Beagle, and how that voyage changed the history of biology.

The history of dentistry from its pre-historic roots to modern day.

The rise and fall of the Inca Empire.

The history of exported feral pigs being brought to the Americas by Spanish conquistadors.

The Polish resistance amidst WWII during The Warsaw Uprising.

The life of Joan of Arc, and her battles for France during the Hundred Years' War.

An overview of the Hundred Years War. Guest starring and written by David Crowther.

History of China during the Three Kingdoms era from 220 to 280 CE.

Historians have been learning that the US civil war armies were a lot more diverse than previously accounted for--partly because many soldiers who hailed from other countries and nations used adopted names. Chinese, Hawaiian, Hispanic, and Cherokee soldiers all participated on both sides of the US civil war--suffering even more conflict in some cases.

Angolan Queen Nzinga's rise, rule, and campaign against Portuguese colonization.

The 1683 Siege of Vienna between the Ottomans and Habsburgs.

The Boston Massacre didn’t come out of nowhere--resentment between the early US colonies and the British army had been brewing for some time over the Stamp Act. A propaganda war ensued between the loyalists and the radicals. John Adams would get his revolutionary start as he worked to resolve this injustice...

The causes and consequences of the Great Famine of Ireland.

Jane Austen wrote in the name of making critical social commentary of the privileges she and others held while the rest of Europe was in political turmoil. Her novels like "Pride and Prejudice," "Mansfield Park," and "Emma" made waves in their time for how they criticized Victorian-era society.

The development of a cure for tuberculosis.

The life of Sun Yat-sen, first President of China after the revolution against the Qing Monarchy, preceding the split between the Chinese Communists and Nationalists.

Poland's plan of defence against German invasion.

The various conquests of the Viking expansion.

Julie d'Aubigny lived during an unusual time in 17th-century France when political and cultural norms were shifting. She was allowed to exist openly as a bisexual woman pursuing her swordsmanship and singing talents in the court of King Louis XIV.

The history of quantum mechanics underlying the development of quantum computing.

The defeat of Japan in the Mariana Islands during the Pacific campaign.

Formation of the Majapahit Empire, predecessor of modern Indonesia.

Pellagra can cause depression, dementia, and diarrhea, eventually leading to death. Dr. Joseph Goldberger was put on the case to crack it.

The spread and impact of the Spanish flu during World War I.

The Battle of Thermopylae, between Sparta and Persia.

The historical ramifications of non-Euclidean geometry.

The rise and collapse of the Mali Empire.

A throwaway cigarette landed on a pile of cloth. 146 workers died from the resulting fire. But this tragedy motivated citizens and politicians to take a stand for workers' rights, creating a far safer world that we still live in over a century later.

The legacy of the Viking expansion to the British Isles.

The life of Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire.

The build-up to and resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis by US President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

She was the most ferocious pirate China had ever known. She was a powerful fleet commander, a sharp businesswoman, and a consummate strategist. She was Cheng I Sao, leader of the Pirate Confederation, and she lived her life on her terms.

The unofficial ceasefires around Christmas 1914 along the Western Front.

The reign of Khosrow I of Persia, and rivalry with the Byzantine Empire.

Tension between the Soviet Union and their former World War 2 Allies escalated into a hostile blockade of Berlin. All sides wanted to avoid another war, but the United States, Great Britain, and France refused to bend to Stalin's pressure. They came up with a daring plan to supply Berlin by air.

The rise of Otto von Bismarck and the unification of Germany.

The defeat and decline of the Swedish Empire.

A humble signal station manned by only twenty one Sikh officers of the British Empire finds itself beset by 10,000 attackers. There is no hope for relief, but even knowing it will come at the cost of their lives, the Sikhs refuse to stand down.

The theories underlying the collapse of the palace economies of the Bronze Age.

The prelude to, and execution of, the Normandy landings.

The founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha I.

The pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck by the British Royal Navy.

The creation and shortcomings of the US Articles of Confederation, which preceded, led to, and were replaced by the Constitution.

The life of British palaeontologist Mary Anning.

The life of Australian outlaw Ned Kelly.

The life and reign of Russian Empress Catherine the Great.

The life of South American revolutionary Simón Bolívar.

look into the origin of Veterans Day and the end of World War I.

The evolution of exchange, from bartering to paper currency.

The founding of the Native American Iroquois Confederacy.

The Gracchi reforms and aftermath; the societal tensions that preceded the fall of the Roman Republic.

Bishops. Manuscripts. Pilgrimage. Wealth. In 793 CE, the island monastery of Lindisfarne thrived in a state of harmony. Then, everything changed when the Viking raiders attacked. Once they discovered Europe's weakness, not even mighty kings like Charlemagne could stop them. They transformed their power at sea into an avenue for conquest and expansion: the Viking Age had begun.

Federico da Montefeltro shone brightly as the "Light of Italy," one of many torches that helped light the flame of Renaissance. He made his name as a wily yet honest mercenary captain, but he also ruled as prince of the small, remote town of Urbino. There, he and his wife built an illustrious court that celebrated creativity, knowledge, and justice.

The causes and outcomes of the First Opium War between the UK and China.

Extra Credits' look into Samuel HaNagid.

Extra Credits' look into the history of the written word in Sumer.

The early Christian divisions surrounding the Council of Nicaea.

The economics of World War II.

The reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan at the apex of the Ottoman Empire.

The Battle of Kursk - Germany's offensive against the Soviet Union.

Mary Seacole and the Crimean War.

The Broad Street pump, and John Snow's development of epidemiology.

Extra Credits' look into Odenathus, the short-lived Palmyrine Empire, and Palmyra today.

Admiral Yi Sun-Shin's defense of Korea from Japanese invasion.

The First Crusade, called for by Pope Urban II to recapture the Holy Land.

The Byzantine Empire and the reign of Justinian I.

The Zulu Kingdom, and war with the British Empire's colonies.

The rise and collapse of the South Sea Company, and its impact on the British economy.

The "Age of Warring States" of feudal Japan.

The events lead to the First World War.

History of the wars between Rome and Carthage