History That Doesn't Suck

After turning our attention back to Europe in the last few episodes, it’s time to finally examine the Holocaust. Back in episode 185, we covered a broad history of antisemitism in Europe and the viole...

"My dear Duce, it’s no longer any good… At this moment you are the most hated man in Italy.”  This is the story of Operations Underworld, Mincemeat, and Husky.  On the heels of the decisive Allied v...

“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”  This is the story of the Allied campaign in North Africa.  Long under the colonial thumb ...

“When do we get a whack at those Germans?” This is the story of America’s entry into the European Theater. After Pearl Harbor, American foot soldiers and generals alike are eager to get in on the act...

“It was almost unbelievable, but I was seeing it. Almost simultaneously, three [Japanese] carriers were wiped out. I knew what it meant. By golly, we did it!”  This is the story of a battle that chan...

“We had been promised relief but none was coming, and all of us in Bataan shared a sense of betrayal.” This is the story of the United State’s earliest—and most disastrous—days of war in the Pacific....

With the December 1941 surprise attack on the US naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, our story has officially come to the United States’ entry into the Second World War. Professor Jackson told that sto...

“This year very few Hanukkah candles were lit.” / “This is a strange Christmas Eve.” This is the story of 1941’s wartime holiday season.  It’s difficult to conjure up a more miserable picture than t...

“Man your battle stations! This is no sh*t!” This is the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  It’s 7:55 on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. 183 Japanese aircraft descend on the United Sta...

“To be perfectly frank, the ways you and I look at the Chinese are fundamentally different. You seem to think of them as human, but I see them as pigs.” This is the origin story of the Empire of the ...