History Analyzed
History Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and best kept secrets. Your host, Mark Palmer, draws upon a history degree from the University of Notre Dame and literal decades of informal study. He explains not only what happened, but also why and how historical events occurred. At times, he examines how these events have shaped the present and continue to affect us today.
Episodes
55 episodes
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States
After the Civil War, it took a century of protests, boycotts, demonstrations, and legal challenges to end the Jim Crow system of segregation and legal discrimination. Learn about the brave men, women, and children that risked their personal saf...
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Season 1
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Episode 55
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1:08:03
The Louisiana Purchase
Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and doubled the size of the United States. This set America on its expansion, known as Manifest Destiny, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This episode explores the history of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 54
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1:05:29
Caesar Augustus
Augustus is the most significant nonreligious figure in history. He is probably the greatest political genius of all time. He created the Roman Empire which lasted for centuries and formed so much of the world we live in today, including our ca...
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Season 1
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Episode 53
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1:06:16
Unconditional Surrender was the Correct Policy in World War II
The Western Allies' demand that the Axis Powers unconditionally surrender was essential to keep the Soviets and the Chinese in the war while enduring incredible losses, to keep up the morale of the western allies, and to achieve the elimination...
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Season 1
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Episode 52
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1:04:07
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were Depression Era outlaws who are just known by their first names. They have been romanticized as young lovers who stood by each other and lived life on their own terms. But in reality, Clyde was a thief and a m...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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1:00:10
Immigration, Citizenship, and Eugenics in the U.S.
For years all immigrants were allowed into the U.S., but some could not become citizens. Later, certain nationalities were limited or completely banned from entering the U.S. This episode outlines those changes through the 1980s and discusses t...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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1:05:37
The Scramble For Africa
Within 30 years in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Europe went from controlling 20% of Africa to 90%. It was called "the Scramble for Africa". Find out why Europeans colonized the Americas easily through unintentional germ warfare, but Africa w...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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1:01:22
Adolf Hitler was the most consequential (and horrible) person of the last 500 years
Adolf Hitler's insane and evil policies changed the world more than anybody since Christopher Columbus. This episode details the horrors of World War II; explains how Hitler is to blame for the war; illustrates how Hitler made WWII even worse t...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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1:09:03
Gettysburg — the Pivotal Battle of the American Civil War
It was the bloodiest battle ever in the Western Hemisphere. For 3 days in July 1863 Americans slaughtered each other on a terrible scale around a small town in Pennsylvania, where the honored dead "gave the last full measure of devotion".
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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1:12:21
Galileo Galilei vs. the Church
Galileo is considered the father of modern science. His discoveries included the laws of pendulums which led to the development of the first accurate clocks. But tragically, he was tried by the Inquisition of Rome for heresy. The science denier...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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54:48
The Arsenal of Democracy — U.S. Industry Was the Biggest Factor in World War II
A lot of elements contributed into winning World War II: Britain refusing to make peace with Nazi Germany after the fall of France along with the Chinese and Soviets willingness to suffer millions of deaths. But World War II was a war between t...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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1:02:48
Polio — Jonas Salk and Franklin Roosevelt
Polio was one of the scourges of the 20th century. And it mainly struck children. All of a sudden a person contracted polio and suffered terribly for several days; sometimes they recovered, sometimes they died, and sometimes they were left perm...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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54:16
The Vietnam War: 1964-1973
Wars are never solely military questions. They always involve politics and the will of the people. This episode outlines America's war in Vietnam and explains why the U.S. lost, including the limitations imposed by the American public and the r...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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1:13:12
How America Stumbled into Vietnam
The story of the Vietnam War usually starts with President John Kennedy being assassinated and new President Lyndon Johnson getting the U.S. into a long, unwinnable war from 1964 through 1973. This episode explores what happened before that war...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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1:11:47
Vikings!
The Vikings are history's best example of an irresistible force. They were raiders from Scandinavia that pillaged and slaughtered across much of Europe. They founded Iceland, lived in Greenland, and were the first Europeans in North America. Th...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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47:24
McCarthyism — Political Witch-hunts and the Red Scare
In the 1950s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy led a hunt for Communists in the American government. His brand of persecution based on lies, rumors, and innuendos ruined many lives but did not send a single subversive to jail. He set the standard f...
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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59:58
Pompeii — the World's Greatest Time Capsule
In the year 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius erupted and destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii. We have an eyewitness account describing the horrors of an event which certainly seemed like the end of the world. The volcanic ash preserved the city for centur...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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55:43
Lincoln was the #1 Reason the Union Won the Civil War
There are many reasons why the Union won the American Civil War: the brilliance of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman as generals, the much larger population in the free states, and the industrial capacity of the North. But the numbe...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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57:12
Pearl Harbor — Japan's Biggest Mistake of World War II
On December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. What appeared to be a stunning success actually spelled the end of Japan's dreams of empire and le...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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1:09:48
The Donner Party — Cannibalism in California
In 1846, a wagon train which became known as the Donner Party was headed to California. They became trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and resorted to eating those who died. Out of 87 people only 46 survived.
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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52:54
PT-109: JFK becomes a hero in WWII
On August 2, 1943, a Japanese destroyer rammed and cut in half an American PT boat captained by a young John F. Kennedy. Due to the determination of JFK, the bravery of his crew, the assistance of some Solomon Islands natives, and some good luc...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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57:35
Ferdinand Magellan and the First Voyage Around the World
In 1519 Magellan set sail with five ships to find a southwest passage — a strait though South America. Three years later, only one ship returned to Spain with just 18 of the original 240 men. They had sailed around the entire earth. The voyage ...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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57:51
Prohibition created Al Capone and fueled the Roaring '20s
The 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol within the U.S., might be the best example of unintended consequences. Prohibition helped start women's liberation, propelled the Jazz Age, and essentially cre...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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53:51
Hannibal vs. Rome: The Punic Wars
Most people only know one thing about Hannibal — that he brought elephants over the Alps to attack Rome. But there is so much more to the story. Carthage and Rome fought three wars over a period of 118 years to determine who would become the do...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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58:15