History Analyzed
Episodes
67 episodes
Crossover Episode with History Daily: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Instead of a regular History Analyzed episode, we are doing a crossover with another podcast: History Daily. Every weekday, History Daily presents a "this day in history"; meaning they explore a momentous event that h...
The Electoral College – the Peculiar Way the U.S. Selects a President
Because of the Electoral College, individual Americans do not directly vote for their president. This episode explores: what is the Electoral College; why slavery was the main reason for this system; some bizarre and undemocratic election resul...
The Hindenburg
On May 6, 1937, the hydrogen filled zeppelin known as the Hindenburg exploded as it was landing in New Jersey. Surprisingly, 62 of the 97 people on board survived. Experts still argue as to what caused an airship the size of the Titanic to be d...
The Spanish-American War
For a few months in 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. This essentially marked the end of the Spanish Empire and the beginning of the U.S. as a world power. As a result of this brief war, Theodore Roosevelt became president, Cuba be...
D.B. Cooper and the Golden Age of Skyjacking
On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper (later known as D.B. Cooper) boarded a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. He told the flight attendant that he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 in cash and 4 parachutes. His ...
Johannes Gutenberg's Printing Press Created the First Information Age
Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press. The mass production of books and other printed texts revolutionized the world. Gutenberg created a transformation in knowledge acquisition and communication. This kicked off the first...
Anne Frank, the Wannsee Conference, and the Holocaust
Anne Frank is one of the most widely read authors in history, although she did not live to see the publication of her book. Anne was a German teenager who happened to be Jewish as well. She and her family spent 2 years in seclusion in Amsterdam...
The Assassinations of Presidents Garfield and McKinley
The deaths of presidents James Garfield and William McKinley are unjustly overlooked. Garfield's assassin thought he was acting on orders from God. Garfield did not die from the assassin's bullet but from the incompetence of his doctors. His su...
The Great Depression and the New Deal
The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. Starting in 1929 there was widespread unemployment, poverty, and closing of businesses. The economy continued to spiral downward until 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt became presi...
The Cuban Missile Crisis – Armageddon Narrowly Avoided
For 13 days in October 1962 the world was at the closest point in history to a nuclear war. A confrontation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. over nuclear missiles in Cuba brought humankind to the abyss and the unthinkable: World War III.
The Fall of France 1940
At the start of World War II, France was still a world power. The U.S. and many other nations were relying on the French, along with their ally Britian, to stop Hitler. But in just 6 weeks in May and June 1940, the Germans conquered France, Bel...
The Titanic – Myths vs. Facts
Just about everybody knows the story. A supposedly unsinkable ship hit an iceberg and sank, proving the folly of humans. But there are many facts which are not widely known as well as prevalent myths which need to be debunked. Learn what really...
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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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".
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...
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...
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...
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...