History Shorts

When Americans watched fascists march down Main Street in the 1930s, they told themselves it was a European import—new, foreign, un-American.

Joseph Kelly says that story is wrong.

In The Biggest Lie: The Prehistory of American Fascism, 1818–1915, Kelly traces a homegrown political tradition from the Missouri crisis through a Southern police state and Jim Crow, then out across the nation after the Spanish-American War as Anglo-Saxon nationalism: the claim that this country belongs to a master race. By 1915, he argues, the Confederacy was gone. The lie had gone national.

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Ben Macintyre joins History Shorts to discuss his new book Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War's Most Extraordinary Spy.

In 1981, Tehran was still reeling from the Iranian Revolution. The Shah was gone, Ayatollah Khomeini's regime was consolidating power, and the Soviet Union was actively working to exploit the chaos. Into this dangerous environment stepped KGB Major Vladimir Kuzichkin—a highly skilled Soviet intelligence officer who would become one of the most important double agents of the late Cold War.

Codename: Redwood.

In this conversation, Ben Macintyre reveals the extraordinary true story of...

In 1817, a mysterious young woman appeared in an English village speaking an unknown language and wearing exotic clothing.

She claimed to be Princess Caraboo, royalty from the distant island of Javasu who had been kidnapped by pirates and escaped by jumping overboard near England.

High society was captivated. Newspapers reported her story. Scholars examined her strange language. She performed unusual rituals and entertained fascinated aristocrats.

There was just one problem.

Princess Caraboo was actually Mary Baker, an English cobbler's daughter.

In this episode of History Shorts, we uncover one...

Before the FBI or Secret Service became household names, there were the Pinkertons.

Founded by Scottish immigrant Allan Pinkerton in 1850, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency hunted train robbers, infiltrated criminal gangs, protected Abraham Lincoln, and developed an enormous network of private investigators.

Their famous logo—a watchful eye above the words "We Never Sleep"—helped give us the term "private eye."

But the Pinkertons had a darker role. Industrialists hired them to infiltrate unions, break strikes, and confront workers. At their height, the agency reportedly employed more operatives than the United States had sold...

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles interrupted America's radios with terrifying news: Martians had invaded New Jersey.

Except they hadn't.

Welles's War of the Worlds was a radio drama presented partly as breaking-news bulletins. Some listeners who tuned in late mistook fiction for reality, and stories of nationwide panic quickly followed.

But did millions of Americans really flee their homes in terror?

Not quite. Later research suggests the legendary mass hysteria was greatly exaggerated—ironically, by newspapers eager to portray radio as dangerous competition.

In this episode of History Shorts, we se...

Before World War I, German was everywhere in America. Millions of Americans spoke it. German-language newspapers flourished. Schools taught it. Churches worshipped in it. Entire communities conducted daily life in German.

Then America entered the war.

Suddenly, the language of millions of Americans became the language of the enemy. German books were removed from libraries. Schools dropped German classes. German-language newspapers disappeared. Some states restricted—or even prohibited—the teaching of foreign languages to children.

The campaign extended beyond language. Sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage." German music faced hostility. People changed their names and stop...

In 1940, with Nazi Germany sweeping across Europe and invasion seemingly possible, Britain faced an extraordinary question: What happens to the country's wealth if Hitler reaches London?

The answer was Operation Fish.

In one of the largest movements of wealth in history, Britain secretly shipped enormous quantities of gold and securities across the submarine-infested Atlantic to Canada for safekeeping. Royal Navy warships and civilian vessels carried fortunes worth billions of dollars today—sometimes with crews having little idea what was hidden beneath their feet.

The stakes were enormous. A single German U-boat could have se...

He launched Sputnik. He sent Yuri Gagarin into space. He helped turn the Soviet Union into the world's first space superpower.

And almost no one knew his name.

Sergei Korolev was the brilliant engineer behind the Soviet Union's greatest early triumphs in the Space Race. But before becoming the architect of its space program, Korolev had been arrested during Stalin's purges, tortured, sent to the Gulag, and nearly killed by the government he would later help make famous.

Even at the height of his success, Soviet secrecy kept his identity hidden. Newspapers simply...

In 480 BC, Persian King Xerxes I was preparing one of the largest invasions of ancient Greece ever attempted. To move his enormous army into Europe, his engineers constructed floating bridges across the Hellespont, linking Asia and Europe.

Then a storm destroyed them.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Xerxes responded by declaring war on the water itself. He ordered the Hellespont whipped 300 times, had shackles thrown into the sea, and commanded his men to brand the water with hot irons as punishment for defying him.

The bridges were rebuilt. This time, the Persian...

In February 1915, with the First World War raging, hundreds of Indian soldiers serving the British Empire in Singapore suddenly mutinied.

Men of the 5th Light Infantry turned their weapons against their officers and seized control of parts of the colony. For nearly a week, British authority in one of its most important Asian strongholds teetered as fighting spread and colonial officials scrambled to respond.

Why they rebelled remains complicated. Rumors circulated that the Muslim soldiers would be sent to fight the Ottoman Empire. Wartime propaganda, resentment of British rule, poor leadership, and revolutionary movements all...

During the Vietnam War, the United States launched a secret operation with an extraordinary objective: use the weather as a weapon.

Beginning in the 1960s, American aircraft flew missions over Southeast Asia seeding clouds with chemicals in an attempt to extend the monsoon season. The goal of Operation Popeye was simple—produce more rain over key sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, turning roads into mud, triggering landslides, and making it harder for North Vietnam to move troops and supplies south.

The program remained secret for years before being exposed to the American public, pro...

Benjamin Franklin was a printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat—and possibly one of the most effective intelligence operators of the American Revolution.

While living in London, Franklin cultivated political contacts, acquired private correspondence, and secretly sent sensitive information back to the colonies. During the Revolution, his diplomatic mission in Paris became a center of intrigue, filled with spies, double agents, intercepted letters, secret codes, and British attempts to penetrate the American delegation.

The remarkable part? One of Britain's most valuable spies was working inside Franklin's own household—and Franklin may never have discovered him.

So w...

In August 1835, a New York newspaper announced an astonishing discovery: life had been found on the Moon.

According to The Sun, famed astronomer Sir John Herschel had used a revolutionary new telescope to observe lunar forests, strange animals, crystal formations—and even intelligent, winged humanoids. The reports were detailed, scientific-sounding, and completely fabricated.

Readers couldn't get enough. Circulation soared as the newspaper published installment after installment of what became known as the Great Moon Hoax. Even after doubts emerged, the story had demonstrated something remarkably modern: sensational claims, wrapped in the language of science and au...

In October 1919, President Woodrow Wilson suffered a devastating stroke that left him partially paralyzed and severely impaired. But the full extent of his condition was kept from Congress, the Cabinet—and the American public.

For the remaining seventeen months of his presidency, access to Wilson was tightly controlled by his wife, Edith Wilson, and his physician. Government documents passed through Edith's hands. Officials struggled to see the president. Major decisions were delayed or filtered while the country was left uncertain about who was actually running the executive branch.

Edith later insisted she never assumed presidential po...

Bestselling author Robert Harris joins History Shorts for a conversation about his newest novel, Agrippa.

Harris returns to ancient Rome to tell the story of Marcus Agrippa — the brilliant general, master engineer, and lifelong right-hand man to Augustus. In this wide-ranging interview, he discusses how he approached writing from Agrippa's perspective, the complicated friendship and power dynamic at the heart of the book, the challenges of limited historical sources, and the contemporary resonance of a republic giving way to one-man rule. He also reflects on writing cinematically and the many film adaptations of his work.

A...

For decades, Geronimo resisted attempts by the United States and Mexico to confine the Apache people to reservations. His small band repeatedly escaped into the rugged mountains of the Southwest, pursued by thousands of American troops across some of the most unforgiving terrain in North America.

By 1886, however, the pursuit was nearing its end. On September 4, Geronimo and his remaining followers surrendered to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona. His surrender effectively brought the long Apache Wars to a close—but peace did not mean freedom. Geronimo and hundreds of other Chiricahua Apache, including scouts who had...

Did Franklin D. Roosevelt secretly maneuver the United States into World War II?

Long before Pearl Harbor, FDR was determined to help Britain survive Nazi Germany. His administration traded destroyers for British bases, pushed through Lend-Lease, expanded the Navy's role in the Atlantic, and imposed increasingly severe economic sanctions on Japan—all while most Americans remained deeply wary of another world war.

To Roosevelt's critics, these actions prove he was quietly leading the country toward a conflict he publicly promised to avoid. To others, they show a president confronting growing threats while trying to support Am...

In 1697, Tsar Peter the Great set out on one of history's most unusual diplomatic missions. Traveling across Europe under the alias "Peter Mikhailov," the towering Russian ruler attempted to remain anonymous while studying the technologies, industries, and military innovations that had made Western Europe so powerful. Unsurprisingly, almost no one believed his disguise.

Rather than simply meeting kings and diplomats, Peter worked in Dutch shipyards as a carpenter, studied naval architecture in England, toured factories and arsenals, and absorbed ideas he believed could transform Russia. His energetic curiosity was matched only by the chaos he and his...

Sometimes history turns on the most unexpected moments. In 1618, a group of Protestant nobles stormed Prague Castle and hurled three Catholic imperial officials from a seventy-foot window. Against all odds, the men survived—thanks, perhaps, to the castle moat below. Catholics credited divine intervention. Their enemies had a far less heavenly explanation.

What became known as the Second Defenestration of Prague is remembered today for its absurdity, but its consequences were anything but amusing. The incident ignited the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that devastated Central Europe, claimed millions of lives, and reshaped the political map of th...

In 1014, after a decisive victory over the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion, Byzantine Emperor Basil II made a decision that would echo through history. Thousands of captured Bulgarian soldiers were blinded, with one man in every hundred left with a single eye to guide the others home. When Tsar Samuel saw the shattered remnants of his army return, he is said to have suffered a fatal stroke just two days later.

Whether every detail unfolded exactly as later chroniclers described remains a subject of historical debate, but the story cemented Basil's legacy forever. He would b...

In the summer of 1917, the U.S. Army stationed the Buffalo Soldiers of the 24th Infantry in Houston, Texas, where they encountered the harsh realities of Jim Crow segregation. After weeks of racial abuse, police violence, and growing tensions, a rumor that a fellow soldier had been killed sparked a deadly confrontation that became known as the Houston Riot of 1917.

The aftermath was swift and severe. More than 100 Black soldiers were convicted in the largest murder trial in U.S. military history, and 19 were executed—many after proceedings that failed to meet basic standards of due process. Mo...

Join me for an epic conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eric Moskowitz about his gripping new book The Hardest, Longest Race: Henry Ford and the Cross-Country Contest That Changed America.

In 1909, a handful of fearless drivers tackled the first true transcontinental automobile race — 4,106 miles from New York to Seattle over terrible roads, mountains, mud bogs, and sabotage. At the center was Henry Ford and his underdog Model T in a story filled with grit, mechanical genius, ambition, deception, and high-stakes drama.

We explore how this wild endurance contest helped launch the automobile age, transformed American li...

The word "assassination" is spoken around the world, but its origins are rooted in one of history's most misunderstood groups. The medieval Nizari Ismailis have long been portrayed as a secretive cult of drug-fueled killers, a reputation shaped by hostile chroniclers and popularized centuries later by Marco Polo. Modern historians, however, find little evidence that the famous hashish story was ever true.

Instead, the Nizari Ismailis were a small Shia Muslim community surrounded by powerful enemies. Unable to compete with large armies, they relied on patience, intelligence, and carefully planned targeted killings to ensure their survival. Their m...

While the Civil War raged on the battlefield, one of the Union's greatest victories came through espionage. In the heart of the Confederate capital, Elizabeth Van Lew quietly built a sophisticated spy network that reached into prisons, government offices—and even the Confederate White House itself.

To avoid suspicion, Van Lew deliberately cultivated a reputation as "Crazy Bet," convincing her neighbors she was harmless while secretly directing one of the most effective intelligence operations of the war. At the center of her network was Mary Bowser, a formerly enslaved woman with an extraordinary memory who gained access to...

On March 25, 1911, flames tore through the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, claiming the lives of 146 workers in just eighteen minutes. Most were young immigrant women trapped behind locked exit doors, with no safe escape. As horrified crowds watched from below, many made the impossible choice to jump.

The tragedy shocked the nation. Although the factory owners were acquitted of manslaughter, public outrage transformed grief into action. Sweeping labor reforms followed, establishing new standards for fire safety, working conditions, and worker protections. Among those forever changed was Frances Perkins, who witnessed the disaster firsthand and later b...

Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Kostya Kennedy — bestselling author, former Sports Illustrated senior writer, and the man who's brought us unforgettable portraits of legends like Joe DiMaggio, Pete Rose, and Jackie Robinson. His latest book, The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America, takes us back to that fateful night, separating myth from reality and showing why Paul Revere's ride wasn't just a poem — it was a pivotal moment that helped save the fledgling American cause.

We're talking the real man behind the legend, the coordinated efforts of other riders like Dawes and Presc...

In the final days of World War II, one of the war's most extraordinary battles unfolded inside a medieval Austrian castle. With Nazi Germany collapsing, a group of American soldiers found themselves fighting alongside German Wehrmacht troops against a determined SS force in a desperate effort to save a group of high-profile French prisoners.

The unlikely alliance was led by a German officer who had turned against Hitler and a 23-year-old American captain who chose to act without waiting for orders. As the battle raged, the prisoners themselves—including former French prime ministers, military leaders, and tennis ch...

Can you sue the Devil in federal court? In 1971, one prisoner decided to find out. Filing a civil rights lawsuit against "Satan and His Staff," the plaintiff claimed the Prince of Darkness had deprived him of his constitutional rights by placing obstacles in his life and causing him misery.

The case sounds like a joke—but the federal judge treated it with surprising seriousness. Rather than dismissing it outright, he examined questions of jurisdiction, cited legal precedent, and even considered whether the case could qualify as a class action on behalf of all humanity. The lawsuit ultimately fa...

In this fascinating conversation, I sit down with author and researcher Alex Wright to explore his new book, Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper.

From the Revolutionary War to the dawn of the 20th century, America experienced an explosive 500-fold growth in newspapers — transforming a young democracy into the world's first information superpower. We dive into the wild world of gunslinging editors, tramp printers, partisan battles, technological breakthroughs, and the cut-and-paste culture that mirrors today's digital media chaos.

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Did Sybil Ludington really make the legendary midnight ride of the American Revolution? According to tradition, the 16-year-old rode forty miles through a rainstorm in April 1777 to rally her father's militia against a British raid—twice the distance famously attributed to Paul Revere.

The story has inspired generations, but historians continue to debate the evidence. No contemporary records describe the ride, and the earliest published account appeared more than a century later. Yet the same questions invite a broader discussion about how history is remembered, whose stories were recorded, and why some legends endure while others are do...

For nearly a century, Britain and Russia engaged in a silent struggle for power across Central Asia. Known as the Great Game, it was a contest of spies, diplomacy, military expeditions, and political intrigue, with Afghanistan caught between two rival empires. At stake was nothing less than the security of British India and Russia's expanding southern frontier.

The rivalry brought both powers to the brink of war, shaped the modern borders of Central Asia, and left a lasting mark on one of the world's most contested regions. From disastrous invasions to near-conflicts over remote desert outposts, the...

Before the Salem witch trials spiraled into one of the darkest episodes in American history, an unusual folk remedy set the stage. In February 1692, a witch cake—made from rye meal and the urine of the afflicted girls—was baked and fed to a dog in the hope that it would reveal the identity of a witch. Instead, the fear only grew.

Within weeks, accusations spread across Salem. By the end of the crisis, nineteen people had been executed, one man had been pressed to death, and more than two hundred had been accused. Historians continue to deba...

I'm joined by bestselling and award-winning historian Samuel Marquis. He's written widely on colonial America, the Golden Age of Piracy, and World War II — and he's also the ninth-great-grandson of the legendary Captain William Kidd. His newest book, Empire and Frontier, takes us into a largely forgotten but pivotal chapter of early American history: King William's War and the fragile alliance between Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Haudenosaunee, the Five Nations of the Iroquois.

It's a story of diplomacy, survival, and cross-cultural partnership on a violent frontier — one that helped shape the balance of power in North Ameri...

The announcement of the Salk polio vaccine in April 1955 was met with celebration across America. But within weeks, that joy turned to fear when some vaccinated children developed polio. A manufacturing failure at Cutter Laboratories had allowed live virus into thousands of vaccine doses, resulting in one of the most serious medical errors in U.S. history.

The tragedy prompted sweeping reforms. Rather than abandoning the vaccine, scientists, regulators, and manufacturers strengthened testing, oversight, and production standards to ensure it could be used safely. Those changes restored public confidence—and helped pave the way for the elimination of...

In 1898, Wilmington, North Carolina, was home to one of the most prosperous and politically influential Black communities in the United States. Then, on November 10, everything changed. An armed mob overthrew the city's legally elected government, murdered Black residents, and drove countless others from their homes in what remains the only successful coup d'état in American history.

For generations, the event was dismissed as a "race riot." In reality, it was a carefully planned campaign to seize power and destroy a thriving multiracial democracy. The perpetrators openly organized the attack, published their demands, and faced virtually no co...

Join me for a fascinating conversation with Anita McBride — former Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush, longtime White House veteran across three administrations, and current Executive-in-Residence at American University, where she directs the First Ladies Initiative.

This episode is packed with history, leadership insights, and inspiration as we look toward America 250.

If you enjoy stories from the White House, presidential history, or civic education, this one is a must-listen.

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The Children's Crusade of 1212 is often remembered as the tragic tale of thousands of innocent children marching to the Holy Land, only to be sold into slavery. It's a powerful story—but much of it is legend.

Modern historians believe the so-called "children" were largely poor young adults, laborers, and society's outcasts seeking hope in a world that had little to offer them. Inspired by visions and faith, they set out believing God would accomplish what armies could not. The miracle never came. The sea did not part, the crusade collapsed, and countless lives were forever changed.

On the morning of July 24, 1915, thousands of Chicago factory workers and their families gathered for a company picnic aboard the SS Eastland. The ship never made it out of the harbor. Just moments after passengers boarded, it rolled onto its side in only twenty feet of water—within sight of the dock. More than 844 people died, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in American history.

Tragically, the catastrophe may have been made worse by safety regulations enacted after the Titanic disaster, as additional lifeboats increased the already unstable ship's top-heavy design. Engineers had warned for ye...

Nearly a century before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, Ming China launched the largest naval expeditions the world had ever seen. Commanded by the remarkable admiral Zheng He, a former captive who rose to become one of history's greatest explorers, fleets of hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of sailors projected Chinese power across the Indian Ocean. They reached India, Arabia, Southeast Asia, and East Africa, forging diplomatic ties and showcasing the might of the Ming Empire.

Then, almost as suddenly as it began, it ended. Political rivals convinced the imperial court to abandon the voyages, the...

In the early hours of February 25, 1942, Los Angeles erupted into chaos. Air raid sirens wailed, searchlights swept the sky, and anti-aircraft batteries unleashed more than 1,400 shells at what thousands believed was a Japanese air attack. Witnesses reported seeing enemy aircraft overhead. The Army expected wreckage by morning.

They found nothing.

The so-called Battle of Los Angeles was likely triggered by a weather balloon, with gunners mistaking illuminated smoke from their own shells for enemy planes. Yet the panic had real consequences. Five people died in the confusion, and the fear generated that night helped fuel...