History in Five Minutes Podcast
159 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 6 years ago - ★★★★ - 97 ratingsHistory. Only Not Boring.
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HFM 160 | Series Finale: The Final Episode of History in Five Minutes
September 05, 2017 18:42 - 6 minutes - 6.2 MBWelcome to the end, my friends! I am powering down History in Five Minutes because I have launched a new and better show called History Unplugged. You can subscribe to the show on iTunes or Android Here's an overview of History Unplugged: Every Tuesday through Friday I release a short episode of 5-10 minutes in length. It's basically the same thing you've come to know and love (0r hate) from History in Five Minutes. Every Monday I release a longform interview with a book author, history po...
H5M 159 | The Man Who Avoided Drowning on the Titanic By Getting Drunk
December 29, 2016 04:19 - 8 minutes - 3.92 MBThe sinking of the Titantic was one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. Over 1,000 passengers lost their lives on the supposedly unsinkable ship. But the chief baker didn't. He managed to survive in the frigid waters for four hours while most died of hypothermia after 15 minutes. How? By downing two bottles of whisky and getting completely drunk. This episode is brought to you by a new show Presidents Are People Too – an original audio series available on Channels in the Audible ...
H5M 158 | Churchill’s “Operation Vegetarian”
December 05, 2016 02:34 - 5 MBOur guest today is Giles Milton, the host of the Unknown History Podcast. Winston Churchill was not afraid to get his hands dirty. He was perfectly happy to consider chemical warfare against the Axis powers. One plan involved turning an entire island into vegetarians. What did this plot mean, and how would he enact it? Giles explains many things in this episode, such as: What exactly was "Operation Vegetarian"? What was the result of this experiment? How did the development of the Atomi...
H5M 157 | Churchill’s Most Controversial Cousin
November 28, 2016 02:33 - 5 MBOur guest today is Giles Milton, the host of the Unknown History Podcast. We all have an embarrassing relative. Maybe that embarrassing relative is us. But Winston Churchill's cousin took it to a new level. She had love affairs, one of which threatened to create an international incident. Giles gets into all sorts of interesting stories in this episode. Here are some of the things he touches on: Who was Clare Sheridan and why did she gain attention in 1920? What about the rumors regardi...
HFM 156 | Churchill’s Affinity for Chemical Weapons
November 22, 2016 02:56 - 5 MBOur guest today is Giles Milton, the host of the Unknown History Podcast. Giles is going to talk all about Churchill's affinity for chemical weapons, something I didn't even know was a thing. He answers all sorts of questions in this interview. Questions like: Did Churchill ever actually go forward with the use of chemical weapons? What happened to the victims of the attack in Russia? How did the weather dampen the effect of the poisonous gas? What did Churchill do with the remaining de...
HFM 155 | Why Did British Men Wear Powdered Wigs in the 1700s?
September 29, 2016 17:12 - 7 minutes - 3.5 MBYou've seen the look in historical dramas. You laughed at the foppish dandies that appear on Masterpiece Theater. In grade school you sneered at pictures of King George with his powdered wig, adjusting it ever so slightly while drinking a cup of tea with his pinky finger extended, wondering how he further extort colonists with new taxes. You didn't know that we call important people "bigwig" due to the aristocracy tradition of fancy wigs. But where does the powdered wig come from? Why wa...
HFM 154 | German POWs in the U.S. During World War II
September 21, 2016 22:10 - 11 minutes - 5.53 MBDid you know that over 400,000 German POWs were settled in the United States during World War II? Did you know that they may have built some of the stone buildings that make up your town square? Or that they were responsible for bringing in America's harvest in the fall of 1945 when most men were still off to war? Learn about this fascinating but understudied part of America's history. Check out this episode of Radiolab to learn more about "Nazi Summer Camp." WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLI...
HFM 153 | Teddy Roosevelt’s Near-Death Journey Through the Amazon
September 21, 2016 22:10 - 8 minutes - 4.07 MBTeddy Roosevelt was not afraid to tempt death. He hiked the Matterhorn during his honeymoon. He arrested outlaws on the Dakota Frontier. He hunted rhinos in Africa. But his most dangerous journey came after his failure in 1912 to retake the presidency as a third-party candidate on the Bull Moose ticket. He choose to shake off the blues in an extremely dangerous journey to South America. Roosevelt did not merely want a repeat of his African safari: a well-provisioned hunt to a foreign land...
HFM 152 | How Teddy Roosevelt Gave a 90-Minute Speech After Being Shot
September 14, 2016 21:53 - 6 minutes - 3.11 MBTheodore Roosevelt was hell bent on becoming president in 1912. He ran as a third-party candidate for the Progressive Party, a splinter group of Republicans dissatisfied with William Howard Taft. He was so committed to winning that he gave a 90-minute speech...immediately after being shot in the chest by a would-be assassin. How did he do it without passing out? What did his audience think as he bled out before their eyes? WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLINE COURSE ABOUT WINSTON CHURCHILL? REA...
HFM 151 |When Teddy Roosevelt Arrested Three Boat Thieves
September 14, 2016 21:49 - 12 minutes - 5.68 MBPerhaps no president has as many unbelievable stories about his life than Teddy Roosevelt. He was an amateur boxer. He was the first American politician to learn judo. He summited the Matterhorn during his honeymoon. He joined an expedition to log data about an unchartered river in the Amazon. But perhaps no story matches his pursuit of three boat thieves in the Dakotas in the 1880s. Learn how Roosevelt travelled 300 miles in the bitter cold to arrest three thieves... all to prove to other r...
HFM 150 | The Story of the Donner Party
September 07, 2016 18:31 - 11 minutes - 5.36 MBGather around the campfire, children, and learn about the most ghoulish story from America's pioneer days. What really happened to the party led by George Donner and his brother Jacob when they set out for California in 1846? When the party was trapped in feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, how long did they hold out before devouring the dead? Was anyone killed for their flesh? Listen to this episode and learn why you should never travel on an untested mountain pass late in the trav...
HFM 149 | Cannibalism During the Crusades
August 29, 2016 16:06 - 12 minutes - 5.88 MBReferences to acts of cannibalism are sprinkled throughout many religious and historical documents, such as the reports that cooked human flesh was being sold in 11th-century English markets. But the world’s first cannibal incident reported by multiple, independent, first-hand accounts took place during the Crusades by European soldiers. These first-hand stories agree that in 1098, after a successful siege and capture of the Syrian city Ma’arra. Some accounts say that soldiers ate the flesh...
HFM 148 | Cannibalism in History
August 22, 2016 16:31 - 11 minutes - 5.31 MBIt is the most gruesome activity that a human can do. It is the most ancient of taboos. Stories of the Donner Party, Jamestown, and the Franklin Expedition make for ghost stories today. But the real question is not why cannibalism occurs in humans. It is why it doesn't occur. Eating dead humans has clear benefits. Like cows, chickens, turkeys, and other animals that we love to feast on, humans are made of meat. Shoving all that tasty meat in a hole in the ground during a funeral ceremo...
HFM 147 | The Real Story of the Scopes Monkey Trial
August 15, 2016 07:02 - 7 minutes - 3.58 MBIf you've seen the 1960 Spencer Tracy movie Inherit the Wind, you know about the Scopes Monkey Trial. In this real-life 1925 case, John Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. The case became an enormous media sensation. It was reported on like a boxing match, science vs. fundamentalism. But oddly enough, Scopes was not originally brought to trial by any fundamentalists. The trial was deliberat...
HFM 146 | Did Anyone Actually Wear Chastity Belts?
August 08, 2016 07:02 - 7 minutes - 3.44 MBAccording to legends of the Middle Ages, knights used the chastity belt on their wives as an anti-temptation device before embarking on the Crusades. When the knight left for the Holy Lands on the Crusades, his Lady would wear a chastity belt to preserve her faithfulness to him. However, there is no reliable evidence that chastity belts existed before the 15th century. Any reference to them is likely symbolic or a satirical drawing. Were they ever in use at all? If not, how did the legend...
HFM 145 | George Washington Was Really the 9th President of the United States?
August 01, 2016 07:02 - 7 minutes - 3.57 MB"George Washington was the First President of the United States." This is the most basic fact that an American school child can learn. But he wasn't the first. Nor the second. He was actually the ninth president of the United States. How can that be? It all has to do with the ad hoc, make-it-up-as-you-go nature of the United States government between the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the signing of the Constitution in 1789. WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLINE COURSE ABOUT WINSTON CHU...
HFM 144 | Columbus Wasn’t As Wonderful – Or As Terrible – As You’ve Heard
July 25, 2016 07:02 - 10 minutes - 4.77 MBDepending on which account you hear, Columbus was either the bravest explorer of the early Renaissance or a mass murdered who subjected the indigenous population of the new world to death or slavery. Learn in this episode how Columbus was both and neither of these descriptions. WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLINE COURSE ABOUT WINSTON CHURCHILL? READ BELOW This episode is brought to you by Hillsdale College. They would like to invite you to learn more about the incredible life of this fascinat...
HFM 143 | Why The Fall of Rome is Centuries Later Than You Think
July 18, 2016 07:02 - 6 minutes - 3.16 MBRome didn't fall in 476 when Romulus, the last of the Roman emperors in the west, was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome. Nor did it fall in 1453 when the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople. Depending on how you define 'Rome,' it didn't fall until the Napoleonic Wars. Or the end of hostilities following World War I. If you visit Turkey, you might meet somebody who still calls himself a Roman. WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLINE COURS...
HFM 142 | The Enormously Misunderstood Heresy Trial of Galileo
July 11, 2016 07:02 - 12 minutes - 5.66 MBFew episodes in history are so misunderstood as the condemnation of Galileo. His trial has become a stock argument to show the fundamental clash between science and dogmatism. Turns out the whole affair was actually a giant clash of egos, with churchmen and scientists on both sides of the argument. WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLINE COURSE ABOUT WINSTON CHURCHILL? READ BELOW This episode is brought to you by Hillsdale College. They would like to invite you to learn more about the incredible ...
HFM 141 | Why Does the US Celebrate the 4th of July the Way It Does?
July 04, 2016 07:49 - 9 minutes - 4.31 MBWhy do Americans celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks? Are we trying to take the National Anthem as literally as possible, creating "Bombs Bursting in Air"? Or is there another reason? Much of the trappings of the Fourth of July date back to Renaissance Italy, and even further back to Imperial China. But the actual form of the holiday came into existence even before America itself. Listen to learn more. LEARN HOW TO GET THE PERFECT SHAVE This episode is brought to you by Harry’s....
HFM 140 | Why We Have Gutenberg All Wrong
June 27, 2016 07:12 - 7 minutes - 3.35 MBGutenberg's moveable type printing press was the prime mover of the Renaissance. From his machine came millions of books, leading to the democratization of knowledge, the fall of the papacy, and the rise of reason. But what if this wasn't Gutenberg's goal? What if he was a happy client of the papacy? What if he worked directly with the medieval church to sell indulgences? Turns out he did. Learn more in this episode. WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLINE COURSE ABOUT WINSTON CHURCHILL? READ BELOW...
HFM 139 | James Holman: The Blind Traveller
June 06, 2016 07:43 - 8 minutes - 4.11 MBIn the early 1800s there was no English explorer greater than James Holman. He travelled almost 20 times farther than Marco Polo. He travelled among 200 different cultures, charted undiscovered parts of Australia, and by October 1846 had visited every inhabited continent. He did all this despite being completely blind. How did he travel the world when any sort of international exploration was exceptionally dangerous? Learn how in this episode. WANT TO GET DAD THE PERFECT FATHER'S DAY GIFT?...
HFM 138 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 8 – Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
March 28, 2016 08:56 - 13 minutes - 6.21 MBBritain's World War II leader is considered as the gold standard of confident leadership. He gave Britain strength during the darkest moments of the war through his unflagging determination to survive and prove to the world of his nation's unshakeable courage. He was not born that way. Churchill had a disappointing career as an author, journalist, politician and statesman. He suffered adversity and failure throughout a life. As a child he was scorned by teachers for hyperactivity. As a so...
HFM 137 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 7 – Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938)
March 21, 2016 07:44 - 15 minutes - 7.07 MBMustafa Kemal Ataturk -- the victor at the Battle of Gallipoli, Turkey's first president, and a reformer so zealous that he replaced six centuries of Ottoman Islamic legal and cultural custom with Western practices in the space of 15 years -- lost his father at the age of 7, was neglected by his family, and lacked most formal education. Learn how he overcame these challenges to become the beloved national hero of millions of Turkish citizens. WANT FREE ACCESS TO AN ONLINE COURSE ABOUT WI...
HFM 136 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 6 – Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
March 14, 2016 08:31 - 13 minutes - 6.27 MBRecognized by most historians and much of the public as one of our country’s greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln is known for his impressive accomplishments, including preserving the union during the Civil War and signing The Emancipation Proclamation. But he is less known for his ability to overcome a significant obstacle in his life—clinical depression. He also failed at every upward step in his career - losing multiple elections, denounced by his opponents, and described by his collea...
HFM 134 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 5 – Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)
March 07, 2016 05:53 - 13 minutes - 6.29 MBPerhaps nobody transformed American politics in the first half of the 1800s more than Andrew Jackson. He spoke on behalf of common people, settlers, and farmers instead of earlier presidents who represented the East Coast establishment. Jackson broke open opportunities for non-elite Americans in political life. Jackson was born on the frontier between North and South Carolina. The son of Irish immigrants, he had little formal schooling and taught himself law in his late teens and earned ent...
HFM 133 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 4 – Peter the Great (1672-1725)
February 29, 2016 10:28 - 13 minutes - 6.44 MBNo institution went untouched by Peter the Great. In the early 1700s he took the Russian Empire -- considered by Europeans to be a backward Asiatic monster stuck in the Middle Ages -- and forced it into the modern era. He accomplished despite being the unwanted 14th child of his father, exiled as a boy. Things became no easier when he ascended the throne. Everyone opposed his reforms, included his boyars, state ministers, religious clergy, and peasants. How did he stand against his own pe...
HFM 132 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 3 – Genghis Khan (1162-1227)
February 22, 2016 07:11 - 12 minutes - 5.95 MB"Do not scorn a weak cub; he may become a brutal tiger.” -- Mongolian proverb. Genghis Khan is the greatest conqueror in history. His descendants triggered 40 million deaths. His conquest covered 22 percent of the earth. But his origins are incredibly humble. His father was killed and the family left to die in the harsh Mongolian winter. Genghis claimed his father's position as chieftain of the tribe, but the tribe rejected him and his family, leaving them isolated and without protection...
HFM 131 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 2 – William the Conqueror (1028-1087)
February 15, 2016 07:38 - 12 minutes - 6.02 MBWilliam of Normandy, also known as William the Conqueror, had to overcome challenges not faced by most royalty. We know this because his other moniker was William the Bastard. He was born in 1028 to Robert I, the sixth Duke of Normandy. His mother was Herleva the humble daughter of a Tanner. They were unmarried, hence William's sobriquet. Despite this humble upbringing he became a formidable Norman ruler and one of England's most influential kings. Here's my question when I researched the...
HFM 130 | Leaders in Times of Crisis, Part 1 – Empress Theodora (500-548)
February 08, 2016 09:00 - 11 minutes - 5.21 MBWe are launching a new series, looking at leaders in history who overcame significant adversity. History has demonstrated time and again that effective leaders emerge in times of great stress, change and uncertainty. The first person in this series is Empress Theodora, the co-ruler of the Byzantine Empire at the height of its power in the 6th century. Learn how she rose from prostitute to mistress of a provincial governor to the co-ruler of Byzantine Empire, the defacto world's most powerful...
HFM 129 | The Step-by-Step Guide to Building a 13th-Century French Castle
November 16, 2015 09:32 - 7 minutes - 3.65 MBIn a remote forest clearing in Burgundy, France, a 13th-century castle is slowly being constructed using only the tools, techniques, and materials that would have been available to the builders of the day. It's archaeology in reverse. What started out as an eccentric pipe dream is now an established enterprise, drawing in tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe every year. Learn what it took to build a castle in 13th-century France in this podcast episode. If you want to learn f...
HFM 128 | Europeans in the Far East Before Marco Polo
November 02, 2015 11:15 - 8 minutes - 4.2 MBMarco Polo is the most famous European explorer to the Far East, but he definitely wasn't the first. His father and uncle came there years before. And they found a small colony of Europeans who lived permanently in China. Perhaps the most famous pre-Polo European in the Far East is William of Rubruck. This plucky monk did his best to convert the Great Khan to Christianity. He made his effort by debating Muslims and Buddhists as to which religion was the true one. See how that turns out in...
HFM 127 | Damascus Steel: The Medieval Blade That We Still Can’t Top Today
October 26, 2015 10:00 - 7 minutes - 3.6 MBDamascus swords, which were generally made in the Middle East anywhere from 540 A.D. to 1800 A.D., were sharper, more flexible and harder/stronger than other contemporary blades. According to legend, the blades can cut a piece of silk in half as it falls to the ground and maintain their edge after cleaving through stone, metal, or even other swords. However nobody knew exactly how it had been produced, and the last Damascus Steel had been produced in the early 1800s. How was the technology l...
HFM 126 | Useful Skills That People Had in the Middle Ages That We Don’t Today, Part 2: Making Things With Your Hands
October 19, 2015 08:00 - 6 minutes - 2.88 MBCan you sew your own clothing? That one is easy. What about making your own shoes, butchering an animal, removing its skin, tanning the leather, then rending the fat to make candles? If you can answer 'yes' to all those things, then you are merely average for a medieval peasant. Learn more about what a person could do in the Middle Ages that you likely can't. This podcast is brought to you by Harry's. Harry's is an awesome and wonderfully disruptive razor company. It was started by two guys...
HFM 125 | Useful Skills That People Had in the Middle Ages That We Don’t Today, Part 1: Ars Memoriae – The Art of Memory
October 11, 2015 17:56 - 6 minutes - 3.26 MBThink you have a good memory? The average peasant of 1,000 years ago had 10x more memorized than you ever will. Learn more about people trained in the ars memoriae, who were living databases of information. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 124 | The Origin of “The Finger”: Why Do We Call it The Bird?
July 06, 2015 04:54 - 5 MBWe've all done it in moments of anger. But why do we use our middle finger to express anger? And why do we call it "the bird." Suggestions range from The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 to Ancient Rome. We find out the history everyone's favorite one-finger salute in this episode. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 123 | The Most Productive People in History, Part 6: Elon Musk
May 25, 2015 06:39 - 10 minutes - 9.51 MBElon Musk is the inspiration for Tony Stark. The 43-year-old native South African is also CEO of SpaceX, the first private rocket company able to send payloads to the International Space Station. On top of that he is the CEO and chief product architect of Tesla Motors, which has produced a line of electric cars since 2008. Despite the cars running six figures, there is a months-long waiting list. He sells thousands of its Model S sedans per month and claims Tesla will sell a few million cars ...
HFM 122 | The Most Productive People in History, Part 5: Thomas Aquinas
May 18, 2015 06:33 - 9 minutes - 8.96 MBThomas Aquinas is arguably the greatest theologian in Catholic Church. During his lifetime he wrote over 60 tomes of philosophy and theology, most the size of a scholar's magnum opus. The total word count of his extant writings exceeds 6 million words, perhaps the largest set of complete works created by one man before the invention of the word processor. The pages of these books contain dense concepts – much more so than Isaac Asimov's thoughtful-but-workmanlike prose – packing in enough ide...
HFM 121 | The Most Productive People in History, Part 4: Theodore Roosevelt
May 07, 2015 09:06 - 8 minutes - 7.56 MBTheodore Roosevelt won the presidency twice, was the first American to earn a belt in judo, hunted, wrote numerous books, and read four hours a day even during the busiest moments of his political life. For good measure he also won a Nobel Peace Prize and visited the Panama Canal works, making him the first sitting president to leave the United States. How did he do it all? Learn more in this podcast episode. Learn more about his life by getting my new book The Most Productive People in Hi...
HFM 120 | The Most Productive People in History, Part 3: Leonardo da Vinci
May 06, 2015 07:57 - 10 minutes - 4.68 MBFew Renaissance figures have as many legends swirling around their life as Leonardo da Vinci. The myths persist because of the unconventional nature of his life. Leonardo was a painter, architect, sculptor, mathematician, engineer, musician, inventor, anatomist, geologist, botanist, cartographer, military strategist, and writer. Leonardo is the ideal of a multi-accomplished humanist figure, of limitless curiosity and feverish imagination. He employed unusual empirical methods of the time to a...
HFM 119 | The Most Productive People in History, Part 2: Thomas Edison
May 05, 2015 09:43 - 9 minutes - 9.03 MBThomas Edison is arguably the most prolific inventor in all of history, with 1,093 patents to his name. At one point Edison promised to turn out a minor invention every 10 days and a big thing every six months or so. He largely made good on his promise. Edison is responsible for inventing the practical incandescent light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera, cement making technology, batteries, and the electric power generation system. While Edison purchased and even stole some of these ...
HFM 118 | The Most Productive People in History, Part 1: Benjamin Franklin
May 04, 2015 09:37 - 8 minutes - 7.9 MBBenjamin Franklin was nothing if not diversified in his talents. The Founding Father was a printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, postmaster general, educator, philosopher, entrepreneur, library curator, and America's first researcher to win an international scientific reputation for his studies in electrical theory. He even made contributions to knowledge of the Gulf Stream. How did he accomplish so much? Learn more about his life by getting my new book The Most Productive People in Histor...
HFM 117 | What Was Dental Hygiene Like During the Middle Ages?
April 20, 2015 08:32 - 5 MBMedieval peasants had rotting teeth if they had any at all, right? Not all all. They not only had pretty good dental hygiene, but it was even better than ours today. For more from Tim O'Neil, check out these old podcasts: http://www.michaelrank.net/2013/07/01/hfm-021-common-knowledge-about-medieval-history-that-is-incorrect-part-1-with-tim-oneill/ Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 116 | Americana: The Brazilian City Where the Confederacy Still Lives
April 06, 2015 10:06 - 6 minutes - 6.42 MBThe United States has accepted immigrants throughout its history, but America has its emmigrants as well. Did you know there is a city in Brazil founded by Confederates who wanted to flee the U.S. during Reconstruction? Welcome to Americana, Brazil. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 115 | Real-Life Ghost Ships, Part 2: Mary Celeste
March 23, 2015 18:43 - 5 minutes - 2.65 MBThe discovery of the abandoned Mary Celeste in 1872 is the stuff of nightmares. The brigantine merchant ship was found in the Atlantic Ocean with its cargo and valuables completely untouched but still packed with six months’ worth of food and water. No sign of a single crew member or passenger could be seen. The story only gets stranger from there. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 114 | Real-Life Ghost Ships, Part 1: The HMS Terror and Erebus
March 09, 2015 14:06 - 5 minutes - 2.63 MBGhost ships are one of the most enduring legends of the sea, and tales of mysterious ships with missing crews have peppered the accounts of mariners both ancient and modern for hundreds of years. Some ghost ships exist in the realm of rumor, others are real but remain unexplained. On May 19, 1845, two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, departed England and set sail for the Canadian Arctic. Their goal was to travel through the treacherous waters of the Northwest Passage that separated the Atla...
HFM 113 | Real Life James Bond Villains, Part 3: Leonardo da Vinci
February 23, 2015 08:44 - 6 minutes - 3.17 MBNo less a man than Leonardo Da Vinci was a real-life James Bond villain. How else can you describe a man who design cannons, tanks, and machine guns centuries ahead of his time? Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 112 | Real-Life James Bond Villains, Part 2: Franz Helm and his 16th-Century Rocket Cats
February 09, 2015 08:13 - 5 minutes - 4.81 MBFranz Helm had creative ideas of using artillery. One was to strap a primitive jet pack on cats and launch them over the walls of enemy fortifications. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 111 | Real-Life James Bond Villains, Part 1: Archimedes and the Defense of Syracuse
February 02, 2015 08:00 - 5 MBAuric Goldfinder and SPECTRE may seem over-the-top for their plans to irradiate the world's gold supply or kill political leaders with lasers from surveillance satellites, but there are real-life examples of inventors using audacious machines to crush their enemies. Learn how Archimedes defended his city with monstrous catapults, a huge iron claw, and even a primitive death ray. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes
HFM 110 | Gunpowder started as an eternal-life elixir – The most useful inventions originally designed with a completely different purpose, part 3
January 25, 2015 06:45 - 6 minutes - 3.05 MBGunpowder has killed more people than any other invention in history, but it was ironically invented by Chinese alchemists with the intention of helping people live forever. Like this podcast? Click here to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes