ThePodcastofDoom's podcast
70 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 18 ratingsThe Podcast of Doom explores the famous and consequential catastrophes, cataclysms, disasters and emphatically bad decisions of world history. If you like fires, volcanoes, floods, maritime disasters, civil conflict, industrial accidents and the foibles of human nature then I invite you to listen to the Podcast of Doom. We will travel around the world and through time to analyze famous calamities and how they occurred.
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Episodes
Episode 14 - The Black Death
July 22, 2014 05:03 - 47 minutes - 43.6 MBThe Bubonic Plague, a.k.a. The Black Death, first appeared in China, and owing to improved trade routes, quickly moved across the Asian plateau to the Black Sea and eventually all of Europe. Killing at the rate of 1 out of every 3 people, it wiped out whole villages and towns at a time. Panic led to the mass persecutions of Jews, Romani, and lepers. The plague changed world history and European culture; and it continued to strike again and again in the centuries that followed.
Episode 13 - The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755
June 12, 2014 23:16 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MBOn November 1, 1755, All Saints Day, the city of Lisbon, Portugal was hit by a massive earthquake. The shaking lasted more than three-and-a-half minutes. Frightened residents ran out from beneath their crumbling buildings for the open safety of the harbor. But those who lingered too long, were swept out to sea by the tsunami that followed forty minutes later. And then came five days of fire. The earthquake not only shook up the people of Portugal; it had a profound effect on the European Enl...
Apology and Explanation
June 10, 2014 21:30 - 3 minutes - 2.98 MBI just wanted to get you caught up on why it has taken so long to produce the next episode. Also, a special POD segment on the History Podcasters College project on Terrible Leaders. And, the Nicki Minaj POD video special.
Episode 12 - The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
May 08, 2014 23:44 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBIn the last months of World War II, German forces were in full retreat from Eastern Europe. German commanders decided they had no choice but to evacuate Courland in East Prussia. The last remaining route for escape was through the Baltic; and so the Germans launched Operation Hannibal. It would be the largest evacuation by sea in history. On the night of January 30th, the luxury cruiser, Wilhelm Gustloff was loaded down with more than 10,000 civilians and military personnel when it came with...
Episode 11 - The British Retreat from Kabul
April 19, 2014 23:34 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBDuring the "Great Game" with the Russian Empire, the British invaded and took control of Afghanistan as a colonial possession. Within a few years, the Afghan people were in open revolt against their British occupiers. With assurances of safe passage from rebel leader, Akbar Khan, Major General Sir William Elphinstone, evacuated 4,000 soldiers and 12,000 camp followers. The British and their Indian allies were lulled into a trap that along with severely cold weather, a lack of equipment and i...
Intermezzo and a Sneak Peak at Episodes 11 - 15
March 28, 2014 04:22 - 8 minutes - 7.46 MBA look back at the last five episodes and a sneak peak at the next five episodes. A some well deserved recognition for listener suggestions and contributions. We will look at Kabul, Afghanistan, the British Army, Jalalabad, Germany, German, Russia, Russian, Soviet, Crimea, Wilhelm Gustloff, Lisbon, Portugal, earthquake, tsunami, fire, the Black Death, Bubonic Plague, Europe, China, India, Caffa, Bataan, Philippines, American, Japanese, Trail of Tears, Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee, Muscogee an...
Episode 10 - The Gas Leak at Bhopal
March 08, 2014 20:56 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBOn the night of December 2-3, 1984, the people of Bhopal, India and the surrounding areas were exposed to a massive chemical leak of methyl isocyanate gas from the nearby Union Carbide plant. The people of Bhopal suffered coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation. For many death eventually followed. Animals bloated and died and the tree leaves turned yellow and fell. The leak would be the cause of thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of injuries.
Episode 9 - The Eruption of Mount Pelee
February 16, 2014 21:45 - 39 minutes - 36 MBLocated on the small island of Martinique in the Caribbean, the volacano of Mt. Pelee showed signs of activity around the turn of the last century. Day by day inhabitants of the island watched the activity increase. Sulfur vapors gave way to a light rain of cinders and eventually expolosions and columns of black smoke. Yet the inhabitants of the nearby town of Saint-Pierre were completely unprepared for the blast of superheated gas and rock that was headed their way at one hundred miles an ...
Episode 8 - The Cultural Revolution
February 01, 2014 20:59 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBStung by the enormous failure of the Great Leap Forward, Chairman Mao Zedong, discredited leader of Communist China, institutes a plan to regain his former popularity and erradicate his critics. The revolution's outward aim was to reinvigorate Marxist-Leninist ideology in the Chinese people. It's less publicized goal was to restore Mao's Cult of Personality--his unquestioned authority over the government and his adoration by the people. It resulted in the persecution of millions and the deat...
Episode 7 - Elizabeth Bathory: The Blood Countess
January 19, 2014 03:56 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MBElizabeth Bathory, The Blood Countess, was a powerful member of the aristocracy in 16th century Hungary. Following the death of her husband, with the help of her servants, she began abducting local peasant girls. The abductees were taken to her castle where they were tortured and murdered. Although, she was investigated for murdering hundreds of people, she was never put on trial. Included in this podcast is an interview with Mark Hewitt, of the blog, Radians and Inches. Mark discusses what ...
Episode 6 - The Great London Smog
January 06, 2014 05:43 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBFor centuries, Londoners had grown accustomed to "Pea-Soupers," thick ground fog that made travel and often walking or bicycling difficult. Following the changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution, Londoners had also grown accustomed to having a little bit of dust and smoke mixed in with their fog. What they got on a cold December week in 1952 was thicker and more fatal than any man-made disaster before or since.
Analysis - Episodes 1 - 5
December 21, 2013 05:04 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBWe will analyze Episodes 1 through 5 looking for ways that history could have played out differently. We will compare and contrast The Peshtigo Fire, The Rwanda Genocide, The Man-Eating Tiger of Champawat, The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Airplane Accident at Tenerife. Spoiler Alert! I will also let you know what the topics will be for the next five episodes.
Commentary - Nelson Mandela
December 17, 2013 04:31 - 2 minutes - 2.59 MBA short reflection on the life and achievements of Nelson Mandela.
Introduction to the Podcast of Doom
December 14, 2013 03:46 - 5 minutes - 4.85 MBAn explanation of why I started the Podcast of Doom. What is Epic Failure Analysis? Why do bad things happen to good and bad people? How do large disasters happen? What can we do to prevent or limit the damage?
Episode 5 - The Airplane Crash at Tenerife
December 10, 2013 15:19 - 32 minutes - 30.1 MBFollowing a terrorist bombing at the Canary Islands' largest airport, international traffic is rerouted to the much smaller airport at nearby Tenerife. As jumbo jets line up for take off, a thick fog settles in. A KLM 747 is given clearance to taxi down the runway and complete a 180-degree turn to prepare for take-off. With tragic consequences, a Pan Am 747 enters the same runway from the opposite end and moves straight into the path of the KLM jet.
Episode 4 - The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
November 27, 2013 07:00 - 50 minutes - 46 MBDuring World War II, after delivering the world's first operational atomic bomb, the United States Navy Cruiser USS Indianapolis is sunk by the Japanese fleet in the middle of the western Pacific. More than 300 sailors drowned; but for the more than 900 survivors of the torpedo, more horrors awaited.","engine":"visual"}" data-block-type="2" id="block-4ca5db05f0fb6f5b6602" style="position: relative; clear: none; z-index: 1; padding: 0px 12px; word-wrap: break-word;"> During World War II, af...
Commentary - The Haiyan Typhoon
November 16, 2013 22:58 - 1 minute - 1.68 MBA brief statement about the recent typhoon that hit the Phillipines.
Episode 3 - The Man-Eating Tigress of Champawat
November 15, 2013 05:43 - 30 minutes - 27.7 MBIn turn-of-the-century India and Nepal, an injured Bengal tiger develops a taste for human flesh. During her rampage, she manages to kill over 400 people and strike terror into the hearts of the villagers in the region. She was the fiercest of many man-eating beasts prevalent in Northern India and Nepal during the late 19th and early 20th century.
Episode 2 - The Genocide in Rwanda
November 05, 2013 05:25 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBThe Rwandan Genocide of 1994, resulted in the largest loss of life in the shortest period of time. It is believed that more than 800,000 people died in less than 3 months in a violent struggle that pitted neighbor against neighbor and family member against family member. Find out how this small sub-Saharan nation became a ticking time-bomb.
Episode 1 - The Great Peshtigo Fire
October 26, 2013 17:00 - 21 minutes - 19.8 MBA raging forest fire obliterates a small Wisconsin lumber town.