History Shorts
Dive into the past with award-winning historian Peter Zablocki in this captivating daily podcast! Uncover hidden stories you never knew existed. And don't miss Friday Conversations where Peter teams up with top experts for riveting, in-depth discussions that bring history to life.
Episodes
Before Rosa Parks made history by refusing to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama, there was another young woman, just 15 years old, who had done the very same thing. Her name was Claudette Colvin. In this episode, we uncover the overlooked and extraordinary story of Colvin’s defiance, arrest, and her pivotal role in the court case that would ultimately help bring down bus segregation in the S...
TODAY IN CONTEXT BONUS: The animosity between the United States and Iran is one of the most enduring geopolitical rivalries in modern history, rooted in a mix of historical grievances, ideological conflicts, and strategic competition. In this episode, we explore how this complex relationship evolved from the early 20th century to the present day. The 1953 CIA-led coup that overthrew Iran’s democratic government, the 1979 Iranian Re...
In the frigid mountains of North Korea in the winter of 1950, 30,000 United Nations troops, led by the U.S. Marines, faced encirclement by over 120,000 Chinese soldiers in one of the most brutal military engagements of the 20th century. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir was not just a fight for survival, it was a testament to courage, discipline, and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and un...
On August 20, 1940, in a quiet Mexico City study, one of the last living architects of the Russian Revolution was struck down, not by a rival revolutionary, but by an ice axe wielded by a Soviet assassin. Leon Trotsky’s murder was the climax of a decades-long battle over power, ideology, and the very soul of socialism.
In this gripping episode, we uncover the sto...
Peter speaks with Joseph J. Ellis, a Two-Time Pulitzer-Prize winner, about his newest book, The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding. They discuss what the Founding Fathers got right and wrong, and which would have gotten the highest SAT score!
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In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, and shattered the religious unity of Europe. What began as a protest against the sale of indulgences exploded into a revolution that transformed Christianity, divided kingdoms, and reshaped the course of history.
In this episode, we explore how a theological spark ignited a cultural and political wildfire, ...
In May 1941, the Royal Navy launched one of the most relentless and emotional naval pursuits in history. Their target? The Bismarck, the pride of the Nazi fleet and the battleship that had just sunk HMS Hood, killing over 1,400 British sailors in mere minutes.
This episode dives deep into the epic chase that followed: a saga of vengeance, codebreaking, aerial str...
Of all the legends surrounding American presidents, none is quite as enduring, or as delightfully absurd, as the tale of William Howard Taft getting stuck in a bathtub. In this episode, we plunge into the deep end of this iconic story: separating fact from fiction, myth from memory, and slapstick from subtle truth.
What really happened in the White House bathroom...
In the waning days of the Civil War, with Richmond in ruins and Confederate armies surrendering across the South, one man refused to accept defeat: Jefferson Davis. This episode follows the desperate final flight of the Confederate president as he evades Union troops across the crumbling Southern landscape, clinging to a dream already buried. From his escape from Richmond to his capture in Georgia ...
Journalists are supposed to cover the story, not become it. But in 1900, four ambitious American war correspondents, armed with pens, revolvers, and an appetite for front-page glory, did exactly that. In the desperate pursuit of a scoop deep inside Qing China, they stumbled into a rural village, provoked a sacred site, fired a gun, and, knowingly or not, sparked the chain reaction that helped igni...
Beneath one of Washington, D.C.’s most prestigious neighborhoods lies a toxic legacy few Americans know about. In this chilling episode, we uncover the forgotten history of Camp Leach, a secret World War I-era chemical weapons testing site buried under what is now American University and the upscale homes of Spring Valley.
From mustard gas to arsenic, and from p...
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It was the first federal law to single out an entire race, and it changed the trajectory of U.S. immigration policy forever.
In this episode of History Shorts, we examine the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, a landmark law born from decades of anti-Asian sentiment, labor tension, and shifting national identity. Far more than just...
Before World War I reshaped Europe, there was the Franco-Prussian War, a short but seismic conflict that redrew borders, toppled empires, and gave birth to a new German superpower.
In this episode of History Shorts, we dive into the 1870–1871 war b...
June 6, 1944—D-Day—marked the beginning of the end of World War II. But the way America remembers that day has changed dramatically over the decades. In this episode, we trace the powerful evolution of D-Day commemorations in the U.S., from the quiet mourning of the 1940s to the sweeping presidential tributes of the modern era.
You’ll hear how war fatigue, Hollyw...
In this riveting episode of History Shorts, host Peter Zablocki welcomes one of America's most celebrated historians, Rick Atkinson, to discuss the second installment of his Revolutionary War trilogy: The Fate of Day. Together, they explore the pivotal years of 1777 to 1780, a period that saw both near-collapse and unexpected momentum for the American cause. Atkinson shares insights into the decisive Battl...
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