Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

In "Hardcore History" journalist and broadcaster Dan Carlin takes his "Martian", unorthodox way of thinking and applies it to the past. Was Alexander the Great as bad a person as Adolf Hitler? What would Apaches with modern weapons be like? Will our modern civilization ever fall like civilizations from past eras? This isn't academic history (and Carlin isn't a historian) but the podcast's unique blend of high drama, masterful narration and Twilight Zone-style twists has entertained millions of listeners.

Episodes

Show 73 - Mania for Subjugation III

December 22, 2025 • 254 mins

Attacking the largest empire the world had ever seen is a huge endeavor at any age, but try doing it at 21. Alexander, fusing the qualities of a Napoleon with a gladiator, aims for immortality. The Persians are just in his way.

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Show 72 - Mania for Subjugation II

January 3, 2025 • 231 mins

Is it safe to hand control of the deadliest army in the world to a 20-year old? If you are Thracian, Triballian, Illyrian or Theban, the answer is definitely no. Alexander becomes king and fights off threats to his rule in all directions.

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Show 71 - Mania for Subjugation

June 7, 2024 • 251 mins

What's the recipe for making a historically world-class apex predator? In the case of Alexander the Great, it might be the three Ns: Nature, Nurture, and Nepotism.

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Show 70 - Twilight of the Aesir II

November 19, 2023 • 383 mins

Pagan Viking Sea Kings spend the 10th and 11th centuries morphing into Christian monarchs. But with rulers like Harald Bluetooth and Svein Forkbeard it's debatable whether things will be any less horrific for Scandinavia's neighbors

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Show 69 - Twilight of the Aesir

January 15, 2023 • 310 mins

This show picks up where Dan's Thor's Angels show left off. In the early Middle Ages Pagan Germanic-language speakers like the Vikings are a dying breed. Many of their contemporaries wish they'd die faster.

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Show 68 - BLITZ Human Resources

March 6, 2022 • 339 mins

The Atlantic Slave Trade mixes centuries of human bondage with violence, economics, commerce, geo-political competition, liberty, morality, injustice, revolution, tragedy and bloody reckonings. That sounds like a lot, yet this show merely scratches the surface of this enormous subject.

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Show 67 - Supernova in the East VI

June 8, 2021 • 345 mins

When do spirit, tenacity, resilience and bravery cross into madness? When cities are incinerated? When suicide attacks become the norm? When atomic weapons are used? Japan's leaders test the limits of national endurance in the war's last year.

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Show 66 - Supernova in the East V

November 13, 2020 • 212 mins

Can suicidal bravery and fanatical determination make up for material, industrial and numerical insufficiency? As the Asia-Pacific conflict turns against the Japanese these questions are put to the test. The results are nightmarish.

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Show 65 - Supernova in the East IV

June 3, 2020 • 238 mins

Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal are three of the most famous battles of the Second World War. Together they will shift the momentum in the Pacific theater and usher in the era of modern naval and amphibious warfare.

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Show 64 - Supernova in the East III

October 24, 2019 • 293 mins

Japan's rising sun goes supernova and engulfs a huge area of Asia and the Pacific. A war without mercy begins to develop infusing the whole conflict with a savage vibe.

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Show 63 - Supernova in the East II

January 12, 2019 • 241 mins

Deep themes run through this show, with allegations of Japanese war crimes and atrocities in China at the start leading to eerily familiar, almost modern questions over how the world should respond. And then Dec 7, 1941 arrives...

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Show 62 - Supernova in the East I

July 14, 2018 • 268 mins

The Asia-Pacific War of 1937-1945 has deep roots. It also involves a Japanese society that's been called one of the most distinctive on Earth. If there were a Japanese version of Captain America, this would be his origin story.

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