History Shorts

On a cold November morning in 1865, just months after the Civil War’s end, a Confederate officer stood on the gallows in Washington, D.C. His name was Henry Wirz, the former commandant of the notorious Andersonville prison camp, a place of such suffering that it shocked even a war-weary nation. By the time the rope snapped his neck, over 13,000 Union prisoners had died under his watch, and the war...

Barbed wire began as a humble solution to a humble problem: fencing the vast, treeless expanses of the American West. But this simple invention—two twisted strands studded with sharp steel barbs - would soon change the course of history. From reshaping the American frontier to fueling violence, displacing Indigenous nations, and fencing the battlefields and concentration camps of the 20th century, barbed wire earned its ominous nic...

In this thought-provoking episode of History Shorts, bestselling author John Green joins us, not to talk about fiction, but about the real-world epidemic that once shaped everything from art to architecture, medicine to morality. His new book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, traces how tuber...

Between 1866 and 1871, a secretive Irish-American paramilitary group known as the Fenians launched a series of bizarre and audacious cross-border attacks from the U.S. into Canada. Their mission? To strike at the British Empire by seizing Canadian territory and ransoming it for Irish independence. Though the Fenian Raids failed militarily, they left a surprising legacy—spurring Canadian nationalis...

Just off a quiet back road in Salem, New Hampshire, sits a baffling jumble of dolmen-like chambers, serpentine walls, and precisely aligned monoliths known today as “America’s Stonehenge.” Is it a colonial root-cellar maze, a Native ceremonial calendar, or proof of ancient trans-Atlantic voyagers? This episode traces the site’s discovery, fringe-theory circus, solar alignments, and ongoing archaeol...

In September 1944, while Allied troops battled overseas, the quiet Illinois town of Mattoon was seized by panic. Families awoke to a sickly-sweet odor, burning throats, and sudden paralysis, then glimpsed a shadowy figure slipping into the darkness. For two breathless weeks, newspaper headlines screamed of an “Anesthetic Prowler,” armed neighbors patrolled the streets, and the FBI weighed sabotage or chemical crime. Yet in the end,...

Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 1876. A town of gold, grit, and gamblers. Among its rogues and prospectors walked a legend: Wild Bill Hickok, the Civil War scout turned gunslinger turned gambler. But on August 2nd, fate caught up to the myth. In a smoky saloon, with a hand of cards and his back to the door, Hickok was shot dead by a coward with a grudge. This episode unpacks the gripping true story of the man behind the legend and how ...

In this episode of History Shorts, we explore the fascinating and often frustrating history of third parties in American politics, just as Elon Musk launches his own. From the Republican Party's origins as a third-party insurgency to the fleeting promise of Ross Perot and the Reform Party, we trace the moments when political outsiders challenged the system, and when they crashed against it. What ...

In the borderlands of Missouri, where the American Civil War devolved into personal feuds and guerrilla terror, one name echoed louder, and bloodier, than the rest: “Bloody Bill” Anderson.

COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) remains one of the most contentious and clandestine operations in American history. Initiated by the FBI in 1956, COINTELPRO operated covertly to surveil, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt civil rights groups, political organizations, and individuals deemed subversive or threatening to national security. Targeting African American leaders, the civil rights movement, left-wing ...

In this wide-ranging and deeply insightful conversation, award-winning author and narrative historian Hampton Sides joins History Shorts to discuss his latest book, The Wide Wide Sea, a gripping account of Captain James Cook’s third and final voyage in search of the Northwest Passage. From stories of colonial contact in Poly...

The tale of the “Man in the Iron Mask” is one of history’s most intriguing and enigmatic mysteries. A figure imprisoned under the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, his identity and the reasons for his prolonged confinement remain shrouded in secrecy to this day. Was he a royal relative, a political rival, or an unknown prisoner? This episode explores the mystery surrounding the Man in the Iron Mask, the theories about his identity,...

The Peggy Eaton Affair, or Petticoat Affair, is one of the most intriguing political scandals in early U.S. history, involving President Andrew Jackson, his Cabinet, and a scandalous dispute centered around the wife of Jackson's Secretary of War, John Eaton. This personal drama quickly escalated into a full-blown political crisis that reshaped Jackson’s administration and revealed the complicated intersection of gender...

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study stands as one of the most egregious medical scandals in U.S. history. Spanning from 1932 to 1972, this study followed 399 Black men in Macon County, Alabama, who were deliberately denied treatment for syphilis in order to observe the disease’s progression. Despite the availability of penicillin in the 1940s, these men were subjected to unethical experimentation, marking a horrific chapter in American med...

The Bible, while primarily a spiritual text, is rich with dramatic and often bloody tales of battle, where divine intervention and human ambition collide. From the fall of Jericho to the final battle of Armageddon, these conflicts shaped the history and faith of Israel. This episode explores some of the Bible's most epic and violent battles, examining not just the bloodshed but the spiritual and divine significance beh...

On April 12, 1864, the banks of the Mississippi River ran red with blood. At Fort Pillow in western Tennessee, Confederate troops under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest overran a Union outpost largely defended by Black soldiers, many of them formerly enslaved. But what happened after the battle began would echo through history as one of the most brutal atrocities of the American Civil War.

For over four centuries, adventurers, historians, and fortune hunters have been drawn to the mystery of Sir Francis Drake’s treasure. The legendary privateer and pirate amassed vast wealth in his raids on Spanish territories, yet what became of his treasure remains one of history's greatest unsolved mysteries. Was it lost to the sea, buried in the jungles of Central America, or hidden away in the name of crown and country? This epi...

The Fourth of July is more than just barbecues, beach days, and booming fireworks. In this episode, we trace the fascinating journey of America’s Independence Day, from its revolutionary roots in 1776 to the dazzling displays over the East River in modern-day New York City.

In this special episode of History Shorts, host Peter Zablocki sits down with acclaimed British historian and author Tim Bouverie to discuss his compelling new book, Allies at War: How the Struggles Between the Allied Powers Shaped the War and the World. Known for his previous bestseller App...