Mistakes Were Made
A middle school, history teacher teaches his two adult friends about mistakes made in history.
Episodes
September 4, 2018 • 55 mins
This week we learn about Mao Zedong and his weird obsession with mangos and murder.
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August 27, 2018 • 22 mins
In 1939 Russia invaded Finland in what's called The Winter War. During the war a sniper from Finland, Simo Häyhä, was able to kill hundreds of Russians.
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4
Mark as Played
August 20, 2018 • 31 mins
This week we learn about the legend of Franz Ferdinand and his cartoon bombs.
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August 13, 2018 • 37 mins
In 1867 America bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. Some opponents called it "Seward's Folly" after Secretary of State William H. Seward. Turns out it was a pretty great investment.
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August 5, 2018 • 39 mins
Building a wall dividing a city. Can't see how this will be a mistake.
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March 20, 2018 • 37 mins
This week we learn about the Halifax Disaster and welcome on a new co-host with Bobby Smithney.
*Sorry for the audio quality this week. We're still working stuff out.*
*Sorry for the audio quality this week. We're still working stuff out.*
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February 6, 2018 • 2 mins
Hey guys, I’ve got some great news. We’re back for season 2 of Mistakes Were Made very soon.
We’ve used this time to think about the podcast and how to make it better and Mike and I came up with a great idea. Neither of us are real history buffs and while that makes the podcast humorous sometimes we both thought that the podcast would be so much better with an actual history buff. Someone who has studied it and understands it more s...
We’ve used this time to think about the podcast and how to make it better and Mike and I came up with a great idea. Neither of us are real history buffs and while that makes the podcast humorous sometimes we both thought that the podcast would be so much better with an actual history buff. Someone who has studied it and understands it more s...
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August 9, 2017 • 29 mins
In the year 66 things were pretty tense between the Romans and the Jews around the mediterranean. You see there was this guy named Caligula in charge of the Roman Empire at the time and he wasn’t the worst, but he also wasn’t the best. Caligula spent a lot of money on building projects. Practical ones like aqueducts and harbors, cultural ones like theaters and temples, but also weird ones like taking hundreds of Roman merchant ship...
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July 26, 2017 • 45 mins
While he was dictator he did the standard dictator stuff. He killed those who spoke out against him and with all the money at the top many of his people starved. Mobutu was spending billions of dollars on himself and his family. He would overpay his generals or other people that might want to overthrow him and underpay his soldiers, many of whom were forced to steal from civilians just so they could have money to eat.
Mobutu also wa...
Mobutu also wa...
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July 18, 2017 • 31 mins
Saparmurat Niyazov (Super-murat Ne-yah-zov) was born on February 19th, 1940 in the former Soviet Republic of Turkmenistan. He didn’t have the best childhood. His father either died fighting Nazis in World War II or dodged fighting and was therefore sentenced by a military court (two different stories on this). When he was 8 his mother and both his siblings were killed in an earthquake that leveled the city they were living in when ...
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July 12, 2017 • 22 mins
U-boat is the anglicised version of the German word U-Boot, a shortening of Unterseeboot, literally "undersea boat". While the German term refers to any submarine, the English one refers specifically to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars.
During World War II, U-boat warfare was the major component of the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted the duration of the war. Germany had t...
During World War II, U-boat warfare was the major component of the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted the duration of the war. Germany had t...
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June 27, 2017 • 31 mins
Nicolae Ceausescu (Nick-o-lie Chi-Ches-Coo) was born on January 26th, 1918. He was one of the ten children of a poor peasant family. His father owned 7 and a half acres of agricultural land, a few sheep, and he also supplemented his large family's income through tailoring.
At the age of 7 Nicolae started his education at the local village school, but after only 4 years of education he ran away from home to escape his extremely relig...
At the age of 7 Nicolae started his education at the local village school, but after only 4 years of education he ran away from home to escape his extremely relig...
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June 13, 2017 • 28 mins
In 1919 the molasses business was booming. So much so that molasses tanks had to be built in places like Boston and quickly. Some tanks were built too quickly though and mistakes were made.
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June 6, 2017 • 20 mins
Europe in the middle ages wasn't a very happy place to live. That's why it was so weird that randomly groups of people started dancing in masses. This was known as "Dancing Mania" and it would happen several times thoughout history.
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May 30, 2017 • 34 mins
Since the beginning of written history there have been tails of people trying to cheat death and live forever. It explores humanity's deep-seated fears and comprehension of its own mortality. Many people through history did not see this as fiction, but instead strived to make it a reality.
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May 23, 2017 • 29 mins
The compromise that eventually lead to the American Civil War.
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May 16, 2017 • 33 mins
“The reign of tears is over. The slums will soon be a memory. We will turn our prisons into factories and our jails into storehouses and corncribs. Men will walk upright now, women will smile, and children will laugh. Hell will be forever for rent.” - Reverend Billy Sunday
Reverend Billy Sunday was a proponent of the “Noble Experiment”, a anti-alcohol movement that gained steam throughout the nineteenth century and became a staple o...
Reverend Billy Sunday was a proponent of the “Noble Experiment”, a anti-alcohol movement that gained steam throughout the nineteenth century and became a staple o...
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May 9, 2017 • 26 mins
Check it out, we found a completely different continent! Let's murder people on it!
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May 2, 2017 • 30 mins
Basically the story of Beanie Babies, but hundreds of years before Beanie Babies.
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April 25, 2017 • 26 mins
Muhammad bin Tughlaq (Two-cli-ock) was born in 1300 and was the eldest son of the Sultan of Delhi. This kingdom covered most of what is now northern India and Pakistan. They also had a cool flag (dark green with one off center black vertical stripe). Muhammad was a strict Muslim, maintaining his five prayers during a day and fasting. He was hailed as a "man of knowledge" and had interest in subjects like philosophy, medicine, math...
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