Where history and epic collide--"History on Fire" is a podcast by author and university professor Daniele Bolelli.
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“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split.” Robert E. Howard. "If he had shot me through the brain, sir, I should still have killed him." Andrew Jackson Since the dawn of time, human beings have killed each other in all kinds of ways for all kinds of reasons. One of the most peculiar forms of violence humans have…
Government That Doesn't Suck is a Rewind Studios original podcast from the creators of History That Doesn't Suck, hosted by Professors Lindsey Cormack and Greg Jackson. Each episode digs into the surprising story of an American institution — from the origins of the internet, to the National Park Service, to the GI Bill, and so much more. You'll hear the stories behind them, plus a conversation…
“I ask you why we must tear ourselves apart for this small question of religion?” from the movie Elizabeth Once upon a time Game of Thrones was the most watched show on earth, and I could freely make references to it knowing my listeners would get them. Then came the last season that was so universally reviled that I’m thinking I may get rotten tomatoes thrown at me for even bringing it up. But A.…
"I answered him that… I, as Captain-General of these provinces, was waging a war of fire and blood against all who came to settle these parts and plant in them their evil Lutheran sect... For this reason, I would not grant them a safe passage, but would sooner follow them by sea and land until I had taken their lives." Captain Pedro Menendez de Aviles “Finding they were all Lutherans, the…
“Nation… a term inherently so vague and so contradictory that it must always be taken in a mystic sense, as meaning whatever the ruling classes hold it convenient to mean at the moment.” Lewis Mumford This is a story about politics, faith, paranoia, betrayal and conspiracy theories. More specifically, this is about the origin of the French wars of religion. In this episode, we play with Martin…
“Everything resounded with the confused noise of terrifying threats and shrieks of despairing anguish blended with the wailing of women and children.” - Livy Later this year, I will launch a podcast that will run separately from History on Fire, and it will be entirely dedicated to Roman history. Today, I’ll give you a little taste of what’s coming up. In this episode, I’ll share with you a tale…
This story has everything. Raids to enslave people. A bloody rebellion at sea. Piracy. A diplomatic crisis pitting Spain, the United States and England at odds with each other. High stakes courtroom drama which sparked intense clashes between abolitionists and cheerleaders of slavery. Some of the most powerful people in the world debating the pros and cons of the case, including government…
“We don’t need anyone to tell us what to do; not Savonarola, not the Medici. We are free to follow our own path. There are those who will take that freedom from us, and too many of you gladly give it. But it is our ability to choose—whatever you think it is true—that makes us human… There is no book or teacher to give you the answers, to show you the path. Choose your own way! Do not follow me, or…
“Se non ci conoscete, guardateci i coglioni, siamo gli Arditi del Capitan Mattioni.” Arditi song The Italian Army during WWI was not exactly a well-oiled military machine. In terms of supplies, logistics and leadership, it was a disaster… that is, until someone came up with an idea that didn’t rely on supplies, or advanced technologies. Just a stupid degree of bravery. That was the formula behind…
“Every talent must unfold itself in fighting.” Friedrich Nietzsche “Boxing inhabits a sacred space predating civilization; or, to use D.H. Lawrence’s phrase, before God was love.” Joyce Carol Oates Stories that begin with slavery rarely end in happiness. I’m a huge fan of celebrating individual achievements in the face of terrible circumstances, but the reality is that the cards you are handed…
“I love people as I meet them one by one. People are just wonderful as individuals. You see the whole universe in their eyes if you look carefully. But as soon as they begin to group, as soon as they begin to clot, when there are five of them or ten or even groups of smallest two, they begin to change, they sacrifice the beauty of the individual for the sake of the group… Cause pretty soon they…
The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. And we'll show you how our history affected them, their families and affects you today. Hosted by…
“Take me back to the quarries.” Philoxenus “Pelopidas died as he’d lived, a freedom fighter who rushed fearlessly into the fray.” James Romm “As one approaches Chaeronea, there is a tomb of the Thebans who died in the battle with Philip. No inscription adorns it, but a monument stands over it in the form of a lion, the best emblem of the spirit of those men. It seems to me the inscription is…
“There was no uproar, and no silence either, but that certain type of noise that results from anger and battle. Clashing shield on shield, they were shoving, fighting, killing, dying.” Xenophon “Pelopidas, after receiving seven wounds in front, sank down upon a great heap of friends and enemies who lay dead together; but Epaminondas, although he thought him lifeless, stood forth to defend his body…
“With P2, we had Italy in our hands. The Army, the Guardia di Finanzia, the police… they were all ruled by our members.” - Licio Gelli “Every week the streets of Milan were the theater of demonstrations, and were lit up by the fires of Molotov cocktails.” - Guido Passalacqua My childhood took place at a time known in Italy as The Years of Lead. It was a time of tear gas, terrorist attacks, false…
“For many of those for whom there is no light at the end of the tunnel, the story of Sertorius should be an example and an inspiration.” - Philip Matyszak Here’s the tale of one of Rome’s greatest and least known generals. A master of guerrilla warfare, he defeated many legions sent after him, and even outclassed Pompey the Great. His story is about the defiance that makes a man stand in the face…
“Lucky will not be pleased to hear that you have not been helpful.” - Joe Adonis “The outcome of the war appeared extremely grave. In addition, there was the most serious concern over possible sabotage in the ports. It was necessary to use every possible means to prevent and forestall sabotage and to prevent the possible supplying of and contact with enemy submarines.” - Captain Roscoe C. MacFall…
“The thought of him now and always has been a sense of comfort. I could breathe, I could sleep, when he had me in his arms. My father—he got me breath, he got me lungs, strength—life… The best I ever knew. He combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness and great unselfishness.” - Theodore Roosevelt about his father. Since my daughter was born, I have been trying my best to be as good…
It was only a few generations ago when large numbers of people in United States saw nothing wrong with the notion of buying, selling and owning human beings. Weirder yet, some slave owners were masters in the mental gymnastics required to feel morally justified in enslaving members of their own families, including their own children. In this episode, I am joined by Darryl Cooper from The…
“It is our belief that Saddam wishes to return Islam to blasphemy and polytheism...if America becomes victorious...and grants victory to Saddam, Islam will receive such a blow that it will not be able to raise its head for a long time...The issue is one of Islam versus blasphemy, and not of Iran versus Iraq.” - Ayatollah Khomeini "We do not repent, nor are we sorry for even a single moment for our…
“I am beyond Right and Left, just as I am beyond good and evil… I am a man devoted to life, not to formulas.” - Gabriele D’Annunzio “We are the only Italians worthy of being called Italians.” - Gabriele D’Annunzio This is the tale of one of the cultural-political experiments in modern history. The brutal end of WWI left many Italian soldiers dissatisfied, since the Allies refuse to grant them…
“We heard that D’Annunzio was coming, and Italy and freedom were coming with him.” - Anonymous Italian citizen of Fiume “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” - William Blake “Legionaries adore him. The men from the palace fear him. Little kids think he’s the devil.” - Leon Kochnitzky about Guido Keller This is the tale of one of the weirdest cultural-political experiments in modern…
“What are servants of God good for, if not for moving the hearts of men and elevating them to spiritual joy?” - St. Francis “I’ve come to help you all. Where can I find the best beer and the most beautiful women?” - Drukpa Kunley “I tried going to hell, but the path there was so packed with hypocritical priests that I had to turn back.” - Drukpa Kunley For once, here’s an episode about individuals…
“No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, because he'll keep comin' back and back until one of you is dead.” - From the film Casino “The condition of the people was pitiable to behold. They sickened by the thousands daily and…
“Rise up and do battle.” - Homer “Discipline is freedom, and the companion to imagination. Discipline makes it possible for you to become whatever you want to be.” - Deng Ming Dao Marcus Aurelius would have loved nothing better than studying philosophy for the rest of his days. Instead, destiny chose him to be the head of the Roman Empire. As a philosopher-emperor, Marcus turned to Stoicism to…
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer” - Mario Puzo “Grant me revenge!” from Conan the Barbarian, 1982 “I am immortal” - Nezahualcoyotl I originally created this episode years ago, as I was researching the Spaniards’ invasion of the Mexica (aka Aztec) empire, when I run into this little nugget of a story, which predates the arrival of the Spaniards. This is the first time this episode…
"Barbarism is the natural state of mankind… Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph." - Robert E Howard “Becoming a barbarian was often a bid to improve one’s lot.” - James C. Scott “We are riders; our business is with the bow and the spear, and we know nothing of women’s work. But in your country no woman has anything to do with such…
“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” - John Brown “If you seek my blood, you can have it at any moment without the mockery of a trial.” - John Brown “John Brown, and a thousand John Browns, can invade us, and the Government will not protect us. To secure our rights and protect our honor we will dissever the ties that…
“I think he [God] has used me as an instrument to kill men; and if I live, I think he will use me as an instrument to kill a good many more.” — John Brown “I had reached the point at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a freeman in fact, while I remained a slave in form.” — Frederick Douglass “I have only a short time to live, only death to die and I will die fighting for this…
In this first episode of a three-part series, we’ll introduce the early part of John Brown’s life and his crusade against slavery. Among today’s topics, we’ll have the ethics of punching a Nazi, how the beating of an enslaved child set Brown on his path, how both pro and anti-slavery forces used Christianity to justify their stances, racism masquerading as philanthropy, the Nat Turner rebellion,…
“This is how 70,000 horsemen of the Taira died, buried in this one deep valley; the mountain creeks ran red with their blood and the mound of their corpses was like a small hill.” - The Tale of the Heike “Tomoe had long black hair and a fair complexion, and her face was very lovely; but she was also a fearless rider, who could not be thrown by neither the fiercest horse nor the roughest ground;…
“The sound of the Gion Shoja bells echoes the impermanence of all things; the color of the sala flowers reveals the truth that the prosperous must decline. The proud do not endure, they are like a dream on a spring night; the mighty fall at last, they are as dust before the wind.” - The Tale of the Heike “When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting.” - Kill Bill "Let those in…
“He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honor for this man. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.” - Future Italian President Sandro Pertini about Benito Mussolini “The world unfortunately continues to be a battlefield where different egos clash, repeating the mistakes of…
“Women must obey… My opinion of women’s role within the state is against any kind of feminism. In our state, women must not count.” - Benito Mussolini “Yes, I participated in the actions. I usually had the task of carrying the weapons and would hand them to our shooters. As soon as they had used them, I’d get them back from them—still hot.” - Liana Germani “I was mostly afraid of torture had they…
“From an author’s perspective, writing about sex is risky, because if you write well enough, evocatively enough, vividly enough, you make the reader want to put the book aside and go get laid.” - Tom Robbins “Let's live and love, Caring less than nothing for The moralizing of stern old men. The sun sets and rises back again, But an eternal night of sleep awaits us When our brief light turns to…
“I didn’t know what to do. They were killing my children. I knew that If I went back there to help my children I would be cut to pieces. But I couldn’t stand to hear it, I couldn’t bear it. I was afraid that I would cry out, that I would scream, that I would be crazy. I couldn’t stand it, and I prayed God to help me.” Rufina Amaya “In El Salvador the rich and powerful have systematically defrauded…
“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter he kingdom of God.” Matthew 19: 24 "And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people…
“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” Zeng Guofan “Infants but recently born were torn from their mother’s breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” A British testimony on the Qing treatment of POWs If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably…
“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together with us… is it not a remarkable era in China?” A Christian missionary wife about the Taiping Rebellion “Jesus our Elder…
“The entire story of the Taiping Rebellion might be told, from one perspective, as the rage of a failed exam candidate writ large.” Stephen Platt “They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others.” Lin Zexu about British opium traders “Heaven is furious with…
“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.” Miyamoto Musashi Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go. Musashi has been the subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by…
“All warfare is based on deception.” Sun Tzu Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go. Musashi has been the subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa that sold over 120…
“But the years of peace and plenty was not to last. Slowly the days turned sour and the watchful nights closed in. Thrór's love of gold grown too fierce and sickness had begun to grow within him. It was a sickness of the mind. And where sickness thrives, bad things will follow...” JRR Tolkien “The more White investigated the flow of oil money from Osage headrights, the more he found layer upon…
“The universities do not teach all things, so a doctor must seek out old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them. A doctor must be a traveler… Knowledge is experience.” Paracelsus “They indulged in disgraceful immodesty, for many women, during this shameless dance and mock-bridal singing, bared their bosoms, while others of their own…
“Never in history had the United States Army been called on to rescue such a large number of POWs from so deep in enemy territory.” William Breuer “We were in the best shape of our lives, and with this mission we understood why he had driven us so hard.” Alvie Robbins speaking about Henry Mucci’s physical training “As far as we were concerned, they were gods.” Bob Body about the Rangers who…
“Brother, this is the greatest sorrow and the greatest trial that could happen to me in the whole course of my life. But don’t despair; before you lose sight of him who did the mischief, you shall see yourself revenged by my hand.” Benvenuto Cellini “Folk too gathered round us, for it had become clear that our words meant swords and daggers.” Benvenuto Cellini Italian artists from the Renaissance…
“If one of you comes out of the shop, let the other run for a priest, because there’ll be no need for a doctor.” Benvenuto Cellini “The whole world was now in warfare.” Benvenuto Cellini “And then falling on my knees, I begged him to absolve me of that homicide, and of the others I had committed while serving the Church in the castle. At this the Pope raised his hand, carefully made a great sign…
“On these hills, where everywhere were rolling skulls, skeletons, and decaying body parts, Baron Ungern used to like to go to rest.” One of Ungern-Sternberg’s officers “Look at [Europe's] past full of fire and blood and the vicious, savage struggle of man against God. The West has given man science, wisdom, and power, yet it has also brought godlessness, immorality, treason, the abnegation of…
“My name is surrounded with such hate and fear that no one can judge what is the truth and what is false, what is history, and what is myth.” Roman von Ungern-Sternberg “Ungern had fused with the war, and equally, the war, in turn, had fused with him.” Willard Sunderland A recurring thread in History on Fire episodes is my soft spot for individuals who are mildly mentally deranged, but have…
“Most people go through life thinking they’re totally safe. People like us, we know the truth. Life is hard and dangerous, and sometimes you just got to chop off somebody’s head to survive.” Ash vs. Evil Dead “No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.” Lucius Cornelius Sulla “Around four o’clock on that Monday afternoon of the thirteenth, with a light…
