Afleveringen
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In this newest special episode of History Impossible, I sat down to discuss a super-light topic, one not fraught with intense controversy and tragedy, with my long time friend and podcasting comrade, CJ Killmer, of the Dangerous History Podcast: that is, the topic of eugenics! More accurately, we discussed a particular man in that noteworthy field who CJ discussed on his second-most recent episode (as of this writing; the 12th and newest epic installment of the Woodrow Wilson series heâs been working hard on just released), Dr. Edwin Katzen-Ellenbogen.
This manâs storied career included being a pioneer in promoting the pseudo-scientific field that gripped the hearts and minds of American and European elites in the early 20th century, as well as having the worst luck in escaping the Nazis as their reach expanded across Europe while placing Jews like him in the crosshairs. This ultimately worked out for him, in a sick sense, because shortly after being captured and tossed into a camp, he began working with them on some of their notorious human experiments. It has been alleged that he personally murdered at least 1,000 human test subjects by lethal injection. Unlike many of the other Nazisâ collaborators, he was purely in it for himself, and, based on his activities before the war, likely agreed with many of their conclusions.
CJ and I spoke not just about this man, and not just about eugenics, but how theyâespecially eugenicsâfit into the broader schema that is the philosophy of progress, that is, Progressivism. Itâs at once obvious and shocking. And to help hammer the point home, we close by discussing an underrated piece of 1990s cinema that not only remains great nearly 30 years later, but eerily prescient. So please sit back and enjoy this conversation with CJ Killmer.
âŠ
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Mounty of Madness
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Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
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Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
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ChrisTX
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Robert VS
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Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink -
To say historians can be pedantic is like saying water is wet. To say gamers and gaming commentators can be pedantic is yet somehow even more of an obvious understatement. So what happens when these two communities clash and/or blend? You get what we could charitably call the Yasuke Conspiracy.
As many gamers likely know by now, the insanely popular and long-running Assassinâs Creed series of games has explored multitudes of time periods, aesthetics, and characters from across history, ranging from Renaissance Italy, to Revolutionary America, to Victorian London, to Roman Empire-era Egypt, to, most recently, Viking England. The newest, upcoming game in the series, Assassins Creed Shadows, promises more of this trend, this time taking us to medieval Japan during the Sengoku Jidai, or Warring States period. Sounds all well and good, right? There was one problem, at least in the eyes of many gamers: that one of the two playable characters was not, in fact, Japanese, but African. And not only was he African, he was a purportedly real person from history (a first for the series, whose protagonists have always been fictional). This person was the so-called âAfrican samurai,â Yasuke. And what followed was a firestorm of controversy, bad corporate crisis management, and a historianâs credibility being thrown in the direction of a woodchipper.
Being a gamer, and one who enjoys the Assassinâs Creed series, I was aware of the Yasuke controversy, and I was also aware of Yasuke, having come very close several years ago to covering him, but opting instead to cover the far less vague and mythological-seeming story of William Adams, the supposed British samurai. Part of the reason for this choice was due to the fact that there was indeed only one secondary source on Yasuke, and it didnât seem completely reliable. And sure enough, it was that source that, four years later, became the source of the controversy at hand. To help me make sense of this story, I needed to reach out to someone far more familiar with the material and, more importantly, someone who understood the power of historical myth. I could not find anyone better than my comrade-in-historical-podcasting-arms, Sebastian Major, the host of the phenomenal Our Fake History podcast. Sebastian had indeed covered Yasuke before, so I picked his brain and we discussed the true story of Yasuke and the controversy itself as well as the writer at its center, the now-unfortunately-controversial Thomas Lockley.
So please enjoy, as we are joined by Sebastian Major, and attempt to plumb the depths of our fake (impossible) history.
âŠ
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
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Sr. Powell
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AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
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F. You
Greg Zink -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
The following is the audio version of the recent essay addendum to the most recent episode of History Impossible, âThe German Voice of Islam.â Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and listen and, when at all possible, support my work. Please consider becoming a patron or paid subscriber to History Impossible at whatever level you feel comfortable.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Danny
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Eric Hodges
Carey Hurst
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink -
The Third Reichâs so-called war on the Jews was not one that they fought alone.
In fact, their war had been being fought for decades before Hitler even took power, perhaps even a full generation. The fight began in the late 19th century in Jerusalem, within the office of the mufti of that city. He was an elderly, serious man who, unlike everyone around him, believed he could read the tea leaves and explain where these land sales to an ever-increasing number of Jews was supposedly heading (despite the fact that he himself was also taking part in these land sales). By the early 1900s, a young boyâthe elderly, serious manâs sonâwas sitting in this office with his father, taking all of this in. No one at the time could have possibly known that this man would come to represent one of the most controversial parts of the Third Reichâs war three quarters of a century after its conclusion, thanks almost entirely to the words he spoke and wrote.
This episode of History Impossible returns to the first long-form series, âThe Muslim Nazisâ, that started it all, three years ago. In this episode, weâll be looking at what happened when the Nazis began to craft a nearly unprecedented propaganda campaign directed primarily at the worldâs Arabs, but also the worldâs Muslims as a whole. The propaganda itselfâfilled with unparalleled invective, racism, and conspiracy-mongeringâwas not invented whole-cloth by the Nazis. Indeed, it was fine-tuned by the Nazisâ growing cast of Islamic allies, most of whom from embattled nations struggling under the weight of empire and civil war. This cast included that young boy all grown up: the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini.
Not only is the Grand Muftiâs role in the propaganda campaign examined in this episode, but so are the most consequential claims ever made about the manânamely, his alleged role in the Shoah, which does not cease to cause massive, angry debates around the world. With claims ranging from those made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015 when he alleged that Hajj Amin is who inspired Hitler to commit the Holocaust, all the way to the Grand Muftiâs dwindling handful of apologists, who either ignore his time spent with the Axis or even outright minimize its importance; this part of our story endeavors to get to the bottom of it all.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
David Adamcik
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daddygorgon
Danny
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
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Peter Hauck
Eric Hodges
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Joe6245
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Benjamin Lee
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Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink -
Considering what happenedâŠsome thoughts needed to be shared. Iâm already working on something for the Substack, and believe it or not, the next episode of the âMuslim Nazisâ will actually be up and available for paid supporters of the show within the next day or so.
However, given what indeed has happened, involving the former president almost getting his head taken off, a lot of conversation has appeared. My dear friend Kristaps Andrejsons and I decided to sit down to add our voices to this choir (after overcoming some tech-related SNAFUâs that finally resolved themselves). This conversation is also on the Eastern Border feed, but please make sure to subscribe to his podcast because it is among the best out there.
Much of what has been said here is likely to change over time, but those in the history and politics space have nothing else to talk about. Please enjoy (as much as one can) this discussion, and consider becoming a paid sub or Patron in order to access an ad-free version of this and the newest proper History Impossible episode.
Thank you all for listening. -
For this next special installment of History Impossible, weâre joined by the journalist, writer, and fellow podcaster David Josef Volodsko, one of the most well-traveled individuals Iâve ever had the pleasure of speaking to (both in and out of the United States). He is the man behind The Radicalist Substack (which I encourage all of you to subscribe to), but he has also contributed to the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Foreign Policy Magazine, The Nation, Bari Weissâ The Free Press, and most famously (thanks to his abrupt 2023 ouster, which he explained here), the Seattle Times, where he served on the Editorial Board. His sole article under his own bylineââDear Fremont: We need to talk about Lenin and your statue of the genocidal tyrantââignited a firestorm of a historical debate on, where else, Twitter/X, where Washington tankies decided to make it their mission to cost David his job, and for which they ultimately succeeded. He has thankfully bounced back, founding The Radicalist, and appearing on other, far more prestigious podcasts than my own, and spending his time doing deeper dives on political extremism throughout history, as well as provocative examinations of present events, particularly lately Israelâs war in Gaza.
David and I spent a little time discussing his ouster, but we spent the majority of the three hours we spoke discussing the deeper themes of some of his essaysânamely, his essay discussing how anti-Zionism has, in practice, become anti-Semitism, and his even more provocative but well-considered essay, why colonizing (or occupying) Gaza is likely the only solution moving forward. Much more came up naturally during the conversation, including where the consistently anti-Zionist Christopher Hitchens might have landed in this political moment of ours, the casual and performative cruelty of Briahna Joy Gray and leftists like her, the anti-Israel leftist tradition and the different varieties of protester, and, of course, the legacy of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin al-Husseini.
This was a thoroughly enlightening, at times depressing and upsetting, but ultimately productive conversation that I was more than thrilled turned into a three hour epic (after assuming it would likely be less than 90 minutes). Many thanks to David for being so generous with his time and being willing to engage with such difficult subjects.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
David Adamcik
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daddygorgon
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Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
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Gavin Edwards
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Nathan Grote
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Mounty of Madness
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Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink -
âWhen a cycle of civilization is reaching its end, it is difficult to achieve anything by resisting it and by directly opposing the forces in motion. The current is too strong; one would be overwhelmed. The essential thing is to not let oneself be impressed by the omnipotence and apparent triumph of the forces of the epoch. These forces, devoid of connection with any higher principle, are in fact, on a short chain. One should not become fixated on the present, and on things at hand, but keep in view the conditions that may come about in the future. Thus the principle to follow could be that of letting the forces and processes of this epoch take their own course, while keeping oneself firm and ready to intervene when âthe tiger, which cannot leap of the person riding it, is tired of running.ââ
âJulius Evola
âWe are only against people who are harmful. And we donât hate them. Thereâs no need of hating them. We donât hate bugs. We fight them. We donât hate lice. We fight them. Theyâre harmful. They bite us... they infect us with disease. Mosquitoes: the same thing... You have to do something to make them go away, at least to get rid of them. Itâs the same thing with races that do harm to ours. We defend ourselves, and thatâs all... But in this Yuga, this Dark Age nearing its end, you get more and more power in the hands of those people. Thatâs natural. And there will be a racial struggle somewhere. I can see it coming. I can see it coming in the USA. I wouldnât be at all astonished if one day, not tomorrow, perhaps not in fifty years, but perhaps later on, the USA had a National Socialist government, made of Americans, after a terrific fight with the other races... I think America will precede Europe in that way, not for any other reason but because in America the pressure of the dark races is much more powerful.â
âSavitri Devi
âWhat we are against will unite us, while what we are for divides us. Therefore, we should emphasize what we oppose. The common enemy unites us, while the positive values each of us are defending actually divides us. Therefore, we must create strategic alliances to overthrow the present order of things, of which the core could be described as human rights, anti-hierarchy, and political correctness â everything that is the face of the Beast, the anti-Christ or, in other terms, Kali-Yuga.â
âAleksandr Dugin
These quotes are key to understanding a very particular strain of thought that has been discussed a few times on History Impossible; first, on the episode we did on Savitri Devi, âThe Hitler Avatar and His Masochistic Priestessâ, and then again on the first episodes we did with Kristaps Andrejsons of the Eastern Border podcast, where we discussed Aleksandr Dugin, Putinâs so-called âbrain.â This strain of thought is Traditionalism, a perennial philosophical school, often attributed to a number of European thinkers of the 19th century. Very few people can be called experts in this field, though Iâve been lucky enough to get to know one of them: Benjamin Teitelbaum, the author of the book War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right from 2020, as well as contributor to many different august publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic (heâs also a professor of ethnographic and international studies!).
As many listeners know, War for Eternity has come up a lot on History Impossible, so it seemed fitting to sit down with Ben and discuss the central aspects of his work, which included conversations with Aleksandr Dugin and the late Brazilian populist and Bolsonaroist firebrand Olavho de Carvalho, and, of course, the many hours spent speaking with the most famous American populist, Steve Bannon.
The key to understanding a philosophy as dark and twisted as Traditionalismâone might be tempted to call it unwittingly nihilisticâis to take it seriously, which Ben absolutely does. Itâs a thick subject, and being pressed for time, we were not able to cover everything, so this is likely the first of hopefully more than one conversation. In this one, we went through the basics of Traditionalism, its odd connection to religious thinking, Savitri Devi, the Tucker Carlson-Aleksandr Dugin interview, and just what the hell is going on with Steve Bannon these days. Enjoy and stay tuned for more!
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
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daddygorgon
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
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Bob Downing
Dramicas
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Howie Feltersnatch
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Nathan Grote
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Peter Hauck
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Joe6245
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Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
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Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink -
In this special conversational episode of History Impossible, weâre joined again by friend of the show and friend of mine, Kristaps Andrejsons of The Eastern Border podcast (which will also host this conversation on its feed!), who was kind enough to grace the shores of the United States for a visit, specifically Texas. Specifically, we turned to his recent special wedding episode where he discussed the eponymous âman who saved the world,â Stanislav Petrov, who, according to erroneous headlines from publications like the Atlantic a number of years ago, saved the world by âdoing absolutely nothing.â Kristaps is here to disabuse us all of such a ridiculous notion.
In 1983, the Cold War was at its most tense since the early 1960s, particularly during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was during this time that the monitoring station where Stanislav Petrov was station picked up signals indicating that a handful of nuclear missiles launched from the United States had been launched in the direction of the Soviet Union. While he could have responded without thinking, leading to missiles being launched back at the United States, Petrov opted to wait for visual confirmation of the incoming missiles, putting both he and potentially hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens in jeopardy. His rationality paid off and it turned out that there had indeed been an error in the detection equipment. No missiles had been fired.
Why was this so extraordinary? This is what Kristaps is here to tell us about for us to discuss, along with scatterings of news from Ukraine as well as the eternal debate over American involvement overseas, as well as the proliferation of nuclear weaponry. Itâs actually a fairly light episode, considering the subject matter, so enjoy!
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Babeonbobby
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Benjamin
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CR
daddygorgon
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
Joe6245
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Ward Van Roy
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink -
Hey all, I hope youâre doing well.
I have for all of you the audio adaptation of the essay I wrote last year in response to my seeing the magisterial Oppenheimer, and given its newly Oscar-anointed status, I figured now would be the best time to get this out as a bonus as you all patiently await the return of the Muslim Nazis series (itâs still coming, worry not!).
In this, we cover, mostly from my own memory (but supported by sources), the various reasons the United States might have dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To say this is a complicated question is an understatement. To say there is a consensus, even almost 80 years later, is impossible. So weâre going to get into the weeds with this question while also showing the love Christopher Nolanâs magnum opus deserves.
And as always, History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Babeonbobby
Dave Baxter
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Elias Borota
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
Joe6245
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
John Pisano
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You -
Hey everyone. The following is an ad-free bonus audio essay that follows up on the recent conversation I had with the History Underground's J.D. Huitt, where I make some corrections and then provide some deeper context to my thinking about how we might fix the Holocaust Knowledge Gap via education. I will let the episode speak for itself, but I want to thank all of you for your constant support of the show and your patience as I work on the longer episodes.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
David Adamcik
Rajan Athul
Babeonbobby
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Elias Borota
Johannes Breitsameter
Charles C
Cliffydeuce
CR
daddygorgon
Paul DeCoster
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Pierre Ghazarian
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
Joe6245
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Jim Miller
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You
Greg Zink -
In this newest special installment of History Impossible, weâre joined by long-time friend of the podcast and friend of mine, J.D. Huitt, the man behind the incredible History Underground channel over on YouTube, probably one of the best historical travel and educational content creators in the game (who has more than earned his 600,000 subscribers).
Both J.D. and I were DMing on Twitter/X recently, sharing our discomfort with the seeming spike weâve been seeing of not just ignorance about the Holocaustâwhat we thought was one of the best known event of the 20th centuryâbut also the skepticism and even downright denial of it as itâs been traditionally known. This coincided with the Economist-reported YouGov poll released in late 2023 that showed a shocking 20 percent of young Americans believing the Holocaust was a myth, with more vastly underestimating the numbers. As it happens, this is a subject J.D. and I had discussed before in one of our conversations a number of years ago, and J.D. warned the audience that this was the natural consequence of poor education on this subject. Much as itâs crude to say, we felt it was necessary to take a rueful victory lap on our concerns being confirmed.
We discuss why this phenomenon has occurred in a bit more depth, while also offering some broader solutions to how one teaches such a horrifying event in a way that might stick with people, without it simply going in one ear and out the other. Itâs hard to say whether we succeed, so weâll let you be the judge of that.
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Jose Martinez
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Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
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Thomas Squeo
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Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
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Greg Zink -
âI scarcely ever passed a week under such depression of spirits. [âŠ] It is terrible to see the extent to which all classes go in their determination to win. Conscience offers no restraint; nothing is so common as the resort to perjury unless it is violence. In short, I do not know who to believe: if we win, our methods are subject to impeachment for possible fraud; if the enemy wins, it is the same thing exactly. Doubt, suspicion, irritation go with the consequence, whatever it may be.â
âLew Wallace, retired Civil War general, 1876
Many people will call out elections in our lifetimes as being particularly divisive, whether itâs the 2000 election or the 2020 election. Those were indeed divisive, but very few elections have approached the divisiveness and the chaos unleashed in the United States Presidential Election of 1876, fought between the Democrat Samuel Tilden and the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, in which the ultimate decision on who would be president was decided by one electoral vote.
In this special five year anniversary episode of History Impossible in which we revisit this event only briefly touched upon in the inaugural episode of this entire show, weâre joined by Richard Lim of the This American President podcast, who helps shed some light into the details of this contentious election and this absolutely wild period of American history. With the election of 2024 looming large and with everyoneâs imaginations running wild with how things will turn out, Richard and I thought it might be prudent to not just provide a historical reality check on just how wild things can get, but how Americans were able to extract themselves from such insanity while living through it.
Happy five years and hereâs to five more with History Impossible.
For more detailed look at the Election of 1876, check out Richardâs episode on that election here.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
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Jose Martinez
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AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
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Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
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F. You -
Sometimes, the best way to understand everything a people have gone through is to understand a dream.
This is how many nations frame themselves and their own origins. No matter the context, there is always truth in the idea that before there was a nation, there was a dream. And that dream, however morally sullied by the ugliness of reality, consequences, and choices, can never and should never be discounted, even with the nations who have had their dreams frustrated for so long. In fact, the truth of that dream can be seen in those realities, consequences, and choices that we may not understand or accept on a moral level many years later. This can be seen in plenty of nations, both old and young, and that everyone recognizes, from the United States to Israel. But there are few nations whose history better represents this dynamic than the young nation (but very old culture) of Bosnia.
In this conclusion to the Balkan Inferno trilogy that will lead us by the hand back into the good graces of the so-called âMuslim Nazis,â we look at that long history of that central, symbolic part of the old Yugoslavian Region we today call Bosnia-Herzegovina (or Bosnia, for short). Weâll look at many of the strange and mysterious aspects of this placeâs history, including its own schismatic Bosnian Church, and the various attempts at self-determination peppering the timeline. This timeline is often dominated by collapsed empiresâRoman, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Germanâand failed kingdomsâSerbian and Croatianâbut always present is the story of Bosnia.
This nation and its people has always had others trying to define them for their own ends, but there has always been a force within that has wanted to define itself. This has indeed led to some truly disturbing decisionsânamely alliancesâbut these decisions could always be tracked back to the dream that forges all nations. That is what we explore here today.
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Julian Schmidt
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Joshua Simpson
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Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You -
Hey everybody. Now that Iâve finished up the notes and script for the conclusion of the âBalkan Infernoâ trilogy (which will lead us right back into the thick of the âMuslim Nazisâ series), Iâm hard at work putting all of that together. In the meantime, please enjoy (as much as one can enjoy such a subjectâI really do say that a lot, donât I?) this bonus episode that slightly tweaks and expands my recent Substack post, âPogroms and Students.â
This episode covers relatively current events regarding the escalation of anti-Semitic incidentsâespecially in the United States, where in New York they have risen by 200 percentâon the heels of Hamasâ declaration of war on Israel and the ongoing war being waged against them by the IDF, but it also gets into the history of the role students played in some of the most infamous pogroms in Jewish history, particularly in Russia around the time of the First Russian Revolution. It also revisits the discussion of mass violence we did in the last part of âBalkan Inferno," which unfortunately, feels even more relevant than ever (so please consider giving that 5 hour 18 minute beast a listen if you havenât already and have a strong constitution).
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
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Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
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Monica
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Ryan Mortenson
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Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
Michael Wroblewski
F. You -
The recent Substack post and episode of History Impossible about the significant three root historical causes of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has largely been well-received. What I didnât expect is that one of the main sources I used for that episode would be willing to speak with me in greater depth about the massively underrated Arab Revolt of 1936-1939. In this episode, weâre joined by the scholar, political analyst, and writer Oren Kessler, whose 2023 book Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict should be included as required reading for anyone interested or invested in what has been topping the news since October 7th, 2023.
Oren, like myself, is a believer in the notion that the Littlefinger of Palestine, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin al-Husseini, is a figure of massively underrated importance. In this episode, we discuss the Arab Revolt through the eyes of the Mufti and examine just why he and his decisions and his legacy matter in the 21st century, despite him becoming largely forgotten except for his infamous photo op with the Fuhrer of Nazi Germany himself, Adolf Hitler. Oren makes the case that this is giving al-Husseini the short shrift with regards to his impact and we discuss why this should be both self-evident and required for understanding why things have gotten so bad between Israel and Gaza.
Thank you and enjoy!
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
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Jean Peters
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Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
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F. You -
When you talk about history for a living, the contemporary world often has opportunities to make your knowledge more relevant. What knowledge actually possessed here about Israel and Palestine is likely more limited than some, I'd like to think that there is still some I can share to help clarify the conversation a little, at least when it comes to the notion of truly root causes to this ongoing conflict whose 2023 flare-up is the worst it's been in a long time, if not ever.
In this special dispatch of History Impossible--which is being treated as a proper episode--we're going to revisit some old stomping grounds of this show, namely the Israeli-Palestinian region of the world during the 1890s-1930s. There are some familiar events and faces, and some information has been adapted from previous episodes, but this is largely all new ground to cover with new sources added into the mix. This will not solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by a long shot, and it will not please everyone, but it will hopefully add some historical clarity into the mix for folks who find themselves increasingly invested in the ongoing events in the Middle East.
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Bob Downing
Rob Duval
Gavin Edwards
Pierre Ghazarian
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Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
Joseph Hurst
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Benjamin Lee
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Monica
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Ben Mullen
Allen Pace
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Brian Pritzl
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Phillip Rice
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
F. You
Please consider supporting History Impossible over on Patreon or Substack if you like what I do here and want to support my work. -
This is a bonus episode (a bit bigger than one might expect) that adapts and, more importantly expands, an essay I wrote for my friend and editor Jamie on his American Dreaming Substack. I seriously need to thank him for letting me write something soâŠI dunno, controversial? Combative? Anyway, whatever, so THAT under his publicationâs name).
This does use a very contemporary and contentious issue as its launchpad, and while some might see this as impolitic or even inappropriate, my history-addled brain only allowed me to see, hear, and read what I see, hear, and read and interpret it thusly. Pretentious way of saying, yes, I know Iâm being edgy, and I know Iâm being provocative, but I do implore all of my listeners to hear me out. This is not only history, but itâs, in my mind, an important aspect of history both in the United States and the âWestâ more broadly.
So yes, weâre talking about the biggest problems with the mere idea of affirmative action and what Iâand by extension Hannah Arendtâbelieves is the real issue at heart when aristocrats and monarchs (literal and figurative) grant privilege as a means to improve their own lots, while, of course, always under the guise of improving everyoneâs lot. Is History Impossible too cynical? Itâs been suggested. But thereâs a polemic in here that needed to be made, otherwise Iâd go a little crazy without making my self-important analysis known.
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Pierre Ghazarian
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Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Carey Hurst
Joseph Hurst
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Benjamin Lee
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Monica
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Ben Mullen
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Jeff Parrent
Jean Peters
Brian Pritzl
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Chris Rowe
Jon Andre Saether
Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna
Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
F. You -
Hey all. This is an adaptation/audio version of an essay I recently wrote for my friend and editor Jamie Paulâs American Dreaming Substack, in which I examine the uniqueness of the Holocaust as both a genocide and historical event. If you like what you hear and want to hear me delve more into this subject, Iâll try to delve further into it in a future special episode like this one. But in the meantime, please enjoy. And thank you very much for all of your patience as I try and juggle all the projects I have on tap at once.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
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Bob Downing
Rob Duval
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Mike Kalnins
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Jose Martinez
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Monica
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Ryan Mortenson
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PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Chris Rowe
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Alison Salo
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Cameron Smith
Thomas Squeo
Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna
Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
F. You -
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains persistent graphic genocide violence and cruelty, especially in its first 75 minutes. Listener discretion is advised.
In this part of the ongoing Balkan prelude to our return to the "Muslim Nazis" series, we are about to descend into the depths of hell. This was by design by the murderous Ustashe regime that took power after the invasion and dismemberment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Fuhrer of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler. What happened next was a nightmare beyond the the imagining of most modern, comfortable nations in the 21st century. But it all happened.
Serbs, Jews, Roma, and others were singled out not just for extermination, but extermination in the most brutal methods imaginable, thanks both to the savage hatreds festering under the surface of the former Kingdom's political culture, but also because the perpetrators actually saw their cruelty as the point; as their mission. It was less about politics, or religion, or anything really, than it was about simplistic notions of identity-based vengeance that never really made much sense to begin with.
In the wake of this slaughter, however, more chaos was to follow. Almost immediately after the Nazi-fascist invasion, resistance began to crop up, both from Serb nationalist royalists and the multi-ethnic, multi-religious communist Partisans, as well as from other, less-armed but no-less-motivated groups we will be examining in later episodes. The three-to-five-sided civil war that exploded across the region not only swallowed up thousands of lives and muddied the waters of loyalty and nationhood and identity, but it placed the Nazis in the greatest quagmire the world had yet seen, where even members of their own military apparatus--no strangers to the deliberate mass destruction of civilians--were horrified by what they saw their supposed allies do to their hated countrymen. If anyone thought self-reflection was in order, however, they were naĂŻve.
The story of the Yugoslavian territory during World War II--one of pain and unresolved trauma--is one that will likely not be matched in European history in terms of sheer brutality and hatred, at least not for a very long time. But it's a story that must be examined, even if only as part of a much larger one.
Also: Make sure to check out my friend and comrade SaĆĄa PapriÄ's awesome work here and here.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
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Brian Steggeman
Pier-Luc St-Pierre
Athal Krishna
Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
ChrisTX
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Ricky Worthey
F. You -
â[B]y strange contrast, which in fact isn't so strange, and could perhaps be easily explained by careful analysis, it can also be said that there are a few countries with such firm belief, elevated strength of character, so much tenderness and loving passion, such depth of feeling, of loyalty and unshakable devotion, or with such a thirst for justice. But in secret depths underneath all this hide burning hatreds, entire hurricanes of tethered and compressed hatreds maturing and awaiting their hour.ââIvo AndriÄ
âI had come to Yugoslavia because I knew that the past has made the present, and I wanted to see how the process works. Let me start now. It is plain that it means an amount of human pain, arranged in an unbroken continuity appalling to any person cradled in the security of the English or American past. Were I to go down into the marketplace, armed with the powers of witchcraft, and take a peasant by the shoulders and whisper to him, 'In your lifetime, have you known peace?' wait for his answer, shake his shoulders and transform him into his father, and ask him the same question, and transform him in his turn to his father, I would never hear the word 'Yes,' if I carried my questioning of the dead back for a thousand years, I would always hear, 'No. There was fear, there were our enemies without, our rulers within, there was prison, there was torture, there was violent death.'ââRebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
Long before there was a Third Reich, long before there was an Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini, long before there were any world wars, long before there was a Hajj Amin al-Husseini or Palestinian nationalist movement, long before a state of Israel was a twinkle in Theodor Herzlâs eyeâthere were the South Slavs of the Balkan peninsula, languishing under the weight of teetering empires entering their period of decline. Sensing weakness and frustrated with not being able to determine their own destiny, a nationalist spirit awakened in the hearts of thousands, and, in some cases, a sort of freedom was carved out for the regionâs many peoples, something through violent revolution, others through diplomacy and politics. And then, one day, the empires were gone. And a new kingdom had to rise from the ashes. This is when the real problems began.
In this prelude to the return of History Impossible's long-running Muslim Nazis series, weâre going to look at the conception, the birth, and rapid death of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. There are peasant rebellions, countless wars and assassinations, democratic malaise and poorly addressed ethnic tensions, extreme violence breaking out within the halls of state, seizures of power, radical terrorism, and the invasion and dismemberment by a far more powerful foreign adversaryâand weâre not even talking about the United States in the near future!
This story, as stated in the very first episode of the original series, has taken two years to return, thanks to the historically complex mosaic this part of the world has turned it into. But return we have, and weâve just begun; this is why we are going to be spending a number of episodes focusing on the history of the Balkans. Don't worry, it will all fit together soon; the Kingdom of Yugoslavia not only sets the stage for so many of the characters weâve come to know and love (to hate, hopefully), but it gives us an unprecedented snapshot of how a young democracy dies and, crucially and nightmarishly, what happens afterward.
Welcome to the real graveyard of empires.
History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today to help keep me free and this show alive:
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Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
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