Gladio Free Europe
A podcast that bills itself as 'a sort of movie, sort of history' show, blending together discussions of films with historical topics. Each episode takes a freeform approach, connecting cinematic themes with real-world historical events and figures. The show has a conversational, exploratory tone, often veering into obscure and intriguing corners of the past. It is supported by listeners via Patreon.
Episodes
E126 America A & America B ft. Grace Cathedral Park
As far back as the Neolithic, the rhythms of life in city and country have led to vastly divergent attitudes, anxieties, and aspirations. But what happens when new technologies of communication and commerce begin applying these sets of characteristics not to entire communities, but to individual consumers? Jackson @Gracecthdralprk returns to Gladio Free Europe to discuss a typology of American lif
E125 Homer and the Hittites ft. Alexander Thatcher
Renowned Caucasus correspondent Alexander Thatcher joins Gladio Free Europe from the land Anatolia for the first of several episodes examining the historic bronze-age context of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Written in the 8th or 7th century BC but set a half-millennium before, the Greek epic cycle recounts events that were ancient even to an Iron Age audience. While the historicity of the mythic Tro
E124 Arthurian Romance
At the court of a French princess in the middle of the 12th century, an obscure poet named Chrétien de Troyes would begin to write and distribute fanciful stories of the Knights of the Round Table. In doing so, he would propel the figure of King Arthur to an unforeseen level of fame and create the medium of fiction as we know it. Following the previous discussion of earlier lore surrounding Arthur
E123 The Birth of Arthur
Support us on Patreon---In the sixth century, the island of Britain was quite possibly the most miserable place on earth. A decades-long combination of civil war, imperial neglect, seaborne savagery, and the great freeze of 536 contributed to a level of deprivation beyond all living memory. But although the Britons had lost their paved roads, well-oiled trade networks, Latin s
E122 The Wyrd World of Beowulf
Support us on Patreon---Just over one thousand years ago, an unknown scribe committed to vellum a fantastical tale of swordsmen and sea monsters, set not in contemporary Anglo-Saxon England, but instead in the distant swamps of Denmark, hundreds of years in the past and hundreds of miles away. In doing so, they would open a portal to one of the most mysterious and murky periods
E121 Yiddish In Bloom ft. Wilf
Support us on Patreon---At the dawning of the 20th century, new songs of an ancient nation rang across the world. Yiddish, the native language of the Ashkenazi Jews, had assumed the status of a literary standard and was at the center of a political movement demanding freedom and dignity for its speakers. Though the events of this century would not allow this, Yiddi
E120 Historical Jesus
Support us on Patreon---Across the world, over two billion people believe that a human being is God. This confession of faith lies at the very heart of Christianity, a movement that exalts the life of a single individual far beyond that of any other world religion. But who was this man? What do we know about Jesus of Nazareth?This epsiode of Gladio Free Europe explo
E119 Herod the Great
Support us on Patreon---"Herod the king, in his raging, charged he hath this day: his men of might, in his own sight, all young children to slay." So goes the Coventry Carol, a traditional English Christmas song commemorating the Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem. According to the Christian Gospel of Matthew, the jealous ruler of Judea so feared the ar
E118 The Birth of Yiddish ft. Wilf
Support us on Patreon---At the dawn of the Middle Ages, small numbers of Jewish families ventured across the frozen Alps, seeking a new life in a foreign land they called Ashkenaz. In their workshops, at the market, and around the shabbat table, these people created a new language in secret: one that joined together the Hebrew writing system of ancient Palestine with
E117 The Making of Modern Florida ft. Grace Cathedral Park
Support us on Patreon---From 1880 to 1930, life on Earth was reshaped in ways previously inconceivable. Nowhere was this transformation more total than in Florida. In a single generation, a peninsula hardly charted since the days of Ponce de Leon was molded into a testing ground for new modes of living and capital accumulation. This episode of Gladio Free Europe drain
E116 The Devil in America
Support us on Patreon---Since the first European settlers took unsteady steps on its alien shores, America has been haunted by the Devil. Fears of Satan and his human confederates have long since lurked in our psyche, and played an overlooked role in the cultural and political development of the United States. In this week's episode of Gladio Free Europe, Liam and
E115 Early American Florida and the Seminole Wars ft. Grace Cathedral Park
Support us on Patreon---American troops descend into a humid jungle, sniped at from the trees from an invisible enemy. Unable to discern insurgents from civilians, the army begins burning villages and destroying entire communities. After years of failures on the battlefield, and extreme criticism of the war at home and abroad, American troops withdraw battered and beate
E114 Colonial Florida ft. Grace Cathedral Park
Support us on Patreon---Over five centuries ago, fabled conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon became the first European to place his espadrille on North American soil... yet it would take three more of those centuries the steamy, sunny peninsula he claimed would be host to any permanent European society. Florida was thus the first American state to be explored, yet the last to
E113 Cane Fire and the Colonization of Hawai'i
Support us on Patreon---The Pacific Ocean is not all that separates the 50th state from the American mainland. The Hawaiian islands remain a place apart, with a distinct culture and national identity borne out of the cyclone of colonial exploitation. Liam and Russian Sam are joined by Miguel (@whitejsakai) for Gladio Free Europe's first exploration of the history of
E112 Ass Worship
Support us on Patreon---You read that right. 1800 years ago, a Roman youngster etched a taunting cartoon of a classmate raising his hand to salute a figure on a cross. This graffito, labeled "Alexamenos worshipping his god," is remarkable for two reasons: it is the oldest known artistic depiction of Jesus, and it happens to depict the Christian Messiah as a man with the
E111 The Catholic Church in the Spanish Civil War
Support us on Patreon---At the dawning of the modern era, Spain was the most Catholic country on the planet. Desite the turbulence of the Reconquista, the conquest of America, the invasion of Napoleon, and the loss of every New World colony from California to Cuba, the Roman Catholic Church remained the foundation of solid yet stultifying social order. As the people of th
E110 The Commune of Zoar ft. Jern
Support us on Patreon---In the winter of 1817, a caravan of half-starved Swabians crossed through miles of frozen forests to find their promised land: Ohio. In accordance with their egalitarian ethos and inspired by apocalyptic prophecy, these men and women rejected private ownership and held all things in common. This radical commune, which they called Zoar, would be the
E109 The Haitian Empire ft. Sebastian
Support us on Patreon---The story of the Haitian Revolution is well-known. From the oath at Bois Caiman to the large-scale slave revolt which birthed the nation and subsequent war against the Napoleonic invasion force, the revolution is filled with cinematic moments of great poignancy. But what happened next?Usually the story ends with Jean-Jacques Dessalines taking power,
E108 American Utopias and the New Moral World ft. Grace Cathedral Park
Support us on Patreon---"And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." King James Bible, Acts 2:44"And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are c
E107 Neo-Druidism and The Wicker Man
Support us on Patreon---2000 years ago, Roman began a campaign of suppression against the defiant sages of barbarian Gaul. Yet millennia later, these druids survive. Their memory would inspire generations of alchemists, aristocrats, alternative-spiritualists, and eventually the creators of Britain's most iconic horror film.On this week's episode of Gladio Free Europ
E106 The Druids
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Unique among the barbarians of ancient Europe, the Celtic tribes of Britain and Gaul were led by a sophisticated priesthood. The druids, who left us no writing of their own, fascinated and frightened their literate neighbors in Greece and Rome. Described as both brilliant philosophers and murderous bloodletters, these ancient sages were fundamental t
E105 William Tell and the Origins of Switzerland
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Ready your crossbow as we venture up high into the Swiss Alps, a tyrannous bailiff might be nearby! This week we explore the William Tell, a national symbol of Switzerland, and the very real history which inspired his story. Join us as we venture back into a time before the Swiss were neutral, before they were known for their chocolate, and before the
E104 Artisans and the Birth of Capitalism ft. Grace Cathedral Park
Support us on Patreon---Every aspect of our modern lives is commodified and decimalized, from the minutes of our labor to the food upon our table. All goods and services we consume are produced and handled by professionals, who spend their lives developing their mobile arsenal of mental and tactile skills because they can outsource the production of food and shelter to other w
E103 History of the Zombie
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Brains. Rot. A shambling gait. Everyone knows the tropes that make up zombie, but how did this strange cocktail come to be? Liam and Russian Sam paddle through dark and torrid waters in this week's episode of Gladio Free Europe to chart the origins of the zombie from Afro-Caribbean folklore to today's Hollywood monstrosities.
Possibly the most endurin
E102 12-Step Programs and the Origins of Alcoholism ft. Jon
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Humans have been consuming alcohol for as long as we've been human, yet the identification of alcoholism as a chronic addiction is startlingly modern. The history of alcoholism, and the various ways to solve it, provide a great look at the shifting social attitudes around addiction. Many of these disparate ideas come together in the controversial 12-Ste
E101 American Centennials
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The United States has a fairly long and established history for a state, long enough that the country is approaching its 250th anniversary in just a few years. Much has changed in that time, while other things have failed to progress far enough. To look at this history of continuity and change, we decided to dive into the American centennial and bicenten
E100 Gladio Free Europe: A Retrospective
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Many podcasts were conceived during the pandemic, but few have proved as long-lasting as our humble broadcasts. After over three years of honing the craft and sharing so many stories, the whole gang reunites to assess our body of work. Liam, Abram, and the Sams have an engaging chat about what Gladio has meant to us and recall some of our favorite episodes
E99 The Birth of the Middle Ages and Henri Pirenne
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Liam and Russian Sam continue their exploration of the fall of the Roman world, as described by revolutionary historian Henri Pirenne. Writing between the world wars, the great Belgian scholar used cutting-edge research methods to analyze changes in the economy and society of the 6th century, describing a Roman world in Western Europe that lumbered on witho
E98 The Fall of Rome and Henri Pirenne
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On September 4, 476 the barbarian general Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor in the West and proclaimed himself king of Italy. After 500 years of existence, the Western Roman Empire was gone. But if you were living there at the time, would you have even noticed anything had changed?
Liam and Russian Sam return to one of their favorite historical subjects
E97 B. Traven and the Treasure of the Sierra Madre
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Liam and Russian Sam tunnel beneath the hills of Mexico to uncover the remarkable history behind the 1948 film "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and its creators.
Based on a 1927 novel about three American gold-hunters torn apart by greed, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of the only modern novels whose author is effectively unknown. Attributed
E96 Ármin Vámbéry and Hungarian Orientalism ft. Turan Explorer
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Liam, Russian Sam, and Turan Explorer continue their journey across the vast steppe of Hungarian Turanism in this episode on Ármin Vámbéry, the all-time Orientalist white boy whose remarkable wanderings were fundamental to the development of the Hungarian obsession with the East, and the rise of a political movement that would convince millions of Central Eur
E95 The Origins of Hungarian Turanism ft. Turan Explorer
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This week, we have a very special guest coming to us from the steppe via transfer in Central Europe. This episode is all about the constitutive elements of Hungarian Turanism, the ideology that traces Hungarian origins back into Asia and often comes with a political program for what to do with that knowledge. In this multi-part series, we set the stage fo
E94 The Long 2014 ft. Grace Cathedral Park
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There are decades where nothing happens and there are weeks where decades happen. Vladimir Lenin surprisingly did not say these words about 2014, a year that saw monumental pivots in culture, technology, and world events and arguably never ended at all.
Liam and Russian Sam are joined this week by their good friend Jackson or Grace Cathedral Park, a longti
E93 Frank Herbert: The Dune Behind Dune
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The Dune series has gone through a revival of late thanks to the film adaptations of Denis Villeneuve, but what are we to make of it? In this episode we explore Dune through the lens of its author, Frank Herbert. His beliefs defy easy political classification according to today's preconceived notions, making him difficult to situate. Herbert was a libe
E92 Irish Latin Americans and the San Patricio Battalion
Support us on Patreon---Since the 17th century, nearly 10 million Irish people left their homes for an uncertain life abroad. While stories of Irish settlement in the United States and Canada are well-known, the lives of tens of thousands of Irish people who settled in Latin America are much more obscure. In the first Gladio Free Europe solo episode, Liam runs through the long histor
E91 King Philip's War and the End of Native Sovereignty
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In 1675, the Puritan colonies in North America were fighting for their lives. A brilliant young commander named Metacomet assembled a Native American coalition that upended a half-century of colonialism, pushed the English back to the coast, and would come very close to obliterating settler life in New England.
In this episode of Gladio Free Europe, Liam and
E90 After the First Thanksgiving
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In November 1622, the great diplomat Squanto died while leading a trade expedition with his English allies. Only a year had passed since he formed a treaty between the Pilgrims of Plymouth and the indigenous Wampanoag people. While the early years of English-Indian relations were marked by cooperation and accommodation, including the famous Thanksgiving feast,
E89 Katherina Kepler and the European Witch Hunts
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In 1615, just days before the New Year, famed astronomer Johannes Kepler received the news that would change his life. His mother Katharina had been accused as a witch. Over the next 6 years, the Keplers would battle these charges with every means at their disposal, just as the world around them began to collapse into the carnage of the Thirty Years' War.
Gl
E88 Krampus and the Demons of the Alps
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Each Christmas season, the mountain peoples of Europe are beset by monsters. Fearsome figures like Krampus, Perchta, and the Kuker descend into quaint hilltop villages, sometimes to spread holiday cheer, sometimes to hasten the coming of spring, and sometimes just to sew chaos and discord. These figures are all part of similar winter celebrations found across t
E87 The Meiji Restoration and Hokkaido ft. John Bellamy Poster
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This week, friend of the pod John Bellamy Poster commandeered a gunship and made his way onto Gladio Free Europe to discuss 19th century Japanese history in the backdrop of the unique historical manga Golden Kamuy.
Exploring the pivotal moments that reshaped Japan, John takes us through the monumental arrival of Commodore Perry's black ships, an event that b
E86 Transylvania P. 2
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We return to the dark foothills of the Carpathians in our continuing history of Transylvania. This episode focuses on Europe's most infamous countess, Elizabeth Bathory, accused of torturing and killing up to 600 hundred young girls gathered from across Central Europe. While it's now agreed that Elizabeth Bathory was not a vampire, and didn't even bath
E85 Transylvania P. 1
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Americans are known for many things. Geographic insight of Eastern Europe is not one of them. Yet every American over age six can tell you which Romanian region is the home of Count Dracula. Thanks to the incredible popularity of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Transylvania has a unique place in the American and British popular consciousness, totally beyond that of
E84 The Ainu Before Japan
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In 1869, the Meiji Emperor declared the northern island of Hokkaido to be sovereign territory of Japan. In a process direclty inspired by American colonization, Japanese settlers were brought in to "civilize" the territory, a process which would have terrible consequences for the indigenous inhabitants -- a non-Japanese people known as the Ainu.
Japanese
E83 Fritz Lang's Fury and the Brooke Hart Kidnapping
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In 1936, acclaimed German exile director Fritz Lang made his American debut: Fury. The ripped-from-the-headlines story of a deadly false accusation was acclaimed by critics as the best drama of the year, but audiences and studio executives shunned the film for its dark content and uncomfortable social commentary: particularly how Lang shed light on the crimes of his
E82 God-Kings of Southeast Asia
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Put on your rubber boots, we're continuing our exploration of Southeast Asia as we excavate the deep jungle ruins of the Classical Age. From the Khmer Empire to Champa to Srivijaya and beyond, the early medieval period of Southeast Asian history is marked by the emergence of incredible states and empires whose histories, though tantalizingly obscure, hint at grea
E81 The Start of Southeast Asia
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For thousands of years, voyagers from all across the known world have docked their ships in the harbors of Southeast Asia. The diverse countries that make up this region have played an essential role in human history, witnessing the first waves of migration out of Africa, the development of the earliest oceanic trade networks, the synthesis of political and religious i
E80 Los Angeles Labor War p. 2
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It's October 1910 and Los Angeles is on fire. The California labor war had reached its highest level of violence with the bombing of the LA Times Building, and now the world wanted to know who was responsible. Some thought radical anarchists planted the bombs while others thought the LA robber barons had lit the fuse themselves to defame the worker's movement.
E79 Los Angeles Labor War p. 1
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On September 30, 1910, the L.A. Times declared that anarchism has been defeated in California. The city of Los Angeles would be rid of trade unionists. Less than 12 hours later, these same anarchists and trade unionists would strike back in the grandest act of terror thus committed in the United States. This deadly bombing launched a nationwide manhunt and one of the m
E78 The Flavorful Life of Yevgeny Prigozhin
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By now much of our audience may have heard of PMC Wagner, the mercenary group that marched on Moscow earlier this week in what appeared to be an abortive coup against the Russian government. Wagner infamous for its many alleged atrocities, and has been proven to be the most effective force in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But this notorious private army is all the
E77 Pirosmani
Support us on Patreon---On Easter 1918, Georgian painter Nikolo Pirosmani passed away in a hospital bed before he could be examined by a physician. This enigmatic naive artist whose works graced the walls of half the taverns of Tbilisi was only mildly famous in the avant-garde world when he drew his last breath. But after this corporal death, Pirosmani would live on, reaching a mythic stature.
E76 River Pirates on the American Frontier
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At the close of 18th century, the Mississippi River ran dark with blood and whiskey. This great artery of North America was a lawless frontier contested by Spain, France, Britain, the United States, as well as indigenous governments like the Choctaw and Chickasaw that had no intention of vacating land that had been theirs for generations. But there was one more ingredi
E75 Christianity in Japan - Warlords at Worship
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What do pocket watches, Korean prisoners, and samurai armor have in common? All of them help explain the close relationship between Portuguese merchants and Japanese warlords in the late 1500s. In this episode of Gladio Free Europe, we see how Portuguese Catholics entered the inner circles of Japan's most powerful men before a sudden change of heart turned
E74 Christianity in Japan - The Priest and the Pirate
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In 1549, a Portuguese priest and a Japanese pirate disembarked on the port of Kagoshima with one purpose: to bring Christianity to the islands of Japan. They would be remarkably successful. Within 50 years, hundreds of thousands of Japanese people had been baptized, from lowly fishermen and merchants to powerful noblemen at the center of the shogun's circle.
E73 The Coronation
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England has a new king, and the realm has come down with a terrible case of coronation fever. You may have seen the ridiculous merchandise, the extravagant robes, or the swords and other odd utensils used in the ceremony, but you asking yourself — what does this all mean?
Well, Liam and Russian Sam sat through the coronation of Charles III so you don't hav
E72 GFE World Travel Update
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After a couple weeks of adventuring across Japan and the Caucasus, the hosts of Gladio Free Europe are back in the States. Liam shares his experiences seeing the traces of the violent Sengoku period all across Japan's main island Honshu, and explains how this trip finally brought him to his "white guy into Buddhism" phase. Thousands of miles away, R
E71 American Medical Atrocities in Guatemala
In 2011, the US National Archives released 12,000 pages of documents relating to the activities of the Public Health Service in 1940s Guatemala. This report conclusively proved that a team of doctors led by John Charles Cutler, previously involved in the notorious Tuskegee Experiment, knowingly infected patients in Guatemala with syphilis and other venereal diseases.
Our friend Krebbs joins Russi
E70 Introduction to the Christian Saints
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This week, we talk about centaurs, demons, and self-filling pots of food. That's right, we're talking about saints and their hagiographies! This unusual genre stands at the crossroads between the Late Antique and Medieval worlds, and despite their often strange contents, they have a lot to tell us about the world in which they were written. Finally, we look
E69 The Trial of the Juntas ft. Kevin
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With Argentina, 1985 having been in the running for Best Foreign Language Film, we are joined by our good friend Kevin as we delve into the history of the Argentinian Junta and its genocidal campaign of disappearances, extrajudicial murder, torture, and the kidnapping of children. The latter crime is the subject of The Official Story, another Argentinian movie which
E68 Alaska Chat with Jon
Gladio Free Europe received a frosty transmission this week from the icy waters of the Bering Sea. Writer, prophet, and friend of the pod Jon called in to talk about life in Alaska. We run through the past 300 years of the 49th state, beginning with initial bloody encounters between indigenous Yupik and Inuit peoples and the Russian Empire and the ensuing colonial contest with Britain, the United
E67.5 Even More Bog Bodies
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More and more people are talking about bog bodies! Due to great feedback on our most recent episode we're following up our bog talk with an overview of recent developments in wetland archaeology and an overview of some of the most interesting bog sites in Europe. We dive into our favorite finds that we didn't have time to cover in our last episode, like the morbid b
E67 The Bog Bodies
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We get knee-deep in the peat this week to examine the bog body phenomenon. Due to their unusually anaerobic nature, bogs across the world have a remarkable ability to preserve any animal matter that falls into them. The cold and wet climate of Northern Europe has proven especially fruitful for the preservation of human corpses, many of which date back to the iron age and
E66 Hail, Caesar!
We are now on Patreon! We are not setting up a paywall, but if you would like to support Gladio Free Europe, we'll be thankful for your contribution.
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The Golden Age of Hollywood was a rough time to be an actor. Overdoses, suicides, and secret abortions were routine, but always escaped the papers thanks to the hard work of the studio fixers. In the 1930s to the 1950s, Hollywood studio heads hir
E65 New Smyrna, A Greek Colony in Florida?
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In 1768, hundreds of Greek peasants were brought to Florida by an ambitious British businessman in hopes of creating a classical paradise in America. Within just three months, New Smyrna would be the site of a full-on worker's revolution and this utopian dream would go in flames.
Liam and Russian Sam go back to Florida this week to chart the early history of the Sun
E64 Queen Christina and the Swedish Empire ft. Anton
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This week, we are joined by archaeologist Anton Larsson to discuss the other English-language movie about the Thirty Years War: Queen Christina, a historical romance starring the famous Greta Garbo. We discuss the multifaceted legacy of Sweden's famous philosopher-queen who oversaw the end of the long war waged by her father Gustavus Adolphus before ultimately converting
E63 The Last Valley ft. Matt Christman
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The one and only Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House stopped by in our little valley to bring us the latest updates on the Thirty Years' War. We ventured into an overview of the history of the war, when the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse roamed the Earth, the 1971 James Clavell flick The Last Valley starring Omar Sharif and Michael Caine, and Matt's upcoming series Hell o
E62 The Man Who Came to Dinner and the Algonquin Round Table
Support us on Patreon---Bring out your cudgels, the midwestern barbarians are afoot! This week we delve into the massively underrated 1942 Christmas film The Man Who Came to Dinner starring Bette Davis and Monty Woolley, the story of the cranky proto-podcaster Sheridan Whiteside who seemingly breaks his hip on a speaking tour and is forced to recuperate in a podunk Ohio town. To contemporaries, Wh
E61 Genetics 101 ft. Natasha
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Was your grandmother a Neanderthal? Did the English language originate in ancient Iran? What's a haplogroup anyway? These questions and more will be answered in our Q&A with returning guest Natasha, a molecular biologist with great insight into what recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA can and can't teach us about our past. This episode goes over the broad strokes of a
E60 Legendary Ancestry Claims
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Thousands of years ago, the Egyptian princess Scota gave birth to a child who invented the Gaelic language and led his family on a journey through the desert for 440 years. Their descendants would move to Greece and then Spain, before becoming the first humans to finally conquer Ireland from a race of elves called the Tuatha Dé Danann. Meanwhile in Britain, 33 wicked Gree
E59 Indigenous New England and the First Thanksgiving
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Every kid in America grows up hearing about "The First Thanksgiving" featuring Squanto, the Mayflower, and the surprising nutritional value of dead-fish fertilizer. But this patriotic narrative offers only a tiny glimpse at the astonishing and agonizing history of contact between Europeans and indigenous peoples of New England, who called themselves the Ninnimissinuok. Ou
E58 Cyrus Teed and Koreshanity
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At the turn of the century, thousands of Americans believed they had met the messiah: Cyrus Teed, an unassuming doctor from upstate New York.
In this episode, Liam and Russian Sam explore the dead religion of Koreshanity, a short-lived but influential cult that sought to establish a celibate utopia before the end of days. Fascinating, occasionally frightening
E57 The Golem
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In the heart of Old Prague, in the attic of the Altneuschul Synagogue, lies the inanimate body of a golem, or so the legend goes! We watched the 1920 classic of German cinema The Golem: How He Came Into The World to explore the strange history of this iconic creature, its ancient connection to the mythology of the Ancient Near East, and later Judaism. How did an entity so
E56 A Global History of Dragons
From Godzilla to Game of Thrones, dragons dominate today's pop culture landscape and play a monstrous role in the modern imagination. But how did this obsession with fire-breathing reptiles begin? For this week's episode, Liam and Russian Sam follow the cultural history of dragons across Europe and Asia. We explore why so many cultures imagined their own colossal serpents, diving into paleontology
E55 Readings From Ramón Sender's The Magnet
The Magnet is almost here! The GFE team will be republishing Ramón Sender's legendary book Imán in English for the first time in almost 90 years, and all of you get a front row seat! In this special sneak preview, we present a brief analysis of the Rif War as a catalyst for Spanish fascism and the proto-existentialist bent of the novel, followed by excerpts from the book describing the conditions
E54 History of Morocco (Part 2)
We're back in Morocco! We pick up with the reign of Mawlay Muhammad III, often called the "architect of modern Morocco." In addition to building up several new cities, Muhammad reformed the state through a sweeping decentralization of power. Although effective at dealing with the challenges of his own time, Muhammad's reforms would have negative ramifications down the line. We catch up with his ro
E53 The Barbary Pirates
We return to North Africa this week to explore some of the most infamous and intriguing characters of early modern history: the Corsairs of the Barbary Coast. What compelled Dutch sailors and English knights to "turn Turk" and sail under the Ottoman flag? What does Miguel de Cervantes have to do with a famous mosque in Istanbul? And were pirate attacks on Ireland an inside job? We going into all t
E52 E. Howard Hunt, Novelist
CIA agent Everette Howard Hunt, Jr is notorious for involvement in the 1954 Guatemalan coup, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the break-in at the Watergate hotel. But not many people know about most heinous crime: his decades-long side hustle as a hack writer. In this episode, we try to stomach his paranoid 1972 thriller "The Coven," in which a straight-laced attorney uncovers that Black Panthers are
E51 History of Morocco (Part 1)
We’re finally launching our exploration of Moroccan history, the most important country that Americans have hardly heard of. This episode will be a crash course on Moroccan history up until the early modern period. We follow rise of the 'Alawi dynasty that still holds power today, exploring how they came to power, kicked out the conquistadors, and established a massive army of slave-soldiers who h
E50 The Arab-Norman Civilization (Part 2)
We continue our journey into medieval Sicily by following the rag-tag band of Normans who carved out a tiny foothold on the Italian peninsula. In less than 50 years, these French-speaking adventurers and grandchildren of the Vikings would unite Southern Italy and established themselves as the overlords on the advanced and prosperous island of Sicily. We’ll explore how these adventurers like Robert
E49 The Arab-Norman Civilization (Part 1)
And we’re back! Liam and Russian Sam return to the early middle ages to explore the unique and unbelievably fascinating history of Medieval Sicily. A true crossroads of civilization, this sun-soaked island has been influenced by cultures from every corner of the Mediterranean and beyond and is an amazing microcosm for the entire history of Europe and the Middle East as well. The first of a two-par
E48 Origins of the Normans
1100 years ago, the power of the Normans stretched from the British Isles to the Mediterranean. They had become one of the most powerful clans in Europe. Yet their recent ancestors were lowly pagan Vikings. In this episode, we go over the swashbuckling history of the Normans to figure how a group of barbarian pirates were able to fight for their seat at the table of European politics and leave the
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