I have listened to each in succession each times a new one has come out because I have to remember. So the train bombing of 1931 that Dan spends as much time on as Midway is at this point etched into my memory in permanent ink.
Finished today. Unbelievably good. Interesting to hear his thoughts on Lemay after Gladwell’s ridiculous book just came out
https://newrepublic.com/article/162624/malcolm-gladwells-fantasy-war-air-bomber-mafia-review By Gladwell’s analysis, this, too, was a success: “Curtis LeMay’s approach brought everyone—Americans and Japanese—back to peace and prosperity as quickly as possible.” (He waves away any and all lingering questions of wartime atrocity by quoting a secondhand anecdote about a “senior Japanese historian” who once “thanked” an American historian for the firebombing because it prevented a land invasion.)
I’ve listened to them all 5 times at least. I listen to them when I fall to sleep. Usually get about 20-30 mins a night. Weird dreams sometimes
But also I had done Supernova enough between releases that I was able to redo King of Kings and start Celtic Holocaust
Have not listened yet. Does he allude to what next project will be? Can he please start the Alexander the Great one he has promised?
The last part of King of Kings touches on Alexander but it’s definitely not a deep dive. Still interesting nonetheless.
I re-listened to Ghosts of The Ostfront between Supernova 5 and 6. Was perfect. Hard to believe a lot of that was going on at the same time. We are capable of so much evil. I probably need to watch some Disney movies for a few weeks before I start a re-listen of Blueprint.
I hope he does something a little less known. Hopefully not something from antiquity or WW! or WW2. Lewis and Clark expedition would be cool , or maybe the Opium Wars. Something that's not been covered by a million people.
There could be new scholarship on it since the doc aired. Also we see things from different perspectives now than we did 20 years ago. Probably more POV from the indigenous people, ect
I think your western roots are showing. But in that vein any deep dive into Native Americans from Squanto to Sacajawea to Cuauhtemoc or whatever period would be sweet.
I was going to suggest something like the Mali Empire or Incas, but stuck w Western stories because that's pretty much what Dan has stuck to besides the Mongols, which, also are a part of western history/mythology/ whatever
Mali would be awesome. I’m like 50% sure Mansa Musa’s predecessor reached Central America/the Caribbean long before Columbus. regarding western bias, part of it is him, part of it is what’s available. King of kings relied so heavily on Greek writers which frustrated Dan. A sham the mongols trashed Baghdad and the library at Alexandria was destroyed.
Chinese civil war would be cool too. Obviously some WW2 overlap, but still interesting and the sino-Japanese war was just a chapter in the Mao vs Chiang ka Shek saga.
for non-war stuff, a history of 20th century propaganda would be pretty cool. this is imo by far the most underrated thing that the united states has invented civ6 kind of ruined alexander for me because they made him look like a muscular woman, and that's all i can picture now when i hear his name
God, the stories of Japanese parents having to abandon kids, and GI’s killing civilians in the dark was so devastating I had to turn it off, brutal.
Spoiler The part where the Philippine Father getting partially beheaded and then watching and listening to his family get executed was brutal for me. Haven't got to the part you're talking about yet. you
I’m an hour in to last episode and man I feel like Dan is either a) beaten down by the brutality of the whole thing or b) ready to get to the end game - because man he sounds just exhausted talking about this stuff. I need to rewatch The Pacific with this fresh. I remember coming away thinking this theatre was just hell and nothing more, but I feel like hell is selling it short based on the last couple hours I’ve listened to.
Watch The War documentary by Ken Burns before that. Sid Phillips' character is depicted in The Pacific, but he's a featured speaker in The War.
I was trying to envision how you get partially beheaded and live. There's not a lot of wiggle room in your neck to chop at and not kill someone.
Its always interesting to me how much Americans think of America as a warrior nation but how little appetite the population actually has for what war brings. Dan talks about how Americans were getting fed up with the deaths and casualties in the Pacific which are miniscule both in raw numbers and as a percentage of the population compared to what other countries took. Plus several of these European countries just took millions of deaths two decades before this in World War 1. Can you imagine a war where America has 5 million military and civilian deaths?
Right, I almost brought that up specifically. 58,000 dead Americans in Vietnam and Americans act like its one of the greatest tragedies of all time. The Soviet Union took one million casualties over 6 months at Stalingrad. England suffered 20,000 dead in one day during the battle of the Somme. One fucking day!
true but Americans on both sides were very war weary during the civil war. For comparison France lost 400,000 men in 6 months invading Russia. Napoleon goes away and then they are back at it just a few years later
Stumbled across The Fall of Civilizations Podcasts. It’s very much a ripoff of HH but it’s done very well. Long form podcasts discussing the rise and fall of ancient civilizations. Using contemporary correspondence of the day. Pretty well done and released a little more frequently than HH
theres a pretty convincing argument that one of americas greatest strengths and weaknesses is that we have basically war profiteered for a century but never truly felt pain on the homefront comparable to most other countries involved in these movements. so we never really learned any lessons from our foibles. the reaction to 9/11 makes me think it may not have been better if we did, because our cultural reflexives are very right wing
We are all same. Finished Easter Island and about halfway into African. Really enjoying the series. Thanks to whomever mentioned it here??