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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 broke Japan's 220-year-old policy of isolation and precipitated a domino effect of change. We delve into the Meiji Restoration, an era of rapid modernization and westernization, which saw the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the reinstatement of imperial rule. The Boshin War, a civil war that symbolized the end of the samurai era, is examined through the lens of its influence on Japanese society and politics. Lastly, we traverse the rugged terrains of Hokkaido and discuss the beginning of its colonization, shedding light on the cultural and economic impacts this had on the indigenous Ainu people, as well as Japan itself.

Interspersed with references to the gripping saga of Golden Kamuy, John explains how this historical manga offers a visceral narrative that intertwines these significant events with the lives of its richly developed characters. Join us on Gladio Free Europe for a journey through the transformative epochs of Japan, brought to life by history and manga alike.

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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 bathe in anyone's blood, whether or not she was a serial killer has led to some interesting debate.

Join us as we lay out the facts of the Bathory case and decide for yourself if this enigmatic nobleman woman was Transylvania's Jeffrey Dahmer or the innocent victim of a Habsburg conspiracy. Afterward, we chart the the development of the 19th century interest in both vampires and Eastern Europe, beginning with Lord Byron and culminating in Bram Stoker's 1897 masterpiece Dracula—not only one of the most influential novels ever composed, but also an amazing window into the imperial anxieties of late Victorian Britain.

Protect your neck, kid! We're back to Transylvania.

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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 any other province in this part of the world. To see how this came to pass, we have to understand the ways that Dracula is a snapshot of Victorian fears, fascinations, and colonial psychoses and explore the real history of this long-contested region.

In this two-part series, Liam and Russian Sam pore over the ancient tomes to uncover both the history of Transylvania and the strange, circuitous path that gave this region its uniquely macabre reputation, from the first invasions of the Magyars that terrified Christian Europe, to the establishment of German colonies that may have inspired by the Pied Piper legend, and ultimately the blood, brutal career of Vlad the Impaler. Although he never actually ruled Transylvania, the real-life Dracula's persecution of German-speakers became one of Europe's first media spectacles, giving this proud eastern boyar an afterlife that he still enjoys today.

Don't forget the garlic as you join Gladio Free Europe on this excursion down the Danube, as we venture into the land beyond the forest.

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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 colonists and western onlookers derisively viewed the Ainu as isolated primitives, at best isolated remnants of the ancient Jomon people ancestral to the mainland Japanese. This is nonsense. The Ainu and their predecessors have a rich history of interaction with the peoples of Asia, including the Japanese, and have an illustrious history that goes back many hundreds of years.

This episode of Gladio Free Europe charts the course of Ainu history before the conquest of Hokkaido. Using archaeology and archaeogenetics, cover the ancient mingling of various Northeast Asian peoples who populares the island and investigate longstanding claims that the Ainu are related to various outside groups. Chinese early Japanese sources also give us incredibly insights into early relations between Hokkaido and the outside world. We discuss the fearsome Emishi people, a medieval community that has long been associated with the Ainu, who feature prominently in the film Princess Mononoke, and recount how the expansion of Ainu people into mainland Siberia led to a long war against the Mongols.

By the Sengoku Era, feudal warlords began competing for access over the growing Hokkaido trade, which led to the establishment of Japanese settlements on the island. In this period, the Ainu came under Japanese occupation without falling under the protection of Japanese law. This exploitative situation had profoundly negative consequences for the indigenous people, leading to two major revolts against the settlers.

While the Ainu remain colonized by Japan today, their survival exposes the myth of homogeneity central to Japanese nationalism.

Please join us for this discussion on one of Asia's most intriguing and inspiring peoples.

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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 adopted country, including the brutal crisis of lynching.

With Spencer Tracy playing the accused, and by setting the film in the Midwest, Fritz Lang would fear for the rest of the life that he was a "coward" for not addressing the inherently racist character of lynchings in the South. But this film was based directly on a true series of murders, and one which — though lacking a racial angle and committed outside the South —helped spur the fight to end lynchings everywhere.

These murders began with the disappearance of Brooke Hart, a popular San Jose 22-year-old whose bright future was cut short in 1933 when he was kidnapped and held for ransom. Before any money could even change hands, the police traced the ransom call to two locals with a shady past who confessed to not only kidnapping Brooke Hart, but killing him that same night. Incensed, everyday citizens of Bay Area, including many respectable professionals, stormed into the local jail and subjected the two suspects to horrific torture before hanging both men from a tree. This event, often hailed as the "last lynching in California," was not condemned but celebrated by members of the press and even the governor. This blatant murder of the two suspects, a complete miscarriage of justice, eventually made its way into the national press. The early American Civil Liberties Union led a push to raise awareness of the killings of these men, an awareness which helped fight the broader plague of lynchings in all parts of the nation.

This episode of Gladio Free Europe explores those three San Jose murders and the production of Fury within the broader cultural context of the 1920s and '30s. Although these killings may not resemble our idea of a lynching today, they were part of a centuries-long American tradition of rabid violence in the name of revenge and domination. Fritz Lang's film helped shed light on these atrocities, and remind Americans that this was not a problem isolated to the South. Since the 18th century, lynchings have been committed in all parts of the country. And some of the most brutal lynchings, many of which were just as racially motivated as the reign of terror in the South, were committed in Hollywood's backyard.

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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 great narratives of conflict and cooperation.

This episode of Gladio Free Europe travels across the kingdoms and trade federations today comprising countries like Indonesia, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Of particular interest is the figure of the deva-raja, the god-king, who could command the ability to construct enormous monuments to Hindu gods and the principles of Buddhism beyond the scope of anything in Europe at this time. Join us to learn about the pirate-kings of Java, the Burmese King Arthur, Malay sea-cossacks, and how the far-reaching journeys of Austronesian merchants led to the introduction of Southeast Asia's most popular religion, Islam.

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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 ideas from both China and India, and the birth of overseas colonial empires. But to most people in the west, the history of this region is entirely unknown.

This episode of Gladio Free Europe charts the course of early Southeast Asian history, starting with the miniature early humans of paleolithic Indonesia and ending with the formation of the great ancient civilizations of Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Liam and Russian Sam dive through the deep past to uncover ancient migrations, lost kingdoms, the marriage of indigenous traditions with foreign ideas, and the beginnings of a trade system that would connect the farthest points of Eurasia and transform the entire world. Listen to this week's episode to find out why Southeast Asia may be the most interesting place on earth.

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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.

Liam and Russian Sam they recount the riveting manhunt and ensuing trial, full of larger-than-life figures like grandstanding detective William Burns and crusading labor lawyer Clarence Darrow.

Join us this week on Gladio Free Europe as we dive into the aftermath the deadliest terrorist attack in US history up to this point, and how the outcome of this highly publicized trial would set the course of California society for the next hundred years.

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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 most publicized trials in American history, while also pushing both capital and labor in increasingly radical directions.

Though not well-known today, this event in 1910 is an essential element of the prehistory of California politics and the formation of the American radical left. In this episode of Gladio Free Europe, Liam and Russian Sam delve into the brutal world of turn-of-the-century class struggle to learn what drove the labor movement to carry out this cataclysmic attack and how the captains of industry responded.

On one side of the labor war was the militant trade union movement, dominated by the radical Ironworkers. Their allies included radical allies like Emma Goldman and passionate liberals such as famed lawyer Clarence Darrow. At the front lines were working men and women who had taken too much for too long. Los Angeles meanwhile was occupied by the most viciously reactionary economic elite of any American city. Colorfully repellant robber barons like General Harrison Otis fought organized labor with tooth and claw while spending their free time promoting white supremacy and eugenics.

Ultimately, this labor war would end with capital triumphant. But the cinders of 1910 would not cool. This explosive Los Angeles night would foreshadow a turbulent century of further class struggle, posing painful questions that are still not resolved.

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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 work of larger-than-life dog vendor Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Liam and Sam B recount the rise of Russia's most bizarre oligarch, nicknamed "Putin's Chef" for his insistence that his only business was catering. A failed athlete and former burglar, Prigozhin who fought his way to the top of St. Petersburg's brutal post-Soviet economy while striking up an advantageous friendship with a young Vladimir Putin. Long rumored to have ties to organized crime, he took up a side hustle as a warlord through his association with mercenary Dmitry Utkin, the apparent Neo-Nazi for whom PMC Wagner is named. After being outed as the leader of Wagner despite years of denial, Prigozhin has taken the stage as the fiercest critic of Russia's strategy in Ukraine. He gained attention for his colorful, vulgar front-camera video rants tearing into the military brass, particularly Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu. And just days ago, the world watched this trash talk escalate into an armed attempt to remove Shoigu from power.

On this week's episode of Gladio Free Europe, we explain why Yevgeny Prigozhin is both a figure from another time and also a guy who is inextricably of the president. Listen and find out if this St. Petersburg sausage seller really is the End of History on horseback.