Have To Know History

What does the fall of Rome have to do with The Hunger Games? Well, President Snow had a problem Rome knew pretty well: you can look like you run the whole world and still depend on the people you’re pushing around.

In this episode of Have To Know History, history teacher Jason Freewalt connects the dots between Suzanne Collins’s Panem and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Why did losing North Africa hurt Rome so badly? Why didn’t Alaric’s sack of Rome in AD 410 end the empire? And how did a teenager named Romulus Augustus wind up with a name that sounds like it belongs at the beginning of Rome’s story instead of the end?

Along the way, we’ll look at what Plutarch Heavensbee and Alaric knew about the systems they challenged, how the Capitol shaped what people saw, and why President Coin’s first big idea after the rebellion reminds me of the Roman dictator Sulla. Getting rid of the old ruler is one thing. What you do with the power afterward is another.

Spoiler warning: This episode discusses the ending of Mockingjay. References to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping are spoiler-free.

Watch the video version on YouTube, or start with Part 1 on Roman names, gladiators, and bread and circuses.

Count Dracula moves to England and brings fifty boxes of dirt. You know, most people just bring a suitcase.

Join history teacher Jason Freewalt for a Halloween edition of Have To Know History as we explore Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the real Vlad the Impaler, and the vampire legends behind the famous Count.

Why doesn’t Dracula have a reflection? Where do wooden stakes, garlic, and bats fit into the story? Can he survive sunlight? And why does that dirt matter so much?

With light humor and accessible storytelling, we’ll untangle history, folklore, and the details vampire movies have changed along the way.

Watch the video edition: https://youtu.be/--vEDJzqJqk

How much of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth came from real history?

Quite a bit, actually.

In this episode of Have To Know History, we look at the real-world ideas behind The Lord of the Rings — including Beowulf, Old English, Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon culture, ancient stories about magical rings, World War I, and the English countryside Tolkien knew and loved.

We’ll also look at where names like Gandalf came from, why Rohan feels so much like an Anglo-Saxon world, how Tolkien’s experiences in war may have shaped the landscapes he imagined, and why characters like Samwise Gamgee may tell us something important about the kind of courage Tolkien admired.

Tolkien didn’t simply invent Middle-earth out of nowhere. He built it from old languages, ancient stories, real landscapes, personal experiences, and a lifetime spent studying the past.

So was Middle-earth real?

No.

But a surprising amount of the world behind it was.

Have To Know History — history you just have to know.

Watch the full video version of “Tolkien’s Real World” here:
https://youtu.be/HeGTPnfDUuM

#Tolkien #LordOfTheRings #MiddleEarth #HistoryPodcast #Beowulf #NorseMythology #HaveToKnowHistory #JasonFreewalt

What does The Hunger Games have to do with ancient Rome?

Quite a bit, actually.

In this episode of Have To Know History, we look at the Roman ideas hiding all through Suzanne Collins’s world, from Panem and “bread and circuses” to gladiators, political spectacle, the Capitol, and all those very Roman names like Coriolanus, Caesar, Seneca, Plutarch, Cinna, Cato, Octavia, Portia, and Flavius.

We’ll also talk about how Roman leaders used public entertainment, why the arena was about more than fighting, how image and propaganda mattered in Rome, and why a futuristic dystopian story can still feel surprisingly ancient.

I’m not arguing that every single connection was intentional, but once you start noticing the Roman influence, it gets pretty hard to stop.

And don’t worry: this episode avoids spoilers from the newer Hunger Games books.

This is Have To Know History - history you just have to know. Thanks for being here!

Watch the full video version here:
https://youtu.be/0Jibil9PpQM

What was it really like to be a Roman gladiator?

Movies like Gladiator and Spartacus have given us an unforgettable picture of ancient Rome, but the real history is a lot more complicated—and maybe even more interesting.

In this episode of Have To Know History, we look at who Roman gladiators actually were, where they came from, how they trained, and what happened when they finally stepped into the arena. Were they all enslaved? Did every fight end in death? Why would anyone actually volunteer to become a gladiator? And how did some of these fighters become celebrities in the Roman world?

We’ll also head beneath the Colosseum, look at some of the different weapons and fighting styles gladiators used, and explore why tens of thousands of Romans were willing to pack into an amphitheater to watch them fight.

And, of course, we can’t talk about gladiators without talking about Spartacus, the gladiator who escaped and helped lead a slave rebellion that became an enormous problem for Rome.

The movies are great. But what was life in the arena really like?

Let’s dig in!

This is Have To Know History - history you just have to know. Thanks for being here!

Did the adventures of Odysseus really happen?

In this episode of Have To Know History, we journey back more than 3,000 years to explore the fascinating historical world behind Homer's Odyssey. Along the way, we'll meet the Cyclops, the Sirens, Circe, Calypso, Scylla and Charybdis, and discover how real geography, Bronze Age history, archaeology, and centuries of storytelling may have transformed historical events into one of the greatest epics ever written.

Were these monsters ever real? Could some of the famous locations still be identified today? And how much of Odysseus's incredible journey might have been inspired by actual people and places?

We'll separate what historians know, what archaeologists have discovered, and where the evidence gives way to legend—while exploring why The Odyssey continues to captivate readers nearly three thousand years after it was first told.

Whether you're a fan of ancient history, Greek mythology, archaeology, or simply enjoy a great story, this episode offers a fresh look at one of history's most enduring adventures.

This is Have To Know History—history you just have to know. Thanks for being here!

How did one family of bankers help shape one of the greatest cultural movements in history?

In this episode of Have To Know History, we conclude our three-part series, From the Silk Road to the Renaissance, by exploring the incredible story of the Medici family of Florence.

The Medici weren't kings, but their wealth, political influence, and patronage helped transform Florence into the heart of the Renaissance. We'll look at how banking, trade, and ambition fueled an explosion of art, architecture, scholarship, and learning that still shapes our world today.

Along the way, we'll explore:

• How the Medici Bank became one of Europe's most powerful financial institutions
• Cosimo de' Medici and his influence over Florence
• Renaissance patronage and why artists needed wealthy supporters
• Humanism and its renewed interest in ancient Greece and Rome
• Why Renaissance art looked so different from medieval art
• How members of the Medici family became popes
• The surprising connection between the Renaissance and Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation

History isn't just a list of dates. It's a web of connected stories. From Marco Polo and the Silk Road to Florence, the Medici, and the Reformation, this episode shows how one thread can change the course of history.

This is Part 3 of 3 in the series From the Silk Road to the Renaissance.

If you enjoy the podcast, I'd appreciate it if you'd follow the show and leave a rating or review. It really helps others discover Have To Know History.

This is Have To Know History—history you just have to know!

What if the Renaissance wasn’t just about great artists, beautiful paintings, and famous sculptures?

What if it was also about cities?

In this episode of Have To Know History, we continue our three-part series, From the Silk Road to the Renaissance. Part 2 focuses on the Italian city-states: places like Venice, Genoa, Milan, and Florence.

During the Renaissance, Italy was not one united country yet. Instead, it was a collection of powerful city-states that made their own deals, fought their own wars, competed with each other, and became incredibly wealthy through trade, banking, textiles, shipping, luxury goods, and political ambition.

We’ll talk about why these cities mattered, how wealth helped create opportunity, why Florence became such an important center of art and learning, and how the Renaissance grew out of a world of merchants, bankers, artists, scholars, and powerful families trying to make their cities richer, stronger, and more impressive.

The Renaissance didn’t appear out of nowhere. Goods moved. Money moved. Ideas moved. And in the cities of Italy, those forces helped create one of the most creative periods in history.

This is Part 2 of 3 in the series:

Part 1: Marco Polo and the Silk Road
Part 2: Italian city-states and the Renaissance
Part 3: The Medici, money, art, and the road toward the Reformation

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/w748zVjLzYw

This is Have To Know History — history you just have to know.

What if the Renaissance didn’t begin with a painting, a sculpture, or a famous artist?

What if part of the story begins with the Silk Road?

In this episode of Have To Know History, we begin a three-part series called From the Silk Road to the Renaissance. Part 1 follows Marco Polo, the Silk Road, and the world of trade, travel, stories, inventions, and ideas that helped open Europe’s imagination after the Middle Ages.

We’ll talk about Europe after the fall of Rome, the Crusades, the Black Death, Mongol rule, Kublai Khan, Venice, China, the Old Man of the Mountain and the Assassins, and how Marco Polo’s book helped Europeans imagine a much larger world.

The Renaissance didn’t appear out of nowhere. Goods moved. Ideas moved. Stories moved. And eventually, Europe began to change.

This is Part 1 of 3 in the series:

Part 1: Marco Polo and the Silk Road
Part 2: Italian city-states and the Renaissance
Part 3: The Medici, money, art, and the road toward the Reformation

Watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dMhZr40HBfQ

This is Have To Know History — history you just have to know.

When people hear the name Mansa Musa, they usually hear one claim right away: the richest man who ever lived.

But how did someone become unimaginably wealthy in the middle of the Sahara Desert?

In this episode of Have To Know History, we explore the real story behind Mansa Musa — not just his gold, but the systems that made his wealth possible. From silent barter and the salt trade to camel caravans, trans-Saharan routes, and the rise of the Mali Empire, this is the story of how West Africa became one of the most connected regions in the medieval world.

We’ll look at:

• How silent barter worked and why it depended on trust

• Why salt was just as valuable as gold

• How trade crossed the Sahara using camel caravans

• The fall of the Ghana Empire and the rise of Mali

• How Mansa Musa controlled trade rather than mining gold himself

• Islam as a global cultural and economic network

• Mansa Musa’s famous pilgrimage to Mecca

• The rise of Timbuktu as a center of learning

• How Greek ideas were preserved and expanded through Islamic scholarship

Mansa Musa wasn’t rich because of legend or exaggeration.
He was rich because he understood geography, trade, and global connections.

This is Have To Know History — history you just have to know.
Thanks for being here.