At the start of World War II, France was still a world power. The U.S. and many other nations were relying on the French, along with their ally Britian, to stop Hitler. But in just 6 weeks in May and June 1940, the Germans conquered France, Belgium, and The Netherlands; and drove the British off of continental Europe. The incredibly swift German victory completely changed the balance of power in the world; and woke up the isolationist United States.

Just about everybody knows the story. A supposedly unsinkable ship hit an iceberg and sank, proving the folly of humans. But there are many facts which are not widely known as well as prevalent myths which need to be debunked. Learn what really happened, what caused the disaster, and who were the heroes and who were the villains. 

After the Civil War, it took a century of protests, boycotts, demonstrations, and legal challenges to end the Jim Crow system of segregation and legal discrimination. Learn about the brave men, women, and children that risked their personal safety, and sometimes their lives, in the quest for Black Americans to achieve equal rights.

Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and doubled the size of the United States. This set America on its expansion, known as Manifest Destiny, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This episode explores the history of colonization of North America, how the U.S. expanded, why Napoleon sold Louisiana, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and what would have happened if the Louisiana Purchase did not occur. 

Augustus is the most significant nonreligious figure in history. He is probably the greatest political genius of all time. He created the Roman Empire which lasted for centuries and formed so much of the world we live in today, including our calendar, our system of time, our alphabet, the spread of Christianity, and a large percentage of modern languages.

The Western Allies' demand that the Axis Powers unconditionally surrender was essential to keep the Soviets and the Chinese in the war while enduring incredible losses, to keep up the morale of the western allies, and to achieve the elimination of the Nazi regime and reforming Japanese society. 

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were Depression Era outlaws who are just known by their first names. They have been romanticized as young lovers who stood by each other and lived life on their own terms. But in reality, Clyde was a thief and a murderer and Bonnie was his willing accomplice. For just over two years they went on a crime spree in the early 1930s robbing and killing. They were finally stopped when a 6 man posse headed by a former Texas Ranger shot and killed them with over 100 bullets, execution style, on a country road in Louisiana. 

For years all immigrants were allowed into the U.S., but some could not become citizens. Later, certain nationalities were limited or completely banned from entering the U.S. This episode outlines those changes through the 1980s and discusses the pseudoscience of eugenics and how it was used to justify such bigotry and even involuntary sterilizations in the 20th Century. 

Within 30 years in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Europe went from controlling 20% of Africa to 90%. It was called "the Scramble for Africa". Find out why Europeans colonized the Americas easily through unintentional germ warfare, but Africa was "the White Man's Grave". Discover how Europe finally conquered Africa; the horrors of the Congo; and the residual problems in Africa which exist today. 

Adolf Hitler's insane and evil policies changed the world more than anybody since Christopher Columbus. This episode details the horrors of World War II; explains how Hitler is to blame for the war; illustrates how Hitler made WWII even worse than other wars; and analyzes the effects of WWII for the remainder of the 20th Century and today.