History Analyzed

The 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol within the U.S., might be the best example of unintended consequences. Prohibition helped start women's liberation, propelled the Jazz Age, and essentially created Organized Crime in the U.S. 

Most people only know one thing about Hannibal — that he brought elephants over the Alps to attack Rome. But there is so much more to the story. Carthage and Rome fought three wars over a period of 118 years to determine who would become the dominant people in the Mediterranean. Hannibal's loss led directly to the Romans being the ones to shape Western civilization and the modern world.

Most people know that Watergate was the biggest scandal in American history but few know many details. Listen to what actually occurred at the Watergate complex, how it was only part of a much broader campaign of corruption, and why Richard Nixon became the only U.S. president to resign from office. 

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Hear how this assassination sparked World War I, ended four empires, created many new countries, and led to World War II.

Hear how famous lawman Wyatt Earp and his best friend Doc Holliday became legends of the Wild West and inspired many of the cliches and movies you know today. 

For 28 years the Berlin Wall stood as a testament to the cruelties and failures of communism. While Berlin became the epicenter of the Cold War, West Berlin became an island of freedom behind the Iron Curtain. Hear why Germany was divided into two separate countries and how it finally reunited. 

What would it be like to witness the end of the world? Europeans in the 1340s reasonably believed they were seeing the apocalypse. In only 4 years, the Black Death killed approximately half the population. Find out what caused this plague, and what people did to try to survive.

Everybody is familiar with the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, the Hollywood sign, the Gateway Arch, and the Space Needle. But do you know the stories behind these landmarks and how they tie into the histories of their cities?

Find out why the Olympics Games were hosted by the world's worst regime. Hear how track and field star Jesse Owens won multiple gold medals, destroying the Nazi theories of racial superiority and humiliating Adolf Hitler in the process.

Starting in 1848, hundreds of thousands of people made the treacherous journey to California seeking easy riches. Hear how the Gold Rush not only created the state of California, but also changed the U.S. in unforeseen ways and even contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War.