How could a war be beneficial for fiscal capacity? Why did some mercantilist states become wealthy, free-trading empires while others faded into obscurity? Prof. Didac Queralt of Yale University provides some surprising answers in this episode of the History Twins Podcast.

We interview Prof. Glenn David Cox of the Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City about the fascinating history of the country. Discover the Spanish conquest of the Maya, the truth about the controversial United Fruit Company, and the decades-long Civil War.

The Long Road To Religious Freedom: Mark Koyama on Witchcraft, Heretics, and Industrialization by HistoryTwins

We interview Prof. Jonathan Schulz of George Mason University on the Catholic Church, cousin marriage, and psychological variations between countries. Discover the Church´s Marriage and Family Program and its impact on development and institutions. Learn why and how the MFP was so pervasive, affecting all levels of society.

We interview Prof. John Marsh of the Pennsylvania State University on subjects from the Gilded Age to the Great Depression. Discover political bosses, Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast, and the emotional reaction to the greatest economic catastrophe in American history.

We interview Prof. Kyle Harper of the University of Oklahoma on the Roman collapse. Discover the disease events and climatic transitions which brought down one of the greatest empires ever known. Learn what's wrong with the slavery-to-serfdom theory and why even relatively poor Romans owned slaves.

We interview Prof. Peter Baldwin of UCLA on the divide between US and European politics, Anglo-American vs Continental copyright law, and European reaction to the spread of disease. Discover how different are the US and Europe really are, how Europe combated an enemy it barely understood, and the two theories of copyright law which dominate the world.

We interview UCLA's Prof. Teofilo Ruiz on medieval Spain. Discover Spain's "centuries of crisis", why the Reconquista lasted nearly eight centuries, the holes in the classic theory of coexistence, and the contrast between peasant and noble lifestyles.

We interview UCLA's Prof. Anthony Pagden on the history and political theories behind empire, from early colonial Spain to 18th-century France and Britain to 19th-century Germany. How were empires justified? Why did they collapse, and how did revolutionaries justify their (questionable) actions? Discover the relation between political theory, practice, and empire.

Perhaps Jesus said to "turn the other cheek", but these men of the cloth were made of sterner stuff. We interview Prof. Lawrence Duggan of the University of Delaware on clerical armsbearing. Discover the role of the warrior popes, the Crusades, and Liberation Theology in spreading clerical militancy.