Plot Twisted History

What if a single person could save the world from apocalypse? For five thousand years, humans have predicted the end of the world with helpless anticipation of destructive forces beyond our control. However, three times an obscure individual averted nuclear annihilation on our behalf. This episode tells the story of those unsung heroes.

Before Cleopatra, before Nefertiti, a woman became not just ruler of Egypt but Pharoah king, a role reserved for men. And then she was erased from history. Almost. This episode tells the story of Hatshepsut, a woman pharaoh who was lost – and then found again.

She was a Renaissance painting prodigy - until the brutal assault and humiliating trial. Will she let darkness consume her...or rise from ashes to create brilliance? This episode tells the story of the long neglected Artemisia Gentileschi.

A pioneering woman led the way but others get all the credit. This episode traces one of the most important events in human history - the defeat of smallpox, the deadliest disease of all time - and the unsung heroine who made it possible.

Her family is murdered before her eyes, she is kidnapped, and she is sold into sex slavery - all by the age of 13. And yet three years later, she makes an indelible mark on American history. This episode unspools the remarkable story of Sacagawea - an indigenous woman who wrote a survivor's tale for the ages.

In the dying hours of World War II in the west, the United States fought one of the strangest battles in its military history. In a scenario too bizarre to be invented, American soldiers teamed up with sworn enemies to hold a medieval castle against Hitler fanatics to save some of the most famous Frenchmen alive - all against terrifying odds.

Buckle up, friends, for the rollicking tale of the Battle for Castle Itter!

What happens when real history becomes fake history that in turn influences real history? When the ballet The Rite of Spring debuted in Paris in 1913, the result was horrifyingly unexpected, and the event influenced a century of brain science. Or did it? This episode tells the story of what happens when the truth can’t get in the way of a good story.

A young noblewoman refuses to follow the rules of society of 18th-century France, instead dueling with swords, gambling, and running scientific experiments. Her persistence unlocks the impenetrable work of Isaac Newton and helps kick off the Industrial Revolution - but she remains all but forgotten today. This episode tells the astonishing story of polymath Emilie du Chatelet.

Scotland is a romantic land of culture and tradition so unique that millions of people around the world claim to be Scottish despite never having visited the place. So, when did the Scotland as we know it become the Scotland as we know it? This episode tells the story of precisely when that happened – and it is not what you might expect.

Well-behaved women rarely make history, but sometimes they are forgotten. This episode tells the story of three women who break the ironclad rules of the age of sail to avert disaster - and save themselves in the process.