The Suez Canal is the busiest shipping channel in the world: every second of its downtime costs the global economy about $111,000.  Unsurprisingly, countries and governments have vied to control the strategic waterway connecting the Red and the Mediterranean Seas throughout its existence.  

In the new episode of HOW IT WAS, you will find out about numerous international conflicts that the Suez Canal provoked throughout its history. We will also tell you about how and when the channel first appeared, why it was buried for a thousand years, why Napoleon's attempt to restore it had failed, and what caused the longest Suez Canal blockage.

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During the Vietnam War, the Americans faced fierce resistance, which neither the napalm-burning tactics nor the use of chemical weapons like Agent Orange helped to break. The Viet Cong army skillfully waged guerrilla warfare, taking full advantage of the familiar terrain. One of these advantages was the extensive network of underground tunnels, allowing the Vietnamese to hide and attack the enemy unexpectedly.   

To solve this problem, a special unit called the Tunnel Rats was formed. In the new episode of ‘How It Was,’ we will tell you what tasks the underground fighters performed, what kind of dangers awaited them in the darkness of the stuffy Vietnamese tunnels, and why the bayonet knife was their favorite weapon.

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Imagine walking into a store and buying radium whitening toothpaste, radioactive anti-aging creams, and radium condoms. The pharmacy offers you radium-based medicines that treat everything from hypertension and diabetes to impotence and depression. At home, you drink radioactive water and go on vacation to resorts with radon baths. No, this is not a nightmare or a horror movie script: less than a hundred years ago, people willingly did all this of their own free will.  

In the new episode of ‘How It Was,’ we will tell you about the fortunately short era of the use of radium in the manufacture of medicines, cosmetics, and other products. You will learn what diseases they tried to treat with radium, why counterfeit medicines are sometimes more helpful than real ones, who the radium girls were, and what will happen if you take three bottles of a radioactive drug a day.

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Chukchi vs. Maori - WHO will WIN the battle? | HOW IT WAS: Popular History Chukchi people — fierce warriors of the North who mastered survival in cold tundra climate, kept their neighbours in fear and resisted Russian colonizers for more than a century. Maori people — skilled New Zealandian seafarers who made warfare the centre of their life and didn't let English to force them into reservations.  

Chukchi and Maori never met on a battlefield. But what if they did? Who would prevail in combat — tundra's most skilled archers or Oceania's fiercest warriors? What do you think?

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It may seem that in this age of space satellites and aircraft carriers, maritime piracy became a thing of the past. But at the beginning of the 21st century, pirates once again became a threat for merchant ships passing the coast of East Africa. From 2005 to 2015, maritime piracy cost the world economy billions of dollars. The threat has reached such proportions that the major powers had to join forces to fight the sea robbers.  

In this episode of ‘How It Was,’ we'll explore how an entire pirate empire grew up on Somalia’s desolate shores, how piracy changed the local economy, and whether Somalia has a chance for peaceful growth.

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A Brief History of Drugs. 7 Ways Our Ancestors Got High. 

Shocking Facts  Drug use is almost as old as humanity itself. Perhaps, seeking for a buzz is at the heart of our nature. In this episode, we will tell you what exactly shamans smoked, why Egypt was the main exporter of opium in the world and what drug made you braver on the battlefield.

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Pandemics That Changed History. How Many People Did They Kill? | HOW IT WAS: Popular History  

In this episode of HOW IT WAS, we are going to talk about the most devastating of them.  How did a beaked mask become a symbol of plague, what did John Snow know about cholera and why is the Spanish flu not really Spanish

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In this episode of HOW IT WAS, we are going to tell you about sinful popes in the history of the Catholic Church. You'll find out which of them arranged the loudest orgies, what is Pornocracy, and whether one pope managed to leave a lover for the sake of the Church.

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Myths about masturbation. How the attitude to onanism was changed in the 18th century  

We’re telling you a story of attitudes to masturbation in different periods of history. Our ancestors started to masturbate millions of years ago, as soon as they could reach genitals with their hands. It was nice and pleasant until homo insanus started complicating everything. In the Middle Ages, masturbation was fought on a spiritual level, but the real war on masturbation was declared in the 18th century by doctors. Their methods were cruel and inhumane.

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In this episode of HOW IT WAS, we will tell you about the oldest mafia groups in Italy. How did the Mafia emerge, where do the most dangerous clans operate, and how does the Mafia help regular Italians during pandemics?

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