Enter the largest land empire in all of world history in this episode on the Mongols. Learn how they came to be unified, how they split apart, how they challenge our understanding of what truly defines a civilization, and evaluate just how notorious the khans really were!

BBC History Extra article: “The brutal brilliance of Genghis Khan”

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: “The Wrath of the Khans”

Crash Course World History: “Wait for it…The Mongols!”

“Coronation of Ogedei Khan” by Rashid al-Din

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https://ia601502.us.archive.org/6/items/16TheMongols/16%20The%20Mongols.mp3

China’s influence stretches far and beyond the Middle Kingdom during the post-classical era! We’ll discuss how much of Chinese culture really penetrated into the societies of their neighbors in this episode.

Angkor Wat Video

Thesis:  Although Japanese and Vietnamese cultures initially embraced features of Confucian culture, they all faced their own unique obstacles preventing the full application of a Chinese political system.

Think of potential evidence for each of these paragraphs!

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https://ia601504.us.archive.org/2/items/15Sinification/15%20Sinification.mp3

China hits its cultural high point on this episode! You’ll learn about the Sui, Tang, and Song Dynasties as China returns to centralization after the Era of the Warring States. Confucianism makes a reappearance as Neo-Confucianism, trade thrives, culture flourishes, and China retains its crown as a center of global commerce and advancement.

Footbinding Chicago news story:

Along the River During the Qingming Festival:

The Story of China – Episode 3:

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https://ia601507.us.archive.org/32/items/14GoldenAgeOfChina/14%20Golden%20Age%20of%20China.mp3

We’ll be checking out the Aztecs and the Incas primarily in today’s episode, making as many comparisons between the two groups as we can while also tracing the roots of their histories in Central America and South America, respectively. I made a good bit of recommendations (in between my rantings, ramblings, and potential mispronunciations) throughout the video and have posted the relevant links below!

Forgive the poor editing on the intro! I’m not going back to fix it (so sleepy).

Mesoamerican Ballgame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKvQjgC9sIY 

Quipu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmPyz1kCbOw

Aztec, Inca, and Maya Sutori Timeline: https://www.sutori.com/story/aztec-inca-maya

*Disclaimer: Guessing “what time it is” does not indicate the score you will receive on your AP World History exam. Sorry if this disappointed you. You should check out @doggosdoingthings on Instagram to cheer yourself up.

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https://ia601500.us.archive.org/3/items/13PreColumbianAmericas/13%20Pre-Columbian%20Americas.mp3

This episode tackles the notion that this time period should be defined by as simplistic a term as “Middle.” We’ll discuss the political, economic, environmental, and cultural changes and continuities (see what I did there?!) during this period.

Here’s the video I rambled about!

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https://ia601501.us.archive.org/9/items/12EuropeDuringTheMiddleAges_201810/12%20Europe%20during%20the%20Middle%20Ages.mp3

Today we talk Justinian, Byzantine foreign relations, political features, culture, differences in religion with western Europe, and the spread of Byzantine influences throughout eastern Europe. We even throw some love to the famous Nika Riots and give Theodora (some of) the credit she is due!

This is my first episode I’ve recorded in a few weeks, so hopefully I wasn’t too rusty! Also, this is probably the best episode ever because my daughter makes her first, albeit short,  appearance!

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https://ia601501.us.archive.org/32/items/11TheByzantineEmpire/11%20The%20Byzantine%20Empire.mp3