Historian and veteran Middle East journalist Michael Rank looks into the most exciting events and personalities of history in this podcast and explains them in five-minute episodes so that you can absorb the facts in the fastest way possible. Learn about the lives of Genghis Khan, Vlad Dracul, and Richard the Lionheart, and such events as the Crusades and the Black Death in these highly entertaining and informative episodes. Michael has sold thousands of books with his unique take on the past with such best-selling titles as "History's Most Insane Rulers: Lunatics, Eccentrics, and Megalomaniacs From Emperor Caligula to Kim Jon Il," and he brings the same energy to this podcast. He focuses on world history, Roman history, military history, the history of the United States, the most famous rulers in history, biographies, biography of famous people, the most famous people in history, the most powerful rulers, medieval history, violent history, world history, United States history, and how to put all these pieces together. This is a great podcast if you know nothing about a topic and need a good launching point into a deeper study.
http://www.michaelrank.net
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 21 hours 44 minutes
HFM 019 | Imposters in History, Part 2: George Psalmanazar, the Native of Formosa
This podcast looks at the life of George Psalamanazar: The French youth who managed to convince England he was from Taiwan, and that all the natives were sun-worshipping cannibals who followed a strange calendar and lived underground.
HFM 018 | Imposters in History, Part 1: Martin Guerre and the 16th c. Trickster Who Fooled a French Village
How did a man who stole the identity of the 16th c. Frenchman Martin Guerre manage to fool his neighbors, family, and even wife into believing he was the long-lost man for three years? Was he a master con artists or did he prey on the village’s suspens...
HFM 017 | How to Memorize Like Cicero: Why Ancients Could Memorize the Phone Book
In this episode of the History in Five Minutes Podcast we look at the lost art of memorization. Boys in ancient Greece memorized Homer’s The Odyssey and the Iliad, medieval monks committed dozens of sermons to memory,
HFM 016 | Indulgences: A Get-Out-of-Hell-Free Card?
Was it really possible to buy your way out of hell in the Middle Ages? If so, how much did it cost? And what did the Catholic Church do with this money? This episode of History in Five Minutes Podcast looks at all these issues and more. Additionally,
HFM 015 | The U.S. Camel Corps of 1856: A Failed Attempt to Bring Caravans to America
In this episode of the History in Five Minutes Podcast, we look at the US Army’s experiment of using camels as the military’s main pack animal in the American Southwest. The new land that was conquered after the Mexican-American war required a sturdier...
HFM 014 | How Kim Jong Il Shot 38-Under-Par the First Time He Golfed
In this episode of the History in Five Minutes Podcast, we look at the crazed ruled of Kim Jong Il, the legends he spread about himself, and why the depiction of him in “Team America: World Police” is not so far off. Like this podcast?
HFM 013 | Ataturk’s Legacy: If One Person Were as Influential as Jefferson, Washington, and Franklin Combined
In this episode of the History in Five Minutes Podcast, we look at the larger-than-life figure of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Overstating his role in the formation of Turkey is impossible, as is avoiding pictures of him in the country.
HFM 012 | Vlad Dracul: The Brutal Life of Count Dracula’s Inspiration
In this episode of the History in Five Minutes Podcast, we look at the life of Vlad Dracul — the namesake and inspiration of Count Dracula. He was also known as “The Impaler” due to his constant use of this gruesome means of medieval torture.
HFM 011 | Ancient Middle East Civilization
In this episode of the History in Five Minutes Podcast, we look at Ancient Middle East civilization. We look at the influence of Roman and Persian culture on the Arab tribes and Christian heretics that would one day form early Islamic civilization.
HFM 010 | The Fall of Constantinople in 1453
In this episode of the History in Five Minutes Podcast, we look at the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. Most people only know about the event thanks to the immortal song “Istanbul, not Constantinople” by They Might Be Giants,