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Hardcore History |OT| New episode: Painfotainment

The description of Stalingrad is so intense. I just can't imagine, man. I am so glad I was born here and now.
I you're interested in the battle of Stalingrad, I highly recommend Anthony Beevor's book, Carlin used it for that episode too (the link is from the show's notes, hopefully he get a bit of kickback from Amazon if you buy it through it).
 
So, I had to look it up, here's one of the siege guns used in Belgium. I don't know if this is what he was referencing(did he say 300 thousand lbs?!)

Dicke_Bertha.Big_Bertha.jpg



Yea, I don't want any parts of that.
 
So, I had to look it up, here's one of the siege guns used in Belgium. I don't know if this is what he was referencing(did he say 300 thousand lbs?!)

Dicke_Bertha.Big_Bertha.jpg



Yea, I don't want any parts of that.
I'll see your Big Bertha and raise you the The Paris Gun -

HWd9iRJ.jpg


And those things were fucking toys compared to what the Germans built for World War II, when they went full Chromehounds -
j8DeGAh.jpg
 
Just finished the newest episode. HH is so damn good I'm pissed at Carlin for not making more of them. And it's always fun when texts and authors I've been reading are referenced.
 
As for the guns he was talking about they were probably these:

dKBmrYw.jpg


The 42 cm kurze Marinekanone L/16 or 42 cm Gamma Mörser. Big Bertha was a howitzer. This was fired from a concrete base and yeah they weighed just about 300K pounds (140 tonnes) in all.
 
^ Stuff of nightmares. The weapons used in WW1 and 2 are goddamn terrifying. Not to mention the poison gas used in WW1; that was all kinds of sadistic.

I grabbed Ghosts of the Ostfront recently as well, but have only made it to the Stalingrad section.

The photos of piles of German dead on this page (http://photozone-t.livejournal.com/28197.html) were too much for me to keep going. It's weird: You read about these battles and atrocities so many times that you forget that each of the dead were individuals, born at the wrong place, in the wrong time.

Holy fucking shit. Dan really wasn't joking about the pictures of dead bodies as far as the eye could see. Holy shit.

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6105/28080851.1a/0_77ef4_fd21b9fb_XL.jpg
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6204/28080851.1a/0_77ef5_f56305d3_XL.jpg

What an absolutely miserable war that was.

I you're interested in the battle of Stalingrad, I highly recommend Anthony Beevor's book, Carlin used it for that episode too (the link is from the show's notes, hopefully he get a bit of kickback from Amazon if you buy it through it).

Thanks, I'll check it out.
 
Just curious, is Hardcore History now Dan's fulltime job? I hope he is able to devote as much time as possible to these. I really should go buy some old episodes to help support the show.
 
I think "Common Sense" is his main podcast, to be honest. I think Hardcore History is a side thing. Common Sense comes out every 2-3 weeks, where as HH comes out like once every 3 months.
 
I think "Common Sense" is his main podcast, to be honest. I think Hardcore History is a side thing. Common Sense comes out every 2-3 weeks, where as HH comes out like once every 3 months.
Common Sense is his older show, but HH is his more popular show by far (something like ten times the viewership?).
 
Common Sense doesn't require the kind of research and structuring he does for HH, either. Easier to push out punditry on a regular basis.
 
Listened to all the free episodes then bought Ghosts of the Ostront. Really enjoyed it. At this point I'm considering just buying the collection of everything on the archive. Too good.
 
Not a bad choice, but be warned it does take Dan some time to figure out exactly what he wanted to do with the series. A lot of the earlier episodes are somewhat rough around the edges. I don't particularly care for the interview episodes either. A lot of people will rave over Ghosts of the Ostfront, which they should because it IS utterly fantastic (some of his best work to date), but I think in terms of earlier episodes Punic Nightmares is just as good and should be required listening before moving onto Death Throes of the Republic.
 
Yeah. Punic Nightmares, Death Throes Of The Republic, Ghosts Of The Ostfront and Wrath Of The Khans is Hardcore History at its best.
 
Yeah. Punic Nightmares, Death Throes Of The Republic, Ghosts Of The Ostfront and Wrath Of The Khans is Hardcore History at its best.

Looks like I'll be buying Punic Nightmares at some point. I've listened to, and loved, all the rest. If it's mentioned at the same level as those I'm really looking forward to it.
 
Just started because of this thread. Actually looking forward to my drive home for the first time in 10 years. Already got my co-worker hooked too!
 
This bump reminded me I still have a few episodes on my iPod I haven't listened to!

That's like several days worth of content!
I think "Common Sense" is his main podcast, to be honest. I think Hardcore History is a side thing. Common Sense comes out every 2-3 weeks, where as HH comes out like once every 3 months.

HardcoreHistory is his biggest and most popular show by several orders of magnitude. I think it has something like a million listeners?
 
I started listening to this show a couple of months back when Cyan posted a link in PoliGaf about the Logical Insanity episode.

I didn't realize there was a whole thread on it however.

I just recently finished watching a BBC miniseries on The Great War so I'm glad Dan decided to start his next multi-part topic on it. It's great to watch footage of it and then hear the Dan Carlin take.

I'm only half way through atm, but my favorite part so far was the story of Franz Ferdinand's assassination. I have always heard that it was the spark that set of the chain of events leading to WWI but I never knew its success was such a strange coincidence of timing.

Anyone reading this thread and considering whether to listen or not: just go for it, you'll love it.
 
Listening to Thors Angels right now. Jesus this is good. Someone should do professional typography to his videos. It would be awesome. But not me, because I'm lazy!
 
Just finished Death Throes of the Republic. Wow, what a fascinating story. Hard to believe all that was real.

I've always been fascinated by this whole period of the downfall of the Roman republic, but at the same time had difficulty knowing what happend when and where and who was involved in all of this with so many eminent figures and well known names like Gaius Marius, Pompeye (what a guy, three Triumphs!), Cicero, Cato, Sulla and Caesar being on the scene roughly at the same time. But Dan Carlin explains it very well and very detailed.

He starts right from the beginning, about 150 years BC to properly explain how it came to the downfall of such a grand republic. The insights to Roman life and rules are very fascinating. It's hard to grasp that a nation over 2000 years ago was already so advanced and sophisticated in government, philosophy, engineering, military etc. They even had communists back then!

Occassionally I got confused but you can quickly check wikipedia. This podcast also reminded me that I always wanted to read Seneca's letters which I've now bought. I'm also going to start a rewatch of Rome and this time understand everything (well most of) what is happening.

This was also the first time I have ever listened to a podcast, especially one so long. The last episode goes for more than five hours lol, but I listened to it in three parts. It's brilliant for when I'm studying.

I had also started with Wrath of the Khans, but then found this topic more fascinating, but I think I will continue with Wrath of the Khans now.
 
Just finished Death Throes of the Republic. Wow, what a fascinating story. Hard to believe all that was real.

I've always been fascinated by this whole period of the downfall of the Roman republic, but at the same time had difficulty knowing what happend when and where and who was involved in all of this with so many eminent figures and well known names like Gaius Marius, Pompeye (what a guy, three Triumphs!), Cicero, Cato, Sulla and Caesar being on the scene roughly at the same time. But Dan Carlin explains it very well and very detailed.

He starts right from the beginning, about 150 years BC to properly explain how it came to the downfall of such a grand republic. The insights to Roman life and rules are very fascinating. It's hard to grasp that a nation over 2000 years ago was already so advanced and sophisticated in government, philosophy, engineering, military etc. They even had communists back then!

Occassionally I got confused but you can quickly check wikipedia. This podcast also reminded me that I always wanted to read Seneca's letters which I've now bought. I'm also going to start a rewatch of Rome and this time understand everything (well most of) what is happening.

This was also the first time I have ever listened to a podcast, especially one so long. The last episode goes for more than five hours lol, but I listened to it in three parts. It's brilliant for when I'm studying.

I had also started with Wrath of the Khans, but then found this topic more fascinating, but I think I will continue with Wrath of the Khans now.
If you like Roman history you should check out The History of Rome, the first few episodes are a tad rough around the edges, but once he finds his groove, it's really really good.
He doesn't cover it to the same depth that Carlin goes to, but the breadth is obviously wider.
 
If you like Roman history you should check out The History of Rome, the first few episodes are a tad rough around the edges, but once he finds his groove, it's really really good.
He doesn't cover it to the same depth that Carlin goes to, but the breadth is obviously wider.

Oh wow, cheers! This here also seems more digestable. I listened to all death throes episodes in two or more parts because they were so long.
 
I`m on Part 4 of Wrath of the Khans. Went on a marathon session last night of parts 1~3 yesterday. Fascinating stuff, had no idea how brutal Genghis Khan and his generals were.

Not only brutal but brilliant militarily. They would take captured townspeople from a siege, then make then fight the remaining soldiers of said town. Whoever was left over were then slaughtered themselves. This minimized casualties for the Mongols.
 
Just finished Death Throes of the Republic. Wow, what a fascinating story. Hard to believe all that was real.

All the stuff with constant murders and assassinations is kind of mind-blowing. I mean, they culled themselves of their best and brightest.

Probably the saddest is the child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra being killed. With parents like that, just imagine how amazing that child might have grown up to be.
 
Common Sense doesn't require the kind of research and structuring he does for HH, either. Easier to push out punditry on a regular basis.

And his punditry isn't really comparable to his historical outlines. He puts a little too much emphasis on being a centrist for my tastes.

The latest HH was excellent and went by really quickly while I was gaming. Some would argue that the bombing of Nagasaki was the first "global" moment, but you could also make a strong case for the assassination of Ferdinand.
 
Does this podcast focus mostly on western history

I love me some asian history and want to learn more, but its nonexistant in many colleges.
 
Does this podcast focus mostly on western history

I love me some asian history and want to learn more, but its nonexistant in many colleges.

It focuses on whatever interests Dan Carlin enough to do research on and talk about. That's most often been western stuff. However, he did a lengthy series recently on the Mongols called "Wrath of the Khans." Check the episode archive link in the OP.
 
All the stuff with constant murders and assassinations is kind of mind-blowing. I mean, they culled themselves of their best and brightest.

Probably the saddest is the child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra being killed. With parents like that, just imagine how amazing that child might have grown up to be.
Rome wasn't completely devoid of talent at the time, as the dictatorship of Augustus clearly shows. Contrast the meritocracy of the republic with the later years of the Roman Empire, however; there's a huge gap. Flavius Aetius, the general who was responsible for defeating Attila the Hun, was assassinated by the emperor Valentinian III simply because his success represented too much of a threat. The late Roman Empire was in desperate need of good leadership, but the imperial throne favored vindictive, talentless men.
 
All the stuff with constant murders and assassinations is kind of mind-blowing. I mean, they culled themselves of their best and brightest.

Probably the saddest is the child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra being killed. With parents like that, just imagine how amazing that child might have grown up to be.

Yep. Fucking Sulla, what a POS.
 
Bah, I saw this thread had been bumped and hoped the new episode was out. It's cool to see so many people enjoying the show though.
 
Does this podcast focus mostly on western history

I love me some asian history and want to learn more, but its nonexistant in many colleges.

Like Cyan suggested, start with The Wrath of the Khans. It focuses on Genghis Khan mainly, and how the Mongols conquered territories from China, to the Islamic Central Asia and Middle East all the way up to Kiev in modern day Ukraine.

I could listen to a guy with a boring voice talk about history since I love it so much, but Dan Carlin is very researched and enthusiastic in the podcasts which makes it all the more entertaining.

He is also very fair IMO in his teachings and gets perspectives from different peoples during the time.
 
All the stuff with constant murders and assassinations is kind of mind-blowing. I mean, they culled themselves of their best and brightest.

Probably the saddest is the child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra being killed. With parents like that, just imagine how amazing that child might have grown up to be.

Its basically a trope of Roman/Byzantine history. They killed so many talented leaders and generals because they pissed off the wrong person or group of people. Or they just felt threatened by them. Its really frustrating to read about, especially in times of crisis.
 
Rome wasn't completely devoid of talent at the time, as the dictatorship of Augustus clearly shows.

People seem to gloss over just how good of an "emperor", or more accurately princeps, Augustus turned out to be. The whole "end of the Republic" notwithstanding. Non-elected rulers may indeed represent a roll of the dice but Rome started with sixes. If he wasn't that successful I bet the Republic would have eventually made a comeback.
 
Rome wasn't completely devoid of talent at the time, as the dictatorship of Augustus clearly shows. Contrast the meritocracy of the republic with the later years of the Roman Empire, however; there's a huge gap. Flavius Aetius, the general who was responsible for defeating Attila the Hun, was assassinated by the emperor Valentinian III simply because his success represented too much of a threat. The late Roman Empire was in desperate need of good leadership, but the imperial throne favored vindictive, talentless men.

Well, in regards to the Western Empire, a lot of their talented men were generals of ethnic German descent. I buy into Mike Duncan's favored theory on the big reason why the Western Empire fell - in that the Romans (which include native provincials) just weren't able to fully integrate the German tribes into the empire like they did with other settled peoples. If the empire was able to accept the ethnic Germans, then guys like Aetius and Stilicho probably would have ascended to throne versus having the shadow emperors of the 5th century.

People seem to gloss over just how good of an "emperor", or more accurately princeps, Augustus turned out to be. The whole "end of the Republic" notwithstanding. Non-elected rulers may indeed represent a roll of the dice but Rome started with sixes. If he wasn't that successful I bet the Republic would have eventually made a comeback.

It's amazing listening to these historical podcasts (and reading through history books as well) and learning about guys with so much potential dying earlier or just plain old assassinated. The great thing about Augustus was that he was extremely capable and managed to live for 40 years at the same time. Unfortunately his desired successors all died too early.
 
Anyone else waiting for the new site to drop a few bucks? I've bought episodes before, but the site is so horrible that it's putting off buying other old episodes. I'm feeling guilty though... This man deserves to be rich, and a buck a show is all he asks... Damn you, conscience!
 
Anyone else waiting for the new site to drop a few bucks? I've bought episodes before, but the site is so horrible that it's putting off buying other old episodes. I'm feeling guilty though... This man deserves to be rich, and a buck a show is all he asks... Damn you, conscience!

His website is absolutely awful. Trying to buy episodes from him is like a nightmare.
 
I'm downloading all 6 parts of Death of the Republic and plan to start listening to them tonight.

Like I said earlier I loved Wrath of the Khans, how does the Death of the Republic stand up to it in terms overall entertainment quality and historical knowledge being dropped?

I love me some Roman history.
 
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