Episodes

  • Counterfactuals: What if there were no Transistors?

    Counterfactuals: What if there were no Transistors?
    Jan 14 2025
    On today’s episode, we talk about the development of one of some of teh most important communication technologies in history, from the telegraph to the transistor, and what the world might be like if we went without them.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Counterfactuals: The Dmitriads

    Counterfactuals: The Dmitriads
    Dec 31 2024
    Ivan the Terrible transformed Russia during his rule, but in a fit of insanity, he seems to have killed his eldest son and heir, leaving the future of the realm uncertain. His youngest, Dmitry, died years later under suspicious circumstances. When Ivan's second son, the Tsar Feodor, died without heir, the tsardom faced catstrophe. And into the choas came not one, not two, but at least three people claiming to be Dmitry, who had miraculousy escaped death. The Time of Troubles, as the Russians called it, was defined in part by a series of wars called the "Dmitriads". But what might have happened if it had gone differently?
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Counterfactuals: 732 - The End of Christian Europe?

    Counterfactuals: 732 - The End of Christian Europe?
    Dec 17 2024
    On today’s episode, we talk about one of the most talked about battles in European History: The 732 battle of Tours. Variously called one of the most important battles in European history or a minor skirmish, the battle had a large impact on the minds of Medieval Europeans. But what might have happened if it had gone different?
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Counterfactuals: A World Without Cats

    Counterfactuals: A World Without Cats
    Dec 3 2024
    On today’s episode, we talk about cats. While today they are usually just pets, they played a vital role in the history of civilization. So what might have happened if cats were never domesticated?
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Counterfactuals: The Inca

    Counterfactuals: The Inca
    Nov 19 2024
    On today’s episode, we travel to the lofty heights of the Andes, where in the early 1500s Spanish under Francisco Pizarro came across the Inca Empire. The Spanish found the Inca at an opportune time, immediately following the end of a civil war, while wounds were still fresh and tensions ran high, soon culminating in the destruction of the empire. But it was a near thing: and the world could have turned out a lot different if events had gone differently.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Counterfactuals: Alexandrian India

    Counterfactuals: Alexandrian India
    Nov 5 2024
    On today’s episode, we journey back to the fourth century BC on the shores of an Indian river, where an army that had set out from Macedon, more than 3000 miles away had a choice: cross and battle a new Empire and a new army, or turn back home. The ramifications of that decision would be massive. It is history that deserves to be remembered.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Counterfactuals: 1815 Tambora Eruption

    Counterfactuals: 1815 Tambora Eruption
    Oct 22 2024
    On today’s episode, we discuss the impacts of the largest volcanic eruption in human history - the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, which would impact the entire world and bring on a volcanic winter: the so called “year without a summer”.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 19 mins
  • Counterfactuals: The Duels of Alexander Hamilton

    Counterfactuals: The Duels of Alexander Hamilton
    Oct 8 2024
    On today’s episode, we talk about the series of events that connect several duels in the life of Alexander Hamilton, and about how the history of the early American republic could have hinged on the choices of a series of prominent men who couldn’t keep their guns in their pockets.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 13 mins