Awesome History

Historia Civilis is packed with excellent history lessons. While researching, they sometimes stumble across random knowledge that don’t fit into their normal flow. Here are three such strange tales. If nothing else, it’s worth listening to for dog name ideas.

(PG-13: Language) How exactly does a flood occur without water? Sam O’Nella Academy is here to school us on some of the strangest disasters that covered the earth with massive, deadly amounts of liquid stuff from super-sticky molasses to flaming whiskey.

In case you fell asleep in school, OverSimplified boils down the major talking points about the birth of our (sometimes) great nation, what led to the American revolution against Britain, and how that all worked out. Bonus points for the seamless Vikings promo.

Other than Milk Duds and a gigantic soda, there are few things we enjoy more at the movies than a bucket of freshly-popped popcorn. But why is it that this crunchy and savory treat is our go-to theater snack? Find out, in this informative video from Origin of Everything.

Did you know that for a brief period of time, there was actually a small nation that sat between the U.S. and Canada along their Eastern border? Half as Interesting offers a brief history of the Republic of Indian Stream, why it existed, and what happened to it.

The Sam O’Nella Academy is here to teach us about one Joshua Norton. This once wealthy San Franciscan decided that he was the head bitch in charge of our nation after a series of misfortunes left him destitute and a bit insane. Then the media gave him a voice and fame.

Did you know that nobody was actually burned at the stake during the Salem witch trials? Sam from the Sam O’Nella Academy sets us straight on this and nine other historical misconceptions, told with his usual mix of veracity, humor, and primitive drawings.

Kurzgesagt dusts off their 2013 video The History & Future of Everything and gives it a shiny coat of paint, with updated animations, and references to events of the last 5 years. Every time we hear about the Middle Ages, we feel much better about today’s problems.

This new mode in Assassin’s Creed: Origins turns the game into an educational experience. Discovery Tour mode allows players to explore the world around them on a leisurely historical tour. The mode includes 75 guided tours of monuments, buildings, and characters.

The movie Downsizing might have come up a little short in both its reviews and box office take, but it did succeed in the VFX department. Here, the film’s effects supervisor Jamie Price walks us through the history of shrinking people down on the big screen.

While you might think your jeans are dyed indigo, they’re not. The real deal is hard to come by, and much richer than what we’re used to. The fascinating thing isn’t the color, but the natural properties it offers that drove Samurai to wear indigo fabric beneath their armor.

When you fly over much of rural America, you’ll notice that there are lots of squared-off little blocks of land forming cool geometric patterns when observed from the sky. But why is this the case, and not so much in other parts of the world? Half as Interesting explains.

Captured by astronaut Bill Anders during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, Earthrise is not only one of the most iconic photos of all time, but it was the first time humanity was able to see our planet from a distance, providing a humbling sense of our place in the universe.

This compilation of clips from Great Big Story explores the origin stories of instant ramen, car air freshener trees, the Kool-Aid Man, and more. We wonder if you could actually make a cast from Silly String. Also, “Liquid Ass” isn’t exactly an ordinary thing.

You’ll recognize most of these meme-worthy tunes, each of which epitomizes a moment in time as well as just about anything else about the era. Though we think JordiTK should have gone with Yello’s Oh Yeah instead of Trio’s Da Da Da to represent ’80s German minimalism.

Data Radar look back at the incredible progress made in video game graphics in the last five decades – from the rudimentary black and white pixels of the ’70s, to the near-photorealistic imagery of today. Next time you gripeabout a game’s graphics, watch this.

Back in 1952, London, England was engulfed in a think blanket of smog that was so nasty that it caused the city to come to a halt, and actually ended up killing an estimated 12,000 people. SciShow looks back at this tragic result of industrial development without controls.

(PG-13: Language) Long before the clothing store, wealthy plantation owners in Central America built massive empires on the backs of its people, all thanks to a little potassium-rich fruit we like to put in our cereal. Sam O’Nella Academy offers up a brief history lesson.

Kurzgesagt looks way back at the history of humanity, and suggests a new calendar that reminds us of mankind’s achievements dating much further back than we typically acknowledge. You can order the 12,017 Human Era Calendar here.

Now You See It made an abridged history of the movie-making capital. Hollywood started as a rebellious albeit greedy movement, then devolved into a monopoly of studios. The rise of the internet and affordable equipment could finally put an end to the blockbuster factory.

The Yankee Air Museum aims to open an amazing new national aviation attraction in the old Willow Run Bomber Plant in Ypsilanti Township, MI. To kick off the latest phase of their efforts, they moved three classic planes back inside the plant. Support their efforts here.

LEGO built a toy empire with its snap-on bricks, but it’s far from the first company that thought of making such a toy. In fact, as YouTuber JANGBRiCKS explains, the first LEGO bricks were straight up copycats, down to the machine that was used to make the toy.

A fascinating reverence comes through for steam locomotives in Julien Lasseur and Rustic’s short film which showcases the zeal for this mode of transport from Cleveland’s Charlie Sedgley and the Midwest Railway Preservation Society.