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PODCAST

History Impossible

Alexander von Sternberg

History Impossible covers some of the less-known, strange, and supposedly impossible events, people, and ideologies throughout history that are all nonetheless true. The settings and time periods range from the Second World War to ancient Japan to medieval Europe, and many more. The show engages with difficult ideas and impossible decisions that were made by human beings like you or me, always to significant effect. It goes out of its way to grant agency to all of its subjects and does its best to

history

All Episodes

299:19

The Hitler Avatar and His Masochistic Priestess

History Impossible ·

2021/12/30

Everyone knows who the Nazis were and what the Nazis did. Many also know what they, at least Hitler, generally believed. But far fewer actually understand what animated the truest of the true believers who saw Hitler as their prophet and savior. Far fewer still understand that much of this philosophical animating force didn't even concern Germany or the Germanic people as they saw them.So disgusted were they--at the occasional exasperation and even mockery of the Fuhrer himself--at the trajectory of

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91:15

Infinitesimal Impossibilities 03: The Warlord‘s Cook

History Impossible ·

2021/09/28

The Infinitesimal Impossibilities subseries returns with a story in which Molly and Alex look at one of the most ruthless dictators of the 20th century...from the perspective of his personal chef. It's all drawn from the work of Polish journalist Witold Szablowski in his incredible 2020 book, How to Feed a Dictator (which it should be noted, Alex misdated during this first episode as being 2016). Uganda's infamous Idi Amin is discussed through the eyes of his personal chef, Otonde Odera, who not

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210:17

The Muslim Nazis V: Taking Hitler By The Hand

History Impossible ·

2021/09/03

As Hajj Amin al-Husseini hurdles toward his destination with which we started this entire series, the scope of our tale expands drastically with the arrival of the Nazis themselves. Though this isn't to say they weren't always there, lurking in the background of Palestinian Littlefinger's schemes and dealings. In fact, it would be inaccurate to say that he hadn't been well aware and in open communication with them. Always playing the angles. In this mid-season finale of our story, we'll be looking

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103:19

Escaping Farhud: The Joseph Samuels Story

History Impossible ·

2021/07/22

Sometimes the best way to convey the weight of history is to read the words of just one person who lived it.In this special episode of History Impossible, we'll be looking at the life of Joseph Samuels, whose incredible journey and profound resilience throughout his 90 plus years on this planet deserved examination. From the dusty streets of Baghdad, where he escaped the first and worst massacre of Iraqi Jewish history as a boy, to his dangerous flight to the new Jewish home of Israel, to his search

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216:11

The Muslim Nazis IV: Farhud

History Impossible ·

2021/05/31

What do you get when all of your best laid plans seem to be falling apart around you with nothing but the suffering of your people to show for it? Bitterness.As the 1920s turned into the 1930s, Hajj Amin al-Husseini's power started to look increasingly fragile and precarious, largely thanks to the effects of the violence that rocked Palestine in the summer of 1929 that only served to raise the temperature across the nation. The nationalist movement would continue to splinter and many different

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116:59

The Muslim Nazis III: Nineteen Twenty Nine

History Impossible ·

2021/04/27

1929 was, in a lot of ways, the year the world began its final descent into hell. The stock market crash in the United States would lead to untold misery in much of the Western world and allow for the rise and spread of particularly noxious ideologies across the whole of Europe. However, on the other side of the world, another "beginning of the end" was taking place, this time between the Jews and Arabs of Palestine, with the events that rocked this tiny nation setting the groundwork for suspicions,

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159:52

The Muslim Nazis II: The Mufti

History Impossible ·

2021/04/07

"Palestine is my country and the country of my ancestors—I will sacrifice myself for the sake of its sons."—Hajj Amin al-HusseiniIn the second episode of History Impossible's first series, we'll be diving head first into the early life of our story's central character, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the future Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in Palestine.We'll see how he developed his identity as a Palestinian nationalist from a very early age and the activities this passion led him to pursue. We'll look at what

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92:08

The Muslim Nazis I: Early Adventures with Imperial...

History Impossible ·

2021/01/23

"The peoples of Islam will always be closer to us than, for example, France. ... Had Charles Martel not been victorious at Poiters, then we should in all probability have been converted to Mohammedanism, that cult which glorifies the heroism and which opens up the seventh Heaven to the bold warrior alone. Then the Germanic races would have conquered the world."-Adolf Hitler The first episode of History Impossible's first series introduces one of the most controversial aspects of Nazi Germany's

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14:24

An Impossible Announcement: History Impossible in 2021

History Impossible ·

2021/01/19

This is a quick announcement I'd like to make regarding History Impossible's immediate future, which is mostly tied up in this inaugural long-term series--a season really--which needs a bit of explaining and reassuring (specifically to folks who prefer one-off stories). In addition, I couldn't resist making a quick comment about history being essentially made on January 6th, 2021 in Washington D.C., regardless of how you interpreted the events. 2021's future, however uncertain for a lot of people

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93:10

An Impossible Interview IV: Aaron Sibarium, The...

History Impossible ·

2020/12/04

The Impossible Interviews series is back with a different, but still special conversation I had with the amazingly talented and insightful Aaron Sibarium. Aaron is an associate editor over at the Washington Free Beacon, as well as a writer for various publications including National Review, Quillette, and American Purpose, the last of which published one of Aaron's essays on October 26th, 2020, the exact same day as Pandemic: Rendering a Hue and Cry was released on History Impossible's feed. The

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78:14

Infinitesimal Impossibilities 02: The Mad Madame of...

History Impossible ·

2020/11/21

History Impossible is back sooner than some may have anticipated for another installment of the Infinitesimal Impossibilities series, this time recorded in the spirit (and in the last hours) of Halloween 2020. This time, we cover a story that takes place in early 19th century New Orleans. It begins with a fire, or rather perhaps concludes with one. A large mansion whose hosts had been entertaining guests, catches fire from its upstairs kitchen. As people pour into the streets to watch the blaze,

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378:16

Pandemic: Rendering a Hue and Cry

History Impossible ·

2020/10/26

This episode is dedicated to Franco Bolelli.Since it's the year of our lord 2020, it was only inevitable that we'd talk about pandemics on History Impossible.What follows is an exploration of not just a pandemic and not just the most physically destructive pandemic in all of human history. What follows is an exploration of what a pandemic actually does. And by "does," we're talking about what it does to the human body, the human mind, and the wider social psychology of societies themselves, and of

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34:46

BONUS! Ripples of Impossible History (on Fire):...

History Impossible ·

2020/10/09

As many of you are aware, I was recently featured among many other, far more talented history podcasters on Daniele Bolelli's History on Fire podcast in which we all discussed various figures and events in history that created massive ripples that no one could have predicted. My segment was focused on Confucius and how he basically shaped Chinese civilization forever, from the level of the family to the running of the government even under the Communists.In a generous move, the fine people at

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69:15

Infinitesimal Impossibilities 01: The First Submarine

History Impossible ·

2020/09/25

As History Impossible reaches its two year mark and the episodes get longer and longer, I figured that now was the time to do something different, namely to add a new show to the History Impossible family, as I've been calling it: Infinitesimal Impossibilities. These are stories that are simply too small--bite-sized, if you will--in comparison to the epic stories that have come to characterize History Impossible and to help me out with this, I've brought on my amazing Pop Quiz co-host (and victim)

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182:04

A Very British Samurai (Assimilation)

History Impossible ·

2020/08/07

Japan in the 16th and 17th century was going through profound changes, not least of which being the ongoing civil war that had been ripping it apart for over a century, with warlord fighting warlord on a whim, the famed samurai chopping each other to bits on scales rarely seen elsewhere in the world. The other profound change involved men in black robes preaching the word of a god that the Japanese people had never heard of, but who many nonetheless gravitated toward. The Jesuits of Portugal

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200:44

The Devil Soldier and His Ever Victorious Army...

History Impossible ·

2020/06/12

In the mid-19th century, as one country in the West was on its way toward the most famous civil war, another country in the East was in the grips of one far larger and more significant than any that had come before or would come afterward, if only in terms of numbers. By the end of this conflict, known as China's Taiping Rebellion, over 20 million people would lay dead, and China's relationship with the West would never be the same.While the man who started this conflict--a self-proclaimed prophet

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101:02

An Impossible Interview III: JD Huitt, History...

History Impossible ·

2020/05/04

In this newest entry into the Impossible Interview series, I had a chance to sit down (via Zoom) with the incredibly talented and generous-with-his time J.D. Huitt, the brains behind and face of History Underground and the excellent History Traveler series on YouTube (remember: LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE!). He ranks among the top three history content creators that I diligently follow on YouTube for his excellent-quality videos exploring famous (and not-so-famous-but-should-be-famous) historical locations,

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71:24

An Impossible Pop Quiz: Blood, Bardos, Bullets, and...

History Impossible ·

2020/04/24

Surprise!In light of the current quarantine in which becoming starved for content is actually a very real possibility, as well as a way to say thank you to all of you for your patience as I toiled away at this most recent episode, I decided the time would be right to toss a freebie everyone's way, with a special thank you directed at all of you kind enough to be financially supporting History Impossible through Patreon and PayPal donations.Normally the Pop Quiz is a fun goof to be enjoyed by the

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302:03

Blood, Bardos, Bullets, and Buddhism (Appropriation)

History Impossible ·

2020/04/13

Let's set the stage:The most explosive event of the 20th century has just occurred and it has nothing to do with Nazis or atomic bombs or American blue jeans. In 1917, the world's largest terrestrial imperial power began to rip itself apart and would continue to do so during the next half decade, leading to the only other power with the ability to challenge the United States.The First World War and the Russian Revolution are both well-tread territory, as is the subsequent Russian Civil War, but what

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138:29

An Impossible Interview II: CJ Killmer

History Impossible ·

2020/02/03

In this inaugural 2020 episode of History Impossible (and on the one year anniversary no less!), I sit down with CJ Killmer, host of the long-running and incredibly well-done Dangerous History Podcast. CJ has been one of my long-time inspirations for his capacity for detailed, deep dives into parts of history I literally had no interest in for most of my life (i.e. The American Civil War) and manage to completely draw me in with his nuanced, but strong takes. In this conversation, we discuss a wide

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