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PODCAST

Badass of the Week

Badass History - High Five Content & Seven Bucks Productions

Throughout the course of human civilization certain individuals have stood out as being completely f***ing awesome. From ninjas and gunfighters to pirates and Vikings, to explorers, scientists and great leaders, these people - true badasses - completely obliterated anything that stood in their path, routinely overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and ultimately altered the course of history through their actions. Be it glory, conquest, or survival, these hardcore men and women all had one

history

All Episodes

56:20

Quanah Parker: The Last War Chief of the Comancheria

Badass of the Week ·

2026/10/09

Quanah Parker was born between worlds—and became a master of both.As the last great war chief of the Quahadi Comanche, he led one of the final armed resistances on the Southern Plains, charging into the gunfire at Adobe Walls and fighting an industrial war machine with speed, terrain, and sheer nerve. When military victory became impossible, Quanah launched an equally audacious second act: statesman, cattle baron, political power broker, defender of religious freedom, and tireless advocate for his

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61:54

Rogers’ Rangers: America’s First Commandos

Badass of the Week ·

2026/10/02

Before the Green Berets or Navy SEALs, there were Rogers’ Rangers. During the French and Indian War, Major Robert Rogers forged an unconventional fighting force that could snowshoe through blizzards, operate deep behind enemy lines, and turn wilderness survival into a weapon.Then bestselling author Scott Sigler joins the show to discuss Beasts Beyond the River, his historical-horror novel that throws hardened colonial Rangers into a supernatural nightmare of mud, blood, gunpowder, and

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72:19

Zhao Yun: The Blood-Soaked Ride Through Changban

Badass of the Week ·

2026/09/24

At the Battle of Changban, Zhao Yun turned his horse around and rode back into the teeth of Cao Cao’s advancing army to rescue Liu Bei’s infant son. It was the defining act of a warrior celebrated not merely for his skill with a spear, but for his courage, loyalty, and unbreakable code of honor. This week, longtime producer Ian Jacobs steps out from behind the soundboard to explore the history and legend of Zhao Yun—the White Dragon of the Three Kingdoms and perhaps the closest ancient China

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73:44

James Madison: Small Man, Massive Constitution (w/...

Badass of the Week ·

2026/09/16

Five-foot-four, barely a hundred pounds, and armed with enough intellectual firepower to reshape a nation, James Madison brought a pen to a political knife fight... and made it everybody else’s problem.For Constitution Day, Ben welcomes back Dr. Greg Jackson of History That Doesn’t Suck to meet the unlikely heavyweight who helped write America’s rulebook, and then fought like hell over how to use it. From the pressure cooker of the Constitutional Convention to vicious newspaper wars, a spectacular

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53:01

Britt Redman: Back From Hell and Into the End Zone

Badass of the Week ·

2026/09/11

Six surgeries. Nearly eighty pounds lost. And a touchdown that deserves its own damn movie.Britt Redman was a high school wide receiver in the middle of a playoff run when advanced testicular cancer turned his world upside down. Football gave way to chemotherapy, operating rooms, and the brutal work of getting through another day. After everything his body endured, returning to the field would have been remarkable. Britt made it all the way back to the end zone. This week, Ben sits down with

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88:25

Catherine de’ Medici: A Throne Full of Knives

Badass of the Week ·

2026/09/03

History remembers Catherine de’ Medici as the black-clad poison queen of Renaissance France—an Italian schemer who kept a vial in one hand and a dagger in the other. The truth is messier, bloodier, and way more interesting.Orphaned as a baby, married off at fourteen, and dropped into a French royal court that treated her like a foreign spare part, Catherine survived humiliation, dynastic disaster, and one spectacularly fatal jousting accident. Then she did what every sidelined queen mother dreams

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42:51

Hideaki Akaiwa: Honey, I Swam Through a Tsunami

Badass of the Week ·

2026/08/26

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake and tsunami turned the Japanese city of Ishinomaki into a freezing, debris-choked nightmare. Most people would take one look at that and head for the hills. Hideaki Akaiwa grabbed a wetsuit and diving gear and went straight in. He fought his way through flooded streets to rescue his trapped wife, went back out to find his missing mother, and then kept searching for neighbors and survivors. This week, Ben and Andrew tell the incredible true story of a regular guy who

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81:22

Karl von Müller: The Captain Who Humiliated an Empire

Badass of the Week ·

2026/08/19

On today’s episode, Ben is joined by special guest Paul Jacobs to tell the story of Karl von Müller and the SMS Emden, the German warship that unleashed absolute chaos across the Indian Ocean during World War I.Outnumbered, outgunned, and thousands of miles from home, Müller used speed, deception, and sheer audacity to capture or destroy dozens of Allied ships, cripple vital shipping routes, and send warships from five nations scrambling to hunt him down. From sneaking into enemy harbors in

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73:41

Brian Chontosh: The Marine Who Ran Out of Guns

Badass of the Week ·

2026/08/13

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, First Lieutenant Brian Chontosh and his Marines were caught in a coordinated ambush on Route 1. With the road blocked and fire closing in around them, Chontosh ordered his Humvee toward the attack, broke through the enemy’s defenses, and led a fight through the trench line -- an extraordinary action that earned him the Navy Cross.But an award citation can’t tell the whole story. In a candid conversation with Ben Thompson, Chontosh discusses the training and

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79:40

Semiramis: Queen of War, Mother of Legends

Badass of the Week ·

2026/08/06

Semiramis did not come to the ancient world to sit quietly on a throne and wave at peasants. She came to rule. With an army at her back, a crown on her head, and the kind of ambition that makes neighboring kingdoms extremely nervous, this legendary queen became a towering symbol of military power, conquest, and royal authority. In today's episode Ben and Pat are joined by Dr. Amy Pistone to charge headfirst into the larger-than-life legend of Semiramis: warrior queen, empire-sized personality,

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51:09

Louis-Antoine de Bougainville: Around the World and...

Badass of the Week ·

2026/07/30

in part two of our crossover with Ridiculous History, Ben and Pat join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown to follow Louis-Antoine de Bougainville—a mathematician, soldier, explorer, and the first Frenchman to sail around the world—into the biggest naval battle of the American Revolution. Commanding the 80-gun Auguste at the front of the French fleet, Bougainville charges out of Chesapeake Bay to face the Royal Navy in a cannon-smoked brawl for control of the coast. When the British finally turn away,

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68:01

George Rogers Clark: The Frozen March That Won the...

Badass of the Week ·

2026/07/28

In part one of our crossover with Ridiculous History, Ben and Pat join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown for one of the most insane military road trips of the American Revolution. With roughly 170 exhausted frontiersmen, no reliable supply line, and miles of freezing floodwater between him and British-held Fort Sackville, George Rogers Clark decides to attack immediately. What follows is an 18-day death march through the drowned Illinois wilderness, an enormous bluff, and a surprise siege that helps

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83:16

Odysseus: Trojan Horses and Terrible Decisions

Badass of the Week ·

2026/07/24

Winning the Trojan War was the easy part. Odysseus helped destroy the most powerful city in the ancient world with a giant wooden horse—and then spent the next ten years getting absolutely wrecked on the commute home. This week, Ben and Pat are joined by Jon Bucher to dive into the legend of the king of Ithaca: warrior, con man, professional liar, and perhaps the most dangerously clever hero in Greek mythology. Along the way, Odysseus blinds a Cyclops, sails past the Sirens, tangles with witches and

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64:08

Hector: The Blood-Soaked Shield of Troy

Badass of the Week ·

2026/07/16

Getting ready to watch The Odyssey? Well here's the prequel... When Paris steals Helen and brings the armies of Greece crashing down on Troy, it falls to his older brother Hector to clean up the mess. Hector is Troy’s greatest warrior, its future king, and its last line of defense—a devoted husband and father who knows the gods have already written his ending. This week, Ben is joined by Dr. Pat Larash to enter the Iliad and follow Hector through his duels with Ajax, his devastating assault on

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59:50

Henry Knox: The Cannon King Who Won America’s...

Badass of the Week ·

2026/07/09

This Fourth of July, we’re telling the story of one of the greatest American heroes almost nobody remembers. Before he became George Washington’s trusted general and America’s first Secretary of War, Henry Knox was an overweight Boston bookseller with no formal military training—and a completely insane idea. In the dead of winter, Knox volunteered to haul 60 tons of captured cannons more than 300 miles through snow-covered mountains, across frozen rivers, and over roads that barely existed. Most

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52:39

The Death Match: The Soccer Game That Defied the Nazis

Badass of the Week ·

2026/07/01

A soccer game so legendary it inspired a Hollywood blockbuster… but did it really happen the way we’ve all heard? During the Nazi occupation of Ukraine, a ragtag team of former professional footballers took the field against a series of German military teams, culminating in a match that would become known as “The Death Match.” According to legend, they were ordered to lose. They refused. And they paid with their lives. But how much of that story is true? This week, Ben is joined by Badass of the

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60:59

Vassili Paleokostas: History’s Wildest Prison Break...

Badass of the Week ·

2026/06/23

History is full of master thieves, daring outlaws, and legendary escape artists... but few ever combined all three quite like Vassili Paleokostas. A small-town Greek electrician turned folk hero, Paleokostas spent decades robbing banks, kidnapping wealthy industrialists, humiliating police, and giving away portions of his loot to struggling families. To some, he was a dangerous criminal. To others, he was a modern-day Robin Hood sticking it to the rich and powerful. But what truly made Paleokostas

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86:38

William Bligh: The Man the Pacific Couldn’t Kill

Badass of the Week ·

2026/06/18

When most people hear the name William Bligh, they think of a tyrant. Thanks to generations of books and movies, the captain of the HMS Bounty has gone down in history as the cruel, power-mad villain whose crew finally rose up and mutinied.The real story is far more complicated—and far more impressive. Long before the mutiny, Bligh had established himself as one of the finest navigators in the British Navy. And after being cast adrift by Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers in the middle

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78:13

Muhammad Ali: Fighting the Whole World

Badass of the Week ·

2026/06/11

Few athletes have ever transcended their sport the way Muhammad Ali did. This week, Ben Thompson is joined by Dr. Patricia Larash and Mike Primavera to dive into the life of the heavyweight champion who didn’t just dominate boxing—he changed history.From winning Olympic gold and shocking the world by defeating Sonny Liston to refusing the draft at the height of the Vietnam War, Ali turned every fight into something bigger than sports. He was brilliant, controversial, hilarious, fearless, and

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61:50

Canute the Great: England’s Viking Nightmare

Badass of the Week ·

2026/06/03

Most people know Canute the Great from the famous story of him ordering the tide to stop. The problem? That’s not what actually happened.This week, Ben Thompson and Dr. Patricia Larash dive into the life of the Viking warrior who conquered England, forged a vast North Sea empire stretching from England to Denmark and Norway, and became one of the most powerful rulers in medieval Europe. Through battlefield victories, political maneuvering, and a surprising talent for statecraft, Canute transformed

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188 results

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