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  • Catherine de’ Medici: A Throne Full of Knives

    Catherine de’ Medici: A Throne Full of Knives
    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 of doing: she took control. With three of her sons wearing the crown in succession, France exploding into religious war, nobles plotting coups, and assassins lurking around every palace corner, Catherine fought to keep her family on the throne and the kingdom from tearing itself apart. Ben and Pat wade into the legends of poison, prophecy, political murder, and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre to ask the real question: Was Catherine de’ Medici a murderous monster, a master political survivor—or simply the only person in the royal family who knew what the hell she was doing? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 時間 28 分
  • Hideaki Akaiwa: Honey, I Swam Through a Tsunami

    Hideaki Akaiwa: Honey, I Swam Through a Tsunami
    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 responded to an apocalyptic natural disaster with courage, stubbornness, and the kind of action-movie heroics that would make Hollywood say, “Okay, maybe dial it back a little.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 分
  • Karl von Müller: The Captain Who Humiliated an Empire

    Karl von Müller: The Captain Who Humiliated an Empire
    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 disguise to the Emden’s explosive final showdown with HMAS Sydney, this is the story of one captain, one cruiser, and one of the most legendary rampages in naval history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 時間 21 分
  • Brian Chontosh: The Marine Who Ran Out of Guns

    Brian Chontosh: The Marine Who Ran Out of Guns
    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 Marines who carried him through that day, the danger of believing his own “badass” mythology, and the battles that followed him home. He also shares how learning to accept help led him to create the Big Fish Foundation, which works to support veterans before they reach a crisis. It’s a powerful conversation about courage, leadership, vulnerability, and the long road home from war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 時間 14 分
  • Semiramis: Queen of War, Mother of Legends

    Semiramis: Queen of War, Mother of Legends
    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, and an all-around nightmare for anyone hoping to remain unconquered. Grab your crown, tighten your armor, and prepare for armies, ambition, ancient-world intrigue, and one spectacularly intimidating monarch—the queen who looked out at the horizon and decided it needed to be under new management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 時間 20 分
  • Louis-Antoine de Bougainville: Around the World and Into the Guns w/ Ridiculous History

    Louis-Antoine de Bougainville: Around the World and Into the Guns w/ Ridiculous History
    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, Cornwallis loses his supplies, reinforcements, and only escape route from Yorktown. The explorer who circled the globe has just helped put an entire British army in a box—and helped turn a colonial rebellion into an independent nation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 分
  • George Rogers Clark: The Frozen March That Won the Northwest w/ Ridiculous History

    George Rogers Clark: The Frozen March That Won the Northwest w/ Ridiculous History
    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 decide who will control the entire Northwest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 時間 9 分
  • Odysseus: Trojan Horses and Terrible Decisions

    Odysseus: Trojan Horses and Terrible Decisions
    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 sea monsters, loses every ship and every man under his command, and personally pisses off the god of the ocean. It’s a story of brains, brutality, ego, endurance, and one man’s heroic refusal to ever take the easy way home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 時間 24 分