History Analyzed

Instead of a regular History Analyzed episode, we are doing a crossover with another podcast: History Daily. Every weekday, History Daily presents a "this day in history"; meaning they explore a momentous event that happened on that date. This episode covers one of the greatest speeches by any American: the Gettysburg Address. You can find History Daily on all podcast apps or simply go to historydaily.com. Or click here: https://www.historydaily.com/

On May 6, 1937, the hydrogen filled zeppelin known as the Hindenburg exploded as it was landing in New Jersey. Surprisingly, 62 of the 97 people on board survived. Experts still argue as to what caused an airship the size of the Titanic to be destroyed in approximately 34 seconds.

On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper (later known as D.B. Cooper) boarded a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. He told the flight attendant that he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 in cash and 4 parachutes. His demands were met. Over a dense forest in a rainstorm, he parachuted out of the plane with the money, was never seen again, and became a legend.

Anne Frank is one of the most widely read authors in history, although she did not live to see the publication of her book. Anne was a German teenager who happened to be Jewish as well. She and her family spent 2 years in seclusion in Amsterdam during World War II. Anne's diary describes the horrors of hiding from the Nazis - before eventually being sent to concentration camps. The Wannsee Conference was a clandestine meeting of Nazi leaders in 1942 to outline the systematic murder of Jews in...

The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. Starting in 1929 there was widespread unemployment, poverty, and closing of businesses. The economy continued to spiral downward until 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt became president. His recovery program, known as the New Deal, put millions of people to work, saved millions from homelessness and starvation, rebuilt America's infrastructure, saved capitalism, and maybe even saved democracy in the U.S.

At the start of World War II, France was still a world power. The U.S. and many other nations were relying on the French, along with their ally Britian, to stop Hitler. But in just 6 weeks in May and June 1940, the Germans conquered France, Belgium, and The Netherlands; and drove the British off of continental Europe. The incredibly swift German victory completely changed the balance of power in the world; and woke up the isolationist United States.

After the Civil War, it took a century of protests, boycotts, demonstrations, and legal challenges to end the Jim Crow system of segregation and legal discrimination. Learn about the brave men, women, and children that risked their personal safety, and sometimes their lives, in the quest for Black Americans to achieve equal rights.

Augustus is the most significant nonreligious figure in history. He is probably the greatest political genius of all time. He created the Roman Empire which lasted for centuries and formed so much of the world we live in today, including our calendar, our system of time, our alphabet, the spread of Christianity, and a large percentage of modern languages.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were Depression Era outlaws who are just known by their first names. They have been romanticized as young lovers who stood by each other and lived life on their own terms. But in reality, Clyde was a thief and a murderer and Bonnie was his willing accomplice. For just over two years they went on a crime spree in the early 1930s robbing and killing. They were finally stopped when a 6 man posse headed by a former Texas Ranger shot and killed them with over 100 bul...

Within 30 years in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Europe went from controlling 20% of Africa to 90%. It was called "the Scramble for Africa". Find out why Europeans colonized the Americas easily through unintentional germ warfare, but Africa was "the White Man's Grave". Discover how Europe finally conquered Africa; the horrors of the Congo; and the residual problems in Africa which exist today.

It was the bloodiest battle ever in the Western Hemisphere. For 3 days in July 1863 Americans slaughtered each other on a terrible scale around a small town in Pennsylvania, where the honored dead "gave the last full measure of devotion". Find out why Robert E. Lee invaded the north, and why he failed so terribly; why the civil war dragged on for almost two more years after this union victory; and how this conflict inspired one of the greatest speeches ever in the English language.

A lot of elements contributed into winning World War II: Britain refusing to make peace with Nazi Germany after the fall of France along with the Chinese and Soviets willingness to suffer millions of deaths. But World War II was a war between the factories; whichever side could produce the most military equipment would win. The deciding factor in World War II was the fantastic industrial output of the U.S.

Wars are never solely military questions. They always involve politics and the will of the people. This episode outlines America's war in Vietnam and explains why the U.S. lost, including the limitations imposed by the American public and the realities of the Cold War.