Welcome to the History Guy Podcast: Counterfactuals. What is a counterfactual? At it’s most basic, it is a ‘what if’. It’s a way of understanding history as it is by discussing what it could have been.Today, we talk about one of the deadliest diseases in human history, and one we often don’t think about at all today: Rabies. How has it changed the world, and what might be different without it?
Jun 30
1 hr
On today’s episode we talk about an unsung hero of the modern age: the elevator. Without them, the world wouldn’t be the same.
Jun 16
1 hr 3 min
On today’s episode we talk about a man whose influence on the trajectory of American history is undeniable and pervasive, but whose name you may never have heard of: John Hay, a secretary to President Lincoln and Secretary of State under Mckinley and Teddy Roosevelt. What might the world be like without him?
Jun 2
1 hr 3 min
On today’s episode we talk about a pivotal battle in a poorly remembered war: The battle of Paardeberg in the Second Anglo-Boer War. The war would consolidate all of South Africa under British Colonial rule, and radically transform the Canadian military. But what if it didn’t?
May 19
58 min
On today’s episode, we talk about a little remembered campaign of the Civil War fought west of the Mississippi, when a former Missouri governor attempted to shake things up as hope for the south dwindled. Ultimately it all went wrong - but what if it didn’t?
May 5
1 hr 5 min
On today’s episode, we talk about an incredibly deadly creature, which has determined the course of nearly all human history just by existing: The Mosquito. How has the mosquito determined the course of war, and what wars might have gone differently if it didn’t exist?
Apr 21
1 hr 2 min
On today’s episode, we talk about something that has held together history, literally. Even though there’s probably a roll in just about every household in America, we often overlook the utility and ubiquity of duct tape. But what would we do without it?
Apr 7
1 hr 3 min
On today’s episode, we talk about the USS Wyoming and the 1863 battle of the Shiminoseki Straits - a seemingly minor event overshadowed by the American Civil War. But this battle might have altered the course of history.
Mar 24
1 hr
On today’s episode we talk about the first commercially successful ‘plastic’, the beginning of the plastic revolution that has so altered human society. But what if it happened differently?
Mar 10
1 hr
On today’s episode, we talk about a soviet submarine disaster in the Atlantic, which averted potentially disastrous outcomes only by the heroism of its crew. But what might have happened if it went differently?
Feb 24
1 hr 2 min
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