Conflicted: A History Podcast

A bonus episode concerning the Praetorian Guard's musical and murderous relationship with Rome's fabulous fifth Emperor, Nero. An epilogue to E10: "Kingbreakers" SOURCES: Strauss, Barry. Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine.2019 De La Bodeyere, Guy. Praetorian: The Rise and Fall of Rome’s Imperial Bodyguard. 2017 Rankov, Boris. The Praetorian Guard. 1994 Bingham, Sandra. The Praetorian Guard. 2012 Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars. AD 121 Dando-Collins, Stephen. Caligula: The Mad Emperor of Rome. 2019. Tacitus, Cornelius. The Complete Works. 1994. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of Rome through the eyes of the infamous Praetorian Guard, feared bodyguards who wielded the power and leverage to make – or break – the Emperors they swore to protect. SOURCES: Strauss, Barry. Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine. 2019 De La Bodeyere, Guy. Praetorian: The Rise and Fall of Rome’s Imperial Bodyguard. 2017 Rankov, Boris. The Praetorian Guard. 1994 Bingham, Sandra. The Praetorian Guard. 2012 Beard, Mary. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. 2015 Beard, Mary. The Roman Triumph. 2007. Suetonius. Lives of the Caesars. AD 121 Dando-Collins, Stephen. Caligula: The Mad Emperor of Rome. 2019. Tacitus, Cornelius. The Complete Works. 1994.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Genghis Khan and the Mongols killed millions, but were they actually woke AF? Let's tackle the surprisingly progressive (yet blood-drenched) legacy of one of history's most mysterious empires. SOURCES: Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. 2004. Weatherford, Jack. Genghis Khan and the Quest for God. 2016. Weatherford, Jack. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens. 2010. McLynn, Frank. Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy. 2015. Waterson, James. Defending Heaven: China’s Mongol Wars. 2013. Bergreen, Laurence. Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu. 2007. Turnbull, Stephen. Genghis Khan & the Mongol Conquests, 1190-1400. 2003. Turnbull, Stephen. Mongol Warrior, 1200-1350. 2003.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Car bombs, hitmen, and hunger strikes. How "The Troubles" tore Northern Ireland apart. SOURCES: Toolis, Kevin. Rebel Hearts. 1995 McKittrick, David. Making Sense of the Troubles. 2000 Coogan, Tim Pat. The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal and the Search for Peace. 1995. Edwards, Aaron. The Northern Ireland Troubles. 2014. O'Doherty, Malachi. The Trouble With Guns. 1998. Collins, Eamon. Killing Rage. 1997. Bingham, John. "Margaret Thatcher: Seconds from death at the hands of IRA bomber." April 2013. Moriarty, Gerry. "Internment Explained: when it was introduced and why". August 2019.  Simonson, Robert. "The Irish Car Bomb". March 2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wonder and warmth quickly turn to slaughter and horror as Hernan Cortes meets Emperor Moctezuma in the explosive conclusion of this two-part series. SOURCES: Levy, Buddy. Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs. Sheppard, Si. Tenochtitlan 1519-1521. 2018. Thomas, Hugh. Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico. 1993. Prescott, William H. History of the Conquest of Mexico. 1843 Cortes, Hernan. Five Letters. 1519-1526. Restall, Matthew. When Montezuma Met Cortez: The True Story of the Meeting That Changed History. 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a handful of mercenaries, explorers, and pirates destroyed the Aztec Empire and burnt its capital city to the ground. Two cultures collide in the first of a two-part series on the Conquest of Mexico.  SOURCES: Levy, Buddy. Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs. Sheppard, Si. Tenochtitlan 1519-1521. 2018. Thomas, Hugh. Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes, and the Fall of Old Mexico. 1993. Prescott, William H. History of the Conquest of Mexico. 1843 Cortes, Hernan. Five Letters. 1519-1526. Restall, Matthew. When Montezuma Met Cortez: The True Story of the Meeting That Changed History. 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The story of China’s infamous One-Child Policy, the most ambitious (and catastrophic) social engineering project the modern world has ever seen. SOURCES: Fong, Mei. One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment. 2016 Evans, Karin. The Lost Daughters of China. 2008 Johnson, Kay Ann. China’s Hidden Children. 2016 Xinran, Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother: Stories of Loss and Love. 2012 Greenhalgh, Susan. Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng’s China. 2008.  Ren, Yuan. “How China's one-child policy overhauled the status and prospects of girls like me”. The Telegraph. Dec 2013.  Clarke, Aileen. “See How The One-Child Policy Changed China”. National Geographic. Nov 2015.  Chen, Shanshan. “Lost lives: the battle of China's invisible children to recover missed years”. Reuters. Dec 2016.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a single week in 1967 changed the Middle East, and the world, forever. This is the action-packed, heartbreaking origin story of Israel and the Six-Day War.  SOURCES: Oren, Michael B. Six Days Of War. 2002. Pressfield, Steven. The Lion’s Gate. 2014. Churchill, Randolph S. The Six Day War. 1967 Dana, Seif. “The 1967 Naksa: The Making of the New Middle East”. Al Jazeera. June 2016. Samuel, Sigal. “How the Six Day War Transformed Religion”. The Atlantic. Jun 5 2017 Land, Graham. “Was the Great Jewish Revolt Against Rome a Preventable Tragedy?” HistoryHit. July 2018 Josephus. The Works of Josephus. The Wars of the Jews, Book 7 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

African berserkers, graceful samurai, and deadly Soviet fighter pilots. A three-part, globe-trotting tour of remarkable female soldiers and the complicated lives that they led. SOURCES: Vinogradova, Lyuba. Defending the Motherland. 2015 Alpern, Stanley B. Amazons of Black Sparta. 1998. Dash, Mike. “Dahomey’s Women Warriors”. Smithsonian.com. Sept 2011 Busch, Jenna. “Meet the Dahomey Amazons, the Inspiration for the Dora Milaje”. SyFy Wire. Nov 2018. Joubeaud, Edouard. The Women Soldiers of Dahomey. UNESCO Digital Library. 2014 “Three Months in Captivity in Dahomey”. The Sydney Morning Herald. Oct 1890 Budnik, Ruslan. “Dahomey Amazons - The Only Elite All-Female Warrior Regiments”. War History Online. Oct 2018 Okoh, Lize. “Meet the Dahomey Amazons: The All-Female Warriors of West Africa”. Culture Trip. May 2018. Turnbull, Stephen. Samurai Women, 1184 -1877. 2012. Hoffman, Michael. “Women Warriors of Japan”. The Japan Times. Oct 2011. Hastings, Cristobel. “How Onna-Bugeisha, Feudal Japan's Women Samurai, Were Erased From History”. VICE. Sept 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rated-R-for-Russian story of the Red Army’s horrific campaign of vengeance against Nazi Germany.  SOURCES: Beevor, Antony. The Fall of Berlin 1945. 2003. Huggler, Justin. “Fall of Berlin: ‘Of course I was afraid. I was 17 years old.’”. The Telegraph UK. May 2015 Johnson, Daniel. “Red Army troops raped even Russian women as they freed them from camps”. The Guardian. Jan 2002. Ash, Lucy. “The Rape of Berlin”. BBC News. May 2015. Fitzgerald, Nora. “Berliners recall Red Army atrocities”. Chicago Tribune. September 2002. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices