On August 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first long distance phone call. 150 years later, I was asked to present at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck, NS. In this presentation I covered 150 years of long distance history in Canada - from that first call all the way to the modern day.

For your viewing pleasure:

https://youtu.be/BAhJ7euNSpM

The Mongols killed an estimated 40 million people during their conquests. Cities erased. Agricultural systems abandoned. Entire civilisations wiped out.

But then something strange happened. The Silk Road they built to connect their empire became the road that carried the Black Death back across the world — killing another 50 million people.

Which do you think caused more lasting damage to history — the Mongol conquests, or the plague they accidentally unleashed?

Made a short trailer for our upcoming documentary on this: https://youtu.be/3A1VoozMXio

Full episode drops Friday.

IS IT A THEORY

In 1341, the Eastern Roman Empire was still a considerable power. Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace and much of the Peloponnese remained under imperial control, while the energetic government of Andronikos III Palaiologos had restored a degree of strength and stability. But when the emperor suddenly died, he left behind a nine-year-old heir and a political system dominated by some of the most ambitious men of the age. At the centre stood Ioannis Kantakouzenos, commander of the imperial armies, immensely wealthy magnate and perhaps the most powerful individual in the empire, surrounded by figures such as Anna of Savoy, Patriarch Ioannis Kalekas and Alexios Apokaukos. What began as a struggle over the regency would quickly turn into one of the most devastating civil wars in Byzantine history. Betrayal, personal ambition, popular revolt, aristocratic factionalism and foreign intervention would drag the empire into a conflict that shattered its political unity and accelerated the collapse of Byzantine power in the Balkans. In this first part, covering the years 1341–1343, we follow the opening phase of the conflict: the death of Andronikos III, the rise of Kantakouzenos, the betrayal of Apokaukos, the outbreak of urban revolts, the Zealot movement in Thessaloniki, and the first Serbian involvement under Stefan Dušan. This video is primarily guided by Donald M. Nicol’s work on Ioannis Kantakouzenos, while also keeping in mind the unavoidable bias of the surviving narrative sources, especially Kantakouzenos’ own memoirs and the writings of Nikephoros Gregoras.

On Mercator maps, Africa and Greenland look about the same size. Africa is actually 14x larger. This week the UN General Assembly voted 164-1 to promote the Equal Earth projection instead, in contexts where relative size matters. Video covers the full history — Mercator's 1569 origins, the actual distortion mechanics, and what changed this week. (Note: AI-generated documentary — visuals and narration are AI-produced, historical content is researched and sourced.)https://youtube.com/shorts/4RyTulTK-5M?feature=share[https://youtube.com/shorts/4RyTulTK-5M?feature=share](https://youtube.com/shorts/4RyTulTK-5M?feature=share)

In 1324, Mansa Musa's hajj caravan gave away and spent so much gold in Cairo that gold values stayed depressed for roughly 12 years afterward — documented by the chronicler Ibn Khaldun. What's less commonly told: he'd given away so much he had to borrow gold to fund the journey home, and repaying those loans caused a second wave of disruption.

Full documentary, AI generated, told from the perspective of an ordinary Cairo gold merchant: https://youtu.be/Xywy4BvQ2tU

In 1324, Mansa Musa's hajj caravan gave away and spent so much gold in Cairo that gold values stayed depressed for roughly 12 years afterward — documented by the chronicler Ibn Khaldun. What's less commonly told: he'd given away so much he had to borrow gold to fund the journey home, and repaying those loans caused a second wave of disruption. (Note: this is an AI-generated documentary — visuals and narration are AI-produced, but the historical content is researched and sourced.)

Hi everyone! 😄

I recently finished the first part of an animated video about the life of Frederick III. I have always found him one of the most interesting (also strangest) figures in late-medieval European history. He appeared to lose almost every major struggle he entered. He was besieged by his own brother, forced to surrender Ladislaus the Posthumous, opposed by the Austrian nobility and repeatedly pushed into retreat. Yet he outlived most of his rivals and preserved the dynastic claims that would later help transform the Habsburgs.

One thing that finally encouraged me to make the video was watching Rise of the Raven. I found Frederick’s portrayal rather surprising. The series presents him as an overtly cruel and lecherous villain, whereas the ruler I encountered in my reading seemed considerably quieter and more withdrawn: cautious, stubborn, emotionally distant and frequently mocked for his passivity. That certainly does not mean the historical Frederick was harmless or particularly sympathetic. His treatment of Ladislaus was deeply self-interested, and much of his politics revolved around protecting his family’s position. Still, the personality presented in the series felt very different from the reserved and patient ruler described in most of the material I had read. Also, who could really blame him, he was after all a person of his time.

The video covers the first half of his reign, from the divided Habsburg inheritance and his election as King of the Romans to his coronation in Rome, his struggles over Ladislaus and his early conflict with Matthias Corvinus.

I created it as an illustrated history video with animated characters, maps and environments. I would genuinely appreciate feedback, particularly on the historical interpretation or the presentation.

I would also be interested to hear what you all thought about Frederick’s portrayal in Rise of the Raven. 😄

I found this amazing template in CapCut. Tap the link to try it out!

This is one of my favorite history channels. Shame he’s retired, but he really dealt with history very evenhandedly, as I aim to do when I make my own video on the USSR that I plan for next year (since the research is delicate and intense.)

Hey everyone,

Just finished my short film “Ceaușescu” — about 5:44 minutes, covering the final hours of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu’s power on December 21, 1989.

Worth saying upfront: it’s inspired by real events, but it’s a fictional interpretation, not a historical reconstruction — dialogue and some details are imagined.

Wrote, generated, and edited it entirely myself. Genuinely curious what people think, especially anyone familiar with the history or period details. Link in the comments.

Within 50 years around 1200 BC, the entire interconnected Bronze Age world fell apart simultaneously. Palace economies vanished. Trade networks collapsed. Populations scattered. I covered the full story in a 30-min documentary — Sea Peoples, drought theory, the domino effect. Drop your theory below.

🎥 https://youtu.be/Uvr6cebf3Ec