The HistoryNet Podcast features some of the greatest stories from HistoryNet.com's archive of over 25,000+ features. From ancient Rome to the Middle Ages, from the 18th century to the edge of recent memory, we zero in on the people and events that made the world what it is today. Vividly written by expert authors, thoroughly edited and fact-checked by magazine professionals, these stories bring history to vibrant life. The narrators of this podcast, however, are not human beings but AI voices created by our partner, Instaread.co. Say what you will about AI, but in this case the voices are surprisingly real, capturing well the nuances of the articles they're reading aloud. To read those stories in their original form, please go to historynet.com. For advertising inquires, please contact advertisingsales@mco.com.
The A-10 Warthog has survived repeated attempts to put it out to pasture. Now its time may finally be up.
The fierce clash proved to be a fitting coda for the resolute 8th Vermont.
Mystery surrounds the infamous burning of the Reichstag in 1933.
For centuries Armenian residents of the Transcaucasian stronghold of Kars watched invaders come and go—until its final betrayal.
Lynching investigator Walter White risked everything to tell Americans the truth.
From the Founding Fathers to the present day, illness has impacted politics.
Just who killed the Lakota fighting man remains in dispute.
It was supposed to be an airplane for the people.
Partisan poets stoked the fire to keep the South's combat spirit alive.
The gunman's body was found beneath a tree, pistol in hand—but was it suicide?
What's a Minié ball, and why was this type of bullet—which is actually conical—used extensively during the American Civil War?
What would have happened if the U.S. hadn't sent men to take this small atoll, site of that iconic photo? Would it have cost the war?
Hessian officer's wife Frederika von Riedesel and her children were nearly shot during the battle of Saratoga.
Nurse Jane Boswell Moore wrote poignant letters about her interactions with the patients of this Winchester, Va., hospital.
Ethnologist Frank Cushing embraced Zuni culture right down to his Indian name.
Four dead Germans traveled on a wild journey, resulting in what the Monuments Men called "Operation Bodysnatch".
On June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court declared prayer in public schools unconstitutional.
Though the Lost Orders forced the Confederate commander to fight on unfavorable ground at Sharpsburg, he survived the bloody clash with his army intact.
Christopher Birdwood Thomson was determined to fly the R101 airship to India, whether it was ready for the trip or not.
In 1902, Harry Buckwalter teamed with William Selig to make short-reel Westerns.
After 70 years of steam and smoke, American rail began to plug in.
Hooker had his shortcomings, but what he did in revitalizing his army's cavalry corps was monumental.
An infantry captain who served in Napoleon's elite troops tells of the army's quest for glory.
Olive Dixon spent 40 years making sure Texans would always remember her heroic husband.
German General Ludwig Beck supported the Nazis—until he didn't. He paid with his life.
The Americans flying in World War I wanted the Spad XIII. They got the Nieuport 28 instead.
The Guzman family's quest to dominate the Rock of Gibraltar gives the phrase “family feud” a whole new meaning.
How two F-105 pilots and their commander got entangled in the geopolitics of the Vietnam War.
Entrepreneur William Ashley's attempt to trade for Arikara horses led to a ‘beach' battle that inflicted 30 percent casualties on his brigade and inspired an outraged Colonel Henry Leavenworth to punish the Missouri River tribe.
It is becoming commonly accepted that the German night bombing of London on Aug. 24, 1940 was due to a “blunder” of Luftwaffe pilots.
Australia's CA-15 was one of the world's fastest piston-engine fighters, but it was obsolete by the time it first flew.
The New Mexico Territory town had a violent beginning, as Billy the Kid and other outlaws came here to sell stolen livestock, drink, shoot and otherwise blow off steam.
There was a time when U.S. helicopters were forbidden from rescuing wounded South Vietnamese soldiers.
A young American bugler turned the tide in China's 1900 Boxer Rebellion.
Major Patrick Ferguson earned his nickname for his dogged determination to remain in the American Revolutionary War and bring the upstart Patriots to heel.
A Missouri woman sacrificed much of her own life to help an aged Union veteran.
In 1519 Hernán Cortés set out to invade the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, his boldness earning Spain a foothold in the Americas.
Pan American World Airways wanted something special. Boeing responded with the 377.
Project Manhigh took pilots to the edge of space.
Thomas Jefferson had his eyes on Louisiana, and so did Spain.
Did the bloody downfall of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem put the United States on a slippery slope into a quagmire?
In 1945 Women's Army Corps Cpl. Margaret Hastings went down aboard a C-47 in a remote New Guinea valley, launching an improbable story of survival.
WWII's Convair B-32 Dominator never got the chance to live up to its name.
For young American army officers of the time, the Mexican War was not only the road to glory, it was the road to promotion — a proving ground for future Civil War generals.
After WWII, questions rose about which nation POWs belonged to or even whether they would be killed upon going home.
What the fatal airplane crash of the country star says about flying then and now.
German inventor Otto Lilienthal had flown more than 2,000 times before his glider failed him.
Bernard Law Montgomery's chief of staff, Sir Francis de Guingand, made things easier for a difficult general.
Once a Hollywood scourge, opioid overdoses are now an everyday plague across America. She was one of its most famous victims.
These are the most important military leaders in history, from the classical era to the present day.
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