What are some good history/geopolitics Youtube Channels?

[Zardnaar]

Here's some history related channels I enjoy:

Drachinifel: Naval history
World of Antiquity: Pretty much what it sounds like - lots of videos on the ancient world
Ancient Americas: Again, pretty self explanatory, good content on pre-columbian America
Fall of Civilizations: Podcast on how societies collapse (way way way better than Jared Diamond....)
Rex's Hangar: Like Drachinifel for planes
Tasting History: Recreating historical food, along with some of the history behind them.
Stephan Milo: Prehistory and anthropology

+1 for Fall of Civilizations.

 

[Zardnaar]

I like Carlin too so there is that, but I jsut feel obligated to do the nerd left winger thing and point out that all history and news reporting by extension is political, either in what they leave out or what they choose to focus on, the real question is how you want the optics tilted when you are listening or reading. Americans are only exposed to reactionary, conservative, or liberal content for almost all of my life and this is still true for the majority of the population.

NPR is definitely liberal and while their journalistic honestly is waaaaay better than Fox News or OAA (as in they have journalists that actually care about integrity in journalism), they still bend liberal by editorial decision. A lot of socialist/left wing stuff can be just super annoying and lecturing I try to avoid those, but it helps to get a mixed view of stories. I'm inundated by reactionaries and conservatives in my daily life and so familiar with the positions you can read me a story and I can pretty much nail how Fox News will spin it the next day. But NPR stays in the narrative of capitalism being wonderful and just needs some new paint and USA USA USA stuff, so it's definitely political (everything is even though it is annoyingly true).

I know whatifalthist is a closet white supremacist because I was raised around that exact type of person and when you get them even lightly tipsy the racist parts start coming out real fast. I know the other guy is a nazi because its literally espousing great replacement theories and blaming hordes of immigrants for Europe's problems. Europeans' quality of life on average is better than most of the planet by a lot and to the extent it's getting worse it's not immigrants it is neo-liberalism hurting the working class.

I don't consider whatifalthist as reliable either.

 

[Zelig]

But if you don't mind audio-only, my go-to history podcast for the road is Hardcore History. The podcaster, Dan Carlin, spends months researching the subjects of each podcast (most of which are closer to audiobook length). He's very good about providing the sources for his work, including direct quotations, and mentioning when the sources may be more biased than would be expected. He used to do a politics podcast as well, but quit it after he got tired of each side (right/left) accusing him of being a partisan of the other side. And before podcasting, he was on the radio, so his delivery is excellent.

Shamefully, last time I checked, even if you pay for Hardcore History, you still get ads.

Sadly there doesn't seem to be any straightforward way to filter for ad-free podcasts.

 

[Ajidica]

If you like the Nazis, you’ll like Mark Felton.

I mean, the history thereof…

Mark Felton, asking the questions nobody thought to ask. Like, what did happen to Goering's model train collection?

 

[Quintillus]

Shamefully, last time I checked, even if you pay for Hardcore History, you still get ads.

Sadly there doesn't seem to be any straightforward way to filter for ad-free podcasts.

Some of the more recent episodes have a "sponsored by [usually Audible]" 15 second or so snippet at the beginning or end. No four-minute ad prerolls, and crucially no ads in the middle.

I couldn't tell you exactly when those were added, but am pretty sure it's recent enough that none of the paid back catalog (which I've listened to in its entirety) has them. Certainly not through Episode 41.5, which I just finished re-listening to a week and a half ago.

It's one of the things I like about Hardcore History - it's virtually ad-free. I wish more podcasts offered the ability to buy ad-free episodes - and did so without a subscription requirement, as I tend to rotate what I listen to often enough that just buying the equivalent of an mp3 makes more sense than juggling subscriptions.

So, I agree... an easier way to find ad-free podcasts would be great. But Hardcore History is one of the ones that's doing it right in terms of finding a way to make podcasting a full-time career.

 

[Zardnaar]

Mark Felton, asking the questions nobody thought to ask. Like, what did happen to Goering's model train collection?

He's good for WW2 stuff that's not your typical topics.

 

[Tee Kay]

I'll chip in with some channels that haven't been mentioned yet

Sam Aronow does Jewish history from prehistory onwards (we're currently in the middle of WW1). I find him to be an engaging storyteller who takes the history seriously and doesn't attempt to make it "fun". The episodes also feature fantastic custom-drawn map of cities.

Asianometry does videos on IT history, Asian history, and Asian IT history. Presentation is a bit dry and technical, but you can learn a lot about some of the more obscure bits of history, like the history of the camphor trade in Taiwan, or the rise and fall of the Bulgarian computer industry.

Fascinating Horror covers various natural and manmade disasters in ~10 minutes long videos. The delivery is matter-of-fact, there's no sensationalisation, the stories themselves are interesting enough.

Historia Civilis features deep dives into mostly the end of the Roman Republic (plus some other stuff) accompanied by simple but charming animations and lots of maps which I always like. Uploads are once in a blue moon but there's a large archive.

Voices of the Past is a guy reading a bunch of primary sources, eyewitness accounts of everything from Ancient Greeks describing India to Cherokee envoys in England to Soviet tourists in 1930s America.

Soup Emporium rarely uploads and there's a grand total of seven videos on the channel, but they are good. In particular, the one on Chernobyl, the one on Koko, and the one on Helen Keller.

Imperial talks about various historical topics with a focus on the 20th century, the graphics are fancy but I just like the stories and the way they're told.

Sean Munger is one that I've come across recently, has a very large library of videos on various topics from the Gulf War (1991) to various maritime disasters to US presidential elections. Style is "guy talks into a camera for fifteen minutes to three hours".

Premodernist only has 19 videos so far and I'm posting it here mainly because of the video on time travelling to medieval Europe. I like his style and here's hoping for more content.

Rare Earth is more politicised/preachy and sensationalised than the other ones I've talked about, but Evan Hadfield is good at it. He films on location and tells interesting and/or obscure stories in nuanced, thoughtful, and sometimes heart-breaking ways. New uploads are rare these days but there's a sizeable archive.

 

[Estebonrober]

I'll chip in with some channels that haven't been mentioned yet

Sam Aronow does Jewish history from prehistory onwards (we're currently in the middle of WW1). I find him to be an engaging storyteller who takes the history seriously and doesn't attempt to make it "fun". The episodes also feature fantastic custom-drawn map of cities.

Asianometry does videos on IT history, Asian history, and Asian IT history. Presentation is a bit dry and technical, but you can learn a lot about some of the more obscure bits of history, like the history of the camphor trade in Taiwan, or the rise and fall of the Bulgarian computer industry.

Fascinating Horror covers various natural and manmade disasters in ~10 minutes long videos. The delivery is matter-of-fact, there's no sensationalisation, the stories themselves are interesting enough.

Historia Civilis features deep dives into mostly the end of the Roman Republic (plus some other stuff) accompanied by simple but charming animations and lots of maps which I always like. Uploads are once in a blue moon but there's a large archive.

Voices of the Past is a guy reading a bunch of primary sources, eyewitness accounts of everything from Ancient Greeks describing India to Cherokee envoys in England to Soviet tourists in 1930s America.

Soup Emporium rarely uploads and there's a grand total of seven videos on the channel, but they are good. In particular, the one on Chernobyl, the one on Koko, and the one on Helen Keller.

Imperial talks about various historical topics with a focus on the 20th century, the graphics are fancy but I just like the stories and the way they're told.

Sean Munger is one that I've come across recently, has a very large library of videos on various topics from the Gulf War (1991) to various maritime disasters to US presidential elections. Style is "guy talks into a camera for fifteen minutes to three hours".

Premodernist only has 19 videos so far and I'm posting it here mainly because of the video on time travelling to medieval Europe. I like his style and here's hoping for more content.

Rare Earth is more politicised/preachy and sensationalised than the other ones I've talked about, but Evan Hadfield is good at it. He films on location and tells interesting and/or obscure stories in nuanced, thoughtful, and sometimes heart-breaking ways. New uploads are rare these days but there's a sizeable archive.

I really like asianometry, that's one of my favorites