#42
April 11 · 59 min
The Crossing of the Rubicon (49 BC)
The late Roman Republic had survived reform, faction, and civil bloodshed, but Caesar's march across the Rubicon pushed it past the point of no return. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#41
April 4 · 57 min
The Berlin Tunnel (1954)
In 1954, the CIA and MI6 dug a tunnel from West Berlin into the Soviet sector to tap military phone lines. It was one of the most audacious intelligence operations of the Cold War. There was just one problem - the KGB knew about it before the first shovel broke ground. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#40
March 29 · 51 min
The Cato Street Conspiracy (1820)
In February 1820, a group of desperate radicals plotted to murder the entire British Cabinet at a private dinner, behead two ministers, and spark a revolution in the streets of London. This is the story of the Cato Street Conspiracy - the men behind it, the government spy among them, and the last public beheading in England. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#39
March 22 · 1 hr
The Gunpowder Plot (1605)
In November 1605, a group of English Catholics led by Robert Catesby attempted to blow up Parliament and King James I. This is the story of the Gunpowder Plot - how it was planned, how it was betrayed, and how it ended. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#38
March 12 · 58 min
The Suez Crisis (1956)
In the summer of 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, seizing control of one of the world's most strategically vital waterways from its Anglo-French owners. What followed was a secret conspiracy, a coordinated invasion, and one of the defining humiliations of the post-imperial age. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#37
March 8 · 33 min
The Siege of Malta Part 2 - The Grand Harbour (1565)
After the fall of Fort St. Elmo, the full weight of the Ottoman army turns on the twin peninsulas of Birgu and Senglea. Through months of relentless bombardment, underground mining, and massive infantry assaults, Grand Master La Valette and a dwindling garrison of Knights and Maltese civilians fight to hold walls that are crumbling around them, all while waiting for a relief force from Sicily that may never come. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#36
March 1 · 38 min
The Siege of Malta Part 1 - The Corsairs and the Cross (1565)
In the summer of 1565, the Ottoman Empire dispatched an armada of nearly 200 ships and 40,000 men to the Mediterranean island of Malta. Their target was the Knights Hospitaller, a Catholic military order operating as state-sponsored corsairs. In Part 1 of our two-part series on the Great Siege of Malta, we explore the history between these two factions and how the capture of a single Ottoman galleon triggered a massive invasion. We cover the defensive preparations of Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette, the divided Ottoman high command upon their arrival, and the grueling, month-long battle for Fort St. Elmo that set the stage for the rest of the siege. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#35
February 22 · 47 min
The 47 Ronin Part 2 - The Snowy Night (1701-1702)
In the aftermath of Lord Asano's forced seppuku and the total confiscation of the Ako domain, over 300 samurai are abruptly cast out as masterless ronin. But behind their peaceful surrender to the Tokugawa shogunate, a dedicated core of retainers has secretly sworn a blood oath of vengeance. In this episode, we follow former chief retainer Oishi Yoshio as he orchestrates a brilliant campaign of psychological misdirection, ending with the the meticulously planned, two-hour siege of Kira's heavily fortified Honjo estate. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#34
February 15 · 43 min
The 47 Ronin Part 1 - The Insult and the Blade (1701)
In the spring of 1701, a feudal lord named Asano Naganori was assigned to host imperial envoys at Edo Castle - one of the most important ceremonial duties in Tokugawa Japan. His instructor in court protocol was a senior official named Kira Yoshinaka. What followed was weeks of public humiliation that ended in an act of violence in the shogun's own corridors, a death sentence carried out before nightfall, and the destruction of an entire domain. Over 300 samurai lost everything. But 47 of them refused to accept that the story was over. This is Part 1 of a two-part series on the forty-seven ronin. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#33
February 8 · 1 hr 39 min
The Life of Winston Churchill Part 3 - The War Premiership and The Final Phase (1940-1965)
Churchill becomes Prime Minister as France falls and Britain stands alone. From the Dunkirk evacuation and the Battle of Britain to the forging of the Grand Alliance with Roosevelt and Stalin, we follow Churchill through the pivotal moments of the Second World War, and his life following the Second World War. The final episode of our Churchill series takes the story from its dramatic peak to its end - a state funeral within sight of Blenheim Palace, where it all began. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#32
February 2 · 53 min
The Life of Winston Churchill Part 2 - Rise, Fall, and The Gathering Storm (1901-1939)
From the green benches of Parliament to the mud of the trenches, this episode tracks Winston Churchill's turbulent path through the early 20th century. His meteoric rise as a Liberal reformer, the disaster of Gallipoli that nearly ended his career, and his decade-long political exile. We examine how the "Wilderness Years" transformed a political outcast into the lone voice warning the world of the coming apocalypse. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#31
January 26 · 50 min
The Life of Winston Churchill Part 1 - The Making of a Hero (1874-1900)
Born into privilege but dismissed by his father as a failure, young Winston Churchill set out to prove the world wrong. From self-education in India to the last great cavalry charge at Omdurman and a thrilling escape from a Boer POW camp, this episode charts how a "social wastrel" forged his own legend to become a Member of Parliament by the age of 25. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#30
January 15 · 55 min
The Siege of Vienna (1683)
In the summer of 1683, the fate of Europe hung in the balance on the banks of the Danube. A massive Ottoman army led by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa laid siege to Vienna, intent on capturing the "Golden Apple" of the West. In this episode, we follow the desperate struggle of the city's defenders against starvation, disease, and underground mine warfare. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#29
January 13 · 59 min
The Tiananmen Square Protests - China (1989)
In the spring of 1989, a spontaneous wave of grief for a fallen leader transformed into a massive movement that paralyzed the Chinese capital. For seven weeks, millions of students and workers occupied Tiananmen Square, erecting the "Goddess of Democracy" and challenging the Communist Party to live up to its own ideals. As martial law failed to break the will of the people, the hardline leadership prepared a ruthless solution to save the regime. We cover the tragic events of June 4th, the violent crackdown at Muxidi, and the iconic defiance of the "Tank Man." Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#28
January 8 · 1 hr 4 min
The Cultural Revolution - China (1966-1976)
In 1966, Mao Zedong launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, a decade-long campaign to purify the Communist Party that plunged China into total anarchy. This episode traces the descent into chaos, from the mobilization of the Red Guards and the violent destruction of the "Four Olds" to the factional street battles that brought the nation to the brink of civil war. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#27
January 6 · 59 min
The Great Leap Forward - China (1958-1962)
In 1958, the People's Republic of China embarked on one of the most radical social experiments in human history: the Great Leap Forward. Aiming to surpass the industrial output of the West in just fifteen years, Mao Zedong mobilized the nation to replace capital with sheer willpower. This episode details the unprecedented restructuring of Chinese society, from the collective life of the People's Communes and the mania of the backyard steel furnaces to the ecological disaster of the campaign to exterminate the sparrow. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#26
Dec 19, 2025 · 46 min
The Russian Revolution Part 7: The House of Special Purpose (July 1918)
In the finale of the series, we enter the "House of Special Purpose" - the ominous code name for the villa where the Romanov dynasty met its end. As the White Army closed in on Ekaterinburg in the summer of 1918, the Bolsheviks made a cold calculation: the Tsar could not be allowed to live as a banner for the counter-revolution. We follow the family's descent from imperial boredom behind painted-over windows to the terror of the night of July 16th. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#25
Dec 16, 2025 · 52 min
The Russian Revolution Part 6: Red October (October 1917)
The most consequential revolution of the 20th century did not happened with a change of the guard. In this episode, we dismantle the myth of the "storming" of the Winter Palace to reveal the reality of the Bolshevik seizure of power: a methodical, invisible coup d'etat masterminded by Leon Trotsky. While the citizens of Petrograd rode the trams and attended the opera, the Military Revolutionary Committee quietly seized the city's bridges, telegraphs, and banks without firing a shot. We follow the surreal timeline of October 25th, from Prime Minister Kerensky fleeing the capital in a borrowed American car, to the "siege" of the Winter Palace - defended only by teenage cadets and the Women's Battalion of Death. The episode concludes in the smoke-filled halls of the Smolny Institute, where Trotsky consigns his political enemies to the "dustbin of history" and Lenin announces the birth of the Soviet state. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#24
Dec 11, 2025 · 40 min
The Russian Revolution Part 5: The Summer of Chaos (May-August 1917)
By the summer of 1917, the optimism of the February Revolution had dissolved into violence. Alexander Kerensky, the "Persuader-in-Chief," attempted to save the crumbling nation with a suicidal military offensive that destroyed the last remnants of the army's morale. The resulting power vacuum triggered the "July Days," a premature uprising of armed sailors that forced Vladimir Lenin to shave his beard and flee into the swamps of Finland. The chaos culminated in the Kornilov Affair, a bizarre standoff between the socialist Prime Minister and a general with "the heart of a lion but the brain of a sheep." Facing a military coup, the government made a fatal calculation: opening the armouries and handing 40,000 rifles to the Bolsheviks, effectively arming their own executioners. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml
#23
Dec 8, 2025 · 45 min
The Russian Revolution Part 4: Lenin's Ultimate Gamble (April 1917)
In the spring of 1917, the German General Staff decided to deploy a new kind of weapon against the Russian army: a revolutionary exile named Vladimir Lenin. In this episode, we follow the journey of the "plague bacillus", Vladimir Lenin, as he travels from a cramped apartment in Zurich to the steps of the Finland Station. Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before RSS Feed: https://what-came-before.adscott1982.workers.dev/feed.xml

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