Episodes

  • Counterfactuals: Did Ketchup Save the World?

    Counterfactuals: Did Ketchup Save the World?
    Jul 15 2025
    On today’s episode we talk about the incredible popularity and influence of an odd product: Ketchup. What would the world be like without it?
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Counterfactuals: 1983, The World's Most Dangerous Year

    Counterfactuals: 1983, The World's Most Dangerous Year
    Jul 1 2025
    On today’s podcast we talk about the year 1983 - called by some “the most dangerous year” in modern history. In the fall of that year, Western and Communist powers may have nearly stumbled into the one thing that neither side wanted - all-out nuclear war. How might the world be different if that close call went another way?
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    1 hr and 6 mins
  • Counterfactuals: Rome and Hannibal

    Counterfactuals: Rome and Hannibal
    Jun 17 2025
    On today’s episode, we talk about one of the most famous battle in Roman history, when 50,000 Romans were killed in a single day. How would the world be different if that battle went differently?
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    55 mins
  • Counterfactuals: Task Force 34 and Leyte Gulf

    Counterfactuals: Task Force 34 and Leyte Gulf
    Jun 3 2025
    On today’s episode, we talk about one of the largest naval battles in history, Leyte Gulf, and the task group that was never created: Task Force 34. A series of decisions often called mistakes led to one of the most famous underdog fights when the small force called Taffy 3 faced down Japanese battleships in the Battle off Samar. If any of those decisions had gone differently, the world might have taken a different path.
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Counterfactuals: The Great Lisbon Earthquake

    Counterfactuals: The Great Lisbon Earthquake
    May 20 2025
    Today we discuss one of the most powerful earthquakes to strike Europe in recorded history, an earthquake which knocked down Lisbon in a single, violent day in 1755. The aftershocks would be felt throughout history, however, as a shocked Europe came to terms with the power of nature. What might have happened if it went a little differently?
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Counterfactuals: The Axumite Empire

    Counterfactuals: The Axumite Empire
    May 6 2025
    On today’s episode, we tackle a forgotten empire that once ruled the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, and that once ranked with the likes of Persia, China, and Rome. The mighty Aksum declined before 1000 AD - but what might have happened if it all went a bit differently?
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Counterfactuals: The Battle of Tsushima and the 20th Century

    Counterfactuals: The Battle of Tsushima and the 20th Century
    Apr 22 2025
    On today’s episode we talk about one of the most important naval events in modern history: the pivotal battle of Tsushima, fought during the Russo-Japanese war. The battle was crucial in the rise of Japan as a military and imperial power, setting the stage for huge parts of the 20th century. But what might have happened if it all went different?
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Counterfactuals: What if We Used a Different Calendar?

    Counterfactuals: What if We Used a Different Calendar?
    Apr 8 2025
    On today’s episode, we talk about Calendars - specificall the Gregorian Calendar, and how and why it became the calendar we all use today. What does the calendar mean to us, and what might it mean if we used a different one?
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    1 hr and 1 min