Crash Course
How World War I Started: Crash Course World History 209
In which John Green teaches you about World War I and how it got started. Crash Course doesn't usually talk much about dates, but the way that things unfolded in July and August of 1914 are kind of important to understanding the Great...
SciShow
What Took Down These Three Ancient Civilizations?
When it comes to piecing together what happened to civilizations that no longer exist, it can be challenging to solve the mystery. But research into Angkor, the Akkadian Empire, and even the Norse of Greenland, is helping us see that...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The rise and fall of the Mughal Empire | Stephanie Honchell Smith
Though he was descended from some of the world's most successful conquerors, Babur struggled to gain a foothold among the many other ambitious princes in Central Asia. So he turned his attention to India, where his descendants stayed and...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How horses changed history | William T. Taylor
People have been captivated by horses for a long time. They appear more than any other animal in cave paintings dating back 30,000 years. But how did horses make the journey from wild animals to ones humans could hitch themselves to and...
PBS
Author Robert McCrum Explains How English Has Taken Root Worldwide (Jul. 23, 2010)
"Globish" Author Robert McCrum explains why the English language went global and how it has become the first worldwide language.
Crash Course
Venice and the Ottoman Empire Crash Course World History
In which John Green discusses the strange and mutually beneficial relationship between a republic, the citystate of Venice, and an Empire, the Ottomans--and how studying history can help you to be a better boyfriend and/or girlfriend....
Curated Video
Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa: Crash Course World History
In which John Green teaches you about Sub-Saharan Africa! So, what exactly was going on there? It turns out, it was a lot of trade, converting to Islam, visits from Ibn Battuta, trade, beautiful women, trade, some impressive...
Curated Video
Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century: Crash Course World History
In which John Green teaches you about the fall of the Roman Empire, which happened considerably later than you may have been told. While the Western Roman Empire fell to barbarians in 476 CE, the Byzantines in Constantinople continued...
Crash Course
Expansion and Consequences: Crash Course European History
European exploration had a lot of side effects. When the Old World and the New World began to interact, people, wealth, food, animals, and disease began to flow in both directions. In the New World, countless millions were killed by...
Curated Video
Venice and the Ottoman Empire: Crash Course World History
In which John Green discusses the strange and mutually beneficial relationship between a republic, the citystate of Venice, and an Empire, the Ottomans--and how studying history can help you to be a better boyfriend and/or girlfriend....
Curated Video
Alexander the Great and the Situation ... the Great? Crash Course World History
In which you are introduced to the life and accomplishments of Alexander the Great, his empire, his horse Bucephalus, the empires that came after him, and the idea of Greatness. Is greatness a question of accomplishment, of impact, or...
Crash Course
Wait For It...The Mongols! Crash Course World History
In which John Green teaches you, at long last, about the most exceptional bunch of empire-building nomads in the history of the world, the Mongols! How did the Mongols go from being a relatively small band of herders who occasionally...
TED Talks
Neil MacGregor: 2600 years of history in one object
A clay cylinder covered in Akkadian cuneiform script, damaged and broken, the Cyrus Cylinder is a powerful symbol of religious tolerance and multi-culturalism. In this enthralling talk Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The rise and fall of the medieval Islamic Empire | Petra Sijpesteijn and Birte Kristiansen
In the 7th century CE, the prophet Muhammad united the people of the Arabian Peninsula through the formation of Islam. Over the next 30 years, caliphs conquered vast areas beyond Arabia, including their mighty neighbors the Persians and...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Distorting Madonna in Medieval art - James Earle
After Rome was destroyed, people were wary of attachment to physical beauty. As Christianity gained traction, Romans instead began to focus on the metaphysical beauty of virtue, and art began to follow suit. James Earle discusses how...
SciShow
The Real Mayan Apocalypse
There are just six weeks left until the celestial odometer that is the Mayan calendar clicks over to the next b'akt'un, but in the meantime, scientists have been trying to solve the mystery behind the collapse of the Mayan civilization....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A brief history of dumplings | Miranda Brown
As archaeologists pored over ancient tombs in western China, they discovered some surprisingly well-preserved and familiar relics. Though hardened over 1,000 years, there sat little crescent-shaped dumplings. So who invented these plump...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History vs. Tamerlane the Conqueror | Stephanie Honchell Smith
He was born in the 1330s in the Chaghatayid Khanate, formerly the Mongol Empire. On the steppe, he rose from a lowly sheep thief to become one of history's greatest conquerors, uniting nearly all of Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran...
TED Talks
Niall Ferguson: The 6 killer apps of prosperity
Over the past few centuries, Western cultures have been very good at creating general prosperity for themselves. Historian Niall Ferguson asks: Why the West, and less so the rest? He suggests half a dozen big ideas from Western culture...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why should you read “Dune” by Frank Herbert? - Dan Kwartler
A mother and son trek across an endless desert. Wearing special suits to dissipate heat and recycle moisture, the travelers aren’t worried about dying of thirst. Their fears are much greater. Soon, the sound of the desert is drowned out...
Crash Course
Charles V and the Holy Roman Empire: Crash Course World History
In which John Green teaches you about the Holy Roman Empire by teaching you about Charles V. Charles Hapsburg was the holy Roman Emperor, but he was also the King of Spain. And the King of Germany. And the King of Italy and the Lord of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: A day in the life of a Mongolian queen - Anne F. Broadbridge
As dawn breaks over a moveable city of ten thousand yurts, Queen Boraqchin readies her kingdom for departure to their summer camping grounds. While her husband, the grandson of Genghis Khan, is out raiding, she juggles the duties of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Leonora Neville: The princess who rewrote history
Anna Komnene, daughter of Byzantine emperor Alexios, spent the last decade of her life creating a 500-page history of her father's reign called "The Alexiad." As a princess writing about her own family, she had to balance her loyalty to...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Sarcophagus - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Dating back to the early Roman Empire, the word sarcophagus originally referred to the limestone a coffin was made of, rather than the coffin itself. From flesh-eating stone to a stone coffin, Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel unbury the...