Instructional Video9:38
Crash Course

Venice and the Ottoman Empire Crash Course World History

12th - Higher Ed
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....
Instructional Video14:34
Crash Course

Progressive Presidents Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the Progressive Presidents, who are not a super-group of former presidents who create complicated, symphonic, rock soundscapes that transport you into a fantasy fugue state. Although that would be...
Instructional Video10:55
Curated Video

The Renaissance Was it a Thing - Crash Course World History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the European Renaissance. European learning changed the world in the 15th and 16th century, but was it a cultural revolution, or an evolution? We'd argue that any cultural shift that occurs over a...
Instructional Video10:00
Crash Course

The Amazing Life and Strange Death of Captain Cook Crash Course World History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the life and death of one of history's great explorers, Captain James Cook of the British Navy. He charted large swaths of the Pacific ocean, laid claim to Australia and New Zealand, and died a...
Instructional Video10:30
Crash Course

Wait For It...The Mongols! Crash Course World History

12th - Higher Ed
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...
Instructional Video9:47
Crash Course

Columbus, de Gama, and Zheng He! 15th Century Mariners. Crash Course World History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the beginning of the so-called Age of Discovery. You've probably heard of Christopher Columbus, who "discovered" America in 1492, but what about Vasco da Gama? How about Zheng He? Columbus gets a bad...
Instructional Video13:19
Crash Course

Gilded Age Politics Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the Gilded Age and its politics. What, you may ask, is the Gilded Age? The term comes from a book by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner titled, "The Gilded Age." You may see a pattern emerging...
Instructional Video12:30
Crash Course

Reconstruction and 1876 Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about Reconstruction. After the divisive, destructive Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had a plan to reconcile the country and make it whole again. Then he got shot, Andrew Johnson took over, and the...
Instructional Video12:09
Crash Course

The War of 1812 - Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the War of 1812. The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and its former colonial overlord England. It started in, you guessed it 1812. The war lasted until 1815, and it resolved very...
Instructional Video10:10
Crash Course

Russia, the Kievan Rus, and the Mongols Crash Course World History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you how Russia evolved from a loose amalgamation of medieval principalities known as the Kievan Rus into the thriving democracy we know today. As you can imagine, there were a few bumps along the road. It...
Instructional Video12:50
Crash Course

The Cold War Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the Cold War, which was the decades long conflict between the USA and the USSR. The Cold War was called cold because of the lack of actual fighting, but this is inaccurate. There was plenty of...
Instructional Video13:48
Crash Course

World War II Part 2 - The Homefront Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about World War 2, as it was lived on the home front. You'll learn about how the war changed the country as a whole, and changed how Americans thought about their country. John talks about the government...
Instructional Video11:59
Crash Course

The Industrial Economy Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the Industrial Economy that arose in the United States after the Civil War. You know how when you're studying history, and you're reading along and everything seems safely in the past, and then BOOM...
Instructional Video14:36
Crash Course

Age of Jackson Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the presidency of Andrew Jackson So how did a president with astoundingly bad fiscal policies end up on the $20 bill? That's a question we can't answer, but we can tell you how Jackson got to be...
Instructional Video12:36
Crash Course

The Roaring 20's Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the United States in the 1920s. They were known as the roaring 20s, but not because there were lions running around everywhere. In the 1920s, America's economy was booming, and all kinds of social...
Instructional Video10:54
Crash Course

The Natives and the English - Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about relations between the early English colonists and the native people the encountered in the New World. In short, these relations were poor. As soon as they arrived, the English were in conflict with...
Instructional Video12:13
Crash Course

Islam, the Quran, and the Five Pillars All Without a Flamewar Crash Course World History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you the history of Islam, including the revelation of the Qu'ran to Muhammad, the five pillars of Islam, how the Islamic empire got its start, the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and more. Learn about hadiths, Abu...
Instructional Video12:09
Crash Course

Westward Expansion Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the Wild, Wild, West, which as it turns out, wasn't as wild as it seemed in the movies. When we think of the western expansion of the United States in the 19th century, we're conditioned to imagine...
Instructional Video13:41
Crash Course

The Election of 1860 & the Road to Disunion Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the election of 1860. As you may remember from last week, things were not great at this time in US history. The tensions between the North and South were rising, ultimately due to the single issue of...
Instructional Video4:58
Crash Course

History of the 4th of July Crash Course US History Special

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you a bit about the 4th of July. In this special short Crash Course, John celebrates American Independence Day by teaching you how the holiday came to be on the 4th of July, and the many ways that Americans...
Instructional Video11:53
Crash Course

When is Thanksgiving Colonizing America Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the (English) colonies in what is now the United States. He covers the first permanent English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the various theocracies in Massachusetts, the feudal kingdom in Maryland,...
Instructional Video15:00
Crash Course

The Clinton Years, or the 1990s Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the United States as it was in the 1990s. You'll remember from last week that the old-school Republican George H.W. Bush had lost the 1992 presidential election to a young upstart Democrat from...
Instructional Video13:21
Crash Course

George HW Bush and the End of the Cold War Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the end of the Cold War and the presidency of George H.W. Bush. It was neither the best of times, nor the worst of times. On the domestic front, the first president Bush inherited the relative...
Instructional Video11:47
Crash Course

Taxes & Smuggling - Prelude to Revolution Crash Course US History

12th - Higher Ed
In which John Green teaches you about the roots of the American Revolution. The Revolution did not start on July 4, 1776. The Revolutionary War didn't start on July 4 either. (as you remember, I'm sure, the Revolution and the...