Most of us only know Thomas Paine for one thing: writing Common Sense in 1776, which helped kickstart the Revolution by selling hundreds of thousands of copies. But he was far more than a writer. Paine actively served with George Washington's army during its darkest days and then used his pen to advocate for global freedom in both the French Revolution and against organized religion. His revolutionary fervor spanned the globe, leading him to champion the French Revolution with Rights of Man and challenge religious orthodoxy in The Age of Reason/

Paine's later involvement with the French Revolution, his Enlightenment opinions, and his unorthodox view of religion plunged his reputation into a controversy that continues to this day.

Today’s guest is Jack Kelly, author of “Tom Paine's War: The Words That Rallied a Nation and the Founder for Our Time.” We look at how Paine shaped the war. He convinced the colonies that war should grow from a reform movement to a full revolution: The entire British system of hereditary monarchy and aristocratic rule was a form of tyranny, making the case that separation from Great Britain the only logical course for America.

Most of us only know Thomas Paine for one thing: writing Common Sense in 1776, which helped kickstart the Revolution by selling hundreds of thousands of copies. But he was far more than a writer. Paine actively served with George Washington's army during its darkest days and then used his pen to advocate for global freedom in both the French Revolution and against organized religion. His revolutionary fervor spanned the globe, leading him to champion the French Revolution with Rights of Man and challenge religious orthodoxy in The Age of Reason/
Paine's later involvement with the French Revolution, his Enlightenment opinions, and his unorthodox view of religion plunged his reputation into a controversy that continues to this day.
Today&rsquo;s guest is Jack Kelly, author of &ldquo;Tom Paine's War: The Words That Rallied a Nation and the Founder for Our Time.&rdquo; We look at how Paine shaped the war. He convinced the colonies that war should grow from a reform movement to a full revolution: The entire British system of hereditary monarchy and aristocratic rule was a form of tyranny, making the case that separation from Great Britain the only logical course for America.

For history lovers who listen to podcasts, History Unplugged is the most comprehensive show of its kind. It's the only show that dedicates episodes to both interviewing experts and answering questions from its audience. First, it features a call-in show where you can ask our resident historian (Scott Rank, PhD) absolutely anything (What was it like to be a Turkish sultan with four wives and twelve concubines? If you were sent back in time, how would you kill Hitler?). Second, it features long-form interviews with best-selling authors who have written about everything. Topics include gruff World War II generals who flew with airmen on bombing raids, a war horse who gained the rank of sergeant, and presidents who gave their best speeches while drunk.

A show about American history, world history, World Wars 1 & 2, the Civil War, and much more.

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged is one of the longest-running history podcasts of its kind, with over 1,000 episodes covering everything from Alexander the Great's plans for European colonization to the untold story of Alabamians who fought for Sherman deep inside Confederate territory. Topics range from the Bronze Age Collapse to the naval campaigns of the Barbary Wars to Daniel Boone's forced adoption by a Shawnee chief. Guests on the show include history professors, Pulitzer Prize winners, consultants for historical films, and outsiders like Joakim Brodén from Sabaton. The show is hosted by Scott Rank, a history professor specializing in the Ottoman Empire and author of 12 books. And for those who love to spin the wheel of what-if, the show regularly ventures into alternate history, exploring questions like what the USSR's victory in the Cold War would have meant for the modern world, or how our current map might look if the Confederacy had survived the Civil War.

 

History Unplugged is one of the longest-running history podcasts of its kind, with over 1,000 episodes covering everything from Alexander the Great's plans for European colonization to the untold story of Alabamians who fought for Sherman deep inside Confederate territory. Topics range from the Bronze Age Collapse to the naval campaigns of the Barbary Wars to Daniel Boone's forced adoption by a Shawnee chief. Guests on the show include history professors, Pulitzer Prize winners, consultants for historical films, and outsiders like Joakim Brod&eacute;n from Sabaton. The show is hosted by Scott Rank, a history professor specializing in the Ottoman Empire and author of 12 books. And for those who love to spin the wheel of what-if, the show regularly ventures into alternate history, exploring questions like what the USSR's victory in the Cold War would have meant for the modern world, or how our current map might look if the Confederacy had survived the Civil War.
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History Unplugged

The Man Who Sold the War: Tom Paine's Journey from Common Sense to Global Firebrand

Washington’s most extraordinary achievement was not winning the Revolutionary War or helping found a new nation. It was something far rarer: He gave up power, twice. First, when he resigned his command after victory. Then again, when he stepped down as president, establishing a precedent no law required and no force could compel. In an age dominated by kings and emperors, Washington chose restraint, and in doing so, he helped define the American experiment.
There’s really no comparison to what Washington did, except for Byzantine General Belisarius and Roman general Cincinnatus.  After being granted absolute dictatorial authority to rescue an encircled Roman army, Cincinnatus held it for only 15 days, and immediately resigned his office to return to his small farm across the Tiber. Belisarius was offered the Western Roman imperial crown by the Ostrogoths in 540 but claimed the city for Emperor Justinian, and surrendered command to return home. Washington’s renunciation was harder because, unlike Cincinnatus and Belisarius, he had no emperor above him or proven institutional framework to enforce his departure, instead walking away twice when his own unpaid, loyal army actively urged him to seize supreme power over a fragile, untested nation.

Today’s guest is Richard Lim, author of “Refusing a Crown: How George Washington Changed the World.” We place Washington’s decisions within the sweeping Western shift from monarchy to republic, showing why that transition was anything but inevitable.  After all, From Napoleon to Simón Bolívar, revolutionary leaders across the world found themselves compared unfavorably to the American who walked away from power. We see why Washington walking away from power was the most important moment in early American History.

Washington&rsquo;s most extraordinary achievement was not winning the Revolutionary War or helping found a new nation. It was something far rarer: He gave up power, twice. First, when he resigned his command after victory. Then again, when he stepped down as president, establishing a precedent no law required and no force could compel. In an age dominated by kings and emperors, Washington chose restraint, and in doing so, he helped define the American experiment. There&rsquo;s really no comparison to what Washington did, except for Byzantine General Belisarius and Roman general Cincinnatus. &nbsp;After being granted absolute dictatorial authority to rescue an encircled Roman army, Cincinnatus held it for only 15 days, and immediately resigned his office to return to his small farm across the Tiber. Belisarius was offered the Western Roman imperial crown by the Ostrogoths in 540 but claimed the city for Emperor Justinian, and surrendered command to return home. Washington&rsquo;s renunciation was harder because, unlike Cincinnatus and Belisarius, he had no emperor above him or proven institutional framework to enforce his departure, instead walking away twice when his own unpaid, loyal army actively urged him to seize supreme power over a fragile, untested nation.
Today&rsquo;s guest is Richard Lim, author of &ldquo;Refusing a Crown: How George Washington Changed the World.&rdquo; We place Washington&rsquo;s decisions within the sweeping Western shift from monarchy to republic, showing why that transition was anything but inevitable. &nbsp;After all, From Napoleon to Sim&oacute;n Bol&iacute;var, revolutionary leaders across the world found themselves compared unfavorably to the American who walked away from power. We see why Washington walking away from power was the most important moment in early American History.

Washington’s Most Revolutionary Moment Was Surrendering Absolute Power

At 1:15 p.m. on April 12, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt was sitting for a portrait at his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia, when his face suddenly fell forward. He raised his left hand to his temple and whispered to his cousin Daisy: "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He was dead by 3:35. That evening, Harry Truman, a former farmer and failed haberdasher who had been vice president for eighty-two days and had met with Roosevelt only twice, placed his hand on a Bible and became the thirty-third president of the United States. He had never been briefed on the atomic bomb. Thirteen days later, War Secretary Henry Stimson handed him a three-page memo that began: "Within four months we shall in all probability have completed the most terrible weapon ever known in human history, one bomb of which could destroy a whole city."

Today's guest is James M. Scott, author of Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War. We discuss how a Hungarian physicist who did his thinking in the bathtub tracked down Einstein by asking a boy on a Long Island street corner to launch the Manhattan Project, why Oak Ridge, Tennessee, became a secret city of 75,000 people who had no idea what they were building, and how the firebombing of Tokyo killed 105,000 people in a single night months before the atomic bombs fell. We look at why Groves wanted to destroy Kyoto for its two thousand temples and Stimson stopped him because he had honeymooned there, how Japan's military leaders refused to surrender even after two atomic bombs and forced an unprecedented intervention by an emperor who had spent the war collecting marine specimens in a palace while his cities burned, and why a group of young officers assassinated the commander of the Imperial Guards and seized the palace on the eve of surrender in a coup that came within hours of succeeding. Scott argues that the historical record supports Truman's decision but lets the last word belong to the survivors, and to a war minister who committed seppuku wearing the white shirt the emperor had personally given him, with a photograph of his dead son folded on top of his dress uniform.

At 1:15 p.m. on April 12, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt was sitting for a portrait at his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia, when his face suddenly fell forward. He raised his left hand to his temple and whispered to his cousin Daisy: "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He was dead by 3:35. That evening, Harry Truman, a former farmer and failed haberdasher who had been vice president for eighty-two days and had met with Roosevelt only twice, placed his hand on a Bible and became the thirty-third president of the United States. He had never been briefed on the atomic bomb. Thirteen days later, War Secretary Henry Stimson handed him a three-page memo that began: "Within four months we shall in all probability have completed the most terrible weapon ever known in human history, one bomb of which could destroy a whole city."
Today's guest is James M. Scott, author of Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War. We discuss how a Hungarian physicist who did his thinking in the bathtub tracked down Einstein by asking a boy on a Long Island street corner to launch the Manhattan Project, why Oak Ridge, Tennessee, became a secret city of 75,000 people who had no idea what they were building, and how the firebombing of Tokyo killed 105,000 people in a single night months before the atomic bombs fell. We look at why Groves wanted to destroy Kyoto for its two thousand temples and Stimson stopped him because he had honeymooned there, how Japan's military leaders refused to surrender even after two atomic bombs and forced an unprecedented intervention by an emperor who had spent the war collecting marine specimens in a palace while his cities burned, and why a group of young officers assassinated the commander of the Imperial Guards and seized the palace on the eve of surrender in a coup that came within hours of succeeding. Scott argues that the historical record supports Truman's decision but lets the last word belong to the survivors, and to a war minister who committed seppuku wearing the white shirt the emperor had personally given him, with a photograph of his dead son folded on top of his dress uniform.

Japan's Military Refused to Surrender Even After Two Atomic Bombs and a Coup Nearly Succeeded

George S. Patton is considered one of America’s greatest generals for his blitzes across Europe in World War 2. He is celebrated for breaking out of Normandy because his Third Army push out of their holdings along the coast, unleashing a lightning-fast armored blitz across northern France that routed retreating German forces and liberated Paris months ahead of schedule. And following the Third Army’s dramatic relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, the American press and public widely lionized Patton as a national hero who spearheaded the drive into Germany. When he returned stateside in June 1945, he received massive ticker-tape parades and hero’s welcomes in Boston, Los Angeles, and Denver, drawing crowds of hundreds of thousands. Officially, the military affirmed his heroism by awarding him two Distinguished Service Crosses—the nation’s second-highest valor award, explicitly citing his "extraordinary heroism" under enemy fire in both world wars. He was immortalized in the George C. Scott movie ‘Patton’, and has persistently been named in polls as the greatest American military commander of all time.

But that’s not how some of his fellow generals saw it. In 1947, Omar Bradley, who had commanded all American ground forces in Europe, wrote a single sentence that should have ended the most persistent myth of the war: "Many people give Patton and his Third Army credit for the breakout from Normandy. He had nothing to do with its planning or execution." Patton arrived after the hole had been punched and drove through open country against almost no opposition. First Army veterans had a phrase for it: "He did not break out. He walked out."

Today's guest is James Ellman, author of Patton Reconsidered: General George S. Patton Jr. as a Wartime Commander. We look at the mythology of Patton and see there’s an argument to be made his image was wildly inflated as part of a media campaign, and he had serious shortcomings as a strategist. We discuss how the single most important factor in Patton's career was a friendship with a next-door neighbor named Eisenhower who saved him from dismissal at least five times, how Patton's men posed as First Army soldiers to steal fuel convoys in a scheme that almost certainly got other Americans killed, and why four other American army commanders achieved comparable victories without any of the scandals and are completely forgotten today. Ellman argues that calling Patton a military genius does a disservice to every soldier who served under him and every general who performed as well or better without the drama, and that the traits the Patton legend celebrates, recklessness, insubordination, contempt for logistics, and mistreatment of troops, are exactly the ones the modern US military should be discouraging, not enshrining.

George S. Patton is considered one of America&rsquo;s greatest generals for his blitzes across Europe in World War 2. He is celebrated for breaking out of Normandy because his Third Army push out of their holdings along the coast, unleashing a lightning-fast armored blitz across northern France that routed retreating German forces and liberated Paris months ahead of schedule. And following the Third Army&rsquo;s dramatic relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, the American press and public widely lionized Patton as a national hero who spearheaded the drive into Germany. When he returned stateside in June 1945, he received massive ticker-tape parades and hero&rsquo;s welcomes in Boston, Los Angeles, and Denver, drawing crowds of hundreds of thousands. Officially, the military affirmed his heroism by awarding him two Distinguished Service Crosses&mdash;the nation&rsquo;s second-highest valor award, explicitly citing his "extraordinary heroism" under enemy fire in both world wars. He was immortalized in the George C. Scott movie &lsquo;Patton&rsquo;, and has persistently been named in polls as the greatest American military commander of all time.
But that&rsquo;s not how some of his fellow generals saw it. In 1947, Omar Bradley, who had commanded all American ground forces in Europe, wrote a single sentence that should have ended the most persistent myth of the war: "Many people give Patton and his Third Army credit for the breakout from Normandy. He had nothing to do with its planning or execution." Patton arrived after the hole had been punched and drove through open country against almost no opposition. First Army veterans had a phrase for it: "He did not break out. He walked out."
Today's guest is James Ellman, author of Patton Reconsidered: General George S. Patton Jr. as a Wartime Commander. We look at the mythology of Patton and see there&rsquo;s an argument to be made his image was wildly inflated as part of a media campaign, and he had serious shortcomings as a strategist. We discuss how the single most important factor in Patton's career was a friendship with a next-door neighbor named Eisenhower who saved him from dismissal at least five times, how Patton's men posed as First Army soldiers to steal fuel convoys in a scheme that almost certainly got other Americans killed, and why four other American army commanders achieved comparable victories without any of the scandals and are completely forgotten today. Ellman argues that calling Patton a military genius does a disservice to every soldier who served under him and every general who performed as well or better without the drama, and that the traits the Patton legend celebrates, recklessness, insubordination, contempt for logistics, and mistreatment of troops, are exactly the ones the modern US military should be discouraging, not enshrining.

The Man Who Sold the War: Tom Paine's Journey from Common Sense to Global Firebrand

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