Any podcasts focused on more obscure events in history?

May 12, 2019 12:31 PM

It seems like (understandably) there are many podcasts about, say, World War II or about the British Monarchy, but is there anywhere I can turn in the podcast world if I want to learn more about Hungarian civil wars or Angolan consitutional crises?

Particularly if that's sort of the point of the podcast - uncovering an unknown event in each episode or block of episodes, rather than a single-topic podcast about one obscure event.

Or blogs.

posted by mreleganza to Media & Arts (17 answers total)

Stuff You Missed In History covers a mix of better known and fairly obscure events. The podcast had been going for ~10 years, so there's also quite the backlog of old episodes.
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 1:01 PM on May 12, 2019 [3 favorites]

Meant to add that each episode is on a different topic, with occasional 2 or 3 parters.
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 1:03 PM on May 12, 2019

Extra Credit produces 'Extra History' on a wide variety of events. It's a YouTube channel but its basically a podcast with animation. I often put this channel on while driving so I can say for sure you can follow along without the visual component.
posted by ananci at 1:47 PM on May 12, 2019

The Siècle expects to cover the 100 years from 1814 to 1914 in France, so it's effectively covering a lesser-known event in each episode, though they're all related.
posted by Wobbuffet at 2:23 PM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

Also Youtube, but History Guy: History that Deserves to be Remembered are short (10 - 15 minute) episodes of forgotten history.
posted by Grumpy old geek at 2:25 PM on May 12, 2019

In Our Time is not an exclusively historical podcast but there is a feed with just the history episodes.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 2:55 PM on May 12, 2019 [2 favorites]

Bad Gays is a little too academic for me, but it's interesting and you might like it.
posted by Brittanie at 3:06 PM on May 12, 2019

One From The Vault is a great podcast about mostly-lesser-known figures in trans history.
posted by ITheCosmos at 3:13 PM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

History on Fire. He’s all over the place on topics, including a recent one on fifteenth century Japan. He is moving to Luminary though.
posted by FencingGal at 3:39 PM on May 12, 2019

If you want more person-focused, story driven podcasts examining minor historical events, try Futility Closet or the memory palace. I’m not sure if they are quite what you’re seeking, but they are both good podcasts. Futility Closet is a blog as well.
posted by booksherpa at 4:55 PM on May 12, 2019 [3 favorites]

I came here to mention the memory palace too.
posted by adamrice at 5:11 PM on May 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

Omnibus! https://www.omnibusproject.com/ Fits these criteria well. It’s pretty funny to me, but it also informs about weird stuff from the far and near past.
posted by creiszhanson at 6:56 PM on May 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

The Dollop is a funny podcast about often horrifying events in American history. According to this page, it is or was Australia's Seventh Most Popular Podcast!
posted by Francolin at 8:38 PM on May 12, 2019 [4 favorites]

Engines of Our Ingenuity, history of engineering, science, technology.
posted by at at 10:30 AM on May 13, 2019 [1 favorite]

I would also add the 15 Minute History to the list above...
posted by tuxster at 10:46 AM on May 13, 2019

Seconding Futility Closet! I'm always learning about something I would've never heard of otherwise, like Smoky the War Dog, The Shark Papers, and The Halifax Explosion. Also a great podcast to fall asleep to, imo.
posted by grette at 1:55 PM on May 13, 2019

In Our Time is fantastic, but I think the BBC's Witness might be even closer to what you're looking for.

Also, A History of the World in 100 Objects.
posted by kristi at 10:22 AM on May 16, 2019