Greenland is Nothing: American Nearly Acquired El Salvador, Canada, and the Kamchatka Peninsula

America’s desire to expand its borders has existed since its first colonies – from attempts to settle beyond the Appalachian Mountains in the 18th century to Manifest Destiny in the 19th century down to talks today to purchase Greenland.  But the United States spent two centuries eyeing acquisitions far stranger than California or Oregon—from Canada to the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia and even Syria after World War I. These weren't fever dreams of fringe politicians; they were serious diplomatic efforts involving presidents, congressional debates, and appeals from foreign leaders themselves who saw American annexation as preferable to rule by Mexico, France, or Britain. The difference between success and failure often came down to whether Washington offered full statehood and constitutional protections (like Alaska and Hawaii) or imposed colonial supervision without citizenship (like Cuba and the Philippines), creating either assimilation or nationalist resentment that echoes today. Today's guest is Mark Kawar, author of America, but Bigger: Near-Annexations from Greenland to the Galápagos. We discuss how Woodrow Wilson was the last president to successfully buy land from Denmark (the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917), why El Salvadoran leaders and Polynesian chiefs actively lobbied for American annexation to escape worse colonial masters, and how the 1919 King-Crane Commission discovered that Syria overwhelmingly requested U.S. oversight because Wilson promised self-determination while European powers reeked of imperial exploitation. Kawar also explains the Guano Islands Act of 1856, which let America claim dozens of Pacific islands for fertilizer deposits, and why American Samoans today are U.S. nationals but not automatically citizens—a legacy of the "unincorporated territory" loophole that still defines places like Guam.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When St. Petersburg nobility mockingly called Moscow a "big village," in the 19th century – a time when they lived in all the excess found in a Tolstoy novel -- they couldn't have imagined the provincial fortress would become the heart of a nation spanning eleven percent of Earth's landmass and eleven time zones. It had a long warm-up time to get there. For nearly a millennium, Moscow has endured Tatar Mongols, Swedish armies, Napoleon, Hitler, devastating fires that never stopped burning even in snow and rain, and the Soviet destruction of its sacred churches—each catastrophe reinforcing the city's identity as both glittering prize and perpetual phoenix rising from ashes. From the 1147 seizure of boyar Stepan Kuchka's land by Prince Yuri to Putin's current authoritarian rule, Moscow's history of autocracy, violence, and resurrection holds the key to understanding why liberal democracy has never thrived in Russia (and why some say it shouldn’t) and why most Russians simultaneously hate the Ukraine war yet believe it's justified. Today's guest is Simon Morrison, author of A Kingdom and a Village: A One-Thousand Year History of Moscow. We discuss how Moscow transformed from tax collector for the Golden Horde – basically a vassal of a daughter state of the Mongol empire -- into Russia's capital through Ivan the Terrible's brutal consolidation of power. We also see why Moscow was the world's most flammable city with a thriving network of Home Depot-like rebuilding businesses, and how the city's French-speaking nineteenth-century nobility created the cultural duality Tolstoy critiqued in War and Peace. Russia's geographic determinism—vast open borders requiring an autocratic "iron hand"—means the nation has lurched from one tyranny to another, never achieving the civil society and free press Americans take for granted.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the wake of Pearl Harbor, more than ten thousand Americans living abroad became trapped in Japanese-controlled territories, and with rumors of ill treatment and torture, the U.S. State Department was desperate to bring home its citizens. Despite the intense acrimony between the warring governments, a tireless State Department official, James Keeley, helped hatch an extraordinary plan through diplomatic back channels: each country would send a ship filled with civilians through war-torn waters to a neutral port city where their passengers could be safely exchanged. Today’s guest is Evelyn Iritani, author of “Safe Passage: The Untold Story of Diplomatic Intrigue, Betrayal, and the Exchange of American and Japanese Civilians by Sea During World War II.” While the U.S. and Japanese governments both assumed their enemy non-combatants--including many in relocation camps and jail cells--would welcome their new "tickets to freedom," the reality proved more complicated. For those who had sunk deep roots in their adopted homelands, the exchanges offered an agonizing choice. And for some patriotic Americans of Japanese descent, there was no choice at all: as the State Department found itself in need of more bodies to trade, they were "repatriated" against their will to a country at war that had never been their home. Some of the stories of repatriates we discuss a Japanese Peruvian barber brought to the U.S. as a negotiating pawn; three American teachers accused of spying in the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and a young Japanese American boy fascinated with The Green Hornet and boy scouts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emanuel Leutze's iconic painting Washington Crossing the Delaware shows the general standing heroically at the bow of his boat, staring toward an unseen enemy across the icy river. But who were those enemies waiting on the other side? They were Hessian soldiers from a small German state called Hesse-Kassel, forced conscripts sent to fight in a war they didn't understand, against democratic principles they were simultaneously being taught to admire back home. These men weren't the drunken barbarians of American mythology, but rather disciplined soldiers—many influenced by Voltaire and Enlightenment ideals—who fought in major battles from Long Island to Fort Washington before their fateful encounter at Trenton. Today's guest is Dr. Steven Bier, author of Facing Washington's Crossing: The Hessians and the Battle of Trenton. Through newly translated German documents, Bier follows three Hessian soldiers through the chaos of December 26, 1776: 17-year-old Private Johannes Reuber, Lieutenant Jakob Piel who desperately tried to wake Colonel Rall as musket fire erupted, and Lieutenant Andreas Wiederhold, whose outpost was the first to spot Washington's approaching army through the snowstorm. Their accounts reveal a human story of confusion, courage, and surprising mercy—including George Washington personally reassuring shivering Hessian officers after their capture that they would be treated with kindness.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For nearly two thousand years, swords reigned as humanity's weapon of choice—the first tools designed exclusively to kill other humans rather than hunt animals. When archaeologist Paul Gething rediscovered a rusty blade forgotten in a suitcase for thirty years, he unknowingly held one of history's most sophisticated weapons: a seventh-century Northumbrian sword so complex and finely crafted that only a king could have commanded its creation. The Bamburgh Sword tells the story of Anglo-Saxon England from 450 to 1066 AD, when feuding warlords wielded these pattern-welded blades with razor-sharp steel edges and bendy iron cores—weapons so precious they were covered with jeweled handles and ornate scabbards. Today's guest is Edoardo Albert, author of The Perfect Sword: Forging the Dark Ages. We discuss how Bronze Age smiths in Minoan Crete around 1700 BC created the first definitive swords, how the introduction of iron around 1300 BC democratized warfare by putting blades in everyone's hands, and why the Bamburgh Sword represents the pinnacle of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship. We also explore what was lost when firearms replaced swords—as the Turkish folk hero Köroğlu reportedly lamented: "The rifle was invented, and bravery was ruined."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Science progresses through breakthrough discoveries, but behind many of the field's greatest advancements lies a darker history of scientific dysfunction—hostile competition, information hoarding, and criticism that has silenced revolutionary thinkers. From Alexander Gordon being forced to flee Aberdeen after proving doctors spread deadly infections, to Ignaz Semmelweis being fired and exiled for insisting doctors wash their hands between autopsies and deliveries, brilliant scientists have paid devastating personal prices for challenging medical orthodoxies. The pattern repeats across centuries: Pierre Louis was attacked for using statistics to prove bloodletting was useless, Joseph Lister faced ridicule for suggesting "invisible germs" caused infections, and Jean Toussaint suffered a nervous breakdown after Louis Pasteur appropriated his anthrax vaccine discovery. These cautionary tales reveal how the scientific community often becomes so attached to established paradigms that it rejects—or even destroys—those who dare to question consensus, no matter how strong their evidence. Today's guest is Matt Kaplan, author of “I Told You So!: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed, Exiled, and Imprisoned for Being Right.” He has spent two decades observing dysfunction across all scientific disciplines and now calls for fundamental reform in his book "I Told You So!" He argues that personality and social connections are weighted too heavily over actual ideas and skill, with good scientists losing grants and promotions simply because they lack charisma or fail to make the right political connections. Kaplan explores how even paleontology has its bullies, pointing to cases like Alison Moyer's discovery of organic material in dinosaur bones being met with hostility for challenging established orthodoxies. Through these stories of scientists who were ultimately vindicated—from Gordon's germ theory to Semmelweis's handwashing protocols—we see how science advances faster when contrarians are allowed to have their say and when the community prioritizes rigorous debate over comfortable consensus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 1976, nine French wine judges did the unthinkable: they blindly selected two California wines over France's most elite vintages in what became known as the Judgment of Paris. This shocking upset sent shockwaves through the wine world and forever changed the global industry. French wine had dominated for centuries, built on a rigid classification system and prestigious terroir, but California winemakers like Warren Winiarski of Stag's Leap and Mike Grgich of Chateau Montelena proved that world-class wines could be produced anywhere with the right combination of climate, soil, and expertise. The tasting was organized by British expat Steven Spurrier, who ran a Paris wine shop and saw the American Bicentennial as a perfect marketing opportunity—but neither he nor the lone reporter in attendance, George Taber of Time magazine, expected California to actually win. Today's guest is Kevin Ferguson, author and grandson of legendary winemaker Mario Gemello, who ran the Gemello Winery in Mountain View, California for nearly half a century. Ferguson shares the immigrant roots of California's wine industry, including how a $190 loan from the Beltramo family allowed his great-grandfather to bring his family from Piedmont, Italy to America. He discusses the legacy of working-class winemakers like his grandfather, whose 1970 Cabernet finished first in the 25th anniversary re-enactment of the Judgment of Paris, and explores how wineries like Ridge—founded by retired SRI engineers—brought scientific precision to the Santa Cruz Mountains. As we approach the 50th anniversary events in 2026, Ferguson reveals how this single tasting transformed California from an upstart curiosity into a world-class wine region that continues to rival the best of France.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout the 16th century, one man stood between the Ottoman Empire and European domination, yet his name has been largely forgotten. Gabriele Tadino was an Italian military engineer whose genius transformed medieval warfare and saved Europe from one of history's greatest conquerors, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. In 1522, Tadino defied his Venetian masters by sneaking away in the night to defend Rhodes, where 700 Knights Hospitaller faced an impossible siege against 100,000 Ottoman troops. His revolutionary innovations—from acoustic devices using stretched skins and bells to detect enemy tunnels, to star-shaped fortifications that could withstand cannon fire—turned him into a legend among Renaissance military minds. Despite losing an eye in combat, Tadino continued directing the defense, holding off Suleiman for six months and forcing the Sultan to negotiate a peaceful surrender rather than achieve outright victory. Today’s guest is Edoardo Albert, author of “The Man Who Stopped the Sultan.” We see how Tadino's expertise came at a crucial moment when gunpowder was rendering centuries-old walls obsolete and Europe's power-hungry rulers—Henry VIII, Francis I, and Charles V—were too divided to mount a unified defense against Ottoman expansion. He pioneered counter-mining techniques like "camouflets," controlled explosions that buried enemy sappers alive, and ventilation shafts that redirected the force of gunpowder blasts away from fortress walls. His genius extended from Crete's massive Martinengo Bastion, which still stands today, to the walls of Vienna in 1529, where his underground warfare tactics stopped Suleiman's advance into Central.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

America's Founding Fathers feared a standing army would inevitably threaten civilian governance. Yet 250 years later, the U.S. military remains a strange outlier among nearly every nation that has ever existed—maintaining its strength and popularity while never attempting a coup. How did America get this right when so many other nations, from Turkey to Latin America, have seen their militaries seize power? The story begins with George Washington, who inspired mutinous soldiers to become the first army in a thousand years not to threaten democracy. But Washington's example alone doesn't explain America's success. Structural factors—dispersed urban centers, a benign international security environment, and urgent domestic threats from Native American conflicts—created a weak federal army and strong militia system that prevented military consolidation of power. Today's guest is Kori Schake, author of The State and the Soldier: A History of Civil-Military Relations in the United States. We see many counter-intuitivie things, like how the Founding Fathers had it backwards. The creation of a professional military actually reduced challenges to civilian control. We know this because key crises tested this system that the US military was able to overcome without seizing power. They include Alexander Hamilton's ambitions to raise an army for foreign conquest, Aaron Burr's plot to overthrow the United States, Andrew Jackson's unauthorized invasion of Florida, Ulysses S. Grant navigating feuds between president and Congress, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, Truman's firing of MacArthur during the Korean War, and confusion over nuclear launch authority during the Cold War. As the public increasingly pulls the military into partisan divisions, the question remains: can America's exceptional civil-military relations endure?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thomas Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists famously described the First Amendment as building a "wall of separation between church and State." This line has been the gold standard for those who point to the secular origins of America and the threat of funding any sort of religious activity. But this idea of America as a secular republic built on Enlightenment ideals misses a critical truth: Christianity has been at the center of American public life since European colonization began 500 years ago. The Constitution didn't create a wall between church and state—it inadvertently created a "free market" for religion that allowed Christian activists to expand their influence in unexpected ways. Today's guest is Matthew Avery Sutton, author of Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity. We see the different versions of Christianity imported during European colonization and how the absence of state control unleashed wildly eccentric religious movements that couldn't have happened in Europe. From revivalist preachers like Jonathan Edwards and Peter Cartwright to Billy Graham, and from liberal Congregationalists to twentieth-century mainline denominations, American Christianity constantly evolved. We see this in the story of Abraham Lincoln, whose skepticism toward traditional Christianity in his twenties nearly derailed his political career. In his 1846 race against Methodist circuit rider Peter Cartwright, Lincoln faced accusations of being an infidel after openly rejecting his family's Christian faith. This episode reveals how, contrary to popular belief, America's founding generation allowed religious liberty not out of principle, but pragmatism—they needed to keep a fractious coalition together. To understand what makes America unique, we must account for how Christianity shaped—and was shaped by—every major historical development in U.S. history. From tent revivals to megachurches, from abolition to segregation, Christianity's "free-market" evolution in America created something unlike anywhere else in the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.