Counterfactuals: 1527 Sack of Rome

Welcome to the History Guy Podcast: Counterfactuals. What is a counterfactual? At it’s most basic, it is a ‘what if’. It’s a way of understanding history as it is by discussing what it could have been.On today’s episode we talk about the deadliest accident to ever strike a presidential cabinet: the explosion of the cannon on board the USS Princeton in February, 1844. The explosion killed both the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Navy, and fundamentally changed the trajectory of the era.

On today’s episode, we talk about an event often thought to have ended the “High Renaissance” period: the sack of Rome by a mutinous contingent of German and Spanish mercenaries in May, 1527. Often forgotten, it had a profound impact on history.

Welcome to the History Guy Podcast: Counterfactuals. What is a counterfactual? At it’s most basic, it is a ‘what if’. It’s a way of understanding history as it is by discussing what it could have been.Today, we talk about one of the deadliest diseases in human history, and one we often don’t think about at all today: Rabies. How has it changed the world, and what might be different without it?

On today’s episode we talk about an unsung hero of the modern age: the elevator. Without them, the world wouldn’t be the same. 

On today’s episode we talk about a man whose influence on the trajectory of American history is undeniable and pervasive, but whose name you may never have heard of: John Hay, a secretary to President Lincoln and Secretary of State under Mckinley and Teddy Roosevelt. What might the world be like without him?

On today’s episode we talk about a pivotal battle in a poorly remembered war: The battle of Paardeberg in the Second Anglo-Boer War. The war would consolidate all of South Africa under British Colonial rule, and radically transform the Canadian military. But what if it didn’t?

On today’s episode, we talk about a little remembered campaign of the Civil War fought west of the Mississippi, when a former Missouri governor attempted to shake things up as hope for the south dwindled. Ultimately it all went wrong - but what if it didn’t?

On today’s episode, we talk about an incredibly deadly creature, which has determined the course of nearly all human history just by existing: The Mosquito. How has the mosquito determined the course of war, and what wars might have gone differently if it didn’t exist?

On today’s episode, we talk about something that has held together history, literally. Even though there’s probably a roll in just about every household in America, we often overlook the utility and ubiquity of duct tape. But what would we do without it?

On today’s episode, we talk about the USS Wyoming and the 1863 battle of the Shiminoseki Straits - a seemingly minor event overshadowed by the American Civil War. But this battle might have altered the course of history.