Historically High

The man who would become Genghis Khan (a title he took after uniting the peoples of the Steppe) started out as Temujin. Born into one of the smaller nomadic tribes of The Steppe (the vast stretch of plains that cover the middle of the asian continent), he was able to conquer the Steppe people's over a 20 year period until there were all under the Mongol banner. Once that was complete he turned his attention toward the Dynasties of China, before traveling across his empire to wipe the Khwarazmian Empire in the Middle East off the map. What? You've never heard of the Khwarazmians? Yeah Genghis is the reason why. After that he decided to allow two of his generals to take 20,000 men on Mongolian Rumpsringa across some of Europe. It was supposed to be a scouting mission that ended up resulting in a lot of Eastern European and Russian's dead, including a couple of princes. They ended up traveling over 5,500 mi in all before regrouping with Genghis and then taking another crack at China. When all was said and done millions upon millions of people were dead, estimated at between 8-11% of the world's population at the time and Genghis sat upon the largest empire the world will ever see.

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The men who would first comprise E Company (Easy) would begin their journey at Camp Taccoa, Georgia. Parachute Infantry or Paratroopers were a new concept in WW2. They would be the pioneers. Jumping from planes behind enemy lines, they were supposed to fight surrounded. Engaging the enemy with limited weaponry and fighting with without vehicles or tanks required them to be in exceptionally well trained. They took part in some of the most pivotal events of the war and through it all leaned on each other for survival.

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The Challenger Disaster marked one of the lowest points in the history of NASA, and what's worse is it was completely preventable. The Space Shuttle program had been kicked off in April 1981 and had executed 24 successful launches prior to January 28th, 1986. For a while it had been known by Morton Thiokol, the builders of the solid fuel rocket boosters that carried the shuttle into orbit, and NASA, an issue with the boosters O-Ring seals was present during launches. While nothing disastrous has happened it was the opinion of the engineers at Thiokol that it was only a matter of time. It was such a concern the night before the challenger launch, a group of engineers flat out told NASA staff they did not recommend launching until the issue could be resolved. The few individuals at NASA aware of this chose to ignore the experts warning and launch anyway. 73 seconds into the launch the nightmare became a reality.

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Books close, pull out your Pens and Papers. Time to find out if you know your sweets, or if you're just a salty little bitch. Snacks....we're talking about the origins of some of history's greatest snacks. 
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We're big fans of Princess Di here at Historically High. She had it all, the looks, the brains, the cheeky sense of humor. But what she really wanted was a family. Diana Spencer grew up in the aristocracy. Her parents divorced early in her life due to her dad being an asshole creating her desire for a stable family. Her father was Earl Spencer (Earl being a Title) which made Di and her siblings Lords and Ladies. She never really did fit that mold though. She met the man she would eventually marry (Prince Charles) when she was 16. He was 29 at the time, and oh yeah he was dating Diana's sister, Sarah. Well Sarah and Charles didn't work out and in the summer of 1977, a now 18 year old Diana caught the eye of Charles yet again. Dude was 31 at the time. A whirlwind courting followed that saw Diana making front page headlines as the possible future Princess and Queen of England. She accepted Charles proposal in February 1981, a total of about 8 months after they began seeing each other. A royal wedding followed, watched by over 750 million people worldwide. Diana was an instant star, she bridged the gap between the common folk and the stuffy royals. She gave the country not one but two boys, The Heir and the Spare they said, Princes William and Harry. She could do no wrong. But despite being adored by nearly everyone, Charles just couldn't pull his head out and be the man she was hoping he was when she agreed to marry him. Charles had dated Camilla Parker prior to Diana but the relationship never really stopped, it just went on extended breaks. Diana herself would have a few steps outside the marriage as well, trying to find happiness where it didn't exist with Charles. A royal divorce followed, but it wasn't Diana that suffered, she was still the People's Princess, and she continued using her fame for philanthropic endeavors. She de-stigmatized the perception that simply contact with HIV/AIDS patients would spread the disease. She brought awareness to war torn areas where landmines were still killing innocent people, and much more. Sadly, for the world, her life would be tragically cut short when she was fatally injured in a car crash at the age of 36. Her boys lost their mother and the world lost its princess. If you're not in love with this woman by the end of this episode, you weren't paying attention. 
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