History Rage

Weimar Was a Real Place Before It Became a Political Warning

The “Weimar Republic” has become shorthand for collapse, extremism, and economic chaos — but as historian and author Katja Hoyer argues in this episode of History Rage, Weimar was first and foremost a real town with a rich cultural history stretching back centuries. Home to Goethe, Schiller, Liszt and Nietzsche, Weimar was long considered the spiritual and intellectual heart of Germany before it ever became associated with democratic failure.

In this fascinating conversation, Katja dismantles the clichés surrounding interwar Germany by exploring how ordinary people experienced extraordinary political change. Through the lives of Weimar residents — bookbinders, teachers, social democrats and shopkeepers — she reveals how hope, apathy, fear and economic despair gradually transformed a fragile democracy into a dictatorship.

From the optimism surrounding Germany’s first truly democratic elections in 1919 to the devastation of hyperinflation, the Great Depression, and the rise of Nazism, this episode explores how extremism becomes acceptable when people feel abandoned by politics. Katja explains why the Nazis initially remained a fringe movement, how the economic crash of 1929 changed everything, and why so many ordinary Germans convinced themselves to look away from the horrors developing around them.

The discussion also examines Weimar’s proximity to Buchenwald concentration camp and the uncomfortable realities of what civilians knew — or chose not to know — as Nazi brutality escalated. This is a powerful exploration of how democratic societies fracture, and why understanding the everyday experience of historical change matters now more than ever.

Katja’s new book, Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, is available here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9780241681244

You can also hear Katja on her podcast Reichs and Republics, and follow her work here:
Substack: https://www.katjahoyer.uk/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/hoyer_kat
🎟️ Katja Hoyer will also be appearing at the Chalke History Festival on Friday 26 June. Tickets available here:
https://www.chalkefestival.com/
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You can support the podcast and become an official History Rager here:
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Roman slavery myths shattered with brutal truths historians can’t ignore

Roman slavery is often portrayed as mild, civilised, or even preferable to poverty—but that comforting myth collapses under scrutiny. In this explosive episode of History Rage, historian and author Emma Southon unleashes her fury at the persistent sanitising of Roman slavery and reveals the stark, violent realities behind the Roman Empire’s power.

Drawing on archaeological evidence, ancient writings, and modern scholarship, Emma dismantles the comforting fiction that Roman slavery was temporary, humane, or somehow “not that bad.” Instead, she exposes a system built on terror, exploitation, and absolute lack of human rights—where millions lived in constant fear of violence, separation, and death.

You’ll hear how people became enslaved—from war captives to children born into bondage—and why slavery was so embedded in Roman society that even modest households often owned enslaved people. Emma also reveals the chilling legal reality: for centuries, enslaved people had virtually no protections, and violence against them was both legal and culturally accepted.

From the myth of the “happy slave” taught in school textbooks to the romanticised portrayals in television and fiction, this episode challenges everything you thought you knew about Rome—and shows why understanding slavery is essential to understanding the empire itself.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode
Why Roman slavery was widespread across every level of society
How people entered slavery through war, birth, crime, or kidnapping
The reality of daily life under constant threat of violence
The truth about manumission and why freedom was rarer than often claimed
How myths about Roman slavery developed—and why they still persist
Why slavery may have slowed Roman technological innovation

About the Guest
Emma Southon is a historian specialising in the Roman Empire and the social realities behind its power. She is the author of “Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire”, a groundbreaking exploration of slavery’s central role in Roman society.
Emma is also co-host of the History Is Sexy, where she explores the ancient world through stories often overlooked in traditional history.

Follow Emma Southon:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmasouthon
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/emmasouton.bsky.social
📚 Buy Emma’s book “Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire “ from the History Rage Bookshop:
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781399741255

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Get in Touch with History Rage
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If you’ve ever been told Roman slavery “wasn’t that bad,” this episode will leave you questioning everything—and maybe feeling a little angry too.
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Britain’s past politicians were no better—often far worse—than today’s MPs.
Were Britain’s past politicians really more honourable than today’s? Or is nostalgia blinding us to just how corrupt, violent, and self-serving many of them actually were?
In this episode of History Rage, host Paul Bavill is joined by historian, author, and Get History founder Debbie Kilroy to rage against one of Britain’s most persistent political myths: that historic MPs were somehow morally superior to the modern lot.

Drawing on over 400 years of parliamentary history, Debbie dismantles the rose-tinted view of Britain’s political past, revealing a parade of bigamists, slave traders, duelists, bribe-takers, fraudsters, and outright psychopaths who once sat comfortably in Parliament.
From Norman MacLeod kidnapping his own tenants into slavery, to Lord Cardigan’s cruelty, incompetence, and vanity, to the systemic corruption that brought down figures like Francis Bacon and David Lloyd George, this episode exposes how power, privilege, and political protection enabled shocking behaviour—often without consequences.

Along the way, Debbie explains:
Why we keep romanticising historic politicians
How corruption adapted rather than disappeared over time
Why reforms like the 1832 Reform Act only scratched the surface
How crowds, riots, and popular protest once held MPs to account
Why the system itself—not just individuals—remains the problem

This is not a defence of modern politics—but a warning against pretending the past was cleaner, fairer, or more honest. Politicians, Debbie argues, haven’t changed. What’s changed is what they can get away with.

About the Guest: Debbie Kilroy
Debbie Kilroy is a historian, writer, and the creator of the popular history platform Get History. She specialises in British political history, focusing on the human realities behind power, myth, and reputation.

She is the author of:
📘 Members Behaving Badly: A History of Britain in 52 Parliamentary Rogues
A deeply researched and often shocking exploration of Britain’s most notorious MPs, spanning four centuries of corruption, cruelty, and chaos.
🔗 Book available via https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781783969388

Connect with Debbie
Website: Get History: https://gethistory.co.uk/
Social media: @debbiekilroyauthor (Instagram, Facebook and most platforms)
X (Twitter): @DebbieKilroy

Recommended Listening
Episode 241 – Erica Canella on chaos and dissent in the early Quaker movement
Episode 181 – Shalina Patel dismantles the myths of the Pankhursts

About History Rage
History Rage is the podcast where professional historians confront popular myths head-on and angrily demand historical honesty.

Follow & Contact
Website: www.historyrage.com
Social media: @HistoryRage on X, Instagram, Facebook
Patreon: www.patreon.com/historyrage

Support the Podcast
Get ad-free episodes on Apple Podcasts or Patreon for £3/month
Join monthly live streams with historians via Patreon
Or simply help by telling one other person to listen

If you think politicians were better “back then”, this episode may ruin that illusion forever.
Stay angry.
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Cold War Protest Songs, Punk Anthems, and Nuclear Pop Culture Collide

Why did the Cold War produce generations of unforgettable protest songs while today’s crises barely inspire a mainstream anthem? In this electrifying episode of History Rage, host Paul Bavill welcomes back historian, author, and Imperial War Museum senior manager Fraser McCallum to trace the history of protest music from folk ballads and Bob Dylan through punk, hip hop, Live Aid, and Cold War pop classics.

From Two Tribes and 99 Red Balloons to Fortunate Son, London Calling, and Born in the USA, Fraser explores how music became the soundtrack to nuclear fear, civil rights, Vietnam, Thatcherism, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Along the way, the pair discuss why protest songs once dominated Top of the Pops and ask the big question: where have all the decent protest songs gone?

Expect passionate debate on:
Bob Dylan and the birth of modern protest music
Folk traditions, skiffle, and anti-war ballads
Vietnam War classics like Fortunate Son and Paint It Black
Punk, Thatcherism, and London Calling
Nuclear anxiety in Two Tribes and 99 Luftballons
Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, and Cold War Berlin
Why modern artists rarely risk overt political protest songs

Fraser also shares fascinating insights into how pop culture and Western music seeped through the Iron Curtain, influencing East Germany and the wider Cold War world.
Fraser is the author of Cold War Britain.

Buy the book from the History Rage Bookshop here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9780008743994

Listen to Fraser’s specially curated Cold War soundtrack playlists:
Apple Music Playlist:
https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/cold-war-britain-the-soundtrack-to-the-book/pl.u-NRp7s3pq7o
Spotify Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2lZ7HBrKKyBj31wXKXx2nq?si=-jyLeTguToieWb87K3CG3A&pi=0lbsCZu1SV2xV&nd=1&dlsi=0de49b8d828a4db0

Fraser will also be hosting the IWM History Festival at IWM Duxford on 13–14 June 2026, featuring leading historians, authors, and live discussions surrounded by iconic wartime aircraft.
Tickets available here:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-duxford/iwm-history-festival

Follow Fraser McCallum and the Imperial War Museum online:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/

Love the show? Support History Rage by subscribing, leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and sharing the episode on social media.

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Drones didn’t start in Silicon Valley — they began with Victorians and war
Drones feel like the defining weapon of the 21st century — cheap, disposable, and terrifyingly effective. But what if that belief is completely wrong?
In this episode of History Rage, aviation historian and journalist Mark Piesing explodes the modern myth surrounding drones and reveals a truth that stretches back more than 120 years. Long before satellites, digital cameras, or GPS, Victorian engineers were already imagining — and building — pilotless weapons designed to change warfare forever.

From Nikola Tesla’s radio-controlled boats in the 1890s, to British attack drones planned during the First World War, this episode traces how unmanned warfare evolved through failed experiments, secret Cold War programmes, and nuclear testing — long before the Predator ever flew.
Mark explains why the “father of the drone” was a British engineer targeted by German assassins, how Marilyn Monroe began her career on a drone production line, and why US Navy admirals were signing orders for thousands of attack drones before the Battle of Midway. Along the way, Paul and Mark explore why these technologies repeatedly promised to change war — and why military bureaucracy so often held them back.

This is not a story of sudden innovation. It’s a story of persistence, secrecy, and ideas far ahead of the technology needed to make them work. And it explains why today’s drone warfare in Ukraine looks eerily familiar to predictions made in 1898.

If you think drones are a modern invention, prepare to be very, very angry.

Guest: Mark Piesing
Mark Piesing is an award-winning journalist and aviation historian specialising in unmanned systems, aerospace innovation, and Cold War technology. His work has appeared with the Smithsonian, Royal Aeronautical Society, and major international publications.
Read more here: https://markpiesing.com/2025/07/03/i-was-asked-to-write-this-piece-by-history-com-how-drones-have-upended-warfare/

Follow & contact Mark
Twitter/X: @markpiesing
Instagram: @markpiesingwrites

Further listening
History Rage Episode 196 – Mark rages against polar explorers: https://pod.fo/e/2c75bd
History Rage Episode 53 – Nikola Tesla with Iwun Morus: https://pod.fo/e/16c1d5

About History Rage
History Rage is the podcast where historians unleash their fury on the myths, half-truths, and bad history we all think we know. Hosted by Paul Bavill, each episode gives an expert one burning misconception to destroy — loudly, passionately, and with evidence.

Follow History Rage
Twitter/X: @HistoryRage
Instagram: @historyrage
Website: www.historyrage.com

Support the Podcast
If you enjoy independent, expert-led history without ads, you can support History Rage in several ways:
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