Uses dramatic, deeply researched storytelling and archival footage to explore some of the worst disasters caused by man. Some are accidents sprouting from hubri...
What was supposed to be a festive party for the Russian working class to celebrate their new monarch became one of the deadliest human crushes in history. The Khodynka Tragedy of 1896 would kill thousands and come to be seen as the beginning of the end for Russia’s monarchy.
For show notes, sources and transcript, go to: https://manmadecatastrophes.com/
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42:09
North Korea's Arduous March
As communism was collapsing around the world in the late-80s and early-90s, sheer incompetence and an insistence on maintaining absolute control over 22 million people in the world's last Stalinist state led to a disastrous famine that may have killed 15 percent of the country's entire population.
For show notes, sources and transcript, go to: https://manmadecatastrophes.com/
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1:14:19
The California Genocide: Part 2
As American settlers pour in for the Gold Rush and California ascends to US statehood, government policy takes an even darker turn toward indigenous people, who are becoming seen less as a source of labor to exploit, and more as a nuisance it would be better to exterminate. Military units, militias, and scores of sadistic individuals will try to do just that, with full government backing.
For show notes, sources and transcript, go to: manmadecatastrophes.com
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1:04:10
The California Genocide: Part 1
The arrival of Spanish colonizers in the mid-16th century set in motion a course of events that would devastate the lives of the hundreds of thousands of indigenous Californians. Under American rule three centuries later, it would culminate in systemic mass murder and an attempt to completely eradicate the native population.
For show notes, sources and transcript, go to: manmadecatastrophes.com
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48:30
The Fidenae Amphitheater Collapse
The rushed construction of a Roman stadium in 27 AD led to a catastrophic failure during its inaugural gladiatorial games, which likely killed more than 20,000 people and devastated the Roman Empire.
For source notes, images and to see a 3D rendering of what the Fidenae Amphitheater likely looked like, go to https://manmadecatastrophes.com/the-fidenae-amphitheater-collapse
To read the paper, "Failure at Fidenae: Visualization and Analysis of the Largest Structural Disaster in the Roman World," click here.
Uses dramatic, deeply researched storytelling and archival footage to explore some of the worst disasters caused by man. Some are accidents sprouting from hubris, greed or incompetence, others a result of malice and a complete disregard for fellow human beings. Whether it’s collapses, fires, riots, stampedes, crashes, explosions, famines, massacres, war crimes or genocide, every manmade calamity has lessons we can learn from—both about the complex human follies that enabled them, as well as how they can be prevented from ever happening again.
Ireland