PODCAST · history
The Almost Forgotten
by The Almost Forgotten
The podcast focuses on the lives and times of great historical figures that have mostly fallen through the cracks of our collective memories. We may have heard of these people, but they don't get the attention that some do. Here, they get their due. http://almostforgotten.squarespace.com on Twitter: @thealmostforgot
Episodes
-
Episode 10.10 - Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu was a powerful daimyo, who served both Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi loyally, and patiently, all the while growing in power. When those two were gone, however, it was his chance, and his turn, to rule Japan. He completed the unification of Japan, and created a new dynasty…
more -
Episode 10.9 - Toyotomi Hideyasu
The Sengoku period’s disorder seemed to have ended as Oda Nobunaga unified much of Japan. But his murder threatened to return the country back into civil war, until Toyotomi Hideyoshi stepped in and took control, creating an even more unified government and instituting major reforms.
-
Episode 10.8 - Oda Nobunaga
The end of the Sengoku Jidai, or Warring States Period, in Japan, was ushered in by Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga pulled much of Honshu under his rule, and began the transition to united rule that would lead to the Tokugawa Shogunate.
-
Episode 10.7 - Jogaila and Vytautas Part II
This episode, we return to eastern Europe to finish up the stories of Jogaila, who had become king of Poland, and Vytautas, who ruled as the Grand Duke of Lithuania. Theoretically Jogaila was Vytautas’s sovereign, and although at times it produced some tension, in 1410, they were in a tight...
-
Episode 10.6 - Jogaila and Vytautas Part 1
For the next two episodes, we’ll look at Jogaila and Vytautas, two men who helped shaped eastern Europe for centuries to come. Together, they paved a path that would join a rapidly growing Lithuania with Poland, push back threats from the west, hold sway over lands to their east, and create a…
more -
Episode 10.5 - Amadeus VI of Savoy
Count Amadeus VI of Savoy was from a small mountain county of the Holy Roman Empire in the western Alps, and helped turn it into what would eventually be one of the most important states in early modern Europe.
-
Episode 10.4 - Rajendra Chola
Rajendra I, Emperor of the Chola, ruled southern India in the 11th century. Rajendra’s father expanded the Chola empire to become the dominant power in southern India, and Rajendra grew it well beyond that, to become the dominant power around the whole Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
-
Episode 10.3 - The Attalids Pt 2, Eumenes II
Eumenes II brought the Kingdom of Pergamon to its greatest height, and helped make the city into something that would be influential for centuries. He did what he had to do to keep his kingdom strong and independent, but the price he paid for that helped sow the seed of Roman domination…
more -
Episode 10.2 - The Attalids Pt 1, Attalus I
Attalus led Pergamon in the latter half of the 3rd century BC, as it grew from a small city to a major player in the Mediterranean in the span of a couple of generations. They took on the most powerful Hellenistic Kingdoms of the day, allied with the Roman Republic, and became a center of...
-
Episode 10.1 - Isar Damu of Ebla
Isar Samy was king of Ebla during its golden age, the 24th century BC. Ebla ruled a kingdom in northwest Syria that traded with Egypt, Sumer, and beyond, and manage to preserve a collection of some of the oldest written texts ever found.
-
Episode 9.10 - Turenne
Turenne was a major figure in France during the golden age of the Ancien Regime. Napoleon said his “audacity grew with years and experience” as some of his greatest victories were when he was in his mid-60s. He was a great general in an age of greats, a brilliant strategist, and was a supporter…
more -
Episode 9.9 - Hohenstaufen Pt 3 - Frederick II
Frederick II was the grandson of Barbarossa and of Roger the Great of Sicily. He inherited kingdoms from both lineages, and then lost and regained them both. He wound up ruling a vast territory and at least in some of his lands, began shaping his kingdom in a way that would be a lead-in to...
-
Episode 9.8 - Hohenstaufen Pt 2 - Henry and Philip
Frederick Barbarossa was succeeded by his sons, Henry and Philip. Both were capable rulers who looked to follow in their father’s footsteps and expand imperial power. Henry had significant successes, but neither lived long enough to truly become remarkable emperors. And they were succeeded by the...
-
Episode 9.7 - Hohenstaufen Pt 1 - Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa was Holy Roman Emperor in the 12th century. He forced his way into the imperial office, and then forced the office back into relevance after a century or so of decline. He was an incredibly energetic leader, a strong general and politician. He expanded the power of his…
more -
Episode 9.6 - Yuknoom the Great
Yuknoom led the powerful Maya kingdom ruled by Snake Dynasty. He installed vassal kings in neighboring cities and succeeded in dividing the royal line of his main rival, the city of Tikal. He eventually sacked Tikal itself, and continued to grow the power and influence of his city, in what many...
-
Episode 9.5 - Harsha
Harsha took over a growing kingdom in eastern Punjab, during a time of divided polities after the collapse of the huge Gupta Empire. He expanded his lands east along the Ganges river, absorbing kingdoms along the way, before uniting lands to the west and further south, eventually creating an…
more -
Episode 9.4 - Kanishka
Kanishka led the Kushan Empire at its height, connecting China and India to lands west in the early era of the Silk Road. Kanishka was a strong leader who expanded the empire, stabilized it, and help connect cultures and cultural ideas across Asia.
-
Episode 9.3 - Mithridates I of Parthia
Mithridates took charge of a relatively small kingdom that nominally held lands south and east of the Caspian sea. By the end of his reign, he had turned it into a powerful empire that ruled from Syria to India, and had grown to be the major rival to the power to their west, the Roman Empire.
-
Episode 9.2 - Bardylis
Bardylis united the tribes of Illyria in the late 5th and early 4th century BC, created a powerful kingdom that held sway over Macedon and threatened the Peloponnese, and may have helped drive the development of the combined warfare that would allow Alexander to conquer the Persian Empire.
-
Episode 9.1 - Argishti of Urartu
Argishti ruled the ancient kingdom of Urartu, located in today's Armenia and Eastern Turkey. During Argishti's reign in the 8th century BC, Urartu held sway over its powerful neighbor, the Neo-Assyrian Empire
-
Episode 8.9 - Gaspar Yanga
Gaspar Yanga was possibly born as royalty, although no one is sure, but when he died he was certainly considered by many to be a king. Captured in Africa, brought to the Americas, he soon escaped enslavement near Veracruz in today’s Mexico. He soon became the leader of a community of others who...
-
Episode 8.8 - Abbas the Great
Abbas the Great, the shah of the Safavid empire, was great military leader, reformer, and diplomat. He took a shrinking, disintegrating Persian empire and enabled it to grow its greatest extent, in no small part because of his own personal military campaigns
-
Episode 8.7 - Ram Khamhaeng
Ram Khamhaeng was the king of Sukhothai, and he ruled on of the first truly Tai-led kingdoms that was able to unite the surrounding states into something bigger. His success helped to unify the people and define the culture of what would persist in Thailand to this day.
-
Episode 8.6 - Somerled
Somerled was a Norse-Gael like born in what is today western Scotland, on the lands bordering the Irish Sea and the North Channel. He became King of the Isles, ruling many of those that the Vikings had taken over of the prior centuries. Despite his Viking heritage, while much of eastern Scotland...
-
Episode 8.5 - Tamar the Great
Tamar the Great built on the legacy of her great grandfather David the Builder. Under her rule, Georgia grew to its largest geographic extent, held off enemies and conquered new lands. Culture flourished under her rule, leading many to consider it the peak of Georgia’s golden age.
-
Episode 8.4 - David the Builder
David became king of Georgia after it had been devastated by years of Turkish pillaging. He pushed the invaders out and restored the fortunes of his relatively new kingdom. By the time he died, Georgia neared the apex of its power, ruled most of the southern caucuses, and had entered a Golden Age.
-
Episode 8.3 - Dinh Bo Linh
One of several Viet leaders who helped his land on the road to sovereignty, Dinh Bo Linh united the land of An Nam, a Chinese protectorate that had gained some amount of autonomy, and brought it to full independence as the Kingdom of Nam Viet.
-
Episode 8.2 - Goujian
Goujian was the king of Yue at the end of Ancient China’s Spring and Autumn Period. He was defeated by the state of Wu and taken captive, where he served as a slave and plotted his revenge. Eventually returning to his own kingdom, his dedication to getting his revenge has become something of...
-
Episode 8.1 - Gungunum
In the 20th century BC, Gungunum made himself king of the Sumerian city of Larsa. He brought Larsa from an inconsequential minor city to the dominant city state in Sumer, allowing him to claim the title of King of Sumer. His was the last dynasty that could be considered Sumerian, before the…
more -
Episode 7.10 - Jacob Kettler
Jacob Kettler was the Baltic German Duke of Courland and Semigallia, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century. Kettler decided the best way to modernize his duchy was to copy the major powers of Western Europe, by making the Duchy of Courland a colonial power
-
Episode 7.9 - Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus became King of Hungary as it was beginning to deal with the Ottoman threat. He united the fractured kingdom, bringing powerful magnates to heel and creating a strong centralized state. He created a significant power in Southeast Europe that was able to hold of the Ottomans and...
-
Episode 7.8 - Margaret I of Denmark
Margaret lived in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and was the daughter of the King of Denmark. Despite obstacles, and general opposition to ruling queens at the time, she not only became the Queen of Denmark, she also was able to gain the crown of two more Scandinavian kingdoms, uniting...
-
Episode 7.7 - Alauddin Khalji
Alauddin Khalji became the Sultan of Delhi, and greatly expanded the kingdom. He fended off multiple Mongol invasions, and he in turn invaded most of the Indian subcontinent to his south. He turned a relatively small Sultanate into a great power, and ruled over most of India.
-
Episode 7.6 - Baibars
Baibars was the Sultan of Egypt and Syria in the 13th century. Born on the Eurasian Steppe, he was enslaved as a teen, and became a slave soldier. He rose through the ranks to become a general, and eventually the Sultan of Cairo. He helped stop the Mongol advance into the Levant, and effectively...
-
Episode 7.5 - Liutprand
The Lombards made their way into Italy in the 6th century, and were the bridge between the rule there of Roman Empires, both Western and Eastern, and the Holy Roman Empire. Liutprand was perhaps their greatest king, pulling together a kingdom from the various disunited Lombard dukedoms and…
more -
Episode 7.4 - Songsten Gampo
Songsten Gampo was the king of a small state in southern Tibet, which had only just begun to expand beyond its perhaps centuries-old domain. From this, he created a long-lasting Tibetan Empire, which ruled most of the Tibetan Plateau for centuries and, thanks in no small part to Songsten Gampo,...
-
Episode 7.3 - Dion of Syracuse
Dion was born in Syracuse and became a trusted advisor to the city’s tyrant. But Dion’s relationship with the next tyrant was no so hot, and after falling out, Dion became a reformer. As a student of Plato, he saw an opportunity to implement the philosopher’s ideal Republic, and he seized the...
-
Episode 7.2 - Leukon
Leukon was the tyrant, then king, of the Cimmerian Bosporus, a territory on the Crimean Peninsula, at the very edge of the Greek world. He took the territory, capitalized on its relationship to the rest of the Greek world to create an important Hellenized kingdom that would last for centuries.
-
Episode 7.1 - Shutruk Nakhunte
Shutruk-Nakhunte was the most powerful king of Elam. He took this often times disunited culture, and created an empire out of it. Elam existed for thousands of years, but under Shutruk-Nakhunte they managed to be one of the great powers in the region, a rarity for them despite their long-lived...
-
Episode 6.6 - Burgundy Pt 6 - Mary and the Rest
Burgundy is in turmoil after the death of Charles. His daughter Mary is his heir, but France, as well as the Netherlands, aren’t going to allow her to take power easily. Burgundy, though, survives in some way, beyond Mary, through her marriage into the powerful Habsburg family, and leaves a…
more -
Episode 6.5 - Burgundy Pt 5 - Charles the Bold
Charles inherited a truly powerful state in Europe upon the death of his father. He was learned and brave, a strong military commander, and looked like he was going to be a leading man in European affairs for generations. But his obsession with his eastern frontier, coupled with a few tactical...
-
Episode 6.4 - Burgundy Pt 4 - Philip the Good
Philip the Good became the new Duke of Burgundy after his father’s murder. He worked to expand Burgundy’s power, and ruled during its height in a way that kept it strong and secure. But he also missed real opportunities to make it something more.
-
Episode 6.3 - Burgundy Pt 3 - John the Fearless
With Philip the Bold’s death, his strategy of adding more territories to his heir is fulfilled, and John the Fearless inherits what is becoming a Burgundian state. John is even more ambitious than his father, seeking to control France, add to his own territory, and use any means at his disposal…
more -
Episode 6.2 - Burgundy Pt 2 - Philip the Bold
The history of the Duchy of Burgundy continues with the first Valois Duke, Philip the Bold. Philip was a gifted statesman who help grow the duchy into a state that would eventually rival France itself.
-
Episode 6.1 - Burgundy Pt 1 - Origins
Burgundy is a region in eastern France, which had once been an independent Germanic Kingdom. It became a Duchy of France before entering a Golden Age in the 14th and 15th century and turning into something even bigger
-
Episode 5.10 - Nzinga
Nzinga was queen of an African kingdom in today’s Angola. She fought with, and at times allied with, the various colonial and indigenous powers in the region, lost most of her kingdom, gained another, and was able to resist European occupation and keep her kingdom relatively free for decades.
-
Episode 5.9 - Bayinnaung
Bayinnaung was a prince and leading general of a small Burmese kingdom. He helped lead it to become a large empire, only to watch it dissolve when his king was killed. But he quickly restored it, before expanding it more himself, creating the largest land empire in Southeast Asia.
-
Episode 5.8 - The Hussite Wars pt 3 - Prokop and the End
Jan Zizka was dead, but the Hussite cause was not. They continued to fight the Holy Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. They found a new leader in Prokop the Great, and were able to keep Sigismund at bay, but internal turmoil helped splintered the Hussites, but also helped usher in a real...
-
Episode 5.7 - The Hussite Wars Part 2 - Jan Zizka
The Hussites, now fighting both the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire, find the leader they need to survive against impossible odds in Jan Zizka. Zizka was an incredible commander, who never lost a battle, and helped lay the groundwork for two centuries of a semi-independent Bohemian Church.
-
Episode 5.6 - The Hussite Wars Part 1
The Hussite Wars started in 1419 with the first defenestration of Prague. Here we discuss the road to the war, including the situation in Bohemia, and the preaching and then killing of Jan Hus.
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
The podcast focuses on the lives and times of great historical figures that have mostly fallen through the cracks of our collective memories. We may have heard of these people, but they don't get the attention that some do. Here, they get their due. http://almostforgotten.squarespace.com on Twitter: @thealmostforgot
HOSTED BY
The Almost Forgotten
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Almost Forgotten have?
The Almost Forgotten currently has 92 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Almost Forgotten about?
The podcast focuses on the lives and times of great historical figures that have mostly fallen through the cracks of our collective memories. We may have heard of these people, but they don't get the attention that some do. Here, they get their due. http://almostforgotten.squarespace.com on...
How often does The Almost Forgotten release new episodes?
The Almost Forgotten has 92 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Almost Forgotten?
You can listen to The Almost Forgotten on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Almost Forgotten?
The Almost Forgotten is created and hosted by The Almost Forgotten.
URL copied to clipboard!