During antiquity, Rome unleashed machines on the battlefield its enemies had never faced before.

Powered by twisted sinew and firing iron-tipped bolts, they tore through shields, ranks, and fortifications from afar.

A thread on the Roman ballista and its devastating impact. 👇 Like many things Rome did, it had no hesitation in adopting what worked (Let's call it cultural appropriation at its finest).

The ballista was one of those cases.

It originated in the Hellenistic world, but under Rome it was standardized, militarized, and issued at scale.

The Cold War raged abroad, but America’s darkest wound was inflicted at home.

A parade in Dallas was interrupted by three shots.

And it created a mystery that still refuses to die.

A thread examining the theories behind the JFK assassination. 🧵 The year is 1963.

America stands at the height of its power, and at the edge of profound uncertainty.

Flags line the streets. The sun is bright. The president smiles.

John F. Kennedy is 46 years old, riding through Dallas in an open-top limousine.

While the rest of Europe still built warships one by one like cathedrals, the Dutch quietly invented the world’s first military-industrial assembly line.

This is the story of how their floating war machines built a global empire. In the 16th century, the Dutch fought for survival against the Spanish.

They had no king, no vast territory, only wind, water, and a stubborn refusal to disappear.

Appearing on the front lines in 1942, this juggernaut seemed invincible.

Its armor too thick, its gun too devastating, its hull too impenetrable.

But as the war dragged on, whispers circulated, rumors of rare flaws inspired brave Allied souls to confront the beast. In 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht quickly encountered the devastating effectiveness of the Soviet medium T-34 tanks.

Today I’ll take you back to the Old World.

Before Alexander. Before Caesar. There was Cyrus.

The man who forged Persia into the world’s first superpower.

A ruler so great, they named him the "King of Kings", and his story forced me to reconsider the very idea of destiny.🧵 The year is 600 BC.

In the rugged lands of Persis, a child is born who will reshape the world.

His name is Cyrus.

No one knows it yet, but this boy will build the first true empire in history.

Most men I know dream of honor in one form or another.

Leonidas found it in sacrifice.

At the Hot Gates, he and his Spartans made their famous last stand.

When ordered to surrender their arms, he gave history his immortal reply: “Come and take them.”

This is how it went down. The year is 480 BC and the Persian Empire returns to Greece.

King Xerxes marches with a colossal army, Herodotus (a Greek historian and friend of the show) claims millions, but modern estimates put it at 100,000–250,000.

Still, it was overwhelming.

Julius Caesar met his match in Gaul, a brilliant strategist who pushed Rome to the brink.

He united warring tribes and came closer than anyone to breaking the Roman war machine.

This is the story of Vercingetorix, the last great king of the Gauls and his famous last stand. The year is 52 BC.

The Roman Republic stands at the height of its power, stretching from Spain to the eastern edges of the Mediterranean.

Yet, in the dense forests and rolling hills of Gaul, a storm is brewing, one that threatens to shatter Julius Caesar’s ambitions.

The 1970’s: hijackings, kidnappings, and terror swept across Europe.

From the shadows of the Cold War rose a counter-terrorist brotherhood, men forged by fire, bound by duty to their homeland.

A thread on the French Warrior Elite. 🧵👇 It all started In 1972, when the world watched in horror.

At the Munich Olympics, terrorists slaughtered Israeli athletes on live TV.

Europe realized: it was defenseless against a new enemy.

She ruled American imagination for over a century.

A Roman goddess reborn for the New World.

Her name was Columbia, but America forgot about her.

This is the tale of her rise and fall, and why we need her back.

🧵👇 Before there was “Uncle Sam.”
Before the Statue of Liberty.
Before America saw herself as a businessman, a cowboy, or a soldier...

She saw herself as a goddess.

The word "Mamluk" means “owned” in Arabic.

As young boys they were taken from their homes, brought to Egypt and forged into the warrior elite.

However, they would not remain servants forever. Eventually, they seized control.

This is the story of the slaves who ruled an empire. It is the 12th century AD and the Ayyubids Sultunate is ruling Egypt and Syria.

They starts importing young boys from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Turkic steppe.

Why? Because they needed a loyal, highly trained military force separate from local tribal factions.

The Eternal City stood unconquerable for 800 years until the King of the Visigoths showed up.

Alaric would go rogue and bring Rome to its knees by sacking it with a vengeance.

A violent tale of betrayal, defiance and what happens when an Empire turns on one of its own...

🧵 If we want to understand why Alaric put Rome to the torch we first have to look at the society and context he grew up in.

The Visigoths were a group of people that lived north of the Danube river, in present day Romania & Bulgaria.

The Medici ruled Florence, a rivaling family, the Pazzi wanted them dead.

So they plotted the perfect assassination…

But they forgot one thing: Lorenzo de’ Medici doesn’t die easily.

He would raise hell in Florence in his quest for vengeance.

🧵👇 The year is 1478 in Florence.
The Renaissance is in full swing.

Art, money, and power flow through the city.
And at the heart of it all?

The Medici.

A goldsmith walks into a room filled with Italy’s greatest architects.

He tells them he can build a dome without scaffolding.

They all laugh, he walks out...

Three years later, he gets the contract.

A 🧵 on the greatest engineering marvel of the Renaissance. The year is 1418. Florence needs a miracle.

For over a century, the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral has been waiting for its dome.

The problem?

No one knows how to build one big enough to cover its 150-foot-wide base.

A contest is announced.

To travel is to be transformed.

Marco Polo didn’t set out to make history.

Across scorching deserts & foreign empires, he followed curiosity like a compass until travel became a way of life.

A young man from Venice mastered the art of travel, and now you can do to.🧵👇 Born in 1254, Marco Polo grew up in a Venice alive with trade.
But his father and uncle were already gone, on a trading mission deep into Asia.

When they returned 15 years later, they brought tales no one believed…

Tales of a Mongol emperor named Kublai Khan.

No name. No past. Just a rifle, a uniform, and a promise:

Bleed for France 🇫🇷, and earn a chance to become citizen.

France was built by sacrifice, why should entry be without it today? 🧵 The year is 1831. King Louis-Philippe signs a decree.

A force of foreign volunteers, bound not by birthplace but by loyalty, will fight France’s colonial wars.

The French Foreign Legion is born.

Versailles was more than a palace, it was a trap.

"The Sun King" lured France’s most dangerous nobles into his glittering cage.

Once they entered, they never truly escaped. 🧵 The year is 1682.

Louis XIV has just moved his court into the most extravagant palace Europe has ever seen, Versailles.

To the outside world, it is a marvel of gold, fountains & endless gardens.

But to France’s nobility it became a gilded cage.

The Mongol campaigns claimed the lives of an estimated 60 million people.

They mastered the art of mass depopulation and systematic culling.

Their inflicted death toll was so high that the world's carbon footprint was forever altered.

Here is how they did it.🧵 Their campaigns were defined by speed, strategy, and an unparalleled ability to instill fear.

But what set them apart wasn’t just their mobility and battlefield brilliance—it was their calculated approach to depopulation and control.

Born to rule, but cursed from the start.
His body was fragile, marked by a merciless disease.

Yet beneath the fading flesh,
a divine fire burned fierce and unyielding.

This is the tale of the "Leper King" and his fight against impossible odds. The year is 1174 AD.

Baldwin IV inherits a kingdom in chaos, and a disease that should have killed him before he wore the crown.

Jerusalem is fragile, torn by rival nobles and threatened by the rise of the great Muslim leader, Saladin.

Jesus Christ, God, or man?

In 325 AD, the answer to that question nearly broke the Roman Empire apart.

Here's how Constantine tried to save it and have the council answer the following question:

Is Christ of the same substance as the Father?🧵 The Roman Empire had just barely survived centuries of civil war, plagues, and persecution.

In 312, Constantine became emperor, and everything changed.

Jesus told us to love our enemies.
Michael tells us what to do when they refuse peace.

Michael doesn’t contradict Christ.
He completes the picture.

They're not opposites, they are two aspects of divine will.

Here is why 🧵👇 First of all: Who is Michael?

Michael is known as the chief warrior angel in Christianity.

He is not gentle. He is not poetic.
He is Heaven’s sword.

The name “Michael” means:

“Who is like God?”

In the 8th century, the fate of Europe teetered on a knife’s edge.

A vast caliphate swept westward, unstoppable, unchallenged.

But in the heart of Gaul a man rose to stop the Muslim invasion in a final battle that saved Western Civilization. 🧵👇 The year is 732.

In the heart of Europe, the world holds its breath.

A storm approaches from the south, an empire on horseback, forged in the deserts of Arabia, now sweeping westward with the force of destiny itself.