PickVidsBest World history Videos
The 147 World history videos here were recommended by different people across different months. Choose by who it is for: 7 introductory, 4 intermediate, 136 for a general viewer, and 0 for someone who wants the harder derivation. Most of them are an explainer. What they share is that one picture or analogy is used to supply a missing concept. Channels you will keep seeing include CGP Grey, Tom Scott, Denis Shiryaev.
Trump's Biggest Failure
A long video essay by Kraut arguing that Trump's biggest failure was his handling of China.
Mark Blyth - A Brief History of How We Got Here and Why
Political economist Mark Blyth gives a lecture tracing two versions of capitalist 'software': the postwar Great Compression era and the neoliberal era from 1980 to 2008.
URBEX | Abandoned Soviet Space Shuttles (Buran) in Baikonur
Urban explorers break into the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to film the abandoned Soviet Buran space shuttles.
Don't Be a Sucker - 1947
A 1947 US military film that deconstructs how the Nazi regime used divisive propaganda and prejudice to split and control a population.
The Myth of the Robber Barons with Burt Folsom
Hillsdale historian Burt Folsom lectures at a 2011 seminar on the 'robber barons' of the Gilded Age.
What Eating the Rich Did For Japan
Asianometry traces how the Japanese zaibatsu families grew into vast industrial combines and how postwar reforms abruptly broke up their wealth and control.
LESSON 1: Do Not Obey In Advance
The first lesson from Timothy Snyder's short video series accompanying On Tyranny, arguing that most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given when people comply in advance.
The Wright Brothers DID Invent the Airplane
A long rebuttal arguing that the Wright Brothers truly invented the airplane, responding to other YouTubers who credit others.
Understanding the Russian mindset
CaspianReport explainer arguing that Russia's geography, especially its vast size and indefensible Moscow core, shapes its political behavior.
Why Britain Uses Separate Hot and Cold Taps
Tom Scott explains why Britain historically has separate hot and cold taps rather than mixer taps, tracing it to how water was stored in tanks.
Charlie Chaplin - Final Speech from The Great Dictator
The closing speech from Charlie Chaplin's 1940 film The Great Dictator, in which the barber appeals for humanity, kindness and liberty over machinery and cleverness.
Eisenhower Farewell Address (Best Quality) - 'Military Industrial Complex' WARNING
A high-quality recording of President Eisenhower's January 1961 farewell address, including his warning about the unwarranted influence of the military-industrial complex.
The Epic Of Gilgamesh In Sumerian
Peter Pringle sings the opening of the Epic of Gilgamesh in Sumerian, accompanied by a reconstructed ancient instrument.
Pounds, shillings, and pence: a history of English coinage
Lindybeige gives an hour-long history of English coinage and the problems of maintaining a trustworthy currency.
How Semiconductors Ruined East Germany
Asianometry examines how East Germany tried and failed to build a native semiconductor industry despite heavy investment, including the espionage involved in acquiring Western microelectronics technology.
What Happened Before History? Human Origins
Kurzgesagt's animated overview of human origins and the vast prehistory before recorded history.
The Most Complex International Borders in the World
WonderWhy surveys complex international borders, including enclaves like Vatican City, San Marino and Lesotho, the enclave-within-enclave town of Baarle, and the India-Bangladesh Cooch Behar region.
Sergey Kuryokhin: Lenin was a mushroom / С.Курехин: Ленин был грибом, part 1
Part one of Sergey Kuryokhin's 1991 live Soviet TV hoax in which he claimed that Lenin was a mushroom.
[4k, 60 fps] A Trip Through New York City in 1911
Footage shot in New York City in 1911 by a Swedish film company, upscaled to 4K and 60 fps with neural networks and optionally colorized.
Eric Cline | 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed
Eric Cline presents the thesis of his book 1177 BC on the collapse of the interconnected Late Bronze Age Mediterranean civilizations.
Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century
A 1996 documentary on the twentieth-century American decline of public transport and the role of car companies and the highway lobby in it.
Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers | Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker's TED talk presents data on homicide, war, poverty and pollution to argue that the world has improved over the past decades.
KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov's warning to America
A clip of a 1984 interview with KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov describing Soviet ideological subversion and demoralization of a target society, uploaded with a politically charged framing.
Salmon Sushi Is Not Real
Andong examines the popular story that Norway invented salmon sushi in Japan in the 1990s.