Hardcore History • Episode Art
Dan Carlin’s podcast weaves historical knowledge with deep questions and Twilight Zone-style twists to illustrate the power and continuing relevance of the past. Drama, extremes, empathy and vivid examples of the highs and lows of humanity dominate the narrative. As a fellow fan of history I created a visual identity and episode art, cutting together pieces of the past in a new, hardcore way.
This is a self-initiated project • Illustration • Branding • Visual Identity
In one of the most violent outbursts in history a little-known tribe of Eurasian nomads, led by Genghis Khan, breaks upon the great societies of the Old World like a human tsunami. Ruthless, with unbelievable skill in horse archery, it seems that nothing can stop the Mongol Conquest.
Julius Caesar is our travel guide as he takes us through his murderous subjugation of the native Celtic tribal peoples of ancient Gaul. It’s a celebrated conquest, but should we revere Gaius Julius Caesar as a great and august leader, or is “genocidal thug” more appropriate?
The rulers of the Achaemenid-Persian Empire are so powerful that they go by the title King of Kings. When that power, both military and diplomatic, is projected into the West it comes face to face against the Greeks, most famously the Spartans. Dan explores this fascinating period in history from all sides and sheds light on the rich heritage of this often vilified “Darth Vader” force from the East.
From 1914 to 1918 obscene amounts of artillery shelling, machine gun fire and the introduction of deadly poison gas come together in one of the most grotesque events in human history.
“One little wood on the battlefield, a thousand yards by five hundred yards, took eighty-thousand shells in the first week. What does that look like? There's no human reference for this!”
-Dan Carlin
The Asia-Pacific War of 1937-1945 has deep roots. It also involves a Japanese society that’s been called one of the most distinctive on Earth. What explains this meteoric rise to power, and how was one Japanese soldier still fighting the war until he was relieved of duty… in 1974?
What happens if human beings can’t handle the power of their own weaponry? This show examines the dangerous early years of the Nuclear Age and humankind’s efforts to avoid self-destruction at the hands of its own creation.
“We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says: Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
J. Robert Oppenheimer reflecting on the first nuclear detonation in 1945
