Perspectives in History

About Perspectives in History

A podcast where I tell the story of lesser-known and or misunderstood events and people from history in a way that is hopefully as entertaining as it is informative. Formerly known as Historia Dramatica.

Publisher

Willem Conner

Category

education · history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Sept 2020

Latest episode

3 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

112 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   3 Oct 2026

   Crisis of the Third Century Part 2: Sic Semper Tyrannis

   Groomed from birth to become emperor, Commodus takes power at age 18 after the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius. Entirely uninterested in the affairs of state, his reign would be characterized by intrigue, scandal, and corruption- culminating in his assassination at the hands of his closest allies. Bibliography Amon, Hermann. The Roman Empire Third Century Crisis. Brill, 2026 Ando, Clifford. Imperial Rome, AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century. Edinburgh University Press, 2012. Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity. AD 150-750. W.W. Norton & Company, 1989. Bowman, Alan K., Peter Garnsey, and Averil Cameron. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol 12, The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193-337. Cambridge University Press, 2008. Dio, Cassius. The Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary and Herbert B. Foster. Vol. 1-9. Loeb Classical Library and Harvard University Press, 1924. Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1-3.  Alfred A. Knopf, 1993 Harper, Kyle. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire. Princeton University Press, 2017. Herodian. History of the Roman Empire: From the Death of Marcus Aurelius to the Accession of Gordian III. Translated by Edward C. Echols. University of California Press, 1961. Lewis, Naphtali and Reinhold, Meyer. Roman Civilization: Selected Readings. Vol. II, Columbia University Press, 1990. Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395. Routledge, 2004. Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine. Routledge, 2001. Cover Image: Detail of the ‘Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus.’ Dated to 250-260 CE, currently on display in the Museo Nazionale Romano. Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák. Closing Theme: Movement II of “Pines of Rome.” Composed by Otto Respighi. Recording of 1959 performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner.

2. 

   19 Sept 2026

   Crisis of the Third Century Part 1: Age of Iron and Rust

   At the time that Marcus Aurelius became emperor in 161, the Roman Empire had enjoyed nearly two centuries of relative peace and prosperity. Over the 19 years of his reign, he would be forced to contend with a cascading sequence of wars, plague, natural disasters and civil conflict that gravely undermined the stability of the empire. Bibliography Amon, Hermann. The Roman Empire Third Century Crisis. Brill, 2026 Ando, Clifford. Imperial Rome, AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century. Edinburgh University Press, 2012. Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity. AD 150-750. W.W. Norton & Company, 1989. Bowman, Alan K., Peter Garnsey, and Averil Cameron. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol 12, The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193-337. Cambridge University Press, 2008. Dio, Cassius. The Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary and Herbert B. Foster. Vol. 1-9. Loeb Classical Library and Harvard University Press, 1924. Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1-3.  Alfred A. Knopf, 1993 Harper, Kyle. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire. Princeton University Press, 2017. Herodian. History of the Roman Empire: From the Death of Marcus Aurelius to the Accession of Gordian III. Translated by Edward C. Echols. University of California Press, 1961. Lewis, Naphtali and Reinhold, Meyer. Roman Civilization: Selected Readings. Vol. II, Columbia University Press, 1990. Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395. Routledge, 2004. Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine. Routledge, 2001. Cover Image: Detail of the ‘Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus.’ Dated to 250-260 CE, currently on display in the Museo Nazionale Romano. Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák. Closing Theme: Movement II of “Pines of Rome.” Composed by Otto Respighi. Recording of 1959 performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner.

3. 

   13 Jun 2026

   Iron Guard Part 8: The Exiled and the Damned

   Ousted from government after the failed rebellion of January 1941, the Iron Guard is once again outlawed and forced underground. With the fate of the Romanian nation out of their hands, the members of the Legionary movement are faced with a stark choice: renounce their beliefs and remain in their homeland, or hold true to their convictions and face perpetual exile. Email me: perspectivesinhistorypod@gmail.com Podcast Website Follow me on Twitter Facebook Page Buy Some Used Books Bibliography Clark, Roland. Holy Legionary Youth: Fascist Activism in Interwar Romania. Cornell University Press, 2015 Codreanu, Cornelieu Zelea. For My Legionaries. Black House Publishing Ltd, 2015 Hitchins, Keith. A Concise History of Romania. Cambridge University Press, 2014 Ioanid, Radu. The Sword of the Archangel: Fascist Ideology in Romania. Columbia University Press, 1990 Iordachi, Constantin. The Fascist Faith of the Legion “Archangel Michael” in Romania, 1927-1941: Martyrdom and National Purification. Routledge, 2023 Kaplan, Robert D. Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History. Picador, 2005. Nagy-Talavera, Nicholas. The Green Shirts and the Others: A History of Fascism in Hungary and Romania. Hoover Institution Press, 1970. Tiu, Ilarion. The Legionary Movement after Corneliu Codreanu. Columbia University Press, 2009 Sturdza, Michel. The Suicide of Europe: Memoirs of Prince Michel Sturdza, Former Foreign Minister of Rumania. Islands Publishers, 1968. Sima, Horia. The History of the Legionary Movement. The Legionary Press, 1995 Cover Image: Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescu and deputy prime minister Horia Sima at a demonstration memorializing Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the late founder of the Iron Guard. (Bucharest, Romania. October, 1940.) Closing Theme: “Sfanta Tinerete Legionara,” (Hymn of the Legionary Youth)

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YouTube views

4,186

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

20 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

145 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 43 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

24

Social presence

0

YouTube

74

Engagement

82