In high-school I hated history. As an adult I can't get enough of it. I only wish you were my history teacher back then. I think public curricula became sterile by teaching only isolated facts while failing to connect interesting correlations that motivate events. Thanks for making a difference.
Tyler Woods I majored in history at university and have always loved it.I agree that history taught in schools did not show the width and breath of all history can offer. This channel should be a must watch for students of history. I would love to see history teachers incorporate this channel in their own classes.
I had same problem in high school in the 60's. Geography had new plate techtonics theories that made perfect sense to me....but were being debunked by the "Experts"....and same with history. Fortunately new publications and finding were starting to cascade into public awareness....and I found that my doubts had sound basis in logic. History I learned was written by the victors....and seldom had much truth to it.....when you start to pull the curtains back on political history....you find a stench that reaches to the heavens.....but falsehoods that are shovelled out like mana to be ingested by the masses
I also hated high school history. It seems to me now that we had to remember dates and people. No stories about the relativity to anything. Thanks THG.
Just what you say you are, an historian not a propagandist. Great job sir, not easy to make it only about the object of the documentary and not about our feelings or opinions.
A story of the 1914 Ernest Shackleton expedition aboard the Endurance deserves to be told in my humble opinion one of the greatest survival stories ever told. Keep up the great work.
When I was just 12 years old, my Uncle gifted me a book that was all about early Polar exploration. And these events were all detailed between its pages! Thanks for the trip! I was again that youngster, staying up late (on a School night!) eagerly devouring those pages!
The military still used blimps for observation platforms. I know when I got out in 2012, they were being eyeballed for transport and resupply(but not being used in that role). In Afghanistan the sight of “blimpie” (the camera platform over most large bases) was a welcome sight as many of us often associated it with a shower and a hot meal.
another great history video. Its sad that my parents and grandparents lived through this era and watched this unfold. Their heroes are virtually unknown to us now. Thanks for what you do.
Outstanding. Thank YouPLEASE do a segment on Ernest Shackleton's open boat journey to save his crew on Elephant Island. The event in 1916 may be one of the greatest examples of leadership ever documented. Shackleton and five other men sailed a small boat across some of the worst seas known on the earth and landed 800 miles away on South Georgia Island. It is History worth remembering ! Thank You
Was going to say I wish you'd been my history teacher, but actually you ARE my history teacher at the grand age of 50 something. My school history teacher did his best I'm sure but was stuck with a standard curriculum of English royalty and suchlike so it never quite came to life. History is about the larger than life characters and their motivations to shape events. Thank you for sharing your passion.
I've studied polar history for over 30 years and I've read hundreds of books on the subject including most of the important first hand accounts. A fascinating subject and it's difficult to imagine what Arctic land travel was like in the Heroic Age or air travel in the Mechanical Age. The men conducting the explorations were not just tough as nails but they possessed a degree of personal bravery that's been equaled but honestly never exceeded.
I'm always seeing people post about how they wish they had a history teacher like you. Maybe I'm lucky. I was homeschooled and spent my significant amount of leisure time either running through the woods or reading heavy history books. This was prior to the internet age. If I wanted to learn, I had to go do it and figure it out on the way or read about it. My schooling was not perfect. I am poor at writing English but that's on me, not my parents. I was given too long of a leash to explore what I wanted and ignore most other things. Discipline was something I had to figure out in college. This concreted my personality. I love history but I love learning more. I think it's just a bit irresponsible to lament how "I would've learned so much more if I had a better teacher". The sooner you learn that you are responsible for your education, the sooner you can truly begin to learn. Yes, teachers can influence and start you on your journey but only you can learn. Something something about a horse and water... All that said, great video and channel in general! I enjoy these tidbits of history that often tie more popular events together. Thank you!
Knallgod episode, good to see Norway polar explorers mentioned. In my town Kristiansand, the bakery Dampbageriet, Steambakery that Amundsen provisioned dry bisquits from, kavringer is still going strong 150 years pluss, same family and same recipe as he got. One polar explorer that was in severals shadow and who got a cruel fate to be mentioned is Hjalmar Johansen.
My junior high school was named the Richard E Byrd Junior high and I never really knew the history until now, keep up the good work, I watch four or five of your episodes every night, as I also love history.
This is so full of information! I only had a passing knowledge of this that I had read as a small boy in Encyclopaedia Britannica, on both poles, although we did a project on the South Pole at junior school a few years later. Back then history (in English schools) was more concerned with the golden age of the Empire and the modern version, the Commonwealth. This was before we were allowed into the "Common Market" and we traded almost exclusively with the Commonwealth, sadly something we had to forfeit to join Europe.
A little known fact is the Hindenburg was initially designed to use helium as its lifting gas. By the time the Nazi regime had commandeered the Hindenburg this naturally occurring and expensive gas (only available from Russia and the USA) was denied to Germany. As a result the Germans substituted hydrogen and increased the passenger capacity of the Hindenburg. They were able to do this as hydrogen is lighter than helium. Helium is non-flammable and hydrogen is not, the rest as they say, is history.
Since most helium is sourced as a byproduct of oil drilling, I wonder why Romania didn't have any helium the Germans could buy. The oil fields at Ploesti were producing at the time and I'm not aware of Romania being especially hostile to Germany in the 1930s. I had a quick look around the internet but came up empty.
According to a documentary I watched here on TH-cam, a lesser known fact is that the US had agreed to sell the helium to the Zeppelin company but he turned it down due to the cost. He wanted to eventually replace the hydrogen after the Hindenburg had recouped some of the cost of building it. It was a great documentary with recreations of the investigation into the crash.
@@1117niks How do you figure that? The Hindenburg did not finish construction before 1936, and was destroyed in 1937, well into the nazi party's reign. It even had the swastika painted on it's rear controlling surfaces and was used to spread nazi propaganda.
I'm glad you decided to bring up the controversy with Byrd's, Peary's and Cook's claims. Although it would be easy just to accept Byrd's and Peary's claims, the evidence against them deserves consideration. Cook's claim is a totally different monster altogether. Just goes to show that unfortunately history isn't so tidy and there are a lot of open questions over what occurred and when. The hope is once day we can find new evidence to put past controversies to rest, but I think some are just bound to always remain mysteries to us.
I had some great history teachers. They held us, spellbound, and we did well in class in result. Mister Lindsay. Mister Wilson. Fred Gage. They kindled a spark in my intellect that still smolders more than forty years later. ""Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --G Santayana
Slight correction to your pronunciation of Norge - which as you pointed out means Norway, in Norwegian. The G is pronounced as in "get", so imagine the whole word said as "nor-ge[t]", if you swallow the trailing T. Otherwise an excellent episode as usual. I'm very happy I found your channel. 😊
You are right. Actually I have noticed that with many other European words and names with the letter G pronounced wrong by North Americans. You are also right that despite this, it is still an excellent episode indeed !
So interesting. I note that you seemed to be speaking faster on this video than in others I've watched and was impressed with the quality in spite of a rapid rate of speech.
Hey would you consider doing a show about all your different military hats? I find them fascinating. Also your channel is overflowing with stuff I don't know and I love it, Thanks for uploading such good content.
The History Guy not just a history guy but The History Guy thanks for answering. I'm sure that would have to be a hard task judging by the amount of comments I get which I'm sure is a fraction of yours. Thank you I'll shall look into it. Have a interesting day.
Recommended reading - The Worst Journey in the World written by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the survivors of the doomed Scot expedition, explains in great detail the extreme conditions and difficulties of travelling in the arctic. Him and two others pushed a sledge about 120 miles round trip. In the middle of Antarctic winter. In the dark. Just to collect some penguin eggs. Took them about a month.
That was an excellent film, though a few liberties seem to have been taken in places. I haven't seen it in almost 30 years. It's a "cult classic" to many radio operators. Another biographical factoid on Nobile was that he was originally an electrical engineer before shifting his attention to aircraft design.
Thank you for another great story. You mentioned the first flight over the South Pole. That's also a story that deserves to be remembered. (And it involves another great Norwegian pioneer: Bernt Balchen.)
For anyone interested in historical dramas, the movie 'The Red Tent' dramatizes the plight of the Italia. A somewhat confusing film it stars Sean Connery, who makes it somewhat interesting. Worth a look for anyone interested in polar exploration as it does possess many correct details.
This and a few other episodes remind me fondly of the age of flight children's cartoon "TailSpin" and all of the different competitions between differing aircraft technologies and defenses. The sense of adventure that left me with as a child compared to today's consumption and competition for competition's sake leaves me a little melancholy.
Roald Amunsund was my moms cousin. He was the first to reach both poles. I did a lot of research on him when I was a kid but never knew he flew over the poles and how he died. This was very cool!
There's something beautiful and appealling about airships. I wish they were used more commonly today. With use of the newest technologies it could change transportation for the better.
NASA and other people have looked at airships for exploring Venus. They work well for that since the surface is 800°C bathed in acid rain and under pressures comparable to miles under the ocean. But higher up the atmosphere is much more benign and some have even looked at floating cities built around giant airships.
Thanks for this account of polar exploration. There is an excellent movie, supposedly factual, about the voyage of the Italia, called “The Red Tent”, starring the late Peter Finch and Sean Connery as Amundsun. What little research I’ve done on the subject, substantiates the movie, which goes into considerably more detail about the voyage, and the resulting major controversy. I highly recommend it.
I think he mentioned the magnetic pole when actually they were trying to get to geographical pole, two very different things. I’m sure it was just a slip. Really enjoy the channel.
Love your channel and the research you do for your episodes . In relation to this video could you do a Episode of the Italia expedition by Nobile ? Thanks again for a great channel.
Good stuff. I read that Eddie Rickenbacker was involved in a northern rescue… attempt. Lindbergh and wife flew much of the north. Lincoln Ellsworth flew over much of Antarctica in a wonderful Northrop Gamma now at the Air and Space Museum, Wash.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered Easy mistake to make. Thanks for all your effort in making the videos. I love your format; perfect lengths. Not too long, not too short, and fantastic information. Keep up the great work!
Hey History Guy !! I feel the need to apologize, or at least explain, my lack of thumbs up. I've been subbed for a while but I binge watch your channel which leads me to forget to minimize my player to hit the thumbs up between episodes. I've started trying to be more diligent in my rating so we'll see how that goes. Love the channel !! ( hate the bow ties ) Keep up the great content and I'll try to remember to up vote.
You referred to the Hindenburg as the Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg. It was just the Hindenburg. The Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) was a separate vessel that had a long and successful career in passenger service. The 1975 movie "Hindenburg" depicted a number of airship incidents that occurred on other vessels, mostly on the Graf Zeppelin.
Hardly remembered today, Bryd also established Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf. He wintered alone in Antarctica. Bryd nearly went insane. He was the first to do this. His book 938 book 'Alone' is worth reading for anyone interested in the subject.
Recently subbed to your channel, are you promoting your channel on reddit? I love history and these are interesting tales from history you present. I am binging on past episodes. Thank you!
I first came across the term aerostat yesterday while doing a New York Times crossword puzzle. Never heard it before. Thank you for confirming my answer was correct! lol
Hi History guy! Superbly told, as always! However: You failed to mention the airship tower in the very northerly city of Vadsø, in Norway. Still standing today, visible from the city and accessible to the public. A tell-tale of this fascinating story. A mention with some current, video footage would have enhanced this episode.
As much as I love flight, I had never heard either of the terms, aero-dyne nor aero-stat. Makes perfect sense, as dyne means force/power (an engine) and stat means a controlled state (air in a "balloon"). I love etymology, but I don't have a degree. LOL Thanks for another entertaining education.
Remember the jingle from the 1960s "Hear the solid sound of quality, knock on any Norge....years from now, you'll be glad it a Norge." I remember such things because, like the History Guy, I wear bow ties and am therefore clever.
I only know the name from an old Saturday Night Live sketch with Dan Aykroyd as a repairman. "Oh, what ya got here is your Norge!" First thing that popped into my head. lol
Admiral Richard Byrd was a great uncle of mine. My father was named for him. I think he made it to the north pole first because record keeping was very sporadic during this time period.
The drama of the failed 1928 expedition was portrayed in a 1969 film "The Red Tent", which starred Sean Connery. I saw it in the cinema when I was about 9 years old, and I think it is historically accurate.
As a boy growing up in the fifty I recal we had a Norge refrigerator.... Gusee this may be the back story on why norge was used for a product producing a cold environment.
Thanks for the memory. I was a kid in the 50s and we had a little Norge refrigerator. I have vivid memories of watching my mother manually defrosting it on Saturday mornings. This is somewhat tongue in cheek, but maybe the history of the self defrosting refrigerator may be worth remembering.
I attended Admiral Richard E. Byrd Elementary School in Yokohama, Japan. I had no idea Byrd was involved with the NC-4 flight across the Atlantic. There are 10 of us in our family named after the pilot of NC-4, Albert Cushing Read. Dad's first name was Read. After being teased about "Read reading," he started spelling Reid with an "i." So Byrd had a hand in the NC-4 flight. Cool.
Bravo ! I like the details about the history of the principles of aerodyne technology as far back as 1809 ! ... and the first glider with a human passenger/pilot using aerodynamic lift was as far back as 1853, and the use of air-propulsion propellers as far back as December 1783...and people being transported through the air with propeller-driven craft more than 100 Km as far back as 1784, makes one wonder about the Wright Brothers getting ALL the credit.
Once again, excellent work overall. May I suggest you trawl through the list of noncombat awards of the Medal of Honor for suitable episodes ... the rescue of the submarine USS Squalus in 1939 being a good example.
_Norge_ flight is the first confirmed reaching of the geographic North Pole (Peary, Cook and Byrd all lacking solid documentation to support their claims). So, Amundsen and Wisting (non-magnetic steering sledge driver on the 1911 South Pole expedition and _Norge_ helmsman) were the first men to reach _both_ poles. Another intersting, and not well known, fact that deserves to be remembered.
What you forgot to mention was the US balloon corps used by the Federals during the American Civil War. Its an important tie up to your story about airships in that Count Von Zeppelin visited the unit during our Civil War and saw how our balloon corps operated. He also asked questions of Mr Lowe the commander and some of the German speaking soldiers there. I am certain he got some of his ideas from this episode. You should look at my brothers paper on Lowe and the Balloon Corps. My brother is NASA's Chief Scientist James L Green.
My understanding is that an aerostat is any lighter than air aircraft that gains its lift the rough the use of buoyant gas. Airships are a type of aerostat.
I was afraid you weren't going to mention the _Italia_ disaster. (In fact, I'll go farther: I think Nobili's expedition really deserves its own full-length History Guy video.)
You forgot to mention that the plane in Florida flew between Tampa and St Petersburg and currently resides inside St Pete-Clearwater airport. I know cuz I seen'em.
Technically, I think his language was correct - it was "demonstrated" in May 1904 near Dayton, OH. (which is also the date of the video clip he showed). In Dec. 1903 in NC, I believe these were test flights. Aren't we privileged to have such quality of material to prey on such details... thank you History Guy!
Yes they were test flights in NC, but they did invite the press to it. Due to high winds it was delayed several times. The 1904 demonstrations were for a more advanced version of the 1903 flyer. Either way pretty impressive for a couple bicycle builders. All of these early aviation pioneers were unbelievable
Ernest Shackleton mentioned at 4.20 did not die on his great expedition to the South Pole. His ship with a large crew got trapped in ice and was eventually abandoned. The whole crew made their way to land and camped out the winter. The crew dragged a lifeboat to their camp. Months later 3 men Shackleton, Tom Crean plus 1, set sail for South Georgia, around 1000km away, through the worst seas on the planet. They were successful and eventually the entire crew were rescued much to the surprise of folks back home. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton
Yes! This is true! Please do a video about Ernest Shackleton and his exploration team from the Endurance. It is one of the greatest stories of human survival and fortitude from the great age of explorers. Every man faced certain death and yet they all survived due to the leadership of Shackleton and their reliance on each other.
Shackleton did die while leading an expedition to Antarctica, just not the expedition known for the open sea voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia. It was while leading another Antarctic expedition a few years later (1921-22) that he died of a heart attack in Grytviken, South Georgia and was buried there.
Law of averages says there must be a dud H.G. vid, but after extensive research, I've yet to find it. Once again, I must mention Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown. A suitable subject for H.G. treatment in my humble opinion. Thank you sir.
Please forgive my being a nitpick regarding your excellent condensed histories and biographies, but I'd like to offer a few minor observations. While not publicly demonstrated, the first recorded flight of the Wright Brothers heaver-than-air powered flyer was on Dec 17, 1903. The Quest Expedition left England on 17 Sep 1920. Shackleton died along the journey on 5 Jan 1922. In 1969 a Russian-Italian financed movie, "The Red Tent", was made about the Italia disaster. Peter Finch played Nobile and Sean Connery played Amundsen. While taking some literary license with the actual events, as all films tend to do, it remains a fairly accurate and interesting recreation of the disaster. Two fictional period movies also worth viewing are "The Lost Zeppelin" (1929), whose lead character is patterned after Byrd, and the surprisingly well done (particularly the special effects) Dirigible (1931). The latter was written by famed Naval aviator and early aviation advocate, CMDR Frank "Spig" Wead, about whom was later made a biographical movie starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
Colonel K those are fair comments. The Shackelton-Rowett expedition did continue actually until May of 1922. The December 1903 is as fair a date as several for the Wright Brother’s flight.
The heroic age of exploration was repeated in the 1960s with the Moon-Race. The 1931 movie “Dirigible”, by Frank Capra, is a fictional account of a race to the South Pole, between heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air craft. It stars the U. S. Navy airship “Los Angeles” (ZR-3). The 1969 movie “The Red Tent” documents the crash of the Italia.
Great vlog as always! You should listen to the memorial speech that Fridthjof Nansen holds for Roald Amundsen. I can tranlate it for you if it is not in English.
Hello Sir, i love your show! In your episode, you forgot Professor Lowe during the American Civil War , who operated briefly for the U.S.Army . can you do an episode on him?
Bosco Bob that is an excellent point and my mistake. The magnetic north pole differs from the geographic north pole and was first reached by Sir James Ross in 1831.
As I remember the story, there was a great outcry against Nobile. As was already noted, he had touted Italy's dominance in all this, no doubt under pressure from Mussolini. Then, given the strife between Amundsen and Nobile, it was very sporting of Amundsen to try to save his enemy. Another nail in Nobile's coffin (he probably wished it was really his coffin) was that Amundsen died trying to save him. And of the survivors, an expedition of three went off to find help, two Italians and a Scandinavian. Later on the Italians were found alive and claiming that the Scandinavian had died; they were under grave suspicion that they had killed him and eaten his body, though nothing could be proved. So, whatever his merits, Nobile did not come out of this looking like the hero he wanted to be.
Excellent video in the series. One minor point. It was just the Hindenburg, not Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg. Two separate zeppelins. The Graf Zeppelin was the LZ-127, Hindenburg LZ-129.
Do an episode on General Robert Catterson.Started out as a private in the Union Army.Worked his way up to General.Then was sent to Texas to put down the the rebels that wouldn't quit,He then became a US Marshall in judge Parker's court.A man that should be remembered.
I am now officially addicted to this channel - and that deserves to be remembered.😀
Lol
I second this, I watch your videos every night now
You're not the only one - that also deserves to be remembered!
Same
Hi, I'm the steve guy, I don't have a degree in history and I love history too, this is the channel for me.
In high-school I hated history. As an adult I can't get enough of it. I only wish you were my history teacher back then.
I think public curricula became sterile by teaching only isolated facts while failing to connect interesting correlations that motivate events. Thanks for making a difference.
Tyler Woods I majored in history at university and have always loved it.I agree that history taught in schools did not show the width and breath of all history can offer. This channel should be a must watch for students of history. I would love to see history teachers incorporate this channel in their own classes.
I had same problem in high school in the 60's. Geography had new plate techtonics theories that made perfect sense to me....but were being debunked by the "Experts"....and same with history. Fortunately new publications and finding were starting to cascade into public awareness....and I found that my doubts had sound basis in logic. History I learned was written by the victors....and seldom had much truth to it.....when you start to pull the curtains back on political history....you find a stench that reaches to the heavens.....but falsehoods that are shovelled out like mana to be ingested by the masses
I also hated high school history. It seems to me now that we had to remember dates and people. No stories about the relativity to anything. Thanks THG.
I always loved "learning" about history, it was being tested on it that I hated.
Just what you say you are, an historian not a propagandist. Great job sir, not easy to make it only about the object of the documentary and not about our feelings or opinions.
A story of the 1914 Ernest Shackleton expedition aboard the Endurance deserves to be told in my humble opinion one of the greatest survival stories ever told. Keep up the great work.
When I was just 12 years old, my Uncle gifted me a book that was all about early Polar exploration. And these events were all detailed between its pages!
Thanks for the trip! I was again that youngster, staying up late (on a School night!) eagerly devouring those pages!
The military still used blimps for observation platforms. I know when I got out in 2012, they were being eyeballed for transport and resupply(but not being used in that role). In Afghanistan the sight of “blimpie” (the camera platform over most large bases) was a welcome sight as many of us often associated it with a shower and a hot meal.
Thank you for your service. :-)
I wish I had this guy as my history teacher growing up
I did a report on this expedition when I was in 8th grade way back before the internet. It's wonderful to see this footage. Thank you.
another great history video. Its sad that my parents and grandparents lived through this era and watched this unfold. Their heroes are virtually unknown to us now. Thanks for what you do.
Outstanding. Thank YouPLEASE do a segment on Ernest Shackleton's open boat journey to save his crew on Elephant Island. The event in 1916 may be one of the greatest examples of leadership ever documented. Shackleton and five other men sailed a small boat across some of the worst seas known on the earth and landed 800 miles away on South Georgia Island. It is History worth remembering ! Thank You
Was going to say I wish you'd been my history teacher, but actually you ARE my history teacher at the grand age of 50 something. My school history teacher did his best I'm sure but was stuck with a standard curriculum of English royalty and suchlike so it never quite came to life. History is about the larger than life characters and their motivations to shape events. Thank you for sharing your passion.
I've studied polar history for over 30 years and I've read hundreds of books on the subject including most of the important first hand accounts. A fascinating subject and it's difficult to imagine what Arctic land travel was like in the Heroic Age or air travel in the Mechanical Age. The men conducting the explorations were not just tough as nails but they possessed a degree of personal bravery that's been equaled but honestly never exceeded.
I'm always seeing people post about how they wish they had a history teacher like you.
Maybe I'm lucky.
I was homeschooled and spent my significant amount of leisure time either running through the woods or reading heavy history books. This was prior to the internet age. If I wanted to learn, I had to go do it and figure it out on the way or read about it.
My schooling was not perfect. I am poor at writing English but that's on me, not my parents. I was given too long of a leash to explore what I wanted and ignore most other things. Discipline was something I had to figure out in college.
This concreted my personality. I love history but I love learning more. I think it's just a bit irresponsible to lament how "I would've learned so much more if I had a better teacher". The sooner you learn that you are responsible for your education, the sooner you can truly begin to learn.
Yes, teachers can influence and start you on your journey but only you can learn. Something something about a horse and water...
All that said, great video and channel in general! I enjoy these tidbits of history that often tie more popular events together. Thank you!
Knallgod episode, good to see Norway polar explorers mentioned. In my town Kristiansand, the bakery Dampbageriet, Steambakery that Amundsen provisioned dry bisquits from, kavringer is still going strong 150 years pluss, same family and same recipe as he got.
One polar explorer that was in severals shadow and who got a cruel fate to be mentioned is Hjalmar Johansen.
Thank you posting this history. As a Norwegian and aviation geek am I proud of Roald Amundsen and Bernt Balchen.
My junior high school was named the Richard E Byrd Junior high and I never really knew the history until now, keep up the good work, I watch four or five of your episodes every night, as I also love history.
This is so full of information! I only had a passing knowledge of this that I had read as a small boy in
Encyclopaedia Britannica, on both poles, although we did a project on the South Pole at junior school a few
years later. Back then history (in English schools) was more concerned with the golden age of the Empire
and the modern version, the Commonwealth. This was before we were allowed into the "Common Market"
and we traded almost exclusively with the Commonwealth, sadly something we had to forfeit to join Europe.
A little known fact is the Hindenburg was initially designed to use helium as its lifting gas. By the time the Nazi regime had commandeered the Hindenburg this naturally occurring and expensive gas (only available from Russia and the USA) was denied to Germany. As a result the Germans substituted hydrogen and increased the passenger capacity of the Hindenburg. They were able to do this as hydrogen is lighter than helium. Helium is non-flammable and hydrogen is not, the rest as they say, is history.
Since most helium is sourced as a byproduct of oil drilling, I wonder why Romania didn't have any helium the Germans could buy. The oil fields at Ploesti were producing at the time and I'm not aware of Romania being especially hostile to Germany in the 1930s. I had a quick look around the internet but came up empty.
According to a documentary I watched here on TH-cam, a lesser known fact is that the US had agreed to sell the helium to the Zeppelin company but he turned it down due to the cost. He wanted to eventually replace the hydrogen after the Hindenburg had recouped some of the cost of building it. It was a great documentary with recreations of the investigation into the crash.
Let me say, there was no national socialist labour party (NAZI) at that time, as rulers. Adolf Hiitler was elected in 1933.
@@1117niks How do you figure that? The Hindenburg did not finish construction before 1936, and was destroyed in 1937, well into the nazi party's reign. It even had the swastika painted on it's rear controlling surfaces and was used to spread nazi propaganda.
I'm glad you decided to bring up the controversy with Byrd's, Peary's and Cook's claims. Although it would be easy just to accept Byrd's and Peary's claims, the evidence against them deserves consideration. Cook's claim is a totally different monster altogether. Just goes to show that unfortunately history isn't so tidy and there are a lot of open questions over what occurred and when. The hope is once day we can find new evidence to put past controversies to rest, but I think some are just bound to always remain mysteries to us.
Indeed...it's probable that the North Pole wasn't reached by land until as late as 1968.
Absolutely exciting from beginning to end, bravo HG once again!
I had some great history teachers. They held us, spellbound, and we did well in class in result. Mister Lindsay. Mister Wilson. Fred Gage. They kindled a spark in my intellect that still smolders more than forty years later. ""Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --G Santayana
Its so neat seeing the cool history like this!
Slight correction to your pronunciation of Norge - which as you pointed out means Norway, in Norwegian. The G is pronounced as in "get", so imagine the whole word said as "nor-ge[t]", if you swallow the trailing T.
Otherwise an excellent episode as usual. I'm very happy I found your channel. 😊
You are right. Actually I have noticed that with many other European words and names with the letter G pronounced wrong by North Americans. You are also right that despite this, it is still an excellent episode indeed !
www.howtopronounce.com/norwegian/norge/
Tak!
Benny Löfgren 🎶
...and if you want, you can roll the r slightly.
So interesting. I note that you seemed to be speaking faster on this video than in others I've watched and was impressed with the quality in spite of a rapid rate of speech.
Hey would you consider doing a show about all your different military hats? I find them fascinating. Also your channel is overflowing with stuff I don't know and I love it, Thanks for uploading such good content.
Isaac Wilee I am doing a series on my hats for patrons on patreon. Www.patreon.com/thehistoryguy
The History Guy not just a history guy but The History Guy thanks for answering. I'm sure that would have to be a hard task judging by the amount of comments I get which I'm sure is a fraction of yours. Thank you I'll shall look into it. Have a interesting day.
Recommended reading - The Worst Journey in the World written by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, one of the survivors of the doomed Scot expedition, explains in great detail the extreme conditions and difficulties of travelling in the arctic. Him and two others pushed a sledge about 120 miles round trip. In the middle of Antarctic winter. In the dark. Just to collect some penguin eggs. Took them about a month.
Interesting factual addition to the movie "The Red Tent".
That was an excellent film, though a few liberties seem to have been taken in places. I haven't seen it in almost 30 years. It's a "cult classic" to many radio operators. Another biographical factoid on Nobile was that he was originally an electrical engineer before shifting his attention to aircraft design.
Thank you for another great story. You mentioned the first flight over the South Pole. That's also a story that deserves to be remembered. (And it involves another great Norwegian pioneer: Bernt Balchen.)
Sir, this is absolutely fascinating.
For anyone interested in historical dramas, the movie 'The Red Tent' dramatizes the plight of the Italia. A somewhat confusing film it stars Sean Connery, who makes it somewhat interesting. Worth a look for anyone interested in polar exploration as it does possess many correct details.
Wonderful cinematography and it recreates the flight, crash and survival story excellently.
This and a few other episodes remind me fondly of the age of flight children's cartoon "TailSpin" and all of the different competitions between differing aircraft technologies and defenses. The sense of adventure that left me with as a child compared to today's consumption and competition for competition's sake leaves me a little melancholy.
"Which plane is yours?"
"It's the one that says Bad Mother Fokker."
adamcarrell ...and the wings are made of pulp fiction!
Ok
_ba_ _dum_ _>kssh
Spectacular! As always, sir.
Roald Amunsund was my moms cousin. He was the first to reach both poles. I did a lot of research on him when I was a kid but never knew he flew over the poles and how he died. This was very cool!
It's amazing to think the Umberto Nobile lived to see the first man walk on the Moon, and indeed, the last man walk on the Moon to this day.
this channel is awesome, one of the best TH-cam channels there is.
There's something beautiful and appealling about airships. I wish they were used more commonly today. With use of the newest technologies it could change transportation for the better.
NASA and other people have looked at airships for exploring Venus. They work well for that since the surface is 800°C bathed in acid rain and under pressures comparable to miles under the ocean. But higher up the atmosphere is much more benign and some have even looked at floating cities built around giant airships.
Great presentation. Thanks for making such watchable and informative videos.
This was a another brilliant episode
I don't have a degree in history, but I love history, and this is the channel for me.
thank you and keep up the good work. I would like to request a segment on the fenian raids and the battle of eccles hill in quebec
Another excellent slice of history, another subject for you to cover would be the first crossing of Antartica
Thanks for this account of polar exploration. There is an excellent movie, supposedly factual, about the voyage of the Italia, called “The Red Tent”, starring the late Peter Finch and Sean Connery as Amundsun. What little research I’ve done on the subject, substantiates the movie, which goes into considerably more detail about the voyage, and the resulting major controversy. I highly recommend it.
The movie, "The Red Tent" (Peter Finch, Sean Connery)....is a wonderful narrative of Nobile's second Arctic airship foray.
Sounds like the type of film one watches on Cinemax late at night.
I think he mentioned the magnetic pole when actually they were trying to get to geographical pole, two very different things. I’m sure it was just a slip. Really enjoy the channel.
Love your channel and the research you do for your episodes . In relation to this video could you do a Episode of the Italia expedition by Nobile ? Thanks again for a great channel.
Good stuff. I read that Eddie Rickenbacker was involved in a northern rescue… attempt. Lindbergh and wife flew much of the north. Lincoln Ellsworth flew over much of Antarctica in a wonderful Northrop Gamma now at the Air and Space Museum, Wash.
3:30 I think you misspoke. They were seeking the geographic poles, not the magnetic poles, weren't they? I could be wrong here, of course.
You are correct- i should have said geographic north, not magnetic north.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered Easy mistake to make.
Thanks for all your effort in making the videos. I love your format; perfect lengths. Not too long, not too short, and fantastic information. Keep up the great work!
Just found your channel.. defently subscribing. Greets from a 25yo history nerd in sweden
Hey History Guy !! I feel the need to apologize, or at least explain, my lack of thumbs up. I've been subbed for a while but I binge watch your channel which leads me to forget to minimize my player to hit the thumbs up between episodes. I've started trying to be more diligent in my rating so we'll see how that goes. Love the channel !! ( hate the bow ties ) Keep up the great content and I'll try to remember to up vote.
I forgive you.
I actually like the bow ties! [Edit: they're ties that need to be remembered!]
You referred to the Hindenburg as the Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg. It was just the Hindenburg. The Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) was a separate vessel that had a long and successful career in passenger service.
The 1975 movie "Hindenburg" depicted a number of airship incidents that occurred on other vessels, mostly on the Graf Zeppelin.
Hardly remembered today, Bryd also established Little America on the Ross Ice Shelf. He wintered alone in Antarctica. Bryd nearly went insane. He was the first to do this. His book 938 book 'Alone' is worth reading for anyone interested in the subject.
Great video. Love the new intro.
Recently subbed to your channel, are you promoting your channel on reddit? I love history and these are interesting tales from history you present. I am binging on past episodes. Thank you!
I first came across the term aerostat yesterday while doing a New York Times crossword puzzle. Never heard it before. Thank you for confirming my answer was correct! lol
Hi History guy! Superbly told, as always! However: You failed to mention the airship tower in the very northerly city of Vadsø, in Norway. Still standing today, visible from the city and accessible to the public. A tell-tale of this fascinating story. A mention with some current, video footage would have enhanced this episode.
As much as I love flight, I had never heard either of the terms, aero-dyne nor aero-stat. Makes perfect sense, as dyne means force/power (an engine) and stat means a controlled state (air in a "balloon"). I love etymology, but I don't have a degree. LOL Thanks for another entertaining education.
Remember the jingle from the 1960s "Hear the solid sound of quality, knock on any Norge....years from now, you'll be glad it a Norge." I remember such things because, like the History Guy, I wear bow ties and am therefore clever.
I had a mathematics professor during my freshman year who always wore bow ties exclusively.
I only know the name from an old Saturday Night Live sketch with Dan Aykroyd as a repairman. "Oh, what ya got here is your Norge!" First thing that popped into my head. lol
You should do a whole segment on the Nobile controversy and how Mussolini stripped him of his commissions and he spent many years working in Russia.
There where an earlier swedish attempt to reach the North Pole by air in 1897, Andrée's Arctic Balloon Expedition. There you have a rather grim story!
Admiral Richard Byrd was a great uncle of mine. My father was named for him. I think he made it to the north pole first because record keeping was very sporadic during this time period.
I love your channel! Thanks
The drama of the failed 1928 expedition was portrayed in a 1969 film "The Red Tent", which starred Sean Connery. I saw it in the cinema when I was about 9 years old, and I think it is historically accurate.
Great film. Pity it’s so hard to find today
I've never heard of that movie. Thanks for referencing it
As a boy growing up in the fifty I recal we had a Norge refrigerator.... Gusee this may be the back story on why norge was used for a product producing a cold environment.
I had a Norge brand electric clothes dryer until the late 1990s.
Interesting that the brand name comes up. My farm household gained butane fuel in the late '40s and our new kitchen range was a Norge, IIRC.
Thanks for the memory. I was a kid in the 50s and we had a little Norge refrigerator. I have vivid memories of watching my mother manually defrosting it on Saturday mornings. This is somewhat tongue in cheek, but maybe the history of the self defrosting refrigerator may be worth remembering.
These videos are great !!! Very informative. Do you have a video on the race to the South Pole?
I attended Admiral Richard E. Byrd Elementary School in Yokohama, Japan. I had no idea Byrd was involved with the NC-4 flight across the Atlantic. There are 10 of us in our family named after the pilot of NC-4, Albert Cushing Read. Dad's first name was Read. After being teased about "Read reading," he started spelling Reid with an "i." So Byrd had a hand in the NC-4 flight. Cool.
Love this channel!!!!
You always add some pers]ective to our view!
Best channel on YT
Bravo ! I like the details about the history of the principles of aerodyne technology as far back as 1809 ! ... and the first glider with a human passenger/pilot using aerodynamic lift was as far back as 1853, and the use of air-propulsion propellers as far back as December 1783...and people being transported through the air with propeller-driven craft more than 100 Km as far back as 1784, makes one wonder about the Wright Brothers getting ALL the credit.
There is a lot of discussion there as to what constitutes mechanical flight.
Once again, excellent work overall. May I suggest you trawl through the list of noncombat awards of the Medal of Honor for suitable episodes ... the rescue of the submarine USS Squalus in 1939 being a good example.
_Norge_ flight is the first confirmed reaching of the geographic North Pole (Peary, Cook and Byrd all lacking solid documentation to support their claims). So, Amundsen and Wisting (non-magnetic steering sledge driver on the 1911 South Pole expedition and _Norge_ helmsman) were the first men to reach _both_ poles. Another intersting, and not well known, fact that deserves to be remembered.
What you forgot to mention was the US balloon corps used by the Federals during the American Civil War. Its an important tie up to your story about airships in that Count Von Zeppelin visited the unit during our Civil War and saw how our balloon corps operated. He also asked questions of Mr Lowe the commander and some of the German speaking soldiers there. I am certain he got some of his ideas from this episode. You should look at my brothers paper on Lowe and the Balloon Corps. My brother is NASA's Chief Scientist James L Green.
An aerostat is what I operate. Within the 'community', aerostats are tethered, thus 'static', while those with motors are considered 'airships'.
My understanding is that an aerostat is any lighter than air aircraft that gains its lift the rough the use of buoyant gas. Airships are a type of aerostat.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered We use the term to mean those that are static. All in the context, I suppose.
History Guy, I don't think you have already done a video on the "Jeannette - de Long expedition", which is a great story that probably few know about.
I grew up knowing this story very well, being tha Roald Admunsen was my Great-grand Uncle.
I was afraid you weren't going to mention the _Italia_ disaster.
(In fact, I'll go farther: I think Nobili's expedition really deserves its own full-length History Guy video.)
what an exciting tale
The Engineer Guy did a series on the R-101 disaster that's well done. There's a collaboration I'd like to see between two guys.
You forgot to mention that the plane in Florida flew between Tampa and St Petersburg and currently resides inside St Pete-Clearwater airport. I know cuz I seen'em.
Slight correction, Wright bros first flew in powered flight in 1903 not 1904.
Technically, I think his language was correct - it was "demonstrated" in May 1904 near Dayton, OH. (which is also the date of the video clip he showed). In Dec. 1903 in NC, I believe these were test flights. Aren't we privileged to have such quality of material to prey on such details... thank you History Guy!
Yes they were test flights in NC, but they did invite the press to it. Due to high winds it was delayed several times. The 1904 demonstrations were for a more advanced version of the 1903 flyer. Either way pretty impressive for a couple bicycle builders. All of these early aviation pioneers were unbelievable
You ought to consider doing a segment on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. It would be very much in keeping with the theme of this episode.
Ernest Shackleton mentioned at 4.20 did not die on his great expedition to the South Pole. His ship with a large crew
got trapped in ice and was eventually abandoned. The whole crew made their way to land and camped out the winter. The crew dragged a lifeboat to their camp. Months later 3 men Shackleton, Tom Crean plus 1, set sail for South Georgia, around 1000km away, through the worst seas on the planet. They were successful and eventually the entire crew were rescued much to the surprise of folks back home.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton
Yes! This is true! Please do a video about Ernest Shackleton and his exploration team from the Endurance. It is one of the greatest stories of human survival and fortitude from the great age of explorers. Every man faced certain death and yet they all survived due to the leadership of Shackleton and their reliance on each other.
Shackleton did die while leading an expedition to Antarctica, just not the expedition known for the open sea voyage from Elephant Island to South Georgia. It was while leading another Antarctic expedition a few years later (1921-22) that he died of a heart attack in Grytviken, South Georgia and was buried there.
Sadly, many of the men who survived the Endurance went on to die in WW I.
Thanks!
Thank you!
Law of averages says there must be a dud H.G. vid, but after extensive research, I've yet to find it.
Once again, I must mention Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown. A suitable subject for H.G. treatment in my humble opinion. Thank you sir.
Please forgive my being a nitpick regarding your excellent condensed histories and biographies, but I'd like to offer a few minor observations. While not publicly demonstrated, the first recorded flight of the Wright Brothers heaver-than-air powered flyer was on Dec 17, 1903. The Quest Expedition left England on 17 Sep 1920. Shackleton died along the journey on 5 Jan 1922. In 1969 a Russian-Italian financed movie, "The Red Tent", was made about the Italia disaster. Peter Finch played Nobile and Sean Connery played Amundsen. While taking some literary license with the actual events, as all films tend to do, it remains a fairly accurate and interesting recreation of the disaster. Two fictional period movies also worth viewing are "The Lost Zeppelin" (1929), whose lead character is patterned after Byrd, and the surprisingly well done (particularly the special effects) Dirigible (1931). The latter was written by famed Naval aviator and early aviation advocate, CMDR Frank "Spig" Wead, about whom was later made a biographical movie starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
Colonel K those are fair comments. The Shackelton-Rowett expedition did continue actually until May of 1922. The December 1903 is as fair a date as several for the Wright Brother’s flight.
The most important date in aviation history -- December 17, 1903!
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel In fairness to your esteemed self, the operative word was "demonstrated", which really did not happen until 1904.
The heroic age of exploration was repeated in the 1960s with the Moon-Race.
The 1931 movie “Dirigible”, by Frank Capra, is a fictional account of a race to the South Pole, between heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air craft. It stars the U. S. Navy airship “Los Angeles” (ZR-3).
The 1969 movie “The Red Tent” documents the crash of the Italia.
A good episode, THG, but I noticed that Richard Byrd closely resembles the actor Peter Finch...who played Umberto Nobile in the film The Red Tent.
Great vlog as always! You should listen to the memorial speech that Fridthjof Nansen holds for Roald Amundsen. I can tranlate it for you if it is not in English.
Just found the channel.
You have a good style.
I think it would be interesting to do an episode about the Dole Air Race from California to Hawaii in 1927.
Hello Sir, i love your show! In your episode, you forgot Professor Lowe during the American Civil War , who operated briefly for the U.S.Army . can you do an episode on him?
One slight correction: the race was *not* a race to the _"Magnetic North Pole"_ 3:36. That was reached in 1831, many years prior.
Bosco Bob that is an excellent point and my mistake. The magnetic north pole differs from the geographic north pole and was first reached by Sir James Ross in 1831.
I wasn't trying to be pedantic, but I enjoy the accuracy of your videos and wanted to help maintain that level of excellence.
Bosco Bob I didn’t take it as pedantic at all. I am perfectly fine with corrections. Thank you!
Hark! We've killed a dragon, m'lord!
A fierce beast from the kingdom of Goodyear.
This will herald in a GoodYear !
Harrumph Harrumph ! .
There was a 1969 film The Red Tent on the Italia airship staring Peter Finch, worth watching.
As I remember the story, there was a great outcry against Nobile. As was already noted, he had touted Italy's dominance in all this, no doubt under pressure from Mussolini. Then, given the strife between Amundsen and Nobile, it was very sporting of Amundsen to try to save his enemy. Another nail in Nobile's coffin (he probably wished it was really his coffin) was that Amundsen died trying to save him. And of the survivors, an expedition of three went off to find help, two Italians and a Scandinavian. Later on the Italians were found alive and claiming that the Scandinavian had died; they were under grave suspicion that they had killed him and eaten his body, though nothing could be proved.
So, whatever his merits, Nobile did not come out of this looking like the hero he wanted to be.
What an incredible age
Excellent video in the series. One minor point. It was just the Hindenburg, not Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg. Two separate zeppelins. The Graf Zeppelin was the LZ-127, Hindenburg LZ-129.
Do an episode on General Robert Catterson.Started out as a private in the Union Army.Worked his way up to General.Then was sent to Texas to put down the the rebels that wouldn't quit,He then became a US Marshall in judge Parker's court.A man that should be remembered.
Also he signed up as a private after finishing medical school in Indiana.He had just started his practice in Rockville Indiana when the war started
Lol slippery Italian tossing out a larger flag.. can’t stop laughing!.. the look on the other guys faces..LoL! Priceless!