Conflicted: A History Podcast
Untangling history’s greatest controversies. Every month, we take a hard look at the historical conflicts that raise difficult questions, stoke controversy, and send our moral compasses spinning.
Kill Yamamoto: The Mission to Avenge Pearl Harbor - Part 2
After the Battle of Midway, the Japanese Navy is in tatters and Yamamoto’s hopes of a quick victory against the United States have evaporated. He has no choice but to fight a war he knows Japan will lose. Tom Lanphier, Rex Barber, and the pilots of the 70th earn their stripes at Guadalcanal. The U.S. codebreakers at Hypo Station uncover the secret to intercepting the hated Yamamoto. John “Mitch” Mitchell plans and executes a borderline miraculous operation. Tom and Rex learn that victory builds careers, but destroys friendships. (Part 2 of 2)
SOURCES:
Davis, Donald A. Lighting Strike: The Secret Mission to Kill Admiral Yamamoto and Avenge Pearl Harbor. 2005.
Lehr, Dick. Dead Reckoning: The Story of How Johnny Mitchell and His Fighter Pilots Took On Admiral Yamamoto and Avenged Pearl Harbor. 2020.
Hampton, Dan. Operation Vengeance: The Astonishing Aerial Ambush That Changed World War 2. 2020.
Paine, S.C.M. The Japanese Empire: Grand Strategy from the Meiji Restoration to the Pacific War. 2017.
Harmsen, Peter: Storm Clouds Over The Pacific, 1931-1941. 2018.
Davis, Burke. Get Yamamoto. 1969.
Hoyt, Edwin P. Yamamoto: The Man Who Planned Pearl Harbor. 1990.
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Podcast Episodes
The Partition of India – Part 3: A Tryst With Destiny
It’s 1947. After many long years of struggle, India is about to gain its independence from the British Empire. But freedom will come at a cost. To facilitate the handover of power, the Crown sends Lord Louis Mountbatten…
The Partition of India – Part 2: Two Blind Eyes
As the British Raj crumbles, old animosities begin to stir in the subcontinent’s communities. Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru face a formidable new adversary in the form of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who calls for the cre…
The Partition of India – Part 1: End of Empire
In the summer of 1947, the British Raj relinquished its hold over the Indian subcontinent. In its wake, two new nations were created: India and Pakistan. The hastily-drawn border between the countries slashed through com…
Human Error: The Destruction of KAL Flight 007
On September 1st, 1983, a South Korean commercial airliner inexplicably drifted 200 miles off course into restricted Soviet airspace. In response, a Soviet fighter plane intercepted the aircraft, fired two missiles, and…
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 – Part 3: The Music Stops
After weeks of uncertainty and fear, the Great Crash finally arrives on October 24th, 1929. While America’s financial infrastructure burns, Jesse Livermore makes $100 million in a single week. Wall Street’s great cheerle…
History Daily (Special Featured Podcast): “The Start of the Cuban Revolution”
In this special featured episode of History Daily, host Lindsay Graham gives an atmospheric retelling of the events of December 2nd, 1956. On that day, the communist revolutionary Fidel Castro launched the Cuban Revoluti…
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 – Part 2: Age of Illusion
As economic disaster looms in the Fall of ‘29, the American public is blissfully unaware, entranced by stratospheric share prices and the sunny proclamations of Wall Street cheerleaders. Jesse Livermore, the infamous “Bo…
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 – Part 1: To The Moon!
One of the worst financial disasters in history unfolded on Wall Street in late October of 1929. Within a week, 30 billion dollars had disappeared into thin air, leaving the global economy in tatters and heralding the be…
Gore: The Brutal History of Bullfighting
Some revere it as an art form, others revile it as a blood sport, but no matter where you stand, few traditions stir up strong emotions quite like the centuries-old ritual of bullfighting. Born in the villages of rural S…
Ghosts in the Mountains: The Mujahideen Civil War (Part 4)
It’s 1992. The 40th Army is long gone and the Soviet Union has collapsed, but war still rages across Afghanistan. As the Afghan communist regime crumbles, Ahmed Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s forces clash in Kabu…
