The First Robot

The First Robot

Author: The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios March 23, 2026 Duration: 32:40
HISTORY This Week
HistoryCultureEducationSocietySociety & Culture
March 29th, 1923. A new play opens in Berlin, and quietly changes the future. Onstage are workers who never tire, never complain, and never stop. They’re faster, stronger, and more efficient than humans in every way. They’re called robots. A sci-fi play born out of war and industrialization sparks a global obsession and a lasting fear. Because from the very beginning, the robot wasn’t just a technological breakthrough. It was a rebellion waiting to happen. How did a playwright invent the robot? Why did his idea spread so quickly? And what does it reveal about the way we think about the future of science? Special thanks to Dennis Jerz, Professor of English and Media at Seton Hill University; John Jordan, author of Robots; and Jitke Cejkova, editor of R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life. Get in touch: historythisweek@history.com  Follow on Instagram: @historythisweekpodcast Follow on Facebook: ⁠HISTORY This Week Podcast⁠ To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, something big happened. You might have never heard of it, but this moment changed the course of history. A HISTORY Channel original podcast, HISTORY This Week gives you insight into the people—both famous and unknown—whose decisions reshaped the world we live in today. Through interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, each episode will give you a new perspective on how history is written. Stay up-to-date at historythisweekpodcast.com and to get in touch, email us at historythisweek@history.com.HISTORY This Week is a production of Back Pocket Studios in partnership with the History Channel.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Official website RSS
HISTORY This Week
Podcast Episodes
One Eco-Arson After Another: The Earth Liberation Front [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:02
April 20th, 2004. A quiet suburban development outside Seattle. Brand-new homes. Fresh lawns not yet grown in. Then, in the middle of the night—sirens. Flames ripping through two houses. Investigators quickly find the ca…
Jefferson’s Trade War Shuts Down America [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:30
April 18, 1806. In his study, President Thomas Jefferson signs a law that doesn’t look like an act of war. It bans imports. Leather. Silk. Glass. Playing cards. A strange list. A quiet move. But Jefferson is trying to co…
A Good, Not Great Lake (from Points North) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:33
This episode comes from Points North, a podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. You can listen to Points North wherever you get your podcasts. Lake Champlain is more than 16 times smaller than…
Oil Fields, Bags of Cash, a Presidency Exposed [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:02
April 7, 1922. A cabinet secretary signs a secret deal and locks it in his desk. The land in question holds one of the largest untapped oil reserves in the country. Officially, it belongs to the U.S. Navy. Unofficially,…
William Parker’s War on Slave Catchers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:49
April 3, 1851. A man who escaped slavery is grabbed off the streets of Boston and thrown into a carriage. He fights back, shouting to the crowd, but it doesn’t matter. Under a new federal law, even the North isn’t safe.…
From Radio Diaries: Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:05
Why did Orson Welles take on a murder mystery? Listen for yourself. This week, we're sharing a special preview of Orson Welles and the Blind Soldier from the podcast Radio Diaries. In this series, we learn how Welles use…
Axis Sally’s Nazi Radio [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:22
March 10, 1949. Defendant Mildred Gillars arrives at a courthouse to hear her verdict. To trial-watchers, she’s known as Axis Sally—the American woman who broadcast Nazi propaganda from Berlin during World War II. In tau…
Stalin Is Dead! | Сталин мертв! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:52
March 5, 1953. The Premier of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, is on his deathbed, and he’s turning blue. At the end of his life, Stalin is surrounded by his closest advisors, but these comrades aren’t hoping for his qui…
Disneyland on a Deadline [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:31
March 1, 1951. Two Texas horse trainers sit down to lunch with Walt Disney. They assume he wants to use their animals in a movie. Instead, Walt leans in and tells them about something that doesn’t exist yet. Not a carniv…

12345...10»