Before Game of Thrones, there was the Warring States period. And it had way more episodes. 1️⃣ Get This History in a Hurry? Here’s the Cheat Sheet TL;DR:The Zhou dynasty overthrew the previous rulers by claiming God (or “Heaven”) told them to, then ruled for nearly 800 years. Their reign started

The epic season finales that set up an even crazier spinoff series. 1️⃣ The World Wars: Cliffhanger Edition TL;DR:World War I ended with the Treaty of Versailles, a peace deal so harsh on Germany that it basically served as a trailer for World War II. World War II ended with the

It’s the war that got overshadowed by its famous older brother and its chaotic younger sibling. 1️⃣ The Awkwardly Quiet Version (If You’re In a Hurry) TL;DR:The Korean War is often called the “Forgotten War” because it was awkwardly sandwiched between the epic victory of World War II and the televised chaos of the Vietnam

It began with a horrific attack, an ultimatum, and a journey into the “Graveyard of Empires.” 1️⃣ The Super-Simple Version (For When You’re Running Late) TL;DR:The war in Afghanistan started because the terrorist group al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, planned and carried out the 9/11 attacks from its safe haven in Afghanistan. The

Basically, two superpowers stopped being polite and started getting real (scary). 1️⃣ The World’s Most Terrifying Staring Contest: A Quick Guide TL;DR:After World War II, the two remaining superpowers, the USA (Team Capitalism) and the Soviet Union (Team Communism), deeply distrusted each other. They spent the next 45 years in a

Basically the war that both sides forgot to study for. 1️⃣ The Super-Speedy Summary TL;DR:The United States got fed up with Great Britain’s habit of kidnapping its sailors (a practice known as impressment) and meddling with its trade during the Napoleonic Wars. America declared the War of 1812, tried and failed to

Because the alternative was turning the planet into a giant microwave. 1️⃣ The Chilly, Oversimplified Version TL;DR:The Cold War was called “cold” because the two main superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, never actually declared a full-scale, direct (“hot”) war on each other. They were so terrified of mutual nuclear annihilation

It didn’t just start with a news alert. It started with a land grab. 1️⃣ The Oversimplified Version (For When You’re In a Hurry) TL;DR:While the massive, full-scale invasion that everyone saw on the news began on February 24, 2022, the war in Ukraine actually kicked off eight years earlier, in February

Think of it as the world’s most tragic and long-running roommate dispute. Over a house everyone considers holy. 1️⃣ The Lightning-Fast Version (If You Have 60 Seconds) TL;DR:At its core, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a dispute over the same piece of land between two groups of people: Jews and Palestinian

Spoiler Alert: It’s complicated. Like, ‘currently in a relationship with history’ complicated. 1️⃣ The Oversimplified Version (If You’re in a Hurry) TL;DR:No, Palestine was not an independent, sovereign country in the modern sense before Israel was created in 1948. For centuries, it was a region within larger empires, most recently

Before the state, the mandate, and the endless debates, there was… well, it’s complicated. The Oversimplified Version (If You’re in a Hurry) TL;DR:Before it was Israel, the land was called Mandatory Palestine, a territory managed by the British after the Ottoman Empire fell apart in World War I. It was