Pick the Next Extra History Series! "Things Fall Apart"

It's time for our Extra History poll! Where you get to vote on what our next "Extra History Series" is about!

These four topics were selected from our "Shorts Topic" Patreon Suggestions and are listed in no particular order below.

William McKinley: American Empire

William McKinley was elected during an economic depression where it was believed he'd focus on restoring prosperity—and his chief idea for doing so was the raising of protective tariffs. (Carefully, since his previous McKinley Tariff in Congress had raised prices across the board and led to an enormous election loss.) But the start of the Spanish-American War would unleash the McKinley administration's defining characteristic: American imperialism. In McKinley's administration, the US took Puerto Rico, Guam, Guantanamo Bay, and the Phillippines—plus Hawaii, to help support the new imperial acquisitions. This led to an economic boost for the US homeland, but legislative and military repressions in the new colonies, including betraying the Philippine allies the US had promoted during the war, and instead beginning a brutal counterinsurgency against them. McKinley also began US involvement in the Panama Canal, giving military aid to a group of rebels in exchange for crippling legal and economic concessions to American interests. Sound familiar? Well it should, as the current president has regularly cited McKinley as his model. (Though perhaps that's not the wisest choice—McKinley would be assassinated before the end of his second term.)

The English Civil Wars: King vs. Parliament

In 1640, King Charles I convened Parliament. This wouldn't usually have been notable for a king, except that in the previous eleven years, Charles had ruled without parliament. See, Parliament had the power over taxes and revenue, and Charles had figured out he could rule as an absolute monarch provided he found alternative sources of revenue. But now he was at war with Scotland, and needed money to raise an army. Except... Parliament proved so angry and difficult to manage after being ignored that he dissolved it after 17 days, only to reconvene it months later. This set the stage for an epic clash between royal and parliamentary authority that will end in over 200,000 deaths—including that of Charles, who'd ironically be tried and executed for treason. Today, there's debate over whether the English Civil Wars should be seen as a revolution, since the breakdown of royal authority would never fully be restored—but it's undeniable that this clash of government branches changed Britain forever.

Sack of Constantinople: The Fourth Crusade

Why let a little crusade get in the way of a good pillaging? In 1202, forces were gathering for a Fourth Crusade to attack Ayyubid Sultan Al-Adil (brother and successor of Saladin) and thereby regain Jerusalem. Except things went a bit sideways. First, not enough troops showed up in Venice to justify the massive transportation contract that the Republic of Venice had agreed to. No problem, though—in lieu of payment, Venice asked the army to instead make a side trip to besiege the rebel city of Zara and return it to Venetian control. And hey, while we're doing that, here's this deposed Byzantine prince who wants us to put his father back in power. And oops, the crowd deposed and killed him... sooo.... maybe we just loot the most impressive city in Christendom and send the Byzantine Empire into steep decline? Join us for a catastrophe of such epic proportions it's echoed through all of history.

Fall of the Roman Republic: Sulla's Civil War

Hey, remember that series we did on the Brothers Gracchi? Welcome to the somehow even-bloodier sequel! It's 88 BC, and Roman general Sulla is in a conflict with his superior, Marius, over army command. However, the reality is that these two men have history—both personal and political. Sulla believes in keeping the Senate and aristocrats strong, while Marius favors the populist reforms of the Brothers Gracchi. And in a move then unprecedented in the history of the Republic, Sulla marches into Rome and occupies it. With his hands now on the levers of power, he declares his political opponents Marius and Cinna outlaws and his seizing of the city legal—only to himself leave the city on a military expedition. Marius and Cinna returned, leading an uprising in the city that led to Sulla's supporters to be killed by mobs and their decapitated heads presented in the Senate. And that's only the opening chapter of a bloody story that will see the laws of Rome bent to the breaking point, Sulla declared the first dictator of Rome, murders in the Senate, and even a young Julius Caesar come close to execution. This was the war that broke the Roman Republic forever.

Our Current Schedule is:

History of Cats: Fabulous Felines! 3/22 -> Mutiny on the Bounty: Rebellion, Resilience and Revenge -> Your Pick!

***Friendly reminder: The poll will end at 11:59 PM PT on Monday the 17th. You can vote for as many choices as you want! This style of voting helps us see what people are most interested in without having to make tough decisions between a couple of close favorites. ***