EPISODE 21 The Conquest of Mexico (Part 2): The Dogs of War

June 22, 2017 Daniele Bolelli

“My advice is not to allow into your house someone who will put you out of it.” —Cuitlahuac

“He added that we could look for no help or assistance except from God, for now we had no ships in which to return to Cuba. Therefore we must rely on our own good swords and stout hearts.” — Bernal Diaz

“We knew that they had come determined to leave none of us alive except those who were to be sacrificed to their idols.” — Bernal Diaz

In the 1500s, two highly militaristic peoples fueled by religious ideologies requiring bloodshed clashed with one another. This is the tale of what happened when a band of Spaniards run into the Mexica (Aztec) empire. By the time the dust will settle, out of the 25 million indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, little over a million will be left standing.

In this second episode:

The first battle ever featuring horses in Mexico
Enormous, angry dogs wearing armor and trained to eat human flesh
Malintzin and her choices
From slavery to becoming one of the most important women in Mexico
The tale of Quetzalcoatl
“If the Spaniards want to eat you, let them”
Apparently, the Spaniards don’t appreciate food sprinkled with a sauce of human blood
Rescuing five sacrificial victims before returning them to be sacrificed
Cortes deserved an Academy Award for best political theater
The Fat Chief
Cortes and his ships
Moctezuma and his Blues Brothers excuses
War and peace in Tlaxcala

This episode is sponsored by www.blueapron.com/onfire For less than $ 10 per meal, Blue Apron delivers straight to your door seasonal recipes along with pre-portioned ingredients to make delicious, home-cooked meals. Get your first three meals free—with free shipping—by going to www.blueapron.com/onfire

Thank you to Geek Nation Tours, a vacation company which creates tours focusing on geek culture including conventions, movie locations and historical battlefields.
This October, they will be time-traveling to Feudal Japan and the battlefields of Sekigahara…. Join them as they watch Kendo, Kyudo, Iaido, and sword making demonstrations at the Seki Cutlery Festival, visit the most famous Japanese medieval castles, hike through spectacular natural landscapes and of course visit the Sekigahara re-enactment festival where you will see samurai walking the streets in full armor and battling in a commemoration of that singular battle of 1600.

http://geeknationtours.com/tours_post/signature-battlefield-series-feudal-japan-and-the-battlefields-of-sekigahara-2017/

Please, also show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.

Please check out www.alphadynamicshealth.com for their line of medicinal mushrooms

Master podcaster Darryl Cooper has created a companion series to go with this particular History on Fire series. Check out his episodes exploring themes of human sacrifice, religion, psychology and much more at http://www.martyrmade.com/

My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/. Thank you to Onnit, Datsusara, Float Clinic, Shaman’s Simple Solutions, War Fuel, Proven Nutrition, and Fight Chix for sponsoring her for her first MMA fight. If you’d like to check out Fight Chix merchandise, you can get a 20% discount by going to http://www.fightchix.com/ and entering the code Fire20 upon checkout.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/

EPISODE 20 The Conquest of Mexico (Part 1): People Of The Sun

May 25, 2017 Daniele Bolelli

“We came to serve God and get rich” — Bernal Diaz

“Behold this torch which we will light and place between our armies. If you do not make haste and retreat before the torch is burned, you will die. We do not want you as guests.” — Maya warning to the Spaniards in 1518

“Do not lose your soul for the sake of an Indian woman” — Geronimo de Aguilar to Gonzalo Guerrero

In this first episode:

The development of Mesoamerican civilizations leading up to the Mexica
An unfortunate misunderstanding between the Mexica and their neighbors involving a flayed princess
The toughest mercenaries in the Valley of Mexico
Serving the God of War
A ballgame to settle a dispute on the meaning of creepy omens
The Cordoba expedition
The Grijalva expedition
Pedro de Alvarado and his gangsta rap taste in jewelry
Hernan Cortes and his playboy ways
If you drop out of law school, at least conquer an empire
The ballad of Gonzalo Guerrero

Thank you to Geek Nation Tours, a vacation company which creates tours focusing on geek culture including conventions, movie locations and historical battlefields.

This October, they will be time-traveling to Feudal Japan and the battlefields of Sekigahara…Join them as they watch Kendo, Kyudo, Iaido, and sword making demonstrations at the Seki Cutlery Festival, visit the most famous Japanese medieval castles, hike through spectacular natural landscapes and of course visit the Sekigahara re-enactment festival where you will see samurai walking the streets in full armor and battling in a commemoration of that singular battle of 1600.

http://geeknationtours.com/tours_post/signature-battlefield-series-feudal-japan-and-the-battlefields-of-sekigahara-2017/

A big thank you also to Leafar Guerrero and everyone at Mama Licha’s Kitchen. If you find yourself in LA’s San Fernando Valley, have a meal at their awesome restaurant. And if not, please give a ‘like’ to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MamaLichasKitchen/

Please, also show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/

EPISODE 19 Featuring Dan Carlin

April 28, 2017 Daniele Bolelli

"If I can add some nuance and complexity and some context and compassion. If I can get people to think about walking a mile in the other guy's moccasins, or pretend like you want to, I can feel like I'm adding something that is unusual. And it's a little bit shocking and upsetting to me that it is unusual. When people say it's so refreshing, you wonder why it's refreshing to try to see the other person's viewpoint? Shouldn't that just be how we are?" — Dan Carlin

“It’s an uplifting story with millions of dead people” — Dan Carlin

My favorite podcaster and one of my favorite humans joins me for an epic chat ranging across topics including:

Nuanced Thinking
Ideological Prisons
Understanding vs. justifying
Judging the past
Hitler & Genghis Khan, Nazis & Communists
Spaniards, Aztecs, human sacrifice
Taoism
Twisted SOBs
Why do we focus so much on war?
The three elements of Hardcore History
Conflict-driven story
Sex
Gladiators for World Peace as the antidote to a nuclear holocaust
Hunting and gathering peoples
Graham Hancock and history before history
Gobekli Tepe
Old school toughness and the arc of civilizations
Dan Carlin for President!

Please, also show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.

My lady (and author of History on Fire logo) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/. This is the video of her pro debut match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxM81mds1Qs&feature=youtu.be Thank you to Onnit, Datsusara, Float Clinic, Shaman’s Simple Solutions, and Fight Chix for sponsoring her for her first MMA fight. If you’d like to check out Fight Chix merchandise, you can get a 20% discount by going to http://www.fightchix.com/ and entering the code Fire20 upon checkout.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/

EPISODE 18 The War for the Black Hills (Part 3): Last Stand

March 31, 2017 Daniele Bolelli

"It made my heart bad. After that, I killed my enemies with the hatchet.”
— Lakota leader Gall, upon finding out his family had been killed

“If we’ve got to die, let’s die here like men."
— Lieutenant Luther Hare

"We were terribly alone on that dangerous hilltop. We were a million miles from nowhere. And death was all around us.”
— Charles Windolph

“Only Earth and the Heavens last long, Uncle. If we four can stop the soldiers from taking our camp, our lives will matter little.”
— Bobtail Horse

“Hokahey, brother! This life will not last forever”
— White Bull addressing Crazy Horse

“I am a Fox. I am supposed to die.
If there is anything difficult,
If there is anything dangerous,
It is mine to do.”
— Kit Fox warrior society song

To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were—and still are—‘the heart of everything that is.’ To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time.

In this episode:

Reno’s attack
Moving Robe Woman gets her revenge
Bloody Knife and his nieces
The Throwing-Them-Off-Their-Horses game
Equine sexual passion can’t be restrained by humans and their battles
Benteen’s choices
The long night
A handful of Cheyenne warriors and the meaning of bravery
White Bull, Crazy Horse and the ‘suicide boys”
The one who (almost) got away
Cheyenne women helping Custer to improve his hearing
Custer’s smile
Setting up Custer
Defiant smile and raised middle finger

This summer I will be part of a tour of the Little Bighorn and relevant sites across Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota organized by www.geeknationtours.com Check out the details of the tour at http://geeknationtours.com/tours_post/signature-battlefield-series-the-battlefield-of-little-big-horn/

Please, also show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/

EPISODE 17 The War for the Black Hills (Part 2): The Long Defeat

March 2, 2017 Daniele Bolelli

“…And together through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

“I shall have glory by this losing day.” — William Shakespeare

“Oyate kin ninpi kta ca lecamu yelo” (“I do this so that the people may live.”) — Lakota song

“My mind was occupied mostly by such thoughts as are regularly uppermost in the minds of young men. I was eighteen years old, and I liked girls.” — Wooden Leg

To the Lakota people, the Black Hills of South Dakota were — and still are — "the heart of everything that is." To the United States, they were a goldmine, and Manifest Destiny’s next target. It was for the Black Hills that the Lakota went to war against the United States for the last time.

In this episode:

When he is not attacking camps full of women and children, Custer is a sensitive guy who cries at the theater
How Grant, Sheridan, and Co. engineered their own version of the Gulf of Tonkin incident
Frodo, the destiny of Middle Earth and Sitting Bull
Custer decides to challenge Grant over corruption
Lost in presidential dreams, Custer probably never realized he was being set up
An American army that wasn’t really American
A soldier’s scalp in an abandoned village
The Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother
Cross-dressing Crow warriors
Custer: “Why are you doing all this?”
Half Yellow Face: “Because you and I are going home today—by a trail that is strange to both of us.”

Please, also show some love to my regular sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing and exercise equipment at http://www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount.

This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/

Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/

For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/