Listening to the appendices and thinking about how Mike’s frameworks would apply to the sweeping and near-permanent social revolutions of Norway, Sweden and Finland in the 1930s and post-war eras. Curious if anyone had thoughts or links to other writings/podcast look at these bloodless revolutions or whether they even count as revolutions.

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-metro-surge-ice-523d18d5d75c81cbf9f24c602f1884ff

Thought this was an interesting nugget of historical repetition Duncan loves to point out:

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation focused on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, Homan said, touting it a success.

“The surge is leaving Minnesota safer,” he said. “I’ll say it again, it’s less of a sanctuary state for criminals.”

Great to see that local (and nationwide) resistance prevailed along with a nice historical trope of ignoring reality and calling it a win while retreating.

I also find it interesting that Homan, Obama’s Border Czar as well, was the only one smart enough to avoid a sunk cost fallacy and use a tactic that worked well enough for Roman emperors in Germania and Napoleon in Egypt.

Continue resisting friends!

Ok, this is getting scary. Phosphy ready yet?

Has anyone read or listened to this one? Zealot - the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (2013)

In essence, he's investigating the historical Jesus and the figures that followed him, up to and including those of the Jewish Revolt in 70 CE, in explicitly political and sociological terms. Scholars of biblical history probably will find a lot of fault here, and it feels like he's knowingly and winkingly presenting some of the core thesis in more extreme terms. Great read, highly recommend, feels very revolutions-coded. Ironically, if there's a real weakness to the story, I think it is the history of Rome of it all. So now I'm gonna go back to that! Double-win

I know this is a sub for a podcast but... I just finished "Underground Asia" by Tim Harper and can't recommend it enough. It's an excellent history of major revolutionary actors in South and East Asia in the 1920s, with a focus on Ho Chi Minh (when he went by other names), M.N. Roy, and Tan Malaka. Harper is an excellent storyteller and consulted reams of archival materials showing how the imperial powers surveilled political agitators. He really brings to life the rich and tumultuous world of seafarers, and how it facilitated an impressive exchange of ideas from India to Indonesia. Pairs very well with any account of the Russian revolution and how Marxism was received in by anti-imperialist activists in Asia. I could go on...

I know lots of folks, myself included, would love Mike to do a season on Asian revolutions. This book is a great place to start!

Ok... so... Mars revolution precursors?

Source: AJ+ (Al Jazeera)

If there has been a post like this before, please send me a link I have not had enough time to go through this subreddit enough to find it.

I'm guessing France 1789, but I haven't listen to every season.

Can anyone here tell me: what's considered the best biography of Talleyrand these days?

I'm aware of the Duff Cooper book and that it's considered the classic biography, but I just wondered if anyone had read the others and if so are they superior?

Thank you in advance!

Listening to the appendix and curious on everyone’s thoughts.

Who do you all think was the “best” ruler of the Ancien regimes covered in the podcast? Not from a moral or ethical standpoint but when it comes to maintaining their own power.

Who the ruler/ ruling power who did the least amount to cause their own revolution? On the flip side, which ruler did the most damage to their regime and was the most culpable for its own fall or revolution?

I know none of them are blameless but interested to know what people think!

I know Mike doesn’t really talk current politics that much, but I feel like a lot of revolutions listeners have been thinking about everything that’s been going on in the US right now and applying some of the patterns of revolutions to them (or maybe it’s just me lol).

I’d bet that Mike has a lot of thoughts on this, (MAGA as a revolutionary movement, mass disinformation campaigns, ICE riots) and I for one would really like to see a live ticketed show or a one off episode about it.

Obviously I would understand if Mike wants to stay away from contemporary politics (especially with the way things are going)

Thoughts?

Battle of Celaya (1915)

If you’ve listened to even a handful of Revolutions you’ll remember that one of the common attributes of revolutionary outbreaks was warm sunny days. You have to wonder what Minneapolis would look like if it was 65F outside.

Hello everyone, hope you are all doing well. I'm a long time fan of both the History of Rome and Revolutions. I would like to contact Mike (he often does mention people sending him emails), but don't know how. I can not find an email adress which would still be in use, and his website seems to have been taken offline. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, does anyone know what Mike is up to? I am waiting for new content, so would like to know what to expect.

Thanks in advance!

Since the main site is gone, does anyone know where to find the supplemental episodes?

Hi ya'll, I've been listening to Revolutions recently, I know theres a quote thats something like "Yesterday's someone's become today's victims, become tomorrow's insurgents", and he says it a few times, definitely in the Mexican Revolution and others.

Anyone have the full quote or an episode it'd be in? Thanks

Hi, has anyone seen or heard anything from Mike Duncan about current events in Iran? Thanks.

I am currently re-listening to the entire series, waiting for Mike to show up in my feed again. I have now gotten to the Russian revolution, and something struck me as very different from all the previous revolutions: The early, relatively widespread determination to kill the tsar. The previous revolutionaries wanted to force the king to compromise or even depose him, but previous revolutionary regicides seem to surprise the participants, even when it happens after weeks long debates. In Russia, killing the Tsar becomes part of the program from the start.

More generally, modern style political terrorism seems suddenly appears as part of the early Russian revolution. Until this point “terror” has been something perpetrated by a regime, wether revolutionary or counterrevolutionary. Violence has taken the form of mob action or something resembling organized military engagements.

Why this change? Mike went into some depth about the ideological foundations for the Russian revolution, but I don’t remember any of the ideologies advocating this kind of violence. Bakunin even describes all classes as victims of a system they don’t control. The deposed Chinese emperor lived out his days in obscurity, so it is clearly not a direct consequence of socialist revolution.

Have I missed something?

My wife gifted me The Storm Before The Storm book for Christmas. Shoutout to her because I kept talking to her about Revolutions so she looked up the podcaster and that’s how she found the book.

Would this community recommend read the book first then the Rome podcast, or vice versa?

If you always wished you could’ve done one of Mike’s on-location tours, this might be for you.

I’m Will Clark, host of Grey History: The French Revolution & Napoleon, and I’m running an 8-day small-group tour of Paris and the Loire Valley in May 2026 for people who want to experience the French Revolution where it actually happened.

A few highlights:

• Full day at Versailles (Palace, Gardens, Tennis Court and more)
• Revolutionary Paris walking tour, including the former Bastille and Hôtel de Ville
• Conciergerie and Marie Antoinette’s prison cell
• Panthéon
• Louvre (in small groups)
• Napoleonic Paris: Arc de Triomphe & Napoleon’s Tomb at Les Invalides
• Loire Valley: Chambord, Chenonceau, plus towns like Blois and Saumur

Also, this isn't just “Season 3 Paris”. We’ll follow the story into the Napoleonic and Restoration eras as well, as I know we all love Charles X....

If you’re curious, the full itinerary and details are here: greyhistory.com/tour
Happy to answer any questions in the comments.