Historical Events With Unexpected Consequences - Casual Lectures Reaction 

Oh man! Just realized my green screen wasn't line up right! Sorry everyone.

Chris’ family gets more fascinating the more members he speaks about

What always baffles me is that Ferdinand was THE leader to want in the empire to try and work towards more freedoms for Bosnian-Serbs. Lol like, he would have came to power after Josef and worked with these minorities.

My favorite one is how 9/11 indirectly caused 50 Shades of Grey

As others already have written, gin is juniper berry and other botanicals liquor. Goes usually with tonic, but my favorite one (from an absolutely awsome Moravian distillery) is extremely fragrant and tasty, so I like it neat…

My favorite is Star Trek Voyager leading to the election of America's first black President. Star Trek Voyager's producers pushed a popular Borg character Seven of Nine heavily. The added work was cited as a factor in the failing marriage of actress Jeri Ryan and Republican politician Jack Ryan. The messy details of their 1999 divorce sank Ryan's 2004 senate campaign, allowing a young Obama to win and flip the seat to the Democrats. This win propelled the dynamic Obama into the DNC's spotlight, and the rest is history.

I didn't know the Smarties in the USA were not basically the same as M&Ms. In Canada, they are. Though I didn't know that smarties were there before the M&Ms either... One "insignificant" even that escalated quickly would be the time Washington shot a french messenger leading to the 7 year war.

Oh, did you know that Gavrilo had tuberculosis? He thought he was going to die soon, and indeed he did in April 1918 in prison. He thought: I should probably do something important with my short life. Indeed he did.

Gin and Tonic is my favorite... Gin comes for Juniper so it has a piney taste/smell. It combines well with the bitterness in Quinine (tonic water) to make for quite a unique flavor. I highly recommend (Add some limes/lime juice to complete the flavor) There's lots of Gins, but that's the essence of the drink... drinking a pine tree. Whiskey and other brown alcohols usually sit heavy on me, so I prefer clear drinks.

Fun fact, I have a family member who was a bootlegger too! His name was Roy Olmstead and, in fact, he was one of the best bootleggers in the Pacific Northwest. So much so that he was wiretapped by the FBI without a warrant which led to him to bring a civil suit against the US that made it all the way to the Supreme Court (Olmstead v. US). His case was unsuccessful but the ruling would be overruled with Katz v. US

The Berlin Wall fell because of one man's blunder. During a press conference on 9 November 1989, East-German politician and regime spokesman Günther Schabowski read a text announcing temporary changes that would facilitate travel abroad. He had not been present at the meetings that discussed the details of these changes and usually spoke at conferences where the press, controlled by the party, asked pre-determined questions. Because of that, when a reporter spontaineously asked him when the changes would take effect, he was at a lost for words and eventually improvised saying that they were already in effect. As a result, thousands of East-Berliners who were watching this live broadcast rushed to the Wall demanding passage. The border guards tried to contain the crowds, but being vastly outnumbered they had no choice but to lift the barriers an let everyone pass.

Since you said you welcome suggestions here or a few of them: 1. JJ McCullough’s most famous photos in history 2. Cool history Bros 3. Al Muqqaddimah 4. History dose 5. Extra history’s series on the conquest of India, especially the first episode where a lot of conceptual knowledge is present. It talks about how history is written and interpreted

In the early years of the United States, there was a strong desire to replace the British units of measurement, and Jefferson sought French assistance to introduce the metric system. Unfortunately, the plan took a tragic turn. In 1794, scientist Joseph Dombey, sent by France, faced misfortune as his ship was blown off-course by a storm and captured by British privateers. Despite his attempts to disguise himself, Dombey was taken hostage and imprisoned in Montserrat. Tragically, he died in captivity before a ransom could be paid, leaving Jefferson’s efforts to implement the metric system in America in vain. The nation continued with its traditional measurement system, and the metric system remained unadopted. The ill-fated voyage of Joseph Dombey sealed the metric system’s fate in America

I’m an American who was partially raised by a British stepfather. His relatives back in England would send me and my brother British Smarties for Christmas every year for a while. I can’t eat M&Ms because of my allergies, so I loved Smarties.

The story on NASCAR is missing a few things. NASCAR did not IMMEDIATELY supplant illegal moonshine running. That took until the 1960's before the Moonshiners hung up their stills to race full time. Junior Johnson did time for moonshining while driving in NASCAR.

Huge fan! Thank you for the hours of entertainment and your helpful insights, Chris!

As a Greek I was sooo certain the monkey bite incident was gonna be in the video. A hundred years later it's still unpleasant to study this event and how circumstances could've been much much different if it weren't for one of the smallest events completely changing the course of history.

Gin is made with juniper berries. Its a clear botanical spirit. I am a fan. Gin must be 80 proof and made with juniper. Its great for very aromatic and floral cocktails. My favorite is a very old cocktail called the Martinez, I can only say it tastes like Christmas.

Kind of the opposite-- historical events that led to mundane stuff: 9/11 led to the Ellen show getting cancelled. Gerard Way witnessed the Towers falling on the way to work, quits work, starts MCR. MCR served as the inspiration for Twilight. Twilight was inspiration for Fifty Shades of Gray, which was then made into a movie. The actress from that movie called out Ellen for mistreating her employees, thus causing Ellen's show to spiral into oblivion.

I love when you mention your favourites and then that's what they talk about, shows how good your history knowledge is 😊

9/11 caused week 2 of the NFL season to be rescheduled. In the first game after the attacks Mo Lewis knocked Drew Bledsoe out of the game and some guy named Tom Brady had to take his place

Gin is made from Juniper Berries and other botanicals, so it's very floral tasting. It's good in cocktails, not my favourite straight-up 😅

I have a really good friend from Hazard, KY! So cool your cousin is from there! I know they got hit hard by flooding a few years back, but it's a strong community, and is already coming back stronger.

13:45 I don’t know why, but I’m in love with the way you said that

Have a blessed week Chris!

Sadly historians reject Kennedy Green M&M affair which had devastating effects for Latin America in the cold War.

Today was the day I learned why Smarties and M&M's are so similar. Also, yes, monkey bites are baaaaad. From an ID specialist's perspective, monkeys are probably tied with humans for the worst thing to get bitten by besides venomous snakes. They have a lot of the same parasites (including viruses and bacteria) that humans have, and they tend to have *way* stronger jaw muscles and bigger teeth to really increase the likelihood that you are going to get infected (bigger surface area of the tooth plus deeper penetration). Additionally, macaques and baboons in particular have crazy canine teeth, so, in a way, I'm not surprised the king died since this was before penicillin.

Charlie Wilson's dog pees on some flowers and causes 911 and the War on Terror Short version: Charlie Wilson was a boy in Texas. He had a pet dog that was older than he was. The dog peed on his neighbour's flowers, the neighbour fatally poisoned the dog The police wouldn't do anything cos the neighbour was a city councilman The next election, Charlie borrows his dad's car and drive more than 50 people to the polling station. On the way, he tells them all what his neighbour did, and the neighbour loses by 37 votes These 2 events inspire Charlie to go into politics. He climbs the ranks, ends up on the House Appropriations Committee He funnels huge amounts of aid (financial and military) to Israel and later to the Mujahideen when they were fighting the Soviets Some of the Mujahideen who benefitted the most later became the Taliban and Al Qaeda When the Soviets withdrew, American aid dried up, including to Pakistan, which had a large number of Afghani refugees This, and America's continuing support for Israel lead to a lot of anti-American sentiment in the region, and the radicalisation of Bin Laden Tom Hanks plays Charlie in "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007)

Nations in WW2 were actually MUCH MORE opportunistic than in WW1. In WW1, the alliance system was pretty stable throughout the war (with the one exception Italy). In WW2, countries often switched alliances and many alliances were really messy. Finland: first anti-Germany, than pro-Germnay, than anti-Germany. Yugoslavia had an alliance with Germany, than the government was overthrown and the new government made an alliance with England. (And as the Croats were sympathetic to Germany and the Serbs very much opposed, Yugoslavia actually fought a civil war during WW2) USSR: first pro-Germany, than anti-Germany. Of course, the UK was NOT allied with the USSR from the beginning, quite the opposite (The UK had actually plans drawn up to attack the USSR-held Caucasus and these plans were only stopped after Barbarossa was launched). France: first anti-Germany, than pro-Germany (and no, de Gaulle was NOT France. From the official French point of view, he was a traitor. There was actually quite a lot of French-French fighting in WW2). Japan (a German ally) invaded Indo-China (a Vichy French colony) even though Germany had promised Vichy France that it wouldn't be touched. Even Italy: first pro-Germany, than anti-Germany, than the country split and northern Italy was pro-Germany again. Romania: first pro-Germany, than anti-Germany. Slovakia: even though Chekoslovakia was invaded by Germany, Slovakia ended up a German ally. Iceland: though neutral and sympathetic to the Allies, was invaded (!) by the UK and let's not even get started with the messy situation in China. And than there was the strange fact that the SS was actually a very multi-national organisation: there were French, Dutch, Norwegian and even Muslim SS dviisions. ("Fun" fact: the very last SS units defending central Berlin against the Sovjets were French!)

Love your content chris

Hey Chris, I would recommend looking into the game 'Pentiment' if you are a fan of medieval-to-early-renaissance European history, murder mysteries, and gorgeous art

Another small event with unexpected consequences was Martin Luther being caught in a storm so bad, he prayed and vowed that if he were to survive it, he'd become a monk!

Die-Hard Nascar Fan Here: Mark Martin Stopped Racing in the 6 after the 2006 Season. The 6 would be driven by David Ragan under UPS sponsorship until 2011. Ricky Stenhouse Jr ran it for 5 races in 2012 and then Trevor Bane did from 2015-2018. However, due to weak performances, he shared the car with Matt Kenseth in 2018. It is was there where the Wyndham Rewards Sponsorship came from. Ryan Newman drove it from 2019-2021 and Brad Keslowski drives it right now.

14:30 you know there is a natural prequel to the Dukes of Hazzard. Set in the early 30s with JD Hogg and Uncle Jesse distilling and running moonshine during prohibition. You know the timeline never really worked out for that show. Jesse and JD should have been like 75 years old.

Your cousin is Rebecca Gayheart? No way! I remember her from Harvard Man and Scream 2.

Knowing there is another Mark Martin fan. He was also my first driver for NASCAR when I started getting into it as a kid.

During the prohibition leading to NASCAR part he had a clip of Popcorn Sutton! He's a legend where I grew up!

Smarties are still around in the UK. The blue ones used to be infamous for making kids loopy because of an additive in the food colouring

my cousins had a ford dealership in cincinnati, but being from carter & boyd ky, which were…dry counties. they had a great side business.

This was a good and interesting video...thank you Sir

Most gin uses juniper berries as their core flavor component. It has a strong herby taste a bit like citrus and pine needles, not surprising given the juniper is actually a fleshy pinecone, and likely why it got paired with similarly strong flavored tonics.

Gin, generally, is gorgeous: fragrant and flavoured with different combinations of botanicals. Very refreshing on a hot day.

A bog standard gin like Beefeater is flavored with botanicals like juniper, citrus peels, coriander, angelica root, and licorice. It tastes like a pine forest for the most part. The citrus and coriander also give it a little christmasy/festive spice flavor to it. Nowadays most people drink it with all sorts of mixers, but it’s still really good if you drink it neat.

I like gin, and gin and tonic. It's made from juniper berries, so has a sort of piney taste, at least it does if you buy a good quality gin. Often other botanicals are added to it to give it additional subtle flavours. from citrusy and fruity to spicy and earthy. For strong liquor it's quite refreshing, particularly when mixed with tonic. Should be warned that cheap gin is absolutely terrible and only good as a disinfectant, you really do get what you pay for.

We STILL use BC and AD to delineate the start of our calendar.

The assassination of Franz Duke Ferdinand sounds to me like someone correcting a canon event😂

The killing of the Arch duke is a bit like the old one-eyed man in Helm's Deep who shoots the first ork (Uruk-hai). Sure, it triggered the start of the war, but it didn't cause it

Never thought I'd see Until Dawn footage on VTH's channel.

Whenever I think of moonshiners, I think of the paternal side of my lineage. Irish immigrants who came to the US under the name O'Guynn. From what little I know, Prohibition caused a massive divide between the highly Catholic faction and the booze runners. The catholic side dropped the O', and that's where my lineage comes from. Kinda funny, especially with my love for rum and whiskey, and my lack of catholicism.

I loved your story about your moonshining ancestors from Appalachia. A classic.

Gin is flavoured with juniper berries (sort of a pine taste). Juniper (genèvre) gave the name to the drink, and also to a region where juniper grew profusely - Genèvre. Or Geneva.

10:58 Basic Gin and Tonic(with or without the lime) is like a light vodka with a citrus after taste. Its the perfect Spring/Summer drink. Straight Gin is meh best just to suffer the bug spray of vodka if your going bottle drinking.

Gin and Tonics are my favorite drink. This will sound weird, but it tastes like a "cleaner vodka". Less of a burn and aftertaste than vodka, in my opinion.

Big NASCAR fan. So much history there you can talk about. I'd recommend S1ap Shoes or Brock Beard

Yes and part of Greece where my mom’s island isn’t to far from western Turkey.

You will greatly improve gin by pricking some damsons/slows, adding a decent amount of sugar and covering with gin; leave for a minimum of three months; shake the container vigorously each week.

Gin seems to garner strong feelings from both sides, some love it, and some hate it. It is basically vodka that has been infused with juniper - 51% of the botanicals must be juniper, but it can be more. I like it, but those who don't often say it's like drinking pine sol. If you want to try one that is minimal juniper, try out Watershed's 4 peel gin, which uses citrus and other botanicals and is not "overly" piney. It's also local to Ohio as it is distilled in suburban Columbus.

Well I can only think of an event that prevented a butterfly effect. Stanislav Petrov, the Russian who refused to alert his superiors about an incoming US nuclear missile strike thinking the Americans wouldn’t have launched a nuclear strike with just 5 missiles. Turns out he was right and we’re all here today because of him

The best I could describe Gin is "Flowery", a good Gin has a very pleasant taste (even if with a high alcohol content), gin and tonic is a classic where I'm from, even just with lots of ice and lemon, lots of people young and old, drink it.

In Canada we have Smarties and they’re a candy coated chocolate similar to M&m’s. Higher shell to filling ratio. We also have what you call Smarties except here they’re called Rockets.

My grandfather raced stock cars on dirt tracks in Arkansas when Mark Martin first started. Raced against him a few times. And beat him too.

I was kinda half expecting your great great granddaddy to be called John Lee Pedimore. Lol.

Bit of local history here. Several towns on the Finnish west coast, including my own hometown, literally got founded because the King of Sweden unintentionally got stranded in Finland. It was Charles IX, he had been warring against Poland in Livonia in the early 1600s. One time, when he sailed back to Stockholm for the winter, the Baltic Sea froze earlier than expected and he had to land in Finland not to get stuck in the ice. To get back to Stockholm, he had to take the land route around the Baltic Sea, following the coastline, and in doing so he realized how little civilization there was in the area and ordered the founding of several new towns along the coast.

Depends on the gin. Most Christmases my mum distills her own damson gin which is fantastic

Note: The monkey bite incident took place before the discovery of penicillin. It is really dreadful, how many injuries were fatal before the discovery of antibiotics.

I've never bothered with gin. My mother used to use it to clean her jewellery. Imagine what that could do to your insides !! My grandfather, Edward Travers, was sent to archangel in Russia in June 1918 with the 10th Battalion Royal Scots, to fight against the Bolsheviks. He wasn't best pleased to miss out on the "end" of WW1, and didn't get back to Scotland until June 1919.

I noticed the Gin one lol😂

Best pronunciation of Greek names I have ever heard

Shoutout to Titusville Florida! Who would have thought to here my hometowns name here 😂

Gin has a strong floral taste due to the juniper berries and other botanicals that are used. I personally don't care for it unless it's mixed with other things to dampen the taste. That said, the French 75 is one of my favorite drinks (great during the summer!) and it's made with gin.

In Austria we had Smarties waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before M&Ms and before that we had Bonitos (more or less the same as Smarties) the comercial slogan "Viele, viele bunte Smarties, Hey Smarties" is still ringing in everybodies ear.... 🙂

15:00 I cant believe Chris just casually mentioned that hes related to Rebecca Gayheart!!! That's really cool...

Big fan of Gin. Kind of citrusy, kind of herbal, kind of pine. Some people think it tastes like perfume but I don't get that flavor. Worth a shot. I'd recommend trying a Tom Collins first, then try it by itself

11:05 Gin on its own is typically very dry and can come flavored, usually citrus flavors like lime. Mixed with tonic water, which can be plain or come in a greater variety of flavors, it creates a dry but overall enjoyable drink depending on how you mix it, and you can add slices or rinds of citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, or limes to increase the variety of flavor or multiply the preexisting flavor if it matches the flavor of gin or tonic water. It's also worth noting that some people claim gin and tonic is more pleasant to drink in hot weather than cold weather.

Gin is like drinking a pine tree.....with tonic better than it sounds:)

That was actually Ryan Newman in the 6 car! Looks really similar to Mark Martin’s car and cool to hear you’re a fan of his! It’s a shame he never got the championship he deserved.

Dont know if you have already I would love to see you cover a connections episode with James Burke

Gin is very botanical and has an almost piney flavor. Gin and Tonic with ice and lime is extremely refreshing and a good summer drink. I'd recommend the Brand Bombay Saphire

Gin pretty much tastes like someone distilled some pine needles.

Fun fact - "Smarties" are candy-coated small chocolate discs in a bunch of other places in the world, including where I'm from - Canada! The candies you know in America as "Smarties" are exactly the same up here, but have always been known as "Rockets"!

There was that time that someone forgot to remove the tape covering a door latch in the Watergate Hotel.

I love Gin. It has a juniper flaovor but can have other botanicals as well. I'd start with a mixed drink like Gin and Tonic as opposed to a martini.

As a greek I can confirm the monkey bite story. When I was little I genuinely thought that the Alexander mentioned was Alexander the Great. Kinda helps you understand how little impact Alexander I had in modern greek history. He was just put to the throne to replace his pro german father Constantine I and essentially be a puppet of the Prime Minister. Overall though, he seems to have been a pretty decent guy. P.S: He apparently married a commoner which was a big scandal back then. Talk about ahead of his time

VTH, i think you would like some of Maginates Media's videos on people such as J P Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and the history of United Fruit (Chiquita)

Gin tastes like a liquid pine tree

Gin is fantastic! Try it! Classic gin is heavily flavored with juniper berries, but more modern gins have other flavor profiles. Here are some brands to try: Hayman's London Dry Gin, classic Juniper forward Gin. Hendricks, juniper sits nicely alongside other botanicals, most notably, cucumber and rose. If you want to just try one gin and don't want to break the bank, try Bombay Sapphire gin at about $25 a bottle.

I love those "The ______ That Built America" shows. The cheesy reenactments are my favorite parts. Because they try to dramatize so much stuff that was probably just done slowly and quietly in some board meeting, but they gotta make it fun to watch. I'm sure Famous Amos and Mrs Fields weren't really bitter rivals, they just needed to do two cookie stories to fill out the episode.

One such event that comes to mind is the 1985 bottle incident or the Martinoviç affair

Thank you Prof Chris, always very interesting comments. A correction: the war of 70 and the fall of the Temple in Jerusalem is not the reason for the Jewish diaspora. Already at the time of Christ, Rome was the first Jewish city and Alexandria undoubtedly the second. Very good documentary of the period on the French-German channel ARTE, by specialists who study this period.

Damn, in Europe we had smarties till late into the 90s. I didn't know they were the original m&m

Gin tends to have an herbal flavor, though this is by no means universal. I enjoy it occasionally, as a nice middle ground between richer spirits like tequila or rum and neutral ones like vodka. It mixes well with limes and herbs.

I mostly stick to bourbon and scotch but I'm learning to appreciate some gins. It's like vodka but with a very herbal and somewhat floral flavor due to it being made with juniper

Been a while since I had a gin and tonic. My wife bought me a bottle of Bombay Sapphire for my birthday one year. I loved it! So the next week I went out and bought a cheap grocery store gin (I enjoyed their scotch at the time), big mistake! Second worse hangover I ever had in my life! The worst was when I drank two bottles of Night train Express in the late 90's!

I'm eating pasta

Gin is a distilled spirit flavored with botanical ingredients, traditionally, juniper berries, giving it the flavor of pine with a light citrus feel from the berries. Very much an acquired taste, gin is described as "dry", as in lacking sweetness.

Gin and tonic is absolutely my favorite cocktail. That being said, gin is very botanical. Its almost like you took a bushel of flowers and pine needles and made them into a spirit. Tonic is sweet and bitter at the same time. The combination is like if you took a Christmas wreath and added a few teaspoons of sugar. Its an incredibly refreshing drink with lime. But don't take my word for it, try it yourself. I hope you enjoyed my pitch.

Gin tastes like what a Christmas Tree smells like.

my favourite butterfly effect is the fall of Constantinople leading to the discovery of America. When the Ottomans blocked Europe from the spice trade and they had to find another way, leading to the discovery

The M & M's one was interesting. I heard about a few of the others. And the monkey bite killing someone. Never knew about that

Gin by itself has a strong flavor of pine. I'm sure different Gins yield different flavors but every time I get it, it tastes like pine. You can mix it with a little water and ice and it's pretty good like that. Or you can get tonic water, and a few limes and make a refreshing Gin and tonic. One of the best drinks but I wouldn't drink more than 4 if you don't want to get wasted.