Hello, History Captains!
You know what's wild about history? The most pivotal moments often happen when you least expect them. Take this week in August: In 30 B.C., Cleopatra, the last ruler of ancient Egypt, took her own life, ending the Ptolemaic dynasty and sealing Rome’s control over the Nile; in 1973, a Bronx block party hosted by DJ Kool Herc introduced the breakbeat, quietly launching the global phenomenon of hip-hop; and in 1676, Wampanoag leader Metacom known to the English as King Philip was killed, bringing one of the deadliest wars in American history to a close. History loves throwing curveballs that seem random in the moment but change everything. So if you enjoy this trip through time, make sure to share it with a friend :)
Close Calls: Split-Second Decisions That Nearly Rewrote History
The Orders Nixon Almost Gave
On April 15th, 1969, a U.S. Navy EC-121 reconnaissance plane was shot down by North Korean fighters over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 crew members. President Richard Nixon’s advisers pushed for a swift and punishing strike in retaliation. In the tense hours that followed, nuclear-armed bombers were readied and attack plans drawn up. But Nixon — distracted by meetings and reportedly drinking — never gave the final order. Had he done so, the resulting clash could have spiraled into open war on the Korean Peninsula, with the Soviet Union watching closely for its own move.
The Canal That Almost Became Ground Zero
During the height of the 1956 Suez Crisis, as Britain, France, and Israel fought Egypt for control of the canal, a radar station reported what looked like incoming Soviet bombers. The fear was that Moscow was making good on threats to intervene — possibly with nuclear force. Commanders scrambled defenses and prepared to counterstrike. Minutes later, the “attack” turned out to be a false alarm caused by misidentified aircraft. Had the mistake gone uncorrected, the Cold War might have erupted into the world’s first nuclear exchange.
The Moon That Almost Triggered Nuclear War
In October 1960, during the peak of Cold War paranoia, a U.S. radar installation in Thule, Greenland picked up what appeared to be Soviet missiles rising over the horizon. The system had mistaken the moonrise for an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. Alarms rang. Defense officials began prepping for retaliation. But cooler heads double-checked the data and discovered the error just in time. One false move could have triggered World War III — all because of a perfectly timed full moon.
In This Weeks Episode:
What If 1675 Ended in Native Victory?
A Baby's 30-Year Journey Through History
The War That Almost Was Won
June 15th, 1675: Metacom, known to the English as King Philip, receives word that his coordinated attacks have succeeded beyond his wildest expectations. Plymouth Colony lies in ashes. Boston is under siege. The Narragansett, Nipmuc, and Abenaki have joined his Wampanoag warriors in what would have been history's most devastating colonial defeat. In our timeline, King Philip's War killed more people per capita than any conflict in American history before claiming Metacom's life and breaking Native resistance in New England. But what if that final English counteroffensive had failed? What if the ships arriving in Boston Harbor carried not reinforcements, but desperate colonists fleeing back to Europe with tales of an unconquerable continent? The Native confederacy that was forming in 1675 could have sent shockwaves across the Atlantic, forcing European powers to reconsider their entire approach to the New World. But would Native victory have created the unified indigenous nation Metacom envisioned, or would success have revealed fractures that European defeat had temporarily hidden?
The Metacom of 1675 wasn't fighting just for his tribe; he was architecting the first truly pan-Indian resistance movement. His diplomatic network stretched from the Great Lakes to the Carolinas, connecting nations that had been enemies for generations. He understood what many Native leaders before him hadn't: that European colonization wasn't a local problem requiring local solutions, but an existential threat that demanded continental unity. His war councils included not just warriors, but master diplomats who had learned to play European powers against each other. French traders were secretly supplying weapons. Spanish agents were encouraging southern tribes to join the uprising. Even some enslaved Africans were fighting alongside Native forces, recognizing their shared enemy. In our alternate timeline, where this alliance succeeds in driving out English colonists, Metacom wouldn't just be preserving Native lands; he'd be creating the world's first successful anti-colonial confederation, decades before the American Revolution taught Europeans that New World rebellions could actually win.
Without English expansion succeeding in New England, the entire colonial project would have faced a credibility crisis that rippled across the Atlantic. Would French and Spanish colonization have proceeded differently knowing that indigenous resistance could actually win? A successful Native confederacy in the 1670s would have controlled crucial trade routes, forcing European powers to negotiate as equals rather than conquerors. But success would have brought its own challenges: How do you govern a confederation of nations that had been fighting each other for centuries? Would traditional chiefs have accepted Metacom's wartime authority in peacetime? And what happens when the next generation of Native leaders, having never experienced defeat, disagrees about how to handle European traders who still arrive seeking partnerships rather than domination? The very unity that made victory possible might have proved impossible to maintain without a common enemy to fight against.
The America that might have emerged from Native victory would have grappled with questions that make our current political debates look simple. Would a continent-spanning indigenous confederation have developed democratic institutions, or would it have fractured into competing kingdoms? How would they have handled European diseases that were already decimating populations regardless of military outcomes? Could traditional ecological practices have scaled up to support the larger, more centralized populations that political unity would have created? Without the pressure of constant warfare and displacement, would Native technologies have advanced in directions we can barely imagine, or would success have reduced the incentives for innovation that desperation had provided? Sometimes history's greatest victories create problems that the defeated never had to solve, and the paradise that Metacom envisioned might have proven as complicated as the nightmare his people actually endured.
A stunning new archaeological find from King Philip’s War hints at a secret strategy hidden for centuries. Experts say it could change everything we thought we knew about how the war was really fought.
What's Your Take on History's Greatest What-If? Could Native American victory in the 1670s have created a sustainable indigenous nation that changed world history, or would success have brought new challenges that made defeat inevitable anyway? Hit reply with your thoughts. We're genuinely curious about which timeline you think would have been better for both Native peoples and America.
Which One Of These Areas Would You Like To Learn More About?
When Time Stood Still
The Record That Defied Time Itself
On July 26, 2025, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce entered the world carrying a remarkable distinction—he developed from an embryo frozen for over 30 years, making him the "oldest baby" ever born. The numbers tell an extraordinary story: 11,148 days passed between the moment this embryo was cryopreserved in 1994 and his first breath.
To put this in perspective, when Thaddeus's biological journey began, his adoptive mother Lindsey was just one year old.
A Tale of Two Families, Three Decades Apart
The story begins with Linda Archerd, who underwent IVF treatment in 1994. The process created four embryos—one became a daughter who is now 30 years old with her own child. The remaining three were frozen in liquid nitrogen, waiting for an uncertain future.
Decades later, Lindsey and Tim Pierce of London, Ohio, who had struggled with infertility for seven years, "adopted" the embryo through an embryo adoption agency. Despite using 1990s slow-freezing technology—considered less reliable than today's methods—all three embryos survived thawing, though only one would complete the journey to birth.
Breaking Records, Creating Precedent
This birth surpassed the previous record held by twins born from embryos frozen for 30 years—a difference of 243 days. But beyond setting records, Thaddeus's story illuminates possibilities for the estimated 1.5 million frozen embryos currently stored throughout the country.
A Snapshot of 1994: When Time Stopped
When Thaddeus's embryo was first frozen, the world was vastly different:
Bill Clinton was president; Nelson Mandela became South Africa's first Black president
"The Lion King" ruled theaters; "Friends" premiered on television
The World Wide Web was in its infancy—most people had never used email
Cell phones were luxury items; the first PlayStation hadn't been released
The Deeper Story
For historians, Thaddeus represents something unique: a life that literally bridges eras, carrying DNA timestamped from the Clinton administration into the age of artificial intelligence. He is, in the most literal sense, a child of two different worlds.
"We had a rough birth but we are both doing well now," says his mother Lindsey, perhaps summarizing not just her delivery but the entire three-decade journey that brought her son into existence.
His story reminds us that history isn't always found in archives. Sometimes it cries, sleeps, and weighs just under eight pounds. Sometimes the most profound connections between past and future happen through the miracle of life itself—even when that life takes a 30-year detour through time.
Check out the news clip below
Some Great History Resources
If you’re a teacher or parent and would like to find an engaging way to teach history, check out History Unboxed Here!