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During the American Civil War, the nation was bleeding on the battlefield—but another war was being waged in the shadows. Counterfeiters flooded the Union with fake money, threatening to destroy its fragile economy from within. Amid the chaos, Abraham Lincoln faced an invisible enemy that struck at the very idea of trust itself.

In this episode of The Dark History Podcast, Rob Bradley speaks with historian Andrea Nolen, author of Lincoln’s Counterfeiters, to uncover the hidden story of 19th-century forgery, financial collapse, and the desperate creation of the U.S. Secret Service. Together, they expose the network of con men, printers, and opportunists who thrived during America’s darkest hour—and reveal how this forgotten war shaped the modern world of crime and security.

What happens when truth becomes negotiable, and even money can’t be trusted? Lincoln found out the hard way.

Links To Andrea Nolen:

https://www.andreanolen.com/

I'm on facebook under "Lincoln's Counterfeiters"

and instagram as "andreanolenauthor"

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The summer of 1914 was dazzling. Electric lights blazed in great cities, ocean liners crossed the Atlantic in record time, and the world was bound together by telegraph wires and trade. Politicians, scholars, and ordinary people alike told themselves the same comforting story: war was impossible in a modern, interconnected age. And then, with the crack of a gunshot in Sarajevo, that illusion shattered—and the world plunged into the bloodiest conflict humanity had ever seen.

In this episode of The Dark History Podcast, Rob takes you into that fragile moment before the fall: a Europe brimming with confidence but trembling on hidden fault lines of nationalism, empire, and pride. You’ll hear how Germany’s restless ambition collided with Britain’s naval supremacy, how France dreamed of revenge, how Russia and Austria-Hungary tangled in the Balkans, and how a single assassination lit the fuse of catastrophe.

But this is not just a story about the past. It’s a warning. As Rob draws eerie parallels to our own time—rising powers, arms races, fragile alliances, and volatile flashpoints—the question becomes impossible to ignore: are we, too, sleepwalking toward disaster? Or can the lessons of 1914 open our eyes before it’s too late?

With immersive storytelling and unsettling echoes across a century, this episode isn’t just about history—it’s about the fragile present we’re living in right now.

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In 1629, the Dutch East India Company’s flagship Batavia set sail from Amsterdam, loaded with silver and ambition. She was meant to be a vessel of wealth, glory, and trade. Instead, she became the stage for one of the most horrifying tragedies in maritime history.

When the Batavia struck a reef off the coast of Western Australia, nearly 300 survivors scrambled onto barren islands with no food, no water, and no hope of rescue. But their greatest threat was not the sea—it was each other.

At the heart of the disaster rose Jeronimus Cornelisz, a failed apothecary who turned desperation into a reign of terror. Under his command, Beacon Island descended into a nightmare of mass murder, enslavement, and cruelty almost too brutal to believe. Children were drowned, women were forced into concubinage, and more than 120 men, women, and children were slaughtered in the sand.

Yet even in the face of horror, resistance flickered. Wiebbe Hayes, a low-ranking soldier left to die, rallied his men, built a fort from coral, and stood against Cornelisz’s tyranny. His defiance would become the one spark of hope in a story otherwise drenched in blood.

This episode takes you from the suffocating decks of the Batavia to the desolate islands where order collapsed and savagery reigned. It is a tale of greed, power, survival, and the thin line that separates civilization from chaos.

Join me as we uncover the wreck of the Batavia and the nightmare that followed—one of history’s darkest voyages.

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