This episode charts the rise of Agrippina the Younger from political exile to the heights of power as she schemed to place her son, the infamous Nero, upon the imperial throne.

But her ultimate triumph became her undoing.

Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com

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https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt

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In the 14th century a disputed papal election sparked a spiritual civil war. European kingdoms were forced to take sides, powerful dynasties backed their chosen pontiff, and the two Popes busied themselves excommunicating each other and their followers.

Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@WhatCameBeforePodcast

Apple Podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-came-before/id1839699689

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3eRPO23EzaKSZYL7rJ0XPt

Amazon Podcasts:

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7b3c1fc1-8bed-4d81-9989-5d49853557bd/what-came-before

RSS Feed:

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Juan Pujol García was a Spanish chicken farmer who became the most important double agent of the Second World War. Initially rejected by British intelligence, he conceived an audacious plan: become a fake Nazi spy to get their attention.

Eventually recruited by the British and codenamed "Garbo," his masterful performance culminated on D-Day, where he convinced the German High Command that the Normandy invasion was merely a diversion.

Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com

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Spotify

Amazon Podcasts

In October 1962, the world stood on the precipice of nuclear annihilation for thirteen agonizing days. When U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet offensive missiles in Cuba, a high-stakes political thriller unfolded in real-time.

Contact: whatcamebeforepodcast@gmail.com

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Amazon Podcasts

July 14th, 1789. In a city simmering with hunger, fear, and revolutionary fervor, the eyes of Paris turn to a single, ominous structure: the Bastille.

It was the ultimate symbol of royal tyranny, a place where the king could make his enemies disappear without a trial. Its fall would become the single most iconic event of the French Revolution.

For three decades in the 15th century, England was ripped apart by a dynastic civil war known as the Wars of the Roses. The red rose of Lancaster, the ruling house, was pitted against the white rose of York, its ambitious challenger.

What began as a political struggle over the weak and ineffectual King Henry VI soon exploded into open warfare, launching a cycle of betrayal, revenge, and slaughter. This episode untangles the complex claims and fierce personalities, from the brilliant Edward IV to the notorious Richard III and the formidable "Kingmaker" that defined the conflict.

Discover how this bloody Cousins' War led to the death of the Plantagenet dynasty and the birth of a new royal house that would change England forever: the Tudors.

This episode tells the story of the great solar storm of 1859, from the amateur astronomer who first saw the flare to the global chaos that followed. We then explore how a similar event today could cripple power grids, destroy satellites, and plunge our planet into a prolonged blackout.

Discover the science behind space weather and the race to protect our civilization from a cosmic knockout punch.

In the year 69AD, the Roman Empire was torn apart by a devastating civil war. Following the death of Emperor Nero, a power vacuum emerged, leading to the rapid and violent rise and fall of four different emperors: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and the eventual victor, Vespasian.

This episode explores that tumultuous year, a conflict that revealed the true power of the legions and forever changed how a Roman emperor was made.