History Rage

Drones didn’t start in Silicon Valley — they began with Victorians and war
Drones feel like the defining weapon of the 21st century — cheap, disposable, and terrifyingly effective. But what if that belief is completely wrong?
In this episode of History Rage, aviation historian and journalist Mark Piesing explodes the modern myth surrounding drones and reveals a truth that stretches back more than 120 years. Long before satellites, digital cameras, or GPS, Victorian engineers were already imagining — and building — pilotless weapons designed to change warfare forever.

From Nikola Tesla’s radio-controlled boats in the 1890s, to British attack drones planned during the First World War, this episode traces how unmanned warfare evolved through failed experiments, secret Cold War programmes, and nuclear testing — long before the Predator ever flew.
Mark explains why the “father of the drone” was a British engineer targeted by German assassins, how Marilyn Monroe began her career on a drone production line, and why US Navy admirals were signing orders for thousands of attack drones before the Battle of Midway. Along the way, Paul and Mark explore why these technologies repeatedly promised to change war — and why military bureaucracy so often held them back.

This is not a story of sudden innovation. It’s a story of persistence, secrecy, and ideas far ahead of the technology needed to make them work. And it explains why today’s drone warfare in Ukraine looks eerily familiar to predictions made in 1898.

If you think drones are a modern invention, prepare to be very, very angry.

Guest: Mark Piesing
Mark Piesing is an award-winning journalist and aviation historian specialising in unmanned systems, aerospace innovation, and Cold War technology. His work has appeared with the Smithsonian, Royal Aeronautical Society, and major international publications.
Read more here: https://markpiesing.com/2025/07/03/i-was-asked-to-write-this-piece-by-history-com-how-drones-have-upended-warfare/

Follow & contact Mark
Twitter/X: @markpiesing
Instagram: @markpiesingwrites

Further listening
History Rage Episode 196 – Mark rages against polar explorers: https://pod.fo/e/2c75bd
History Rage Episode 53 – Nikola Tesla with Iwun Morus: https://pod.fo/e/16c1d5

About History Rage
History Rage is the podcast where historians unleash their fury on the myths, half-truths, and bad history we all think we know. Hosted by Paul Bavill, each episode gives an expert one burning misconception to destroy — loudly, passionately, and with evidence.

Follow History Rage
Twitter/X: @HistoryRage
Instagram: @historyrage
Website: www.historyrage.com

Support the Podcast
If you enjoy independent, expert-led history without ads, you can support History Rage in several ways:
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👉 Support the show at patreon.com/historyrage
Or simply tell someone else about the podcast — word of mouth keeps History Rage alive.
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The Blitz myth shattered: courage, crime, and chaos behind stoicism
The familiar story of Britain’s Blitz—calm, united, unshaken—is one of the most powerful myths of the Second World War. But in this gripping episode of History Rage, historian Joshua Levine dismantles the “Keep Calm and Carry On” narrative and reveals a far more complex reality.

Drawing on firsthand accounts and deep archival research, Joshua shows how the Blitz was not a single story of resilience, but a patchwork of human experiences. Alongside genuine moments of solidarity—strangers comforting each other under falling bombs—there were also spikes in crime, looting, black marketeering, and deeply personal tragedies driven by desperation.

We explore how wartime propaganda helped shape the enduring myth of the “Blitz Spirit,” promoting unity while downplaying panic, fear, and social tension. Even the iconic “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster was barely used during the war, despite becoming a defining symbol decades later.

Joshua also uncovers how the Blitz became a turning point in British society. Class boundaries blurred, communities were reshaped, and people lived with an intensity that led to dramatic social change—including what he provocatively describes as a “first sexual revolution.” At the same time, the government’s response to bombing and homelessness laid early foundations for the modern welfare state.

This episode challenges everything you thought you knew about wartime Britain—and replaces myth with nuance, humanity, and truth.


👤 About the Guest
Joshua Levine is a leading social historian and author specialising in modern British history and the Second World War.

📖 The Secret History of the Blitz
Buy your copy here (and support independent bookshops):
👉 https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781398550681
🎤 Live Event: Joshua will be speaking at the Imperial War Museum History Festival at IWM Duxford on Saturday 13th June.
🎟️ Tickets available here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-duxford/iwm-history-festival
Check out the IWM Sound Archive at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/sound


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If you’re tired of oversimplified history, this episode is your antidote—revealing the Blitz as it truly was: messy, contradictory, and profoundly human.
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Bletchley Park wasn’t built by one man—and history must stop pretending otherwise

For most people, Bletchley Park means one thing: Alan Turing, Enigma, and a single heroic breakthrough.
That story is neat, cinematic—and deeply misleading.

In this episode of History Rage, Paul Bavill is joined by historian, author, and Bletchley Park trustee Sir Dermot Turing to dismantle one of Britain’s most comfortable Second World War myths. What follows is a forensic, passionate unpicking of how thousands of codebreakers—most of them women—have been written out of history.

This is not an attack on Alan Turing. It’s a demand for accuracy.

Sir Dermot explains why Enigma has become a historical obsession, how it eclipses dozens of other vital ciphers, and why reducing Bletchley Park to a single man does a disservice to everyone involved—including Turing himself. From Spanish and Italian diplomatic codes to Japanese military signals, this episode reveals just how broad, complex, and international the intelligence war really was.

Crucially, the conversation exposes how women codebreakers were systematically downgraded by job titles, pay grades, and later historians. Clerical assistants, typists, and “support staff” were in reality performing some of the hardest cryptographic work of the war—often better than the men promoted over them. Figures such as Joan Clarke, Wendy White, Helen Hazelden, Marie Rose Egan, and many others emerge not as footnotes, but as central players.

This episode also explores:
Why Enigma machines themselves were never the real secret
How civil service bureaucracy distorted the historical record
The hidden importance of German diplomatic intelligence
Why Bletchley Park was far messier, more political, and more human than popular culture admits

If you think you know the story of Bletchley Park, this episode will make you angry—for all the right reasons.

About the Guest: Sir Dermot Turing
Sir Dermot Turing is a historian, author, and trustee of Bletchley Park, specialising in intelligence history and overlooked figures of the Second World War. He is the nephew of Alan Turing and a leading voice challenging simplistic narratives around wartime codebreaking.

Recommended Reading
📘 Misread Signals: How History Overlooked Women Codebreakers
An essential corrective to the Enigma-centric story, uncovering the vital contributions of women across British intelligence.
Available here: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781803997933

Explore More from History Rage
🎧 History Rage is the podcast where historians confront the myths that refuse to die.
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Tell someone. History only changes when the story spreads.
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Daniel Defoe wasn’t just a novelist — he helped forge Britain itself
Daniel Defoe is remembered as the author of Robinson Crusoe — but that legacy hides a far more dangerous, politically explosive truth. Long before his novels reshaped literature, Defoe was shaping nations.

In this episode of History Rage, Paul Bavill is joined by historian Marc Mierowsky, Fellow and Lecturer in English at the University of Melbourne, to rage against the idea that Defoe was “just” a novelist. Instead, we uncover Defoe as a government propagandist, intelligence agent, and covert operator, working at the very heart of early British state power.

Marc reveals how Defoe:
Operated as a political fixer and spy for Robert Harley
Built one of Britain’s earliest nationwide intelligence and propaganda networks
Infiltrated Scottish politics during the crisis years before the 1707 Act of Union
Manipulated religious divisions, rebellion, and public opinion
Helped sabotage organised resistance to the Union of England and Scotland

This is a story of dirty tricks, espionage, pamphlet warfare, and political manipulation, all carried out by a man later celebrated as a literary pioneer. It also raises uncomfortable questions about state power, surveillance, and whether the foundations of modern Britain were laid through persuasion — or coercion.
If you think you know Daniel Defoe, this episode will leave you furious, fascinated, and questioning everything.

About the guest
Marc Mierowsky is Fellow and Lecturer in English at the University of Melbourne, specialising in Restoration and early eighteenth-century literature, politics, and espionage. His research focuses on Daniel Defoe’s secret service work, propaganda networks, and the intelligence machinery behind the Anglo-Scottish Union.
Marc Mierowsky – links & contact
Book: A Spy Amongst Us: Daniel Defoe’s Secret Service and the Plot to End Scottish Independence
Publisher page / book retailers: Available via major academic and online booksellers
Affiliation: University of Melbourne

Why this episode matters
Defoe’s story forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: the modern British state was built using surveillance, propaganda, and manipulation of public opinion. The debates around sovereignty, identity, and union that rage today were already burning in the early 1700s — and Defoe was pouring fuel on the fire.
This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in:
British history
Scottish independence and the Act of Union
Early modern espionage
The hidden political origins of the novel
Propaganda, intelligence, and state power

About History Rage
History Rage is the podcast that smashes historical myths and takes cherished assumptions out back and wrecks them. Hosted by Paul Bavill, each episode gives expert historians space to rage about the misconceptions they want destroyed.
Follow & contact History Rage
Website: https://historyrage.com
Twitter / X: @HistoryRage
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Email: [email protected]

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Supporting the podcast keeps independent, expert-led history alive — and angry.

Stay angry.
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Discover the Spanish Infanta who reshaped Renaissance power from behind the throne.
Step into the glittering courts of 16th-century Europe as historian Professor Magdalena Sánchez joins host Paul Bavill to rage against a stubborn myth: that women only matter in history when they command political power.
Catalina Micaela — daughter of Philip II of Spain and Duchess of Savoy — has long been treated as a political footnote. But across 3,000 intimate letters, a forceful, devoted, and highly capable woman emerges: one who shaped diplomacy, managed wars, and commanded a court… while enduring ten pregnancies in thirteen years.

Professor Sánchez reveals how Catalina:
• Asserted her authority as Infanta of Spain, not merely “a duchess”
• Governed Savoy during her husband’s campaigns, acting as his lieutenant
• Challenged ministers, criticised generals, and organised court life with precision
• Maintained deep emotional connection through constant letter-writing and gift-giving
• Balanced political influence with religious devotion and motherhood as central duties
This episode uncovers Catalina’s love story, her leadership, and the invisible labour of royal women — all of which historians have too often ignored.
If you think only queens and rulers shape history, Catalina will change your mind.

Further Listening from the History Rage Archive
For more on powerful and underestimated women of Renaissance Europe:
• Episode 199 — Catherine de’ Medici with Una McElvenna
• Episode 232 — Ruling Queens with Elizabeth Norton

About Our Guest – Professor Magdalena Sánchez
Professor of History at Gettysburg College and author of:
Infanta: The Short Remarkable Life of Catalina Michaela (Yale University Press) — the first major biography to spotlight Catalina’s voice and legacy.
📚 Buy the book
Infanta: The Short Remarkable Life of Catalina Michaela
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9780300282832

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