History WebAnimation / HistoryMatters

** Several in "New Courland: When Latvia Built an Empire", including the very premise. For starters, Latvia did not exist in the 17th century, which the video acknowledges, but the other Latvian homelands of Vidzeme, Latgale, and Selija were also not part of the Duchy of Courland, so the video title is a bit of a stretch already. Additionally, while the majority native peasant population of the Duchy did indeed speak Latvian, most of the Courlander colonists who went to Tobago were of the Baltic German upper and noble classes who settled in Latvia during the crusades of the 14th century, and so even if the colony survived, its descendants wouldn't be Latvian speakers as the video suggests but more likely German or Dutch speaking. The only native Latvians brought along were indentured servants who either died in the collapse of the first settlement in 1639, were gradually assimilated into the Dutch or German majorities of the subsequent settlements, or on some rare occasions escaped to join the marauding Spanish and English buccaneers.
* ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: In "How did the USSR get its nukes?", it is erroneously mentioned that the Soviet Union had no access to weapons-grade uranium (which the US and British Empire effectively had a monopoly on at that point) and thus had to "mine" plutonium in order to construct their nukes instead. In reality, Soviet Union did actually have access to uranium deposits within its borders, the issue was that they weren't able to enrich their uranium to weapons grade (a process requiring resources and money that the USSR was fresh out of because of the war) and thus converted it to plutonium in makeshift breeder reactors instead. Plutonium itself also cannot be "mined" as it is a byproduct of decaying uranium-238, meaning it only occurs naturally in extremely small concentrations.

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: In "Why was the USA the first to deal with the Barbary Pirates?", its described how most European Powers, particularly larger ones like Britain, France, & Spain, simply paid off the Barbary Coast pirates exorbitantly since it was less costly than waging war against them. However, for the newly-formed United States, the Barbary pirates were attacking their shipping and the cost of paying them off was still too high, so they opted to wage war. The first war was a narrow victory for the US, who agreed to pay the Barbary States a large tribute in exchange for releasing American Prisoners and for safe passage for their ships. Of course, being pirates, the Barbary States later reneged on their agreement.[[note]] Mainly because during the War of 1812 the British convinced them to step-up their attacks on American Shipping [[/note]] For the second war, the US decided to deal with the Barbary Pirates for good. This time, they sent even more ships and [[CurbStompBattle defeated the Barbary states so thoroughly]] that they had no choice but to agree to permanently stop all raids on American Shipping (in exchange for nothing except their capital ''not'' being burned).

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In "Why did Britain lose Hanover?", it was noted that once the House of Hanover was granted the British crown in 1713, the Elector of Hanover at the time, George I, immediately moved to Britain. His successors would remain there as well--to the point where George III, despite ruling both Britain and Hanover for ''nearly 60 years'', never visited Hanover during his lifetime--leading to a growing alienation where Hanover felt they had become a British puppet state. This was amplified after the Napoleonic Wars, when the re-established ''Kingdom'' of Hanover flat-out didn't want the British king back. When William IV died without an heir in 1837, this gave them an out: while Victoria became Queen of the United Kingdom, Salic law disallowed women from rule, so Hanover was taken over by her uncle, Ernest Augustus. But their independence from the UK only lasted 29 years before they were conquered by Prussia.

* BondVillainStupidity: In "Why Didn't Britain Make Peace After the Fall of France?", it's noted that Britain's strategy for World War II was to hold out until Germany made a mistake, or something happened that would pull the United States into the fight. Their code breakers already knew Hitler was keen on stabbing Stalin in the back, and they predicted this would happen by 1942. Fortunately for them, Germany opened a two-front war by invading the Soviet Union in July 1941, and Japan pulled the US into the fray by attacking Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in December 1941. Even so, the United States didn't join the European war until Germany declared war on the USA, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain despite their treaty with Japan including no obligation to do so.]]
* BothSidesHaveAPoint: In "Was the Glorious Revolution a Dutch Conquest?", the British saw the Revolution as a coup to overthrow a tyrannical king and crown a constitutional monarch that would respect Parliament while the Dutch saw it as that one time they conquered Britain and Ireland and made their leader, William of Orange, its new King. The narrator concludes both sides were right as it was both a coup and conquest that benefited both sides.

** The British government punished the Scottish Highland Clans who refused to swear loyalty to the House of Orange and their successors and we're involved in the Jacobite Rebellions by evicting them from their lands and giving them to loyal Scottish nobles who turn those lands into Sheep Farms. The Scottish Sheep farms ended up as a commercial failure no thanks to competition by New Zealand Sheep Farmers, the descendants of the exiled Scottish Clans.

** The Scottish Highland Clans remain loyal to House of Stuart despite being overthrown by the House of Orange and their successors which many people in the United Kingdom accepted as their new monarch. The Clans' refusal to swear allegiance to the new King and taking part in the Jacobite Rebellions led to the British government to kick the Highland Clans out of their lands and give them to loyal Scottish Lords.

** The Scottish Highland Clans remaining loyal to the disposed House Stuart and taking part in the Jacobite rebellions were punished by British government by having the Clans evicted from their lands and given to loyal Scottish nobles.

** Despite being known for most of its history as Persia, the country's actual name is Iran and they always called it as such. The misnaming come from the Greeks who named it after their elite class the Farsis, and the name practically stuck. It wouldn't be until the 20th Century when the Shah of Iran requested the world community to refer to their country as Iran rather than Persia and pretty much everyone accepted... with the exception of Great Britain because old habits die hard.

** When Ceaușescu is giving his speech in front of an angry crowd in the Romanian Revolution video, one person's protest sign reads "[[VideoGame/{{Roblox}} Go commit die]]".

** Making matters worse for the Barbary States, the American Victory sent shockwaves across Europe. Seeing how a smaller, less-powerful state managed to defeat the Barbary States so thoroughly made the larger European Naval powers realize that they no longer had to deal with the Barbary pirates, and thus launched their own campaigns against them. [[ForWantOfANail This ultimately led]] to the French Occupation of Algeria in the 1830s.

* ArtShift: Starting in 2019, videos end with the credits having the background as a History Matters-style rendering of a famous work of art. Frequent ones include ''The Son of Man'' (regarded by fans to be the narrator's AuthorAvatar), ''American Gothic'', and ''Napoleon Crossing the Alps''. If it's about the USSR, and has mentions of [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]], it might show a photograph [[UnPerson getting airbrushed to remove someone standing with Stalin]]. [[spoiler:In at least one video, the airbrush was replaced with the Rover from ''Series/ThePrisoner1967''.]]

** A newspaper dated July 27th, 1945 in "Why was Churchill voted out of office after WW2?" has a headline "Bright flash in Nevada is 'Nothing, stop asking'", an obvious reference to the first atomic bomb test. While the vast majority of atomic bomb tests in the US did take place in Nevada, the Trinity Test was in New Mexico.

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: In "Why was the USA the first to deal with the Barbary Pirates?", its described how most European Powers, particularly larger ones like Britain, France, & Spain, simply paid off the Barbary Coast pirates exorbitantly since it was less costly than waging war against them. However, for the newly-formed United States, the Barbary pirates were attacking their shipping and the cost of paying them off was still too high, so they opted to wage war. The first war was a narrow victory for the US, who agreed to pay the Barbary States a large tribute in exchange for releasing American Prisoners and for safe passage for their ships. Of course, being pirates, the Barbary States later reneged on their agreement.[[note]] Mainly because during the War of 1812 the British convinced them to step-up their attacks on American Shipping [[/note]] This time, the US decided to deal with the Barbary Pirates for good. In the second war, they sent even more ships and [[CurbStompBattle defeated the Barbary states so thoroughly]] that they had no choice but to agree to permanently stop all raids on American Shipping (in exchange for nothing except their capital ''not'' being burned).

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: In "Why was the USA the first to deal with the Barbary Pirates?", its noted that most European Powers, particularly larger ones like Britain, France, & Spain, simply paid off the Barbary Coast pirates exorbitantly since it was less costly than waging war against them. However, for the newly-formed United States, the Barbary pirates were attacking their shipping and the cost of paying them off was still too high, so they opted to wage war. The first war was a narrow victory for the US, who agreed to pay the Barbary States a large tribute in exchange for releasing American Prisoners and for safe passage for their ships. Of course, being pirates, the Barbary States later reneged on their agreement.[[note]] Mainly because during the War of 1812 the British convinced them to step-up their attacks on American Shipping [[/note]] This time, the US decided to deal with the Barbary Pirates for good. In the second war, they sent even more ships and [[CurbStompBattle defeated the Barbary states so thoroughly]] that they had no choice but to agree to permanently stop all raids on American Shipping (in exchange for nothing except their capital ''not'' being burned).

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: In "Why was the USA the first to deal with the Barbary Pirates?", its noted that most European Powers, particularly larger ones like Britain, France, & Spain, simply paid off the Barbary Coast pirates exorbitantly since it was less costly than waging war against them. However, for the newly-formed United States, the Barbary pirates were attacking their shipping and the cost of paying them off was still too high, so they opted to wage war. The first war was a narrow victory for the US, who agreed with the Barbary States for a large tribute in exchange for releasing American Prisoners and for safe passage for their ships. Of course, being pirates, the Barbary States later reneged on their agreement.[[note]] Mainly because during the War of 1812 the British convinced them to step-up their attacks on American Shipping [[/note]] This time, the US decided to deal with the Barbary Pirates for good. In the second war, they sent even more ships and [[CurbStompBattle defeated the Barbary states so thoroughly]] that they had no choice but to agree to permanently stop all raids on American Shipping (in exchange for nothing except their capital ''not'' being burned).

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: In "Why was the USA the first to deal with the Barbary Pirates?", its noted that most European Powers, particularly larger ones like Britain, France, & Spain, simply paid off the pirates exorbitantly on the Barbary Coast since it was less costly than waging war against them. However, for the newly-formed United States, the Barbary pirates were attacking their shipping and the cost of paying off the pirates was still too high, so they opted to wage war. The first war was a narrow victory for the US, who agreed with the Barbary States for a large tribute in exchange for releasing American Prisoners and for safe passage for their ships. Of course, being pirates, the Barbary States later reneged on their agreement[[note]] Mainly because during the War of 1812 the British convinced them to step-up their attacks on American Shipping [[/note]]. This time, the US decided to deal with the Barbary Pirates for good. This time, they sent even more ships and [[CurbStompBattle defeated the Barbary states so thoroughly]] that they had no choice but to agree to permanently stop all raids on American Shipping (in exchange for nothing but their capital ''not'' being burned).

** In the video discussing the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the narrator describes how a KangarooCourt found Ceaușescu and his wife guilty, and they were to spend the rest of their lives in custody… which was literally just 5 minutes since the court sentenced them to be executed, carried out immediately.
* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: In "Why was the USA the first to deal with the Barbary Pirates?", its noted that most European Powers, particularly larger ones like Britain, France, & Spain, simply paid off the pirates exorbitantly on the Barbary Coast since it was less costly than waging war against them. However, for the newly-formed United States, the Barbary pirates were attacking their shipping and the cost of paying off the pirates was still too high, so they opted to wage war. The first war was a narrow victory for the US, who agreed with the Barbary States for a large tribute in exchange for releasing American Prisoners and for safe passage for their ships. Of course, being pirates, the Barbary States later reneged on their agreement[[note]] Mainly because during the War of 1812 the British convinced them to step-up their attacks on American Shipping [[/note]]. This time, the US decided to deal with the Barbary Pirates for good. This time, they sent even more ships and [[CurbStompBattle defeated the Barbary states so thoroughly]] that they had no choice but to agree to permanently stop all raids on American Shipping (in exchange for nothing but their capital ''not'' being burned).
** Making matters worse for the Barbary States, the American Victory sent shockwaves across Europe. Seeing how a smaller, less-powerful state managed to defeat the Barbary States so thoroughly made the larger European Naval powers realize that they no longer had to deal with the Barbary pirates, and thus launched their own campaigns against them. [[ForWantOfANail This ultimately led]] to the French Occupation of Algeria in the 1830s.

* ComicallyCrossedEyes: When a country is doing something stupid, their leader is sometimes depicted as having these.

** Any time a newspaper appears on screen, it's filled with silly articles along with the main headline.