Fall of Civilizations is a history podcast hosted by Paul Cooper. Each episode talks about a civilization of ancient or medieval history which has collapsed, though contrary to its title, each episode talks about the entire history of the civilization, from origin to collapse and aftermath.
Fall of Civilizations contains examples of the following tropes:
- The Alleged Car: Discussed. Asmund Kastanrassi builds a ship out of scraps of wood and walrus skins, the only material available on Greenland, and Paul Cooper describes it as a "Frankenstein's monster of a ship." While he does manage to sail it to Iceland, over 1500 kilometers of the iceberg-clogged and stormy North Atlantic, his ship finally breaks apart and sinks in the North Sea on the way to Norway.
- Cold Open: Each episode opens with someone encountering the ruins of the civilization long after it has totally collapsed.
- Foregone Conclusion: No matter how much the viewer wants them to succeed, each civilization will be doomed to collapse and fade into semi-obscurity.
- Human Sacrifice: Discussed. Several civilizations practiced this, including the Mayans, Aztecs, and Carthaginians.
