Launched in September 2016, Ten Minute History is a series of short animated documentaries on various historical topics, ranging from the Roman Era to the Cold War.
Ten Minute History provides examples of the following tropes:
- Catchphrase: "Fun fact: no."
- Deadpan Snarker: This style of humor runs throughout the series.
- From "The Early Tudors: Henry VIII and the Church of England": ''Henry then turned his attention to Scotland and, after some fighting, managed to agree to what was called the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, called so because everyone should have dreams."
- Also Henry had done what all good English kings did: Invade France.
- From "How did Ancient/Medieval Borders Work?": ''If you're on one side of this line you're in the Netherlands with its fancy windmills. If you're on the other you're in Belgium with its convenient access to
German armoured divisions. - From "Mussolini and Fascist Italy": Austro-Hungarian successes in the war, just like in everything else, didn't last.
- Limited Animation: The visuals appear to have been put together on Power Point. Characters walk by wobbling from side to side.
- Limited Wardrobe: A character sticks to the same Iconic Outfit for the duration of their appearance, possibly because it's the only way to maintain Distinctive Appearances when the faces are nearly identical.
- Long List: Each episode ends with the narrator thanking all his patrons.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: From "The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Birth of the Balkans": Selim created a new infantry division called The New Order, which doesn't sound menacing at all.
- Running Gag:
- Several episodes begin with It's [YEAR] and [PERSON]... is dead.
- Describing the subject of the video taking a sensible course of action followed by “although, fun fact, no.” and recounting the bad or shortsighted decision they actually made.
