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Web Video / Jack Rackam

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"Hi, silly history boy here."

Did you get a kick out of learning that Zeus got around and Columbus wasn't all he's cracked up to be? Enjoy quick-paced narration and visual gags?

Introducing Jack Rackam, an American YouTuber who creates quick and snappy biography videos about various famous and not-so-famous people throughout history. Through a combination of quick-witted humour, informative storytelling, and sharp visual gags, Jack's mission is a simple one: to teach and entertain.

His channel can be found here, and his Twitter can be found here.

Not to be confused with the infamous pirate of the same name.

     People and Topics Covered 

Jack Rackam's channel provides examples of the following tropes:

  • Abusive Parents:
    • Basil I reportedly beat his son Leo frequently, a situation that was made even more uncomfortable due to Leo's uncertain paternity.
    • Frederick the Great had to deal with an emotionally and physically abusive bastard of a father in the form of Frederick William I. He repeatedly beat his children, but focused a lot of his cruelty on Frederick. He even threatened the young prince with execution, and forced him to watch his best friend (and possible lover) being beheaded, although Frederick mercifully fainted before the fatal blow was struck.
  • The Ace:
    • Charles XII was an excellent soldier and led his armies against threats twice their size at several points, and at one point dethroned the king of Poland for standing in his way. Unfortunately, he got a bit too big for his boots and tried to invade Russia, which proved to be his downfall.
    • Theodore Roosevelt, who Jack describes as "America's manliest president". In addition to being a highly accomplished scholar and politician, he was also a no-nonsense soldier and a war hero. He once socked a guy in the jaw for pulling a gun on him in a saloon, and survived an assassination attempt and continued to give his speech even while he was bleeding.
    • Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the most accomplished generals of his age, to the point where several coalitions raised against him were utterly demolished because of his strategic brilliance and clever tactics.
  • The Alcoholic:
    • Charles XII was a habitual drinker in his teen years, mostly due to the influence of his older cousin Frederick. Once he started getting more serious about his rule during the Great Northern War, Charles gave up drinking for the rest of his life.
    • Turanshah, Shajar al-Durr's rival, was a belligerent drunk, and in a Muslim nation such as Egypt, this was a big no-no in the eyes of the people and the elite.
    • Rasputin was a great lover of alcohol, especially vodka. His penchant for drunken parties was one of the numerous faults of his that wound up reflected poorly on the tsar.
  • All Crimes Are Equal: During the Reign of Terror, Robespierre had people sent to the guillotine regardless of the severity of their supposed crime. Even saying you were worried was illegal as that meant you were "seeking to inspire discouragement".
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: The death of Roman emperor Tiberius was marked by celebrations in the streets of Rome, as he'd become such an incompetent tyrant by the time of his death that people were happy to see him be replaced by Caligula. Of course, the people insisted that they were simply celebrating the new emperor's reign, and definitely not celebrating the fact that the old one was dead. Unfortunately, Caligula turned out to be, well, exactly what his name is known for.
  • Ankle Drag: Basil I managed to get himself snagged on a deer's antlers during a hunting trip and was dragged through the woods by his pants for 16 miles. Amazingly, he didn't immediately die from the injuries he sustained, but he did eventually die from a fever he contracted from the event.
  • Art Evolution: Jack's earlier videos were much shorter in length, with visuals being fairly simplistic and having heavy focus on quick visual puns and references. Starting from the Charles XII video, the animation quality noticeably improves, with less emphasis being placed on the visual gags and more on the fluidity of the character motions. And starting with the video on Frederick II of the HRE, Jack's videos also begin to include more detailed chalkboard segments, and the animation quality of the characters is noticeably more dynamic and smooth.
    • The Halloween special on Elizabeth Báthory received an upgrade all its own, with the characters' lip movements being more synchronized with their words.
  • Artistic License – History:
    • Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon is presented as a loveless marriage right from the beginning. While it's true that the couple did grow apart in later years, especially when Henry started the break with Rome, their marriage was by all accounts a very happy and loving one up until the divorce proceedings happened.
    • One of the gags made about Charles XII in his early reign is the "Gottorp Fury" during which Charles and his cousin Duke Frederick rode around the city harassing passersby and throwing furniture out of palace windows. Many of the stories about their doings were almost certainly exaggerated and are thought to have been spread to discredit the duke, who was very unpopular in Sweden.
    • Jack mentions that Léo Major "served queen and country" during World War II, likely in a force of habit reference to Elizabeth II. It was actually Elizabeth's father George VI who was monarch during WWII, and Elizabeth wouldn't become queen until 1952.
    • While Nicholas II is portrayed as having completely ignored the crush of commoners that occurred at his coronation party, in reality Nicholas was horrified by the events and wanted to personally offer his condolences and pray for those who had lost their lives, but was pressured to attend the French embassy's ball to avoid offending Russia's allies. He and Alexandra spent hours praying for the victims of the accident and only attended the ball for about ten minutes before leaving, and the Empress was seen with red eyes from crying.
  • Badass Boast:
    Jack: He was not a good knight.
    • Napoleon's coronation as Emperor of France has him placing the crown on his own head and declaring this to his citizens and nobles:
    Napoleon: Behold, your new Augustus! The heir to Charlemagne! Emperor of France, King of Italy, and Master of All Europe! From this moment hence, I am France.
    • Mehmed II's response to Constantine XI's attempts to back out of the upcoming Siege of Constantinople is dripping with determination and badassery:
    Mehmed II: Either I will take this city, or the city shall take me. Deny me peaceful entry, I shall force my way in and I shall slay you and all your nobles; and I shall slaughter your people and allow my troops to plunder at will. The city is all I want, even if it is empty.
  • Batman Gambit: Robert Smalls' plan to escape slavery involved incredibly careful planning and observations. Smalls knew that the white soldiers on the Planter would be going ashore, so he convinced them to let the enslaved crew bring their families on board for the evening. Once the soldiers were gone, he took command of the vessel, and using his helmsman skills, he imitated the signals and motions of the captain in order to pass by the Confederate checkpoints. However, he was also fully aware of what would happen if their plan was discovered, and gave one of the crew members orders to set fire to the ship's boilers if they were caught.
    Smalls: The sea will give up her dead. We won't get a better offer from the Confederates...
  • The Beard: Frederick the Great's wife Elisabeth Christine was effectively a front for her husband, whose preverences for male companions was basically an open secret in the palace. Jack even calls their marriage "the epitome of a beard".
  • Body Horror
    • Henry VIII became very obese in his later years, and his old jousting injuries caused painful ulcers that would ooze smelly pus.
    • Charles II of Spain was so thoroughly inbred that it was considered a miracle that he lived at all, and his physical deformities were so severe that he couldn't walk unaided until he was six. His state didn't get any better as he grew up, and he was in such horrendous shape by the time of his deathbed that his second wife Maria Anna thought he was already half corpse.
  • Brutal Honesty: Louis XIV is quite blunt when he tells Charles II of Spain that he looks "worse than usual". Given that the guy's family tree was more of a family wreath, Louis was still being rather generous.
  • Bullying a Dragon
    • Following their defeat at the hands of the Parthians, Mark Antony and Cleopatra decided it would be a good idea to claim huge amounts of Roman territories as their own and give them to their children, and start calling them kings. Naturally, this gets the attention of Octavian, and it all goes downhill from there.
    • Hong Xiuquan and the Taiping rebels thought they had a good chance of holding off attacks from Britain and France and withstanding the ensuing siege. Nevermind the fact that they were facing the two biggest global superpowers, and said superpowers had just finished wiping the floor with the Chinese Empire.
    • Both Charles XII of Sweden and Napoleon tried to invade Russia, and predictably ran into problems when their supplies began to run out as winter closed in, and the Russians began to implement a "scorched earth" strategy to prevent the enemy advance.
    • In an effort to boost his popularity with the Russian people, Nicholas II tried to find a weak country to declare war on so he could win some glory for his empire. The country he decided on was Japan, which had recently been modernizing in order to match the various Western powers, while Russia was still in a Medieval Stasis. The resulting war ended up being a humiliating defeat and Nicholas' already poor reputation tanked even further.
  • Bungled Suicide:
    • Seneca is ordered to commit suicide by a paranoid Nero, but neither slitting his wrists or ingesting poison works. He eventually just asks the soldiers to draw him a hot bath so the steam will kill him.
    • Robespierre tried to shoot himself with a pistol while imprisoned by the French government, but the soldiers caught up to him before he could aim properly, and ended up shooting part of his jaw off.
  • Call-Back:
    • In Maria Theresa's video, Jack mentions how Polish king Augustus the Strong was deposed by a certain Swede, and Charles XII immediately pops up to the chorus of "Carolus Rex".
    • In the video on Malik Ambar, while Muhgal emperor Akbar is reading over a letter, his father Humayun can be seen laying at the bottom of the stairs in the background, having just fallen to his death.
    • The scene of Pope Innocent III going to war against France and Frederick II's uncle is replayed in Frederick's video to explain how he ended up in charge of the HRE despite Innocent's efforts to prevent it.
    • When discussing the influence of communism in China during Hong Xiuquan's rebellion, Jack wonders aloud if Xiuquan would have gotten along with Jan van Liedan.
    • While King Louis IX of France is trying to recruit armies for the Seventh Crusade, Pope Innocent IV and Emperor Frederick II come in arguing about why Frederick was excommunicated.
    Frederick: Because apparently, capturing Jerusalem is punishable by excommunication!
    Pope Innocent IV: Well, maybe if you were willing to give up some of Italy...
    Frederick: I have dibs on Italy and you know it, you filthy Saracen!
    • After taking Constantinople, Mehmed II tries to give a big dramatic speech about his victory, only for the camera to continuously cut back to Constantine XI's own dramatic speech about the fall of his empire from the previous video.
    • In James II's video, James tells his brother Charles that he's not going to convert to Anglicanism, and Charles says he doesn't have to, and recalls the time where he "promised" Louis he'd convert to Catholicism in exchange for Louis' help. The scene then cuts to a previous video showing the "promise" in question while the two kings were engaged in diplomatic jump-rope.
      • In a later scene, Louis and William III can be scene with their convoluted stringboard detailing the Succession Crisis in Spain trying to fix the balance of power in Europe.
  • A Child Shall Lead Them:
    • During the shogunate period of Japan, there was a longstanding trend of people putting kids in charge of the shogunate and exercising power through a puppet ruler.
    • Charles XII became king of Sweden when he was only fifteen, and spent most of his first few years as king living large and getting drunk off his ass with his cousin.
    • Ivan the Terrible became the Grand Prince of Moscow when he was only three years old.
    • Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire was made his father's heir to the HRE when he was just an infant, and inherited the throne of Sicily from his mother when he was three.
    • Pedro II of Brazil became emperor at the age of five when his dad left to fight a war in Portugalnote  , and due to political unrest, was given his full executive powers at age fourteen.
    • Mehmed II became sultan at age twelve after his father Murad II abdicated in his favor. But after the Hungarians broke a truce and declared war on the Ottomans, Mehmed had to convince his father to return and take back the throne, supposedly telling him "If you are the sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." Murad did in fact reclaim the throne, but Mehmed remained co-sultan until his father's death.
    • Defied with Nicholas II and his son Alexei. Nicholas considered abdicating in favor of his young son following the February Revolution, but after realizing that the haemophiliac Alexei wouldn't live long enough to really accomplish anything, he took back the decree and abdicated on his son's behalf. Nicholas then tried to leave the crown to his brother Michael, but well, we all know what happened after that.
  • Cluster Bleep-Bomb: Pedro I's insulting nickname to his mother is fully censored out with an extended bleep.
    Jack: Growing up, Pedro actually got along well with his family, except for his mother, whom he lovingly called, quote, [BLEEEEEEEEEEEP!]
  • Content Warnings:
    • The video on Mao Zedong opens with a disclaimer detailing the controversial nature of the titular Chinese official. Although Jack cuts himself off halfway through, joking that the PRC doesn't have YouTube so he shouldn't have to worry.
    • At the beginning of the video on Chris Burden, there's a brief warning card that pops up warning the viewers on Burden's disturbing art methods and urges the viewer to proceed with caution, although the video itself will be at least PG-13 in terms of describing what Burden did.
    • Frederick the Great's biography video opens with Jack informing the audience that the following video touches on the sensitive topics of domestic abuse based on sexuality and suicidal thoughts, and recommends that the viewer skip to the shown timestamp if those topics are going to stir up bad memories.
  • Darker and Edgier: The Halloween episode on Elizabeth Báthory completely does away with Jack's typical lighthearted tone, and is instead presented as a dramatic "Rashomon"-Style courtroom drama, with rather graphic descriptions on Elizabeth's supposed crimes, and far more frightening themes compared to Jack's usual style.
  • Delicate and Sickly:
    • Believe it or not, Theodore Roosevelt was terribly sickly as a young child, suffering from severe asthma. He eventually grew out of it as he got older.
    • Tsarevich Alexei was born with hemophilia, a hereditary bleeding disorder which prevents the blood from forming clots. As a result, even the slightest injury could result in debilitating pain for the young boy, and he came close to death several times during his unfortunately short life as a result of this condition.
  • Description Cut: Theodore Roosevelt is informed by his doctor that he shouldn't be partaking in any strenuous physical activities that might trigger his asthma. Cut to Roosevelt scaling a massive mountain peak anyway.
    Roosevelt: Gonna stop you right there, chief. Live fast, die young. Know what I'm saying?
  • Destination Defenestration: Charles XII of Sweden and his cousin Frederick once got a bear so drunk, it crashed through a palace window.
    Jack: It was really dangerous to stand underneath the palace windows when Frederick was in town. You never knew what was going to come out of there.
  • Didn't Think This Through:
    • The Soviet Union had hundreds of thousands of qualified military officials and soldiers imprisoned or killed, blaming the "disappearances" on the Nazis. When the Nazis attacked Poland two years later, these actions came back to bite Stalin in the ass as he realized that Poland doesn't have an army anymore, because he killed the army.
    • Louis XVI insisted on bankrolling the American Revolution in order to stick it to his ancestral arch rival England, despite the fact that France was already severely in debt. The financial situation in France subsequently became even worse than before, and the French Revolution would follow on the horizon in just a few years.
    • Robespierre had the brilliant idea to make a list of newly discovered "traitors" to his regime and announce his intentions to the Convention, but refused to give the names of the accused. This stunt, combined with all the other insane actions he'd been taking recently convinced his opponents to finally dispose him and arrest him on a technicality.
  • Distinction Without a Difference:
    • Being the Chinese emperor's concubine was not the same as being a Sex Slave, in Jack's words. A concubine was more like a live-in maid or secretary, who's job also happened to include some banging and a contract forbidding outside relationships, including with friends and family. And you may not have been forced, depending on the emperor, just pressured into it at an age below that of consent.
    Jack: It's a subtle difference.
    • James II isn't dissolving Parliament, he's just proroguing them. You know, just putting them on pause. Indefinitely.
  • Drunk with Power: Robespierre started off as a well-meaning revolutionary who wanted to bring freedom to France and ironically enough, opposed the death penalty. Not too long after seizing power however the authority went to his head and he began having people sent to the guillotine willy-nilly, even some of his closest friends and allies in the assembly. His power-mad actions are frequently lampshaded by his opponents and even some of his friends, with Camille Desmoulins even saying that no one in Paris will be safe while Robespierre is in power.
    Robespierre: You were my friend, Demoulins...But I must always choose the people.
    Desmoulins: Which people?! You'll guillotine every last man in France until there's no one standing except you, and a very nervous executioner!
  • Embarrassing Nickname:
    • Jack points out that Caligula's name comes from a childhood nickname he received while travelling with his father on campaigns, where soldiers would coo over how adorable he was in his little marching boots. And thus, one of history's most infamous tyrants became known for thousands of years by a nickname that translates to "Bootsie".
    • Cicero's name translates to "Chickpea", and Jack jokes that the Romans clearly had a fondness for giving silly nicknames to their political figures.
  • Escape Artist:
    • Jack Sheppard was renowned for his numerous escapes from prison throughout his life, and became so crafty with his escapes that the authorities frequently struggled to keep him securely locked up following his arrests.
    • Fritz Duquense repeatedly escaped from jail over the course of his criminal career, often using disguises and accomplices to get the job done.
  • Eye Scream:
    • Blinding their enemies and sending them to exile in monasteries was the signature move for many Byzantine emperors, as mutilation of the eyes was a means of rendering a political opponent unable to rule and lead an army in war against the throne.
    • Léo Major lost his left eye to a phosphorus grenade early in his sniper career. But as a sniper, the loss of his eye didn't really affect his aim, and Jack just points out that it made Major look like even more of a badass.note 
  • The Faceless: Jack only appears in videos as a black silhouette of a man at a podium. The only difference between videos is the color and pattern of the ties he wears.
  • Fallen Hero: Robespierre, who went from being a well-meaning political activist to a paranoid dictator who executed people for giving him even a smidgen of criticism.
  • Final Speech: Emperor Constantine XI gives a rather tearjerking one as the city of Constantinople finally falls to the Ottomans:
    Constantine XI: Once, this city mastered the entire universe. She placed beneath her feet Pontus, Armenia, Numidia, Italy, Ethiopia, Spain, Phoenicia, Arabia, Mesopotamia, the lands of the Celts and the Amazonians. Our empire, presently humbled, did fell the walls of Carthage, rival the Parthians and Sassanids, repel the savage Huns, slay the Bulgars, see the Seljuks return to dust, tame the wild Mongols, and cast out the Latins. If she is now finally to be devoured by the House of Osman...then as my city falls...(raises his sword) ...I will fall with her.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Referenced in Pope Innocent III's video, when Innocent changes sides abruptly during a war and sides with France against Emperor Otto. Jack mentions how Innocent had a pattern of attacking people he'd previously defended, and a text block reading "Foreshadowing" appears on screen briefly. Innocent would later go on to lead a Crusade against a minor branch of Christianity called Catharism, and the Fourth Crusade would wind up causing Constantinople, one of the bastions of Roman identity, to be sacked and burned under his watch.
    • Henry VIII dismisses the birth of his daughter Mary as being inconsequential, believing that she'll never rule anything. An image of Mary I then flashes on screen, revealing that Mary would eventually become queen.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus:
    • While trying to arrange a marriage for Isabella I, Enrique IV presents her with various suitors who go flying by as Isabella tries to dodge them. Pausing the video at the right times reveals that two of those suitors were Edward IV and Richard III of England.
    • In the Teddy Roosevelt video, while President McKinely is negotiating with King Alfonso XIII with a peace cake, Queen Victoria can be seen in the background, peeping into the room with a cake of her own.
    • While Akbar is reading over a letter, his father Humayun can be seen in the background, lying dead at the bottom of the stairs from a fatal fall.
    • When Xenophon expresses shock over being made "president" of his marching group of exiled soldiers, a split-second explanation pops up for a single frame.
    "So yeah obviously the ancient Greeks didn't have presidents, but in so far as he was the chief of a marching republic, he held similar authority."
    • The Frederick the Great video has a more tearjerking example: When a young Frederick is reading over a letter while in prison, the words are from his lover Hans Hermann, who was just recently executed for his role in the Katte affair.
    "There is nothing to forgive. I die for you with joy in my heart."
    —"Yours faithfully, Hans Hermann"
  • From Nobody to Nightmare:
    • Maximilien Robespierre started off as a humble attorney from a small French town, and eventually went on to become the architect of one of the bloodiest periods in French history.
    • Napoleon Bonaparte was the son of a minor Corsican noble family, but through military success, diplomatic savviness, and occasionally just pure dumb luck, he became Emperor of France and one of the most successful generals of his time.
    • Basil I was a penniless beggar from Macedonia in his early years, and spent most of his time wandering from town to town trying to support his poor family. Following a few chance encounters with people in the Byzantine emperor's circle led to him becoming a close companion of Emperor Michael III, and eventually became co-emperor and much later the sole emperor of the entire eastern Roman Empire.
    • Wu Zetian was the daughter of a relatively minor noble family who was sent to become the concubine of the emperor, but due to her young age, she didn't spend much time with the emperor before his death. She did however carry on an affair with the Crown Prince, the future Emperor Gaozong, and quickly worked her way up the ladder to become chief consort and eventually empress after arranging the brutal downfalls of her rivals. After her husband's death, she pulled the strings behind the scenes for two of her sons before she finally got tired of the charade and declared herself emperor in her own right.
  • Get Out!: The king of Hungary tells Louis IX to "get the f*** out" of his country when the French King tries to persuade him into joining the Seventh Crusade.
  • A God Am I: While posthumous deification in ancient Rome wasn't anything new at the time, Caligula took the practice to a whole new level and began signing official documents as Jupiter and carving off the heads of sacred statues to replace them with his own face.
  • God Save Us from the Queen!: Wu Zetian, who acted as the real power behind the throne for her husband and two of her sons, not to mention ordering the deaths of countless family members and lesser officials throughout her reign.
  • Gold Digger:
    • Jack calls Richard the Lionheart this, pointing out that he frequently used England as his personal piggybank for his exploits in the Holy Land and in Aquitaine.
    • Sejanus repeatedly tried to worm his way into the Roman Imperial family, first by trying to have his daughter marry Claudius' son, and later by attempting to convince Tiberius to let him marry his son's widow.
    • Emperor Wu of Han's maternal grandmother forced her daughter to divorce her first husband (even though she was Happily Married) and become a concubine of the Emperor, all because she received a prophecy from a fortune teller that her children would be honoured among the Imperial family.
  • Groin Attack:
    • Harald IV of Norway had his rival Magnus blinded and castrated to prevent him from trying to retake the throne.
    • Emperor Wu of Han had his court historian Sima Qian castrated for speaking too openly about his opinions.
  • Happiness Is Mandatory:
    • Under Napoleon III, you weren't allowed to say that things in France were anything other than honky-dory.
    • Chinese citizens living during the time of Mao Zedong were initially encouraged to share their opinions and criticisms on the government, but then Mao had them all killed. People were also forced to exaggerate how much food they were making when they were actually going through a devastating famine.
    • During the Reign of Terror, Robespierre made it illegal to express concern about the fragile situation in France, to the point where just saying you were worried was enough for the authorities to judicially murder you.
  • Heir Club for Men:
    • Henry VIII was obsessed with having a male heir, and briefly considered having the Pope legitimize his bastard son Henry Fitzroy when it became clear that Catherine of Aragon wouldn't be able to bear any more children. Much of his infamy comes from the appalling way in which he treated his wives when they failed to bear him a son, and how he disowned his two daughters until Catherine Parr convinced him to reinstate them. But as a final irony, his long sought after son Edward VI died young, only ruling for six years.
    • Maria Theresa's father tried for a son for several years before his death, but only had daughters by the time he kicked it. He did however try to convince Europe to go along with his plan to make it legal for a woman to inherit the Habsburg thrones, and Maria Theresa did end up inheriting the Habsburg kingdoms and became Holy Roman Empress, but only as consort to her husband. Not that it really mattered, as Maria was the one who held all the power while her husband handled the diplomatic affairs.
    • Despite the fact that Brazil's constitution allowed for female succession, Pedro II considered having his daughter Isabel succeeding him to be a bad call, as Brazil was still very traditional and likely wouldn't accept a female ruler.
    • Tsar Nicholas II and his wife were desperate to have a son to continue the Romanov dynasty, as a law put in place by Paul I made Russian succession by way of male primogeniture only. After having four girls, they did eventually have a son: the hemophiliac Alexei.
  • Historical Domain Character: Naturally, since this is a history channel, the characters featured are actual historical figures and are depicted in iterations of their most popular likenesses and artworks.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Jack explores how incredibly ironic Robespierre's downfall was: from being tried and denied a chance to defend himself under the very laws he wrote, to being imprisoned in the same cell as Denton, to being executed on the same guillotine to which damned countless others.
  • Honest John's Dealership: Jack's portrayal of Frederick the Great is greatly reminiscent of a used car salesman or a circus carnie, with him saying phrases like "Hey, butterbiscuit!" when talking to Maria Theresa, and using other cheesy compliments and flirts to win over people in conversation, particularly women. Which is ironic, considering that Frederick was almost certainly gay.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • Henry VIII has Catherine Howard executed for adultery, since "Adultury does not stand in the royal court." Nevermind the fact that Henry himself had numerous affairs throughout his life.
    • Mehmed II is horrified to see the gruesome extent of Vlad the Impaler's favored method of execution, comparing them to human scarecrows and wondering who would do something so cruel. Somehow he forgot about the time he gave the exact same treatment to a Venetian merchant leader several years prior.
  • I Heard That: When arguing about how Napoleon's aggressiveness towards the European powers, we get this exchange between Napoleon and Talleyrand while the former is in the shower:
    Talleyrand: At least marry a princess so we can pretend to be on good terms!
    Napoleon: Fine! (under his breath) Ya sh*tstocking.
    Talleyrand: I heard that!
  • Inadequate Inheritor:
    • Louis XVI of France was a painfully shy, weak-willed young man who was completely unfit to be a king, and wound up driving his nation into further debt by financing the American Revolution to take a potshot at Britain.
    • Nicholas II admitted during his own coronation that he was unqualified to be tsar, and made numerous blunders throughout his reign that eventually resulted in the Russian Revolution and the downfall of the Romanov dynsaty.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Robespierre started off as a well-meaning revolutionary reformer, but he quickly became Drunk On Power and began ordering mass executions which eventually lead to the Reign of Terror. It got so bad that eventually his own government had to come up with a technicality to get him arrested and executed.
  • Karmic Death:
    • William Walker indirectly, and sometimes directly, caused the deaths of hundreds of people during his numerous schemes to invade Central America, and caused an outbreak of cholera in Costa Rica which killed up to 10% of its citizens. Following another unsuccessful attempt to invade Honduras, he was finally apprehended by the British authorities and executed by firing squad by the Hondurans.
    • Robespierre allowed his power following the French Revolution go to his head, and had hundreds, if not thousands, of people executed for being "traitors" to his regime. Eventually, his constituents realized just how cracked he was and had him arrested on a technicality, and later had him executed. And as a final indignity, his failed suicide attempt from before his execution left him unable to talk at the time of his death, rendering once of France's most eloquent speakers to be reduced to agonized screams in his final moments.
    • Basil I had numerous court officials executed and exiled throughout his reign and even members of his own family weren't safe from his cruelty as he struggled to hold onto power in his later years. He wound up dying from a fever caused by a humiliating incident where he was caught on a deer's antlers and dragged through the woods by his pants.
  • Misplaced Accent: Used intentionally in Napoleon's video. Typically he's portrayed with a French accent, but Jack voices him with his natural-born Corsican accent instead, which contemporaries at the time noted was so thick, it made understanding Napoleon very difficult.
  • Mood-Swinger: Robespierre grew increasingly manic as his level of power and authority over France grew, and he'd go from calmly threating his opponents to ranting like a lunatic at the drop of a hat.
  • Never Found the Body:
    • Spartacus was last seen leading his men in a final desperate charge against Crassus' army, but his body was never recovered. Probably for the best, considering what Crassus did to the survivors...
    • As Constantinople fell and the Ottomans breached the city walls, Emperor Constantine XI was last seen removing his royal regalia and charging into where the fighting was most intense, supposedly saying "As my city falls, I shall fall with her." He was never seen again.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Basil I becomes incredibly clingy towards Emperor Michael III as he slowly becomes more power-hungry, whispering in his ear and getting uncomfortably close to him. Michael even lampshades it at one point.
    Michael: Have you always been this creepy?
  • No Swastikas: In videos that feature the Nazis, Jack tends to swap out the swastikas with the iron cross or other similar symbols.
  • No, You: In the video on Frederick II, Pope Gregory VII and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV have a childish back and forth exchange where they keep trying to depose each other.
    Gregory VII: Hey, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV! You're not emperor, because only the pope gets to appoint emperors!
    Henry IV: Well you're not the real pope, because only the emperor gets to appoint popes!
    Gregory VII: You're excommunicated!
    Henry IV: Not if I excommunicate you first!
  • Obviously Evil: Crassus has a snake-like, raspy voice that Palpatine would approve of, is constantly surrounded by a shadowy purple aura, and doesn't even bother hiding his slimy, money-hungry tendencies. Seems completely trustworthy.
  • Of Corpse He's Alive: Shajar Al-Durr was able to prevent Egypt from falling into chaos after the unexpected death of her husband Sultan As-Salih Ayyub by hiding his body in a separate palace, refusing outsiders in the court entry to the sultan's rooms, and forging the dead sultan's handwriting on documents. Only when the Crusaders were turned back and the sultan's heir had arrived in the capital did Shajar finally announce the death.
  • Offing the Offspring: Ivan IV beat his son Ivan Ivanovich to death with his cane in a fit of rage after Ivanovich confronted his father about his increasingly despotic and abusive behavior.
  • Off with His Head!:
    • Henry VIII had a tendency to have people executed in this manner who opposed him or his religious reforms. He had several of his top advisors executed this way, and two of his wives also got the axe for adultery and treason.note 
    • Robespierre was infamous for this, especially during the Reign of Terror. He had thousands of people sent to the guillotine for petty reasons during his time in power, from critizing his regime to even simply expressing worry about the unstable situation in France. Eventually the people got sick of his shenanigans and Robespierre himself went to the same guillotine he sent countless others to.
  • Only Friend: Frederick the Great had only two close friends during his early teen years: his older sister Wilhelmine and his valet/lover Michael Fredersdorf. Jack even suspects that these two people were the only things keeping Frederick alive during these times, especially when dealing with his father.
  • Ordered to Die: This was a pretty common occurrence in Imperial China, where an offending individual would be presented with an imperial order from the Emperor to commit suicide. Not even members of the royal family were safe, as many princes and princesses were ordered to commit suicide, often times by their own parents.
  • Overly Long Name:
    • Pedro I of Brazil is introduced by his complete full name of Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de Braganca e Bourbon. Needless to say, it's a mouthful.
    • Pedro II's wife Princess Teresa Cristina is introduced with her tongue-twisting full name of Teresa Cristina Maria Giuseppa Gaspare Baltassare Melchiore Gennara Francesca de Padova Donata Bonosa Andrea d'Avelino Rita Luitgarda Geltruda Venancia Taddea Spiridione Rocca Matilde di Borbone delle Due Sicilie.
    • Zeno introduces himself to Emperor Leo I using his birth name of Tarasis Kodisa Rousombladadiotes. Understandably, Leo decides to just call him Zeno instead.
  • Parental Neglect:
    • Henry VIII disinherited both of his daughters after discarding their respective mothers, and only reinstated them in the line of succession after considerable persuasion from his sixth wife Catherine Parr.
    • Downplayed with Pedro II of Brazil and his eldest daughter Isabel. He loved her dearly, but never bothered to educate her on how to rule Brazil, even though she was essentially his only heir following the deaths of his sons. He never taught her how to properly run a country and never talked about politics with her, and while Brazil's constitution allowed female succession, he believed that the people wouldn't accept a female on the throne and just sort of ignored her until the monarchy was overthrown.
  • Pet the Dog: In the middle of his bloody purges, Robespierre also pushed for the abolition of slavery. But Jack notes this doesn't necessarily make his crimes any less bloody, nor does it make him redeemable.
  • Pungeon Master: Henry Morgan makes more than a few lame puns in his video, most notably when he blew up a Spanish fort.
    Morgan: Did you hear about the explosion at the cheese factory in Paris?
    Prisoner: No?
    Morgan: All they found was...(lights the powder keg) De brie.
  • Puppet King:
    • The shogunate period of Japan had an extended period of these, with people putting children in power and then puppeting them from behind the scenes, if not just assuming full power for themselves.
    • Malik Ambar installed his own puppet sultan during his stint as prime minister through whom he exercised power over the sultanate. Eventually the puppet sultan got tired of being bossed around, so Ambar ended up having him executed.
    • False Dmitry was essentially this for the Poles, who fed into the idea that this random peasant man was secretly the tsar's long lost son in order to increase their own influence on Russian politics.
  • "Rashomon"-Style: The Halloween special on Elizabeth Bathory is done in this style, and takes place in a court room with Elizabeth on trial for her alleged crimes. The story is first recounted by the Holy Roman Emperor Matthias, who characterises Elizabeth as a sadistic, bloodthirsty witch who intentionally lured virgin women to their dooms at her castle and bathed in their blood to restore her youth. Elizabeth then takes the stand in her own defense, presenting herself as a good and noble woman who was a victim of unfortunate circumstance and slander and tried desperately to provide for her family and servants in the wake of her husband's death. Finally, the story is retold from the perspective of Elizabeth's friend George Thurzo, who is tormented by the circumstances of the crimes, his decision to send four of Elizabeth's servants to the fire to protect his friend's reputation, and Elizabeth's suspicious refusal to deny the rumours about her. In fact, the framing device of three men recounting the trial in a place of worship, the first of whom expresses disbelief at it all, is a transplant of the original film.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil:
    • Upon usurping the Russian throne, False Dmitry I kept the previous tsar's daughter Xenia as his sex slave for several months before dumping her at a nunnery.
    • While he doesn't go into detail, Jack mentions that Sejanus' daughter initially wasn't killed by her father's enemies because it was illegal to kill a Vestal Virgin. So the soldiers allegedly...made her not one anymore, then strangled her to death afterwards.
    • When the Romans invaded the Iceni homeland to collect their debt (read: forced tribute), Boudicca herself was flogged in the city square and her daughters were raped by Roman soldiers.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Following the death of his best friend Willie, Léo Major goes on a one-man rampage through Zwolle, chucking grenades like crazy and firing off so many machine guns that the Germans holding the town thought it was the entire Canadian army attacking them.
  • Royal Inbreeding: Several examples have come up throughout Jack's videos.
    • Emperor Claudius married his niece Agrippina in order to lock down his royal bloodline. His successor Nero went on to marry his first cousin once removed.
    • Eleanor of Aquitaine was married to both her third cousin Louis VII of France, and later to Henry II of England, to whom she was actually more closely related than her first husband.
    • Cleopatra's family dynasty the Ptolemys were infamous for this, with Jack even describing their situation as them "playing Screw, Marry, Kill with each other for two hundred years". Cleopatra herself married two of her brothers, although all of her children were fathered by her Roman lovers.
    • Isabella of Castille married her second cousin Ferdinand of Aragon, and had to get a dispensation from the pope in order to go through with the marriage.
    • Pedro I of Brazil tried to arrange for his daughter Maria II to marry her paternal uncle in order to separate Portuguese interests from Brazil. Prince Miguel just ended up bypassing the marriage entirely and tried to seize the crown for himself.
    • Elizabeth Báthory 's parents were cousins, a fact which Emperor Matthias uses as damaging evidence against her mental state. Nevermind the fact that Matthias' own parents were also first cousins.
    • Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra were second cousins, and this close relation was enough for their only son Alexei to be born with hemophilia.
    • This practice is what ended up dooming the line of the Spanish Habsburgs. By the time Charles II was born, the Habsburg line was so inbred that it gave the Ptolemys a run for their money. Charles was incredibly sickly in his later years, and his impotence meant that the succession would be disputed. Of course, the Spanish still tried to get an heir out of him twice with two different women, much to their understandable disgust.
    Doctor #3: There's still time for a son! Madame, you have to undress!
    Maria Anna: He's half cadaver!
    Doctor #2: It's alright, I've got his legs!
  • Sanity Slippage:
    • Ivan the Terrible started off as a very effective, reasonable ruler who implemented some much needed reforms and was highly successful in his military campaigns. However, following the defection of his closest friend and the sudden death of his first wife Anastasia, something snapped inside Ivan that made him slowly deteriorate into tyranny.
    • Robespierre began his career as a well-meaning politician who spoke out for the rights of the common people and, ironically, opposed the death penalty. But not long after gaining power during the French Revolution, he became increasingly paranoid and power-mad, declaring that even the smallest transgressions were worthy of the death penalty, and had so many people tried and executed on the flimsiest of evidence, that some of his contemporaries feared that he wouldn't stop until all of France was sent to the blades of Madame Guillotine.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Peter III of Russia backs out of the Seven Years' War, Adolf Frederick of Sweden gives a frustrated cry of "Screw this, I'm going home!", leaving Maria Theresa alone with just France and Spain as her allies.
  • Sequel Hook:
    • The video on Louis XVI ends with an ominous "To be continued" written in red as Louis warns the French what may happen in the future. The following video on Robespierre also ends with a "To be continued", and was later followed by Napoleon.
    • Mohammad Mosaddegh's video ends with the autocratic Shah Reza Pahlavi returning to his throne after Mosaddegh was ousted, promising a new era of democracy in Iran. Cue the banners of various American oil magnates unfurling and the "Imperial March", and a month later, the follow up biography of the Shah himself.
  • She Is the King:
    • Wu Zetian crowned herself Emperor of China after serving as the real power behind the throne for two of her sons, having finally gotten sick of the behind-the-scenes charade she'd been doing for the past few decades.
    • Shajar al-Durr was crowned Sultan of Egypt following the assassination of Turanshah. While she also used feminine titles such as "Queen of the Muslims", she was referred to as "sultan" in her iconography rather than the feminine equivalent of "sultana".
  • Shout-Out: Plenty of references get snuck into Jack's videos.
    De Carrier: That is what forgiveness sounds like. Screaming and then silence.
    • In Haakon IV's video, during the scene where God is talking to His angels, Kid Goku can be seen flying overhead in the background.
    • In Henry Morgan's video, Thomas Modyford gives Morgan permission to continue his privateering with the line "Hey Morgan, why don't you 'go for a walk?'"
    • When an advisor asks Nicholas II who he's placing in charge of Russia during his absence, the camera smash cuts to Rasputin lounging on a bed while "Rasputin" blares in the background.
    • President Eisenhower's feral reaction to word "communist" is a dead-ringer for Sam O'Nella's portrayal of the same man.
    • In the second part episode on Magellan's journey, Jack mentions how despite Magellan's death, his crew would "Continue their Journey to the West". The similarity in the cadence of the line delivery is not lost on him.
  • Spare to the Throne:
    • Henry VIII was never expected to become king, being only the spare to his older brother Arthur. But when Arthur suddenly died soon after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry ended up taking his place as the heir to the throne.
    • Henry II of France was promoted from spare to heir following the untimely death of his older brother Francis.
    • Louis XVI's father and older brother both predeceased him, which meant he found himself elevated to the status of Dauphin.
  • Succession Crisis:
    • Isabella I of Spain had to contend with fighting the War of the Castilian Succession against her half-niece Joanna. It helped Isabella's cause that her half-brother, Henry IV, was rumoured to be impotent and that his daughter Joanna was conceived with someone else, and eventually Isabella was successful.
    • This is actually the reason behind the split between Sunni and Shi'a Islam. The Shi'ites only recognize the short reigns of Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali, who they felt should have been Muhammad's direct successor, and his son Hassan, while the Sunnis recognize Ali and the three Caliphs who preceded him.
    • Ancient Rome was infamous for going through at least one succession crisis every decade, sometimes sooner. It didn't help that Imperial succession law basically amounted to little more than adopting the most eligible candidate or Klingon Promotion.
    • The time leading up to Haakon IV's reign was marked by 110 years of succession changes, primarily due to the carousel of claimants who would show up to court declaring that they were the long lost son, brother, nephew, cousin, etc of the previous king.
    • When it became unavoidably clear that the thoroughly inbred Charles II of Spain would die without an heir, the various monarchs and nobles of France, Austria, and Spain descended into a content-wide squabble over who would get the Spanish throne. The Spanish still tried right up until the end to have Charles produce an heir, which, given the state of his body, did not go according to plan.
  • Walking Disaster Area: Isambard Kingdom Brunel spent nearly most of his time narrowly avoiding life-threatening disasters, from fires to tunnel collapses to suspension cable mishaps. And after all that, it ended up being a stroke that eventually killed him.
  • Wardens Are Evil:
    • Yi Zong, who worked under Emperor Wu of Han, was a ruthless despot who ruled the prisons with an iron fist and wasn't above threatening the prisoners with execution.
    • Averted with Warden Bing, the man who took care of Emperor Xuan when he was imprisoned and acted as a Parental Substitute for the young prince. When Xuan became emperor, he rewarded his foster father by giving him an estate on the palace grounds.
  • What Could Have Beeninvoked: When talking about the reign of Pedro II, Jack laments Brazil's missed opportunity of becoming a superpower under a prosperous and stable empire.

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