History WebAnimation / OverSimplified

** The Civil War episodes include several gags portraying Ulysses Grant as a hard drinker, while actual historical evidence points strongly towards Grant being actually a [[CantHoldHisLiquor severe lightweight]] whose occasional indulgences were pounced upon by envious rivals, especially [[TheStarscream John McClernand]], using the partisan press, although the video does point out his enemies exploiting it.

** The episodes focusing on the first Punic War tell the popular tale that Marcus Atilius Regulus went to Rome, told them the terms Carthage had to offer, and then [[HonorBeforeReason returned to certain death at Carthage to avoid breaking his vow not to flee, for which he had a naked statue of himself erected]]. This is not referenced as true by any major historians of the era, all of whom assume he died in captivity without ever being sent to issue Carthage's ultimatum.
** Despite what it says in the Russian Civil War videos, nobody assumed Trotsky would succeed Lenin, not even Trotsky himself, as Trotsky was widely disliked by the rest of the Politburo and the party[[note]]Due to his arrogance, outspoken nature, and having risen through the ranks quickly despite only become a Bolshevik after the Feburary Revolution[[/note]] and didn't have much of a power base in either (both due to him being disliked and his dislike of political intrigue). Lenin's Testament was critical of almost ''every'' major Bolshevik leader, including Trotsky, and he was worried that if steps weren't taken to check both Stalin ''and'' Trotsky's negative traits, they'd create a split in the party. While he did express worry about Stalin's power in the first version and recommend it be checked, his call for Stalin's removal was added later, and he stated it was because Stalin was "too coarse" to continue as General Secretary[[note]]As the video mentions, he was quite unhappy about Stalin being rude to his wife[[/note]].

** In the first American Civil War video, George Washington shows up in a meeting held by Abraham Lincoln to discuss his strategy and claim he's the best president of the US. Also, a Norman Rockwell painting is seen in Abraham Lincoln's childhood cabin. In the second American Civil War video, the Confederates are seen with a Music/{{BTS}}-themed calendar, and Wilmer [=McLean's=] wife Martha is seen using a vacuum cleaner.

** Jean-Paul Marat's bathtub is placed in a modern bathroom, complete with rubber ducky, scented candles, and bathmat that reads, "Life is a Beach."

* YouAndWhatArmy: The king of Italy asks this of Mussolini when he asks to be made prime minister. Mussolini shows off his army to get the king to change his mind.

** Ulysses Grant had a certain fondness for whiskey. His detractors tried to use this to get him fired. Lincoln simply suggests they give him more.

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** Napoleon considers the conflicting claims to power that plagued the Holy Roman Empire as described in "War of the Bucket" when he's preparing to become Emperor, ultimately deciding to cut out the middle man and crown himself without the Pope's assistance.
* TheCameo:

* {{Catchphrase}}:
** "This enraged his father, who punished him severely."
** "And so it was!"
** "And [X action], [Y subject] did."
** Returns from adbreaks will be heralded with "Now, where was I? Oh yeah; [X slightly out-of-context point], [Y more recent slightly out-of-context point] and [Z slightly out-of-context point that brings us up to date]."

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* OddCouple: A recurring problem for the Romans in "The Second Punic War" is that, due to their system of governance at the time of Hannibal's invasion being shared leadership between two consuls, there always seems to be a calm and thoughtful leader who urges caution and a fiery headstrong hot-head who recklessly surrenders to every provocation and launches a full attack despite how obvious it is that it's a trap, which completely screws everything up. In the case of Flaminius and Servilius, however, our narrator does note that one of the writers of the history was a friend of Servilius, making it possible that he was being treated favourably over Flaminius (who also died in battle and so couldn't really give his own account).

** Senate's and Romans’ reaction to The Battle of Lake Trasimene results.

** Similarly, Flavius's strategy of applying attrition warfare to Hannibal's invasion rather than mustering a massive army to take him head-on. It was less popular with the Romans as it went against their codes of pride and honor, but since Hannibal had repeatedly shown he was more than a match for the Romans in a head-on fight but was far from home and reliant on what he could forage rather than supply lines, all they really had to do was wait him out.

* Hannibal Barca managed to recover from two logistical nightmares (crossing the Alps and the Arno Marshes), trick the Romans into crushing defeats multiple times by exploiting the weaknesses of their commanders, rally the Celtic tribes to his side, manipulate the people against the Dictator Fabius Maximus by making him look weak and possibly that he was colluding with the Carthaginians, and even turn Rome's greatest strength (overwhelming numbers) against them at Cannae in order to make the Romans envelop ''themselves.'' There's a reason that "Hannibal" became a by-word for "Crisis" in Roman times.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter:
** Dong Zhou didn't seem too concerned that his ward Lu Bu, who betrayed everyone he ever fought for, could potentially betray him.
** Neville Chamberlain thought he could stop Hitler from invading Czechoslovakia through peaceful methods. Boy, was he wrong.
--->'''Chamberlain:''' You lied to me.\\
'''Hitler:''' What do you expect? I'm Hitler.
* HotBlooded: A recurring problem for the Romans in "The Second Punic War". Due to Roman culture both emphasising martial valor ''and'' a system of government where power was shared between two consuls, many of the Roman leaders are impulsive hotheads and {{Blood Knight}}s with poor impulse control who are quick to launch into battle at the slightest provocation regardless of how obvious an attempt at bait it is, and who seem to view every military problem as something that can be solved just by throwing thousands of soldiers at once at it. The one time the Romans elect a cautious and thoughtful man and give him full control, they quickly grow frustrated and contemptuous with his decision to simply avoid direct combat and wait out the poorly supplied and tenuously-allied despite it being the best solution. This means that Hannibal is able to easily exploit the Roman code of honor with increasing success until it climaxes in the Battle of Cannae, during which an overwhelming Roman force of about 80,000 men is humiliatingly defeated and slaughtered to almost the last man by a much smaller Carthaginian army.

* HotHeaded: A recurring problem for the Romans in "The Second Punic War". Due to Roman culture both emphasising martial valor ''and'' a system of government where power was shared between two consuls, many of the Roman leaders are impulsive hotheads and {{Blood Knight}}s with poor impulse control who are quick to launch into battle at the slightest provocation regardless of how obvious an attempt at bait it is, and who seem to view every military problem as something that can be solved just by throwing thousands of soldiers at once at it. The one time the Romans elect a cautious and thoughtful man and give him full control, they quickly grow frustrated and contemptuous with his decision to simply avoid direct combat and wait out the poorly supplied and tenuously-allied despite it being the best solution. This means that Hannibal is able to easily exploit the Roman code of honor with increasing success until it climaxes in the Battle of Cannae, during which an overwhelming Roman force of about 80,000 men is humiliatingly defeated and slaughtered to almost the last man by a much smaller Carthaginian army.

* HotHeaded: A recurring problem for the Romans in "The Second Punic War". Due to Roman culture both emphasising martial valor ''and'' a system of government where power was shared between two consuls, many of the Roman leaders are impulsive hotheads and {{Blood Warrior}}s with poor impulse control who are quick to launch into battle at the slightest provocation regardless of how obvious an attempt at bait it is, and who seem to view every military problem as something that can be solved just by throwing thousands of soldiers at once at it. The one time the Romans elect a cautious and thoughtful man and give him full control, they quickly grow frustrated and contemptuous with his decision to simply avoid direct combat and wait out the poorly supplied and tenuously-allied despite it being the best solution. This means that Hannibal is able to easily exploit the Roman code of honor with increasing success until it climaxes in the Battle of Cannae, during which an overwhelming Roman force of about 80,000 men is humiliatingly defeated and slaughtered to almost the last man by a much smaller Carthaginian army.

** The Second Punic War (two parts, with a third part coming soon)

* AttackAttackAttack: Napoleon was a master of this, pushing an aggressive battlefield strategy that allowed him to outflank and destroy numerically superior foes multiple times over the course of his career. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] though on a larger scale- Napoleon's aggressiveness when dealing with other powers meant he had few reliable allies to back him up in the event he got into another war, and the constant fighting such aggressiveness produced ultimately bled France dry and tanked his popularity.

* BrutalHonesty: The Carthaginians were not amused at their leader bluntly telling them the Romans were going to kill them all if they arrived. Xanthippus called him out on this, reminding him that politicians usually lie to people.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Carthage was incredibly dominant on the sea, but completely incompetent when it came to land warfare.

* MedievalStasis: Tsarist Russia was stuck in this state for a long while until Alexander II made some minor reforms (mainly ending Serfdom) and one of Nicholas II's top advisors, Sergei Witte, forced the Tsar to invest in some industry to get Russia up and running.

* AerithAndBob: As a joke, it's common for irrelevant civilians or random soldiers, no matter where and no matter when, have names like Carl, Hank and Bob, that alongside more location-appropriate names.

** While Rome may have initially underestimated him horribly, Hannibal Barca eventually became the most feared figure in Rome's history. Indeed, he may very well be one of the most prominent examples in human history. He was so feared that even after his defeat, the Romans would use the phrase "Hannibal ad portas" or "Hannibal is at the gates" to describe any state of fear or any horrible calamity, a phrase that is still used to this day.

* DryCrusader: The "Prohibition" video shows what happens when they get their wish. In particular, it spotlights the efforts of the WCTU, Carrie Nation, and Wayne Wheeler's Anti-Saloon League. Though BothSidesHaveAPoint is in play; the video points out that they weren't all just the self-righteous killjoy prudes that history has tended to paint them as, and that the widespread easy availability of alcohol -- and the resultant social problems and disorder connected to it -- was a genuine problem. Most of the Dry Crusaders in question really just wanted the genuinely insane amounts of binge drinking of the time (Americans of the time drank about ''three times'' the amount of alcohol as their modern counterparts) to be brought under control a bit, and in particular for extremely potent hard liquor to be a bit less ridiculously easy to acquire. Many Prohibitionists were also okay with, or at least willing to tolerate, "softer" alcohols like beer, and also opposed the total ban that was imposed. Furthermore, alcohol abuse was really just one of a wide-ranging list of issues that these movements were concerned with, many of which were actually quite progressive for the time. The problems mainly stemmed from the fact that their cause was hijacked by self-righteous MoralGuardians and populist opportunists who exclusively focussed on the 'ban all alcohol' part without thinking through all the implications, leading to an even ''worse'' breakdown of social order.