The Lions Led By Donkeys podcast is a military history podcast for laughing at the worst military failures, inept commanders, and crazy stories from throughout the history of human conflict.
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USE CODE DEC25 FOR 50% OFF ALL PATREON SUBSCRIPTIONS UNTIL THE END OF DECEMBER https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys In the early days of English ambassadorships to the Ottoman Empire, an increasingly petty collection of grievances among European envoys and Ottoman dignitaries set the conditions for a single errant snowball to incite an anti-English riot. Witness the story of the snowball that got a bunch of English guys' beaten with oblong objects. Research: Dr Joel Butler Reources: Public ...
*USE CODE DEC25 TO GET 50% OFF PATREON MEMBERSHIPS UNTIL THE END OF DECEMBER* Huge thank you to Boonta Vista The Worst of All Possible Worlds Hell of a Way to Dad For making a very stupid idea for an ad possible.
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Towards the end of the Crimean War the Russians invade the Ottoman Empire, coming up against the Fortress City of Kars. Command of the Ottoman forces fall to an old drunk, British man who may or may not be the bastard child of Prince Edward, all of the Turkish officers under him are actually Hungarian, and one American catholic. Sources: Winifred Baumgart. The Crimean War: 1853-1856 Raugh Harold. The Victorians at War: 1815-1...
It's the late 16th century and the Ottoman Empire is continuing to advance across the eastern Mediterranean. In Istanbul, the Ottomans have begun ratifying ambassadorships and trade deals with the English crown. And in the middle of this comes a crew of the most sunburned Barbary Pirates you've ever met, hell-bent on plundering any ship they can find before they high-tail it back to...England? Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/143253364 We have new merch availa...
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys Early during the US War in Vietnam, incompetent American advisors to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), who is also incompetent, get incredibly mad as they attempt to get them to fight the Viet Cong, despite the fact the Americans never bothered to tell the ARVN about the battle plan, and every ARVN commander on the ground has to ask for permission to do any command position in a game of telephone that goes all of th...
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys In the opening stages of WWI, an Army of 40 year old reservists from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, armed with decades-old weapons and no food, and largely unable to even speak to one another, attempt to hold off the Russian Imperial Army in what became known as "Austria-Hungary's Stalingrad" Sources: Graydon Tunstall. Written in Blood: The Battles For Fortress Przemysl in WWI. Dr. Alexander Watson. The Fortress: The Siege of P...
The conclusion to our series on the Texas Revolution! SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON AND GET OUR NEXT EPISODE RIGHT NOW! https://www.patreon.com/posts/early-episode-of-142158449
Discover the wild tale of Sooch, a Marine Corps dog adopted by soldiers in 1930s China. Initially kept secret, Sooch gained notoriety for being racist against Chinese people, smoking cigarettes, and later, opium. Despite being deemed "worthless" by Marines for actual duties, he received multiple uniforms, accompanied soldiers to brothels and bars, and was constantly promoted and demoted for his drunken antics and misbehavior.
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys The first in our four-part series about the Texas Revolution, a story in which some of the drunkest and worst-smelling guys of the 19th century decided to break away from Mexico for... reasons. Sources: Edward Baptist. The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism Randolph Campbell. An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865 Stephen Hardin. Texian Illad. Andrew Torget. Se...
GET LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OUR SHOW ON OCT 4TH https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449?aff=ebdssbdestsearchgl=1s0822wupMQ..gaNDgyMTk4OTc3LjE3NTc4NjgzNzM.ga_TQVES5V6SHczE3NTc4NjgzNzMkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTc4NjgzNzMkajYwJGwwJGgw Joe and Tom continue their exploration of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Get the whole episode on Patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/posts/140304696
GET LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OUR SHOW ON OCT 4TH https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449?aff=ebdssbdestsearchgl=1s0822wupMQ..gaNDgyMTk4OTc3LjE3NTc4NjgzNzM.ga_TQVES5V6SHczE3NTc4NjgzNzMkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTc4NjgzNzMkajYwJGwwJGgw Once upon a time, the British Empire sent a very badly planned rescue mission halfway around the world to save a man who didn't need to be saved. It ended in hilarious failure. Sources: https://t...
GET LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OUR SHOW ON OCT 4TH https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449?aff=ebdssbdestsearchgl=1s0822wupMQ..gaNDgyMTk4OTc3LjE3NTc4NjgzNzM.ga_TQVES5V6SHczE3NTc4NjgzNzMkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTc4NjgzNzMkajYwJGwwJGgw It's a special version of History of Armenia in which Georgian journalist Omar Tsotsoria joins the show to discuss the history of another Caucasian country, and the specific history of an early-S...
GET LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449?aff=ebdssbdestsearchgl=1s0822wup*MQ..gaNDgyMTk4OTc3LjE3NTc4NjgzNzM.ga_TQVES5V6SH*czE3NTc4NjgzNzMkbzEkZzAkdDE3NTc4NjgzNzMkajYwJGwwJGgw During WWII, the US launched a mission to kill Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which only went so well due to Yamamoto really not caring about his own safety and ig...
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys GET LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449 Julius Caesar and the Gauls create a world's most murderous version of lasanga as regular siege becomes a double siege, turns into the final nail in the coffin of a rebellion against Rome. Sources: John Saddler, Rosie Serdiville. Caesar's Greatest Victory https://www....
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449 CHECK OUT THE MERCH STORE: www.llbdpodcast.com/ Check out TWOAPW: https://www.worstpossible.world The largest battle of the U.S. War of Independence took place in... Gibraltar? On the southern tip of Spain? The rock that the Brits care about a lot? And there weren't any A...
In 1942 the US Pacific campaign wound up creating the circumstances for a tank engagement on a tiny atoll in the middle of the ocean. It was the origin of the expression 'the two-thousand yard stare,' a battle that probably didn't need to happen but still wound up happening, and it involved a lot of carnage amid exactly zero shade. So, of course we were going to talk about it. Get the whole episode on Patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/posts/137945399 LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH https://ww...
LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449 CHECK OUT THE MERCH STORE: www.llbdpodcast.com/ The Holy League is formed to fight off the Ottomans, resulting in a lot of guys catching flintlocks to the face, a pirate double cross, and spies in blackface. Sources: https://web.archive.org/web/20211013195205/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/head-head/how-important-was-battle-lepanto Bru...
For this month's History of Armenia, Joe and Ani discuss the history of the most decorated Armenian-American military veteran in US history: a midwest Armenian-American named Victor Maghakian who was, without exaggeration, an absolute beast during the Pacific campaign of World War II. Get the whole episode on Patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/posts/137451794 Livestream tickets for our October 4 show in Glasgow are still available! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkey...
SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys LIVESHOW TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH IN GLASGOW AVAILABLE HERE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1501072671769 LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH HERE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449 CHECK OUT THE MERCH STORE: https://www.llbdpodcast.com/ In this episode, Joe regales Nate and T...
For this month's LLBR, Joe and Tom reconvene to discuss episode 2 of Neon Genesis Evangelion ("The Beast"). It's an episode that speaks to our respective early-teen years of listening to terrible music on headphones and being depressed. Some of us have not stopped doing this and that's okay too. Cover art by Unzealous Get the whole episode on Patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/posts/lions-led-by-18-136876215 Our merch store is open here: www.llbdpodcast.com
LIVESTREAM TICKETS FOR OCT 4TH HERE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/livestream-lions-led-by-donkeys-podcast-live-in-glasgow-4th-october-2025-tickets-1532091008449 CHECK OUT THE MERCH STORE: https://www.llbdpodcast.com/ The conclusion to our series on the English Peasants' Revolt
