Podbit · Empire: World History
In May 1843, Abd el-Kader's own people betrayed the location of the Zmala. The French attacked while he was away on a raid, killing at least a tenth of the 60,000 inhabitants — mostly women, children, and the elderly. Abd el-Kader himself later told his French captors: it was the beginning of the end.
Where this was said
At 36:05 · chapter starts 33:25
Anita Anand delivers the most disturbing episode of the series so far with a warning before she begins. In June 1845, a French colonel chased around 1,000 Algerians — men, women, children, animals — into a cave system in the Daraa Mountains. When they refused his demand to surrender, he ordered fires lit at the cave entrances and kept burning for 24 hours. In a closed cave system, the fires consumed oxygen and filled the chambers with smoke: between 500 and 1,500 people suffocated or burned to death. The news triggered genuine outrage in France, with deputies condemning it in the Assembly and newspapers denouncing barbarism. But as William Dalrymple pointedly notes, the outrage did not prevent the colonel responsible from receiving a promotion. The massacre became a galvanising moment for Algerian resistance — a Jallianwala Bagh effect.
In June 1845, French soldiers lit fires at the mouths of caves sheltering around 1,000 Algerians, killing between 500 and 1,500 men, women, and children by asphyxiation.
In June 1845, French soldiers chased around 1,000 Algerian civilians — women, children, animals — into a cave system in the Daraa Mountains, then lit fires at the entrances for 24 hours. Between 500 and 1,500 people suffocated or burned. France expressed outrage, then promoted the colonel who ordered it.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
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