where to start with Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

for the people who ask me every year and then never actually start. this is the order, primary sources be damned, just start

01
Blueprint for Armageddon (shows 50-55, WWI)
the one I actually recommend first even though it's six parts. c. 1914-1918 and it never drags
02
Ghosts of the Ostfront (shows 27-30, WWII Eastern Front)
english-language sources on the Eastern Front are famously thin, this series just works around it
03
Wrath of the Khans (shows 43-47, the Mongols)
still the most requested series among my students, every single year
04
Death Throes of the Republic (shows 34-39, late Rome)
05
Punic Nightmares (shows 21-23, Rome vs Carthage)
shorter at three parts, good if six feels like a lot to commit to
06
Kings of Kings (shows 56-58, Persia)
07
Supernova in the East (shows 62-67, WWII Pacific)
the most recent of the long ones, holds up next to Blueprint
08
Twilight of the Æsir (shows 69-70, the Viking age)

Or start a list of your own. Free, it takes a minute.