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Pick the Next Extra History Short! "Worst Dads in History" OPEN until 8/5
🕑 Added 2025-07-29 17:30:02 +0000 UTC
It's time for our Extra History poll! Where you get to vote on what our next "Extra History Short" is about!
These four topics were selected from our "Worst Dads in History" Patreon Suggestions and are listed in no particular order below.
Johann Strauss I
The composer Johann Strauss I was determined his son Johann Strauss II would not have the miserable life of a musician, but be a banker instead. When he caught young Johann playing violin, he whipped the boy severely to "beat the music out of him." But after Johann Sr. abandoned the family to live with a mistress, Johann Jr. (and his younger brothers) became composers themselves. Was Johann Sr. proud? Nope, in fact he started a rivalry with his son, boycotting venues that featured his son's music.
Henry VIII
Henry is famous as a terrible husband, but he wasn't a great dad either. When he divorced her mother, he declared Mary would never see her again, and declared her illegitimate, downgrading her to a mere "lady." Then, when Mary disagreed with the Act of Supremacy, making him head of the Church of England, he implied she'd be executed if she didn't comply. He pulled the same illigitimacy trick with his daughter Elizabeth after executing her mother Anne Boleyn, setting her up for a childhood of being shuttled between tutors and keepers—one of which assaulted and tried to marry her. That's beyond merely being distant, culminating with a line of heirs that had a toxic relationship with him and often each other.
Ptolemy VIII
For normal folks, marrying your sister might help put you on this list, but that was standard procedure for the Ptolemies. But when Ptolemy VIII cheated on his sister-wife Cleopatra II with his niece Cleopatra III, well, it started a civil war. During that, Ptolemy summoned his son and stepson. His son he executed because he worried local authorities were going to make him king, but he had his stepson deliver a message—by chopping him up into pieces and having him sent to his mother Cleopatra II as a birthday present. Incredibly, the Sister-Brother-Niece triangle actually reconciled—at least as far as Ptolemies do.
Alois Hitler
Even by today's standards, Alois Hitler would've been considered a pretty bad dad. Obsessed with rules and maintaining absolute authority, he was generally silent at home until he became angry when he'd verbally and physically abuse his wife and children. And that's not even getting into the fact that he left his previous wife to be with his second wife Klara, who was both his maid... and his niece. In fact, the couple had to get a dispensation from Rome to get married, and called each other "uncle" and "niece" throughout their marriage (ugh, shiver), though because it's unknown who Alois' father was, their relationship remains uncertain. Though most of their children grew up fairly normal, one would become a rules-obsessed, authoritarian-minded, explosive-tempered dictator who had a questionable relationship with his own niece.
Our Current Shorts Schedule is:
Joseph Kennedy -> Alien TV Hijack -> Your Vote!
Our Current Series Schedule is:
William McKinley: American Empire -> A History of Mass Deportation -> Alexander the Great's Egypt: The Ptolemies -> New Suggestions for "Historical Tyrants" coming next week!
***Friendly reminder: The poll will end at 11:59 PM PT on Tuesday, August 5th. You can vote for as many choices as you want! This style of voting helps us see what people are most interested in without having to make tough decisions between a couple of close favorites. ***
Comments
Extra History
This one is a nail-biting finish!
Jason Youngberg
I can't check any boxes.
