History channels on YouTube are a dime a dozen—and even animated history channels are at least a dime for six or so.
But Simple History was one of the first history channels of that latter style.
Created by Daniel Turner in 2014 as an extension of his Simple History book series, Simple History seeks to do exactly what its name implies: make history simple to understand. And Turner achieves that goal by animating the topics he covers.
But with lots of history to draw from, what can viewers expect to find on the channel?
Simple History covers a massive variety of historical content, from famous events to moments many will never have heard of before.
Most videos scarcely last longer than 10 minutes. Because of this, viewers won’t get a deep understanding of the topic, but the videos will provide audiences with a general knowledge of any given topic—often including the history that led up to the video topic itself. Likewise, the animations make the subject matter easier to comprehend.
The vast majority of videos on the channel deal in war or otherwise violent moments in history. Because of this, we hear about a large number of horrific events: killings, cannibalism, sexual assault, suicide, forced abortions, torture, Aztec sacrifices, the severing of limbs, decapitated heads stuck onto pikes, skinned bodies and war crimes. Some of these, such as the sacrifices, killings and removal of limbs are depicted onscreen. While animated, we still see spurts of animated blood and the occasional bone sticking out of a hand. One video discusses whether guillotined heads continue to live for any length of time, accompanied by an animated of severed heads dripping blood.
In the videos we watched, we heard one censored use of “b–tard.”
The unfortunate truth is that much of history is steeped in violence—and the horrific acts committed are often the very genesis of that historical narrative in the first place.
And because Simple History focuses on animating and describing those historical moments, the channel can contain references to many terrible and violent acts. While the animation dulls the effect of these events somewhat, parents will still want to note the descriptions and light depictions of such things before determining if they want their kids watching.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
