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A man, a hammer, a nail, a door, history. Martin Luther sets off the protestant reformation and lays the groundwork for a century of violence in Europe.

This first episode of Hell on Earth: The Thirty Years War and the Violent Birth Capitalism is available for free. Subsequent episodes will be released exclusively for Chapo Trap House subscribers on Patreon at patreon.com/chapotraphouse.

Interactive atlas, bibliography and credits for the series can be found at: hellonearth.chapotraphouse.com

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Comments

Emilio Fernandez

Bob Tursnsky? He taught at seven hills, the private school for the liberal blue bloods of Cincinnati. Different guy?

Marina

I’m pausing 25 minutes in to (again) compliment you guys on your impressive grasp of Christian history and dogma. Every other time I’ve heard lefties try to discuss this stuff, they are so misinformed about the nuances of theology that their analysis is full of strawmen and is, frankly, very off putting. It’s what kept me away from the left for many years as a younger Christian, despite feeling that much was broken within the conservative upbringing I’d been raised into. I thought, “Why should I listen to the criticism of liberals toward my faith if they didn’t even bother to understand its basic tenets?”. You guys (Chapo) have produced the ONLY content I would ever be comfortable sending to a conservative Christian friend or family member to try and open their mind a little bit. I know you guys don’t make content to address conservative Christians (duh), but you should know that what you’re doing is very important in reaching a woefully underserved demographic. There are more open-minded Christians than there appear to be. They’re just frustrated and stuck in evangelly land because they don’t know what else is out there yet. Amber talked about her parents once from this perspective, and I totally agree with her. Western Christianity (across multiple denominations) is VERY close to another reformation. This one is going to be way bigger than the last was, too.

J.W.

They did a TV movie in Germany ('93) about "John of Leiden" starring no less than God Christoph Waltz as Bockelson! Look up "König der letzten Tage". Good stuff.

Jan Meyer

The important point about the cages, which have been replaced more than once, is that they are hung from the the "Burgher" church, a mere 200 meters or so from the Dom, the bishops church. It was also a clear sign to the citizenry.

Ellen Harold

Our professor said he continued to say mass every day, IIRC. He was protected by Marguerite of Navarre, Francis I’d sister, who also protected Clement Morot, translator of the psalms, who was jailed for eating lard during Lent. She was Henri IV’s grandmother. The one who said Paris is worth a Mass, a chicken in every pot on Sunday, and who issued the edict of toleration.

AKorgar

Amen (no joke intended)

Connor Keeley

Old comment, but is there anywhere to watch this with English subs?

J.L. Vaughn

It’s not a coincidence that Bohemia got its own king and its own religious order because these things happened hundreds of years apart from each other…?Otherwise I approve of your summary of the Hussite wars 😉 and also super interesting are the taborites aka the radical faction, who practiced an early form of communism

Gubriel

It's time to speedrun this whole series again now that it's officially over and the meta has emerged

Dr Nermal Funkenstein

I'm finally listening to this series all the way through. I really appreciate what you wrote up and definitely agree

carl

diet of worms ew

Eric Dietrich

Sending only good, dope vibes. Listening to your sexy voice while draining 3s in 2K, Matt.

Garth Hansen

It makes me happy to hear Matt talk. Get better homey

Keyan

1.9 million days lol

Audeamus

Yes, and they mistakenly say you couldn't read Caesar's words while his commentaries on the Gallic wars were a huge part of his political success.

UNDED

Decided I wanted to listen through this series again, for no particular reason...

Dr. Ron Jambo

Also very bad is Will's way of constantly jumping around and changing then distance to his mic.

Brian

I think Matt answers around 24:30. It gives the Church authority via sacraments. Otherwise the Church had waning influence as the state became more secular

Hardcore Virgin

So basically the question was: why this institution? Answer. Because of the limbo we established in lore? Fair enough, I suppose.

Hardcore Virgin

Because it rules and I miss the boy. Tho I do wish this series had more of that hell of presidents off the dome feel. Love that dome feel.

Marcel Szabo

13 hour flight on deck time to revisit this classic

Eamon Short

What question did it answer? IDK, maybe "how will we be able to fund The Sistine Chapple, and all the rent boys the Pope is running through"

Eamon Short

That's what happens when I eat my boyfriend's ass.

Hardcore Virgin

That’s the institutional answer. I was asking from the perspective of a mud farming plebeian.

Methew

Fugggggh yeah

Angle

The atlas is a great touch

Kiva

Psyched, hyped, thrill-pilled.

Luggi

Let's look at the cast in the Atlas shall we

Madeline

Half way through a shitty shift and this pops up, let's fucking go

Andrew Strzelinski

"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, "Well Actually..." 

Dipster

Letssssgo!

James Cook

Great job guys. I can't wait to see where you take this. Also stellar production Chris, you really knocked it out the park!

Greg

It's really great guys, I especially love the music!

Danny McShane

Happy days! Please could you post/repost a reading list for this? I thought you had done so last year but couldn’t find it 🙏

Jill Sanders

There was no agitation about the end of the world around the year 1000, watch the "Le paure dell'anno mille" from Professor Alessandro Barbero. He also explains how the myth was made up.

Riley Bloomer-Ludwig (edited)

Comment edits

2026-09-09 10:00 Long live Chapo and long live COMMUNISM !
2023-01-11 13:08

calvin kilby

Long live the ideals of The October Revolution

CJ

LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOO

saintbeau

we are so fucking back

Frederick Von Drasek

...fantastic, and the website is a great resource all on its own...

Jeffrey Miller

This is really good. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

Doug Cartel

today, we might call him "Smart Freddy"

Ipota

this is amazing

Doug Cartel

also nice metaphor of printers sprouting up like mushrooms. Mushrooms grow on dead things, like say old religious institutions

Steve Joseph

Love this. btw anyone know a good book on the german peasant's war. cant seem to find any

Rioluke88

Matt and Chris have the same dynamic as Diamond and Silk.

Josh Bobst

Nicely done, boys. This will be the first chapo production I share with my mother and brother.

NYCM&AHole

He’s just German - he’s not that unusual for being obsessed with shit

ScottB

Fantastic, looking forward to the rest of the series!

Noodle

The intro music is hard

Bryan Jennings

I was wondering how much of a departure from Chapo this would be until Matt dropped "Uncle Magic has the sanction of heaven" Brilliant. Can't wait for the rest of the series

Demented Avenger

Did Luther just like stale crackers or something?

D.O.D

Thats pretty much the only non-onion food option that was available at the time

itsjenjen

between this pod, your cool atlas website, and playing pentiment - feels like i'm in school again engaged in learning again and in a really fun way. great work, fellas!

Jacob Jones

Wonderful! 10/10, been anticipating this since y'all announced it, and I am very pleased! Just a thought as I'm listening, it is pretty amazing that we all, as humans collectively, recognize we are being screwed by systems, but it takes multiple people spending decades of their lives studying reality to put into words how we are being screwed. All on an idea that some douche canoe came up with in 10 minutes to further their own personal comfort. lol

carl

hammering of the feces

JN

To add to the chorus- the site is really sick. Makes me feel like I'm playing AOEII

叔叔六十四 (Uncle64)

Those poor fools thinking they can just exchange coins for salvation. Don't they know they need to contribute monthly on patreon?

K102.1FM Mornings w/ Jonny Corndogs

So happy this dropped, boys. I've been stoked for this since the preview dropped and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Hell of Presidents. I always have a soft spot for critical and (rightfully) brutal analysis of American History, especially contemporary history (Post-Nixon onward), so the thought of equally critical and brutal analysis of the birth of capitalism is right for me. I can't wait to listen to this in the afternoon. Love the work you do Chris and Matt! (Also, thank you for not putting this on yet another goddamn subscription service. I'm not getting a Stitcher account, nor will I ever get one, and masked goons with M16s can't make me)

NYCM&AHole

Also as a lawyer i feel attacked by your criticism of the lawyer pathway. Expect me to be annoying at the launch party.

Aaron Baer

Yeah, fuck those south American death squads ... The hate podcasters anyway

Tom

Speaking as a Protestant minister who was the token Marxist at his divinity school: this fucking rules.

Gregor Cunningham

nailed it (to the door of all saints' church, wittenberg)

Gary

Very good my favorite time to run roleplaying games in.

Carol Marg

U guys gotta get Liz Bruenig in here for some of these eps

Matelda

Thank you for preaching the evils of Protestantism and spreading the peace & joy of buying one's eternal home in the arms of Christ Jesus through the one true Church

Adam

why?

Slamp

Love this! Years ago I read 1066, and due to my interest in the subject of middle ages nobility and societal structure, my partners mom gave me a copy of Norman Cantors "Civilization of the Middle Ages". Then I recently went through your catalogue and heard the Chapo episode with Patrick Wyman and I now I'm reading "The Verge". Up next is McNeills "plagues and peoples", and Michael Pyes "Europes Babylon". This series fits perfectly between the time period covered in these works and the really good book I read last year "Empire of Cotton" by Sven Beckert. So stoked y'all! As always thanks for the great work!!

Matthew Dunn

A big thank you to Chris’s Euro teacher for introducing this to him and allowing us to consume this magnificent meat!

Tony Bonacci

Y'all. Big Julie was the first celeb. You could in fact consume his words directly and specifically because he paid for his reports from the war on the gauls to be read in the forum in real time and while there was no printing there was such a massive scribal class that the infrastructure of verbatim reproduction of ones words and image was not only possible but realized. There is a reason why people still learn Latin by reading ceaser 2000 years later. Y'all trippin.

vermouth

good shit this will inspire my dnd game

Quaritch

Fantastic! Chris, Matt, and co. once again knock it out of the park! I have a feeling I’ll be listening to this series for years.

Dee Haytch

Thrilling! So good! Had to rewind a couple times when you would be reading some script that was dense and flowery, but nbd. Can't wait for p 2

itsjenjen

Interactive atlas, bibliography and credits for the series can be found at: hellonearth.chapotraphouse.com

etienne

he like a gamer getting mad they made his MMORPG pay-to-win "the relief of a quantifiable of purgatorial suffering for deceased love ones could be had through pilgrimages to see holy sites" literally quest grinding

etienne

when the devs drop the 1.9M purgday quest and it breaks the ingame economy

Dick Wolf

Incredible stuff

Zarathushtra

Are you telling me indulgences are Medieval NFT’s?

Ian Woods

Great episode, really looking forward to the rest of this series! Also lol 1:13:00 - someone’s autocorrect didn’t recognize ‘infarction’

etienne

I had my doubts about the entertainment value of following up the Presidents of the United States of America with some nerd ass Middle Ages shit but actually no this is very good and compelling

etienne

she is Catholic

Ian Woods

But it was all propaganda and recognized as such at the time. Sure a relatively accurate recounting of events, but with JC as like, Jesus Christ. Parasocial element was lacking. Dunno if ML was the first, but the boys are 100% accurate in that man (ML) poured his soul on the page - feels genuine to the reader, unlike puffed-up descriptions of triumphant battles or civic largesse.

Carol Marg

I like her thinking on Christianity in general, and esp bc she converted from a Protestant denom :) she seems to know abt all kinds of Christian history basically and is fun to listen to/read

David Atkins

Excellent, can’t wait for the rest!

Agent Grange

Excellent shit, I like to think of myself as learned (at least more than your average wikipedia warrior) and this was almost all knew knowledge to me that I'm internalizing as part of my world view. With the latest drama around Wizards of the Coast and D&D this gives me more than a few ideas for a fantasy setting based in historical materialism at a critical point between faith and capitalism like this.

misterr

So excited for this

etienne

this is like if NPR produced one of those Radio War Nerd episodes where Annibale guests

Ben

Are all the pods gonna be Hell ____

Robert

One of hell of an opening & I’m kinda pissed off I didn’t get this deep a dive into just how much Martin Luther entertainingly screwed things up in my own education, also I think I heard Matt say “peasant rebellion of 1825” 😋

T

Congrats. Amazing. Everything about this is great.

Ozzie

That was awesome. Stoked to hear more!

justdave

Watch Terry Jones' Medieval lives

Michael Branes

love the harpsichord in the theme music!

Christian Martinez

This was some amazing work so far, I can't wait for the rest of the episodes!

Jessica Rios

I love how you two honor our nerd-dom.

Thomas Mullane

This series, and hell of presidents, are some of the best things I've listened to in a while. Thanks for all the hard work you guys are doing to research this stuff and give it this kind of attention.

Charlie Dwight

Bob Turansky? No way! Fellow Turansky alumnus here, what are the odds. Keep up the great work!

Pierce

Hell yeah dude

Gulb

I think it's pretty obvious that God becomes the bread. I mean come on.

Julie Baxter

People will believe stupid shit and kill you if you disagree. And if you don't believe the stupid shit you will be killed outright.

Jay Bee Jay

And it's possible one person is on acid

idiot moron

Ain't listened yet but nice bibliography. The Wedgewood book is great. Yates is of course wonderful as are all her books about Rosicrucianiam and hermeticism more broadly.

Boaz Corey

Supremely interesting and well presented, thanks guys. I'd like to understand more about how the Christian church came to be so powerful that it warranted this revolution against it. Would anyone recommend any readings on that?

Zach Pierce

And it’s possible I’m in a k hole kitty flipping on a string!

Zach Pierce

I heard ML had a big azz nail that he carried around just to fck with church doors!

Ivan Novikov

You all should ask zizek if he wants to do an episode on father Joseph

Kyle Petty

When you guys first advertised this period, I wasn't too hyped. I was operating under my high school in college level of the 30 Years War and in general prefer American history to understand America. Damn how wrong I was. Of course we have to understand who is coming over here to found the country and what ideas they brought with them, already the first episode has me hooked This is going to be awesome

Mitch H.

Can God create a gingerbread man that he cannot catch?

Mitch H.

You also had DogeCoin but those were just actual coins printed by the Doge

Cindy Carrot

Through the Eye of a Needle by Peter Brown

Elliot Matheny

This episode rules, great job fellas. Content kings indeed

Hugh

Explosive opening episode. Kudos all round.

Adam Foster

love it but Julius Caesar was on the coins *and* his letters to Rome detailing the conquest of Gaul were published as they arrived, meaning that the average Roman could hear Caesar's thoughts and therefore Caesar was the first celebrity by that metric. Luther was certainly the first celebrity of the *modern* world, but not the first celebrity overall. I loved the episode but couldn't avoid mentioning this in the replies because I'm exactly the kind of pedant who would enjoy this series!

Sean Brocklehurst

Fantastic first episode, i'm so excited for this series.

Patrick Burke

I listened to this twice so effin good!! Now I’m going to push it on my friends and family or wordlessly cut them from my life

Ian Woods

Think their distinction was between knowing of someone/hearing public square propaganda about their achievements and the parasocial aspects that came about via readers of ML’s voluminous, personal writings about the soul, ethics, communion, etc being (perhaps) unprecedented at the time. My take away from that bit at least.

dum surfer

no lie this might be the best history podcast episode ive ever listened to. cant wait for the rest of this series!!!

Oscar G.

I've lived in Münster and I can tell you that those cages at the St. Lamberts church made a shiver roll down my spine every time I looked up at them. Somehow it feels like the people, who were caged, were just there and not hundreds of years ago.

Pelican Grief

This shit rocks. Chris hitting the "Johann Tetzel!" like a migos style ad lib had me rolling

Dr. Ron Jambo

Wow, this will make my winter. Curious if you will make anything of Simplicissimus. The man who wakes up on Pandora and starts digging for Unobtanium immediately – being a good "Christian" and all. Many thanks from a Hessian Marxist Baroque Buff!

Dr. Ron Jambo

Soundtrack epic and appropriate btw

Sean Fuquay

Engels wrote a short book on it. Haven’t read it but it’s recommended in the bibliography for the show.

Phil F

This was better than my already high expectations. Very excited for the rest of the series. Keep it up Matt, Chris, and crew.

Mark Schneider

Outstanding episode, worth the time invested listening-- so early on when you discussed the fail-son monks feasting and drinking, there weren't just paintings of these dudes. Don't forget that Rabelais, himself at one time a Franciscan monk, in Gargantua and Pantagrel spends lots of time jeering at the monks' fat bellies, their endless pointless debates, corruption and local scandals.

John Swan

Luther was NOT even close to being the first “celebrity”. But I get your point anyway.

Graeme Pletscher

This is great, I'm all in. Love the music and production. First ep is a perfect accompaniment to the new game, Pentiment.

justdave

Hallulla brother 🍞 🙏

justdave

(It's a type o' bread)

justdave

The Buhdda was the first celebrity

C. Ries

The Catholic Church was basically a shitty NGO. It’s insane that 1 billion people still eat slop from that pigpen

Major bit me

More like the first parasocial relationship celebrity, at least with print media

Sam

Oh god I love this but I am so bad at listening to history flatly.. especially cuz turkish history education spent so little time on european christian history- makes it harder to put things into context

Dezza

Chris Wade should be a professional narrator

NYCM&AHole

That’s what all those lawyers whose practices were mortgage backed securities and collateral debt obligations and other fancy stupid instruments did.

Rollo Tomassi

There are other ethno-religious histories?!

Tim O'

I haven't thought about this stuff since high school, and Chapo is coming in hot with the dialectical materialist history podcast that I didn't know I needed. Great work.

Steve Joseph

Amazing guys. This series may be your best work yet

Tam Mansilver

Martin Luther and Napoleon are hemorrhoids kings

Khemith

What's with Germans and poop?

Ellen Harold

Erasmus was arguably the first celebrity, as least one of the first to promote himself via printing press. Petrarch was pretty much of a celebrity, if you exclude political figures like Alexander the Great.

江戸 ねビル

I’m new here (listening since around mid 2022?) and idk if Chris or Matt even read these comments (considering disposition? towards listeners and maybe (idk how patreon works) user power level etc, whatever the fuck) anyway, I’m a new fan blah blah, “you guys make trying to understand politics fun and” blah blah blah, I love you guy, lots of laughs But all I want to say is: I much much much MUCH prefer l the rambling from notes, or whatever makes it feel more natural, e.g. most hinge points, cushvlog, main content episodes It’s hard to listen to when it feels so rigid

Ian Stone

I'm going to need Martin Luther to start talking to some cobblers in Wittenburg so we can enjoy some more of that sweet foley work

Audeamus

Love the writing, the production, and the content! Do recommend slowing down when reading prepared notes - it is harder to follow. Channel your inner Mike Duncan. Spread the words lovingly, like butter on toast; don't chug it all at once.

Stephen Price

Welp, y'all fuckers finally did it. After freeloading for years, I had to become a subscriber just for this. Well done.

MG

+1 for asking C&M to slow down a tad on the prepared sections. Otherwise, so so good! My brain is still in recovery mode after taking in so many high-level important ideas

Ethan

Just started playing Pentiment which takes place at the same time as the 95 thesis, know very little about it so this was very interesting. Looking forward to the rest, really well produced.

C. Ries

Their poop is the stinkiest because all they eat is cured meat and alcohol

Brendan Kneeland

If history teachers had the chutzpah to say things like “Martin Lussy” we would have flying cars by now

Brian Breneman

oh word? been needing a reason to stop playing hades and get into something else

etienne

i wouldn't say it was a Non-GO, it was more of a Parallel Goverment Organization, that ran all the "soft" stuff like education, social cohesion, illness and death as opposed to the "real" government that handled the "hard" stuff like defense, money and infrastructure. Secularization was a very long and difficult process that many places didn't even properly finish

Luke Peristy

This episode was so good it made me subscribe to hear the rest of them. Extremely embarrassing shit, imo.

EaZy E

“He was the original assignment under stander,” is a sentence that keeps ricocheting around the inside of my brain like I’m Lincoln and it’s a lead ball.

Ian Fletcher

Excellent. Really enjoyed it. The Atlas is a nice touch.

Of course

I don't get how the same guy says the Eucharist is not in the Bible (the Podcast of Matthew ~1:05:20) when it's a reenactment of The Last Supper (the Gospel of Matthew 26:17-30).

Jake Nodwell

This was great guys, well done. I've struggled with the Hinge Points series unfortunately, but this was a really refreshing style that you both did amazing work on. Can't wait for the next episode.

Alan Fulcher

Lmao don’t do Chris that way!

Alan Fulcher

I kind of agree but if Matt went off the cuff on this we would be here all day.

Alan Fulcher

This is of course an old debate and I think you can make a credible argument that, even though Jesus is saying “this is my body, do this in remembrance of me” etc that he’s not like laying down a specific ritual that his followers are “supposed to do” but more just saying after I’m gone remember what I have done for you.

Douglas McTague

Keep in mind that the steeple to St. Lamberti church from which the cages hang is a neo-gothic construction from the late 19th century. The older steeple was considerably shorter.

Douglas McTague

Please consult a German speaker for some words. It’s honestly confusing at times. Most of it is okay but some are just head scratchers. Pronouncing Eisleben, the birth place of Martin Luther, as “Eizel-ben” is like a German saying Washington and Jefferson were born in “Fee-ir-geen-eya”. And Matt pronouncing the bishopric of Mainz like the US state of Maine. A German speaker would have no idea what you’re talking about - the pronunciation is that off.

etienne

I bet this feels much better than signing up for Stitcher Premium to listen to Hell of Presidents and Time For My Stories

Stephen Price

Aha so it does lol. And looks quite fetching alongside The Trillbillies, TrashFuture, and Well There's Your Problem in my Patreon feed.

Porblorbulon

Last time I learned about this period was from the book "Christ the King Lord of History" in homeschool

Chae Heuer

Honestly brings me back to Christian private school and reading about him in the PragerU textbooks.

Dr. Ron Jambo

I hear he released 95 feces posthumously.

foxy

me too. i remember playing one of martin luther's parents in our school play. my friend chris was martin luther. that was long before prageru, though

foxy

Christians are like 50/50 on taking things literally or not and the people who understand it figuratively are a lot smarter but the people who want to understand it literally are so dumber they cannot be stopp'd

etienne

isn't it like kind of a metaphor for "god gives you bread, and if you don't like god, then you don't get bread, get it?"

Alex

That outro song is fire

Lynda Morgan

I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

Degzo

Very good and interesting but why is the audio quality so fuckin bad?

tex

this was fantastic but it would really help if there were a chapter list with time stamps of some sort since there's so much covered in each episode. just a suggestion

Dr. Ron Jambo

German Speaker speaking. I care not. And esp. "Mayence" is a traditional name for that astounding metropolis. Better to hear Americans fail than to hear them twist their mouths in some half-French pretension. It always goes wrong. Just speak English and shut the fuck up.

Dr. Ron Jambo

'Cause it wouldn't be Matt otherwise.

Gustav

Suggestion for the Bibliography: Josef Polišenský - The Thirty Years War

wat

I’m not sure where you’re getting that the Eucharist isn’t scriptural, if anything it’s the one (maybe two including baptism) that are scriptural. “Jesus took the bread, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying ‘Take and eat, this is my body given for you for the forgiveness of sins, do this in remembrance of me.’ Then he took the cup, blessed it and gave thanks saying ‘This is the blood of the covenant shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins, do this in remembrance of me.’”

Dr. Ron Jambo

I agree, and the reading ist too fast-paced with no commas, semicolons, colons, periods or paragraphs ever, at all. They sound like guys who are trying to come off as smart. I get why hosts would want to have something secure to stick to. But reading right is a rare skill indeed.

Michael Landreth

Sure, communion in remembrance is scriptural. But it’s a fairly sizable logical leap from the literal words of that verse to the doctrine of transubstantiation, especially the strictly interpreted transubstantiation that was enforced by the church.

ODA555

The Eucharistic tradition in the Gospels is a later tradition that differs from what many scholars believe is a much earlier tradition as depicted in the Didache.

MC Prescott

Is this your first chapo listen ever??

Degzo

Been listening for a long time and you would think after making a show for so long they could do it without it sounding fucking horrendous.

Funny_Hat

Outro song slaps

aarinsanity

Won’t hear this in confirmation class!

wat

I mean it literally says “This IS my body, this IS my blood.” If you’re starting from a baseline of scripture is true and correct that’s not a leap at all, it’s what it literally says.

alexanderhg1 .

Why does the new guy talk so weird? It's like he has a disease that makes him sound like what an idiot thinks a podcaster sounds like. Insurance advert ass mufugga

Adam Freeman

Thanks for helping induce a lil manic episode bois

Gee Mama

Can you guys please spell out those Saxon Fighting Words from the pamphlet titles, I can't google 'em