Listen to "Counterfactuals: The Plastic Revolution" on Spreaker.

Counterfactuals: The Plastic Revolution

On today’s episode we talk about the first commercially successful ‘plastic’, the beginning of the plastic revolution that has so altered human society. But what if it happened differently?

Mar 10, 2026| 01:00:02
Other Podcasts
1
Counterfactuals – War, Mosquitoes, and Human History
2
Counterfactuals: Sticky History of Duct Tape
3
Counterfactuals: Japan’s Turning Point at Shimonoseki Straits
4
Counterfactuals: Nuclear Disaster Aboard K-219
5
Counterfactuals: Samoan Crisis of 1889
6
Counterfactuals: Wine Extinction
7
Counterfactuals: The Sensational 1876 Election
8
Counterfactuals: The Mutiny That Almost Lost the Revolution
9
Counterfactuals: The Battle of the Bulge at Elsenborn Ridge
10
Counterfactuals: The Last Invasion of Britain
11
Counterfactuals: What if the Chicken Didn’t Cross the Road?
12
Counterfactuals: USS Boston and the New Navy
13
Counterfactuals: The Three Kingdoms – or not?
14
Counterfactuals: Just How Foundational IS Concrete?
15
Counterfactuals: Roosevelt and Churchill at Christmas, 1941
16
Counterfacutals: WWI and The Battle of the Gulf of Riga
17
Counterfactuals: Confederate Espionage
18
Counterfactuals: The Passenger Pigeon’s World
19
Counterfactuals: Did Ketchup Save the World?
20
Counterfactuals: 1983, The World’s Most Dangerous Year
21
Counterfactuals: Cannae and Hannibal
22
Counterfactuals: Task Force 34 and Leyte Gulf
23
Counterfactuals: The Great Lisbon Earthquake
24
Counterfactuals: The Axumite Empire
25
Counterfactuals: The Battle of Tsushima and the 20th Century
26
Counterfactuals: What if we Used a Different Calendar?
27
Counterfactuals- The White Ship and the Anarchy
28
Counterfactuals: The Forgotten WWII Battle of Thala
29
Counterfactuals: A World Without Potatoes
30
Counterfactuals: Viking North America
31
Counterfactuals: Westward Expansion and Ashley’s 100
32
Counterfactuals: What if There Were no Transistors?
33
Counterfactuals: The Dmitriads
34
Counterfactuals: 732 – The End of Christian Europe?
35
Counterfactuals: A World Without Cats
36
Counterfactuals: The Inca
37
Counterfactuals: Alexandrian India
38
Counterfactuals: 1815 Tambora Eruption
39
Counterfactuals: The Duels of Alexander Hamilton
40
Counterfactuals: Death of a President Part 2
41
Counterfactuals: Death of A President Part 1
42
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
43
A History of Making the Perfect Smile
44
The American Civil War on the Water
45
Modern Marvels: Celluloid and Transistors
46
Hurricanes that Made History
47
Volcanoes: Vesuvius & Tambora
48
Movie Stars in WWII
49
Explorers: Magellan and Bering
50
New York Engineering: The Secret Subway and Brooklyn Bridge
51
The “Proto-Mafia”
52
Stolen Art: The “Just Judges” and Goya’s Wellington
53
Grape Blights and Grasshopper Plagues
54
Governors Assassinated
55
Pearl Harbor: The first Shot and the Aftermath
56
Hygiene History: Soap and Semmelweiss
57
Mad Monarchs: Charles VI and Ludwig II
58
Ancient Egypt: The Pyramids and the Silver Pharoah
59
Terror in the Air: TACA 110 and China Airlines 006
60
The P-38 Lightning
61
New York Riots
62
Forgotten Naval Battles of WWI
63
“My Name is Aaron Burr”
64
What You Didn’t Learn in School: Continents and the Seven Seas
65
Alexander the Great
66
Women in WWII: WASP and Virginia Hall
67
Forgotten Colonies: Popham and Panama
68
Exploited History: Slavery and Human Zoos
69
Dog Tales
70
Industrial Invention: Elevators and Vending Machines
71
Bitter Cold in the Gilded Age: The Long Winter and the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition
72
Christmas and Candy in the American Military
73
Stories of Pearl Harbor
74
Bread, Berries, and the Government
75
Animals of the Great War: Pigeons and Mercy Dogs
76
Forgotten American Mints: From New Orleans to Manila
77
The American Civil War Trans-Mississippi Theater: Wilson’s Creek and Prairie Grove
78
Hurricane History: The Great Miami Hurricane and Doc McFadden
79
Cold War Defense: The DEW Line and Texas Towers
80
Disasters: Railway Accidents
81
The Eastern Front: Fortresses, Night Witches, and Fake Guardsmen
82
WWII Special Forces: Los Baños and Makin Island
83
Television and the Don Lee Broadcasting System
84
Pirates! 2: Barbarossa, Port Royal, and Jamestown
85
US Borders: The Missouri Bootheel and The Toldeo War
86
D-Day Heroes
87
A.P. Giannini and The History of Credit
88
Forgotten Peoples: the Itza Maya and Axum
89
1970s Car Disasters: The Dale and the Vega
90
Coasties: Stories of the USCGCs Tampa and Icarus
91
Lines on the Road and the Wheels that Drive on them
92
Two 19th Century Kates
93
Aerial Hijinks: 3 Wild Stories
94
Civil War Freedom Fighters: Robert Smalls and Abraham Galloway
95
The Mafia Beer Wars: Dean O’Bannion and Calvin Goddard
96
Supernatural True Crime: The Greenbrier Ghost and Bridget Cleary
97
Weird Wars: China’s War on Sparrows and the Pastry War
98
A History Guy Christmas: Nutcrackers and Christmas Trees
99
Useful Resources: The Histories of Helium and Asbestos
100
Forgotten Fruit History: Bananas and Oranges
101
Tin Can Ships: Destroyers and the First Submarines Sunk by the US in Both World Wars
102
History Lost: The 1890 Census and the 1973 NPRC Fire
103
Pawns and Princes of Russia
104
Weird Weather: 1974 Tornado Super Outbreak, 1943 Black Hills Record, and the Great White Hurricane
105
The War Before the War: The Undeclared War and the Reuben James, WWII Iceland, and the ‘Phoney War’
106
Nuclear Near Misses: The Palomares Incident and the Wrench That Nearly Blew Up Arkansas
107
Tales of the Gilded Age: Cleveland’s Secret Surgery and the Harrison Horror
108
Pilotless Planes: Planes that Landed Themselves, the L-8 Blimp, and Taffy Holden
109
War Time Heroes: Mary Edwards Walker and Tom Custer
110
Tales of Cow: Steaks and US History and “Sir Loin” of Beef
111
Unique Animals: Pere David’s Deer and Okapi Johnstoni
112
True Crime Trials: Daniel Sickles’ Temporary Insanity and the murder of Gulielma Sands
113
Fantastic Frauds: Titanic Thompson and Stanley Weyman
114
A tortoise, a horse, and a bear, oh my! : Timothy, Sgt. Reckless, and Winnie the Pooh
115
Cold War Chronicles: Able Archer and Oleg Gordievsky
116
Mystery Murders: The Saxtown Axe Murders and the “Servant Girl Annihilator”
117
Pirates! : The Wreck of the Whydah and Albert Hicks
118
Cats and Dogs: Housecats and Civilization and Able Seaman Just Nuisance
119
Unsung Heroes: Video Game Pioneer and “Brave Bessie”
120
True Stories of the Wild West: A Bandit Who Fell off His Horse and Soapy Smith
121
Historical Cryptids: Beast of Gevaudan and Washington’s Eagle
122
Aviation Accidents: Fall From an SR-71 and the Valkyrie’s mid-air Collision

Recent Pocasts

All Podcasts
Counterfactuals: Sticky History of Duct Tape
Apr 7, 2026   |   01:03:34
Counterfactuals: Japan’s Turning Point at Shimonoseki Straits
Mar 24, 2026   |   01:00:46
Counterfactuals: The Plastic Revolution
Mar 10, 2026   |   01:00:02
Counterfactuals: Nuclear Disaster Aboard K-219
Feb 24, 2026   |   01:02:25
Counterfactuals: Wine Extinction
Jan 27, 2026   |   59:45
Counterfactuals: The Sensational 1876 Election
Jan 13, 2026   |   01:01:14

Support The History Guy

If you love history, this is the channel to support! Generous contributions from supporters allow The History Guy team to continue creating the snippets of forgotten history that have been seen by viewers all around the world. You’ll be supporting this record of the past that helps to inform our present. Making The History Guy takes time, effort, and equipment. It is history that deserves your help!

Memberships
Donations
Shout Outs