The Ides of April

The Ides of April — Son of the Blade The world didn’t change slowly. It changed in a theater… during a celebration… with a single blade. In Episode One of The Ides of April, we begin the story of Alexander the Great at the moment everything became possible — and everything became dangerous. When Philip II of Macedon, the most powerful ruler in Greece, is assassinated in front of a crowd, the future of the Greek world hangs in the balance. His heir is just twenty years old. Young. Unproven. Surrounded by rivals. What happens next is not hesitation. It’s speed. It’s violence. And it’s the beginning of one of the most extraordinary rises in history. In this episode, we follow Alexander as he secures his throne, eliminates threats inside his own family, crushes rebellion in Greece, and sends a message that will echo across the ancient world: the son is more dangerous than the father. From the destruction of Thebes to the crossing into Asia, the campaign moves with breathtaking momentum. Along the way, Alexander begins shaping something as important as his army — his legend. Because from the very beginning, this was never just a war. It was a performance of destiny. By his mid-twenties, Alexander will defeat the Persian Empire, march into Egypt, and push his army toward India. His soldiers will begin to call him favored by the gods. And he will begin to believe it. But as the poet Pindar warned: Creatures of a day. What is a man? Glory burns bright. And it never burns forever. In this episode:     •    The assassination that changed the ancient world     •    The brutal consolidation of power inside Macedon     •    The destruction of Thebes — and the warning it sent to Greece     •    Alexander’s first victories against Persia     •    The moment a young king begins to step into myth Why this story matters Alexander’s rise wasn’t inevitable. It was built on speed, ruthlessness, and a dangerous pattern: Risk. Danger. Victory. Every gamble worked. And when the world starts rewarding every risk… The most dangerous thing a leader can believe is that he cannot fail. Coming next Victory begins to change Alexander — his court, his army, and his sense of who he really is. He will adopt the customs of kings treated like gods. He will demand loyalty that feels like worship. And before long, the distance between Alexander and the men who once called him companion will grow so wide… That one of them will die by his hand. 💼 SPONSORS Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance. Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at: https://www.rula.com/IDES #rulapod 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: 👉 http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: 👉 www.mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: 👉 http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off with code DEVILWITHIN: 👉 http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: 👉 http://www.ollie.com/IDES 💰 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. 50% off your first year: 👉 www.monarchmoney.com/IDE 🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. 📍 Follow The Ides of April for new episodes each week. 🌐 More shows from the network at EvioCreative.com Because history doesn’t change gradually. It turns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ides of April – Part Two: The Blade at Aegae In Part One, Philip II of Macedon rose from the margins of the Greek world to its center — forging the army, the alliances, and the vision that would reshape history. In Part Two, his story ends. And a far more dangerous one begins. At the ancient capital of Aegae, a royal wedding is meant to celebrate unity and power. Greece is subdued. The League of Corinth stands behind Philip. The invasion of Persia is ready. The future looks inevitable. Then, in the middle of a public procession, a trusted bodyguard steps forward. A blade flashes. Within moments, the most powerful man in Greece is dead. This episode takes you inside the chaos that followed — the panic in the theater, the unanswered questions surrounding the assassin Pausanias, and the long-debated possibilities of deeper conspiracies within the royal court. Personal grievance? Political intrigue? A family power struggle? History still argues. But the real story begins after the killing. Because in Macedonia, power cannot sit empty. Within hours, Philip’s twenty-year-old son is proclaimed king. While Greek city-states celebrate what they believe is the fall of a tyrant, the young ruler moves with ruthless speed — eliminating rivals, securing the army’s loyalty, and marching south before rebellion can take shape. The message is clear: nothing has changed. Except everything has. This episode follows the fragile moment when the conspirators believed they had stopped an empire — and explores the unintended consequence of their act. Philip’s greatest achievement was not the army he built. It was the successor he left behind. Where Philip balanced ambition with caution, his son would move faster, push farther, and carry Macedonian power beyond Greece, beyond Persia, and into the wider known world. The blade at Aegae did not end a reign. It removed the last restraint. History remembers Alexander the Great. This is the moment he was unleashed. 🎧 Call to Action If you’re drawn to the hinge points of history — the moments where everything changes in an instant: ⭐ Follow and subscribe so you don’t miss upcoming episodes 📝 Leave a rating or review — it helps more listeners discover the show 📲 Share this episode with someone who loves the stories behind the history we think we know New episodes of The Ides of April release weekly. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: 👉 http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: 👉 www.mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: 👉 http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off with code DEVILWITHIN: 👉 http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: 👉 http://www.ollie.com/IDES 💰 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. 50% off your first year: 👉 www.monarchmoney.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

🎙️ The Ides of April — Two-Part Series Philip of Macedon: The Father Behind the Empire Before the legend of Alexander the Great, there was the man who made his rise possible. In this two-part series of The Ides of April, we travel to the rugged northern kingdom of Macedonia to explore the life, ambition, and violent death of Philip II of Macedon — the ruler who transformed a dismissed frontier state into the dominant power of the Greek world. Part One — The King from the Edge of Greece Long before Macedonia commanded armies and alliances, it was considered backward by the great city-states of southern Greece. This episode traces:     •    The harsh frontier culture that shaped Philip’s early life     •    His time as a political hostage in Thebes — where he studied the future of warfare     •    The military revolution that created the Macedonian war machine     •    The rise of Philip’s power across Greece     •    The complex royal family dynamics that shaped succession     •    The early signs of greatness in his young son — including the famous taming of Bucephalus By the time Philip stands at the height of his power, Greece is unified under his leadership and a massive invasion of Persia is within reach. But success has created enemies — both abroad and within his own court. 🎧 Call to Action If you enjoyed this series: ⭐ Follow and subscribe to The Ides of April so you never miss an episode 📝 Leave a rating or review — it helps others discover the show 📲 Share this episode with someone who loves history’s turning points 🌿 And join us next time, as we continue exploring the moments when a single act changed the course of the world. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: 👉 http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: 👉 www.mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: 👉 http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off with code DEVILWITHIN: 👉 http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: 👉 http://www.ollie.com/IDES 💰 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. 50% off your first year: 👉 www.monarchmoney.com/IDE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Ides of April April's Shadow - Part Two: The Manhunt and the Plea The morning after an assassination is never quiet — it only looks that way from the outside. Inside a nation’s nervous system, everything is shaking. In this episode, The Ides of April follows the official investigation into Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, tracing the manhunt for James Earl Ray, his capture in London, and the guilty plea that should have brought closure… but didn’t.  We explore how Ray — an ordinary, drifting figure in the official record — became the center of a global pursuit, and how modern investigative tools turned grief into paperwork, evidence, and procedure. The capture of a suspect gave the country an answer, but not relief. Because justice processed through a system is not the same as a wound healed.  When Ray pleaded guilty in 1969, the legal case ended swiftly. But without a public trial, the nation never experienced the ritual of collective reckoning that might have helped it metabolize its grief. Instead, Americans were left with a statement where they needed a story — a procedural ending to an emotional earthquake.  This episode also reframes the assassination as a two-part event: the shot in Memphis, and the plea in the courtroom. One ruptured the nation. The other attempted to contain that rupture through bureaucracy. The result was not closure, but a lasting sense of unfinished history — a scar that became part of America’s emotional architecture.  We then step back to examine what changed after April 4, 1968. Dr. King’s death did more than take a life — it altered the country’s moral confidence. Progress no longer felt inevitable. Hope became fragile. Movements hardened, backlash intensified, and a nation learned that moral truth could be shot in public.  The Ides of April isn’t only about what happened. It’s about what it did — to institutions, to memory, and to the American conscience. This episode sits in the uneasy space between official narrative and emotional reality, where grief turns into history and history becomes climate.  🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW If you’re enjoying the show, make sure you’re following the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts — The Devil Within, The Ides of April, Criminal Mischief, Taboo Treasures, Finding Me with Josh Wolf, and more — so you never miss a new episode. 📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE You can now watch full video episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows on YouTube. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications so you don’t miss new drops across the network. 📲 FOLLOW ON SOCIAL Follow for updates, visuals, and behind-the-scenes content: • @thedevilwithinpod • @idesofaprilpod • @eviocreative • @findingmewithjoshwolf (Instagram, TikTok & Facebook) 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: 👉 http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: 👉 www.mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: 👉 http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off with code DEVILWITHIN: 👉 http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: 👉 http://www.ollie.com/IDES 💰 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. 50% off your first year: 👉 www.monarchmoney.com/IDE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

April's Shadow : “The Balcony in Memphis” In Episode One of this two-part Ides of April event series, we step into Memphis, 1968—not as a footnote in civil rights history, but as a pressure cooker where the fight for equality evolves into something even more threatening to power: economic justice. Martin Luther King Jr. comes to Memphis to support the sanitation workers’ strike, sparked by the horrific deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, and fueled by a single, uncompromising demand—human dignity—carried through the streets on signs that read: I AM A MAN. As King’s mission expands from civil rights leader into a broader advocate for labor and class justice, the atmosphere darkens and the stakes intensify. Memphis becomes a mirror reflecting America’s deepest fear: that justice may require redistribution—not just of rights, but of power. The episode moves into the prophetic gravity of King’s final night. At Mason Temple, he delivers the iconic “Mountaintop” speech—part sermon, part warning—before returning to the Lorraine Motel. The next day, a moment of ordinary life becomes a national rupture: 6:01 PM on the balcony outside Room 306. And in the hour after his death, America ignites—grief spilling into unrest and reckoning—while the machinery of investigation begins turning, hunting for a suspect as the country struggles to make meaning out of the impossible. In this episode     •    Why Memphis became the inevitable battleground in 1968     •    The sanitation strike, labor, and the radical power of I AM A MAN     •    King’s evolution into a leader focused on class justice     •    The “Mountaintop” speech and the calm before catastrophe     •    The assassination, the aftermath, and the beginning of the manhunt 🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW If you’re enjoying the show, make sure you’re following the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts—The Devil Within, The Ides of April, Criminal Mischief, Taboo Treasures, Finding Me with Josh Wolf and more—so you never miss a new episode. ⭐ RATE & REVIEW Ratings and reviews genuinely help independent shows grow. If you have a moment, leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—it helps more than you think, and yes, we read them. 📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE You can now watch full video episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows on our YouTube channel. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications so you don’t miss new drops across the network. 📲 FOLLOW ON SOCIAL Follow us on Instagram for updates, visuals, and behind-the-scenes content:     •    @thedevilwithinpod     •    @idesofaprilpod     •    @eviocreative 🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK Explore all of our shows, projects, and upcoming releases at eviocreative.com ✉️ GET IN TOUCH Have a story, tip, correction, or something you think we should cover? Email us at info@eviocreative.com 🔁 SHARE THE SHOW If you know someone who loves true crime, history, horror, or stories that refuse to let go—share the episode. Word of mouth keeps this network alive. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF (http://www.quince.com/MISCHIEF) 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: http://www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN (http://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN) 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: http://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: http://www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH  The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: http://www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

THE IDES OF APRILEpisode Two: The End of the Romanovs — The Night and the Myth The second episode moves from ideology to execution. From the basement of the Ipatiev House to the birth of one of history’s most enduring survival myths, this is where the Romanov story truly ends—and refuses to stay buried. CHAPTERS Chapter Four — The Basement In the early hours of July 17, 1918, the Romanov family is awakened and led downstairs. What follows is chaotic, brutal, and unfinished—at least at first. Jewels sewn into corsets deflect bullets. Panic replaces precision. History becomes physical. Chapter Five — What Their Deaths Changed The execution closes the door on restoration and hardens the revolution into permanence. The killings reshape Russia’s future, redefine political legitimacy, and introduce fear as a governing principle—while simultaneously creating uncertainty the Bolsheviks cannot control. Chapter Six — Anastasia and the Refusal to Accept the End Confusion, missing bodies, and silence give rise to the myth that one daughter survived. For decades, the world clings to the idea of Anastasia as proof that history blinked. It takes modern DNA science to finally confirm the truth: none escaped. The Romanovs were not killed because they ruled. They were killed because they represented. History does not owe us survivors. Sometimes it simply closes the door—and walks away. 🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW Follow The Ides of April and all Evio Creative podcasts so you never miss an episode. ⭐ RATE & REVIEW Ratings help independent shows survive—and we read every review. 📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube for full video episodes, clips, and exclusives.📲 FOLLOW ON SOCIAL • @idesofaprilpod • @thedevilwithinpod • @eviocreative 🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK eviocreative.com 🔁 SHARE THE SHOW If this episode stayed with you, share it. Word of mouth keeps this network alive. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰 EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Devil’s Ledger — January 5, 2026 Happy New Year — and welcome back. We’re kicking off 2026 with a chilling slate across the Evio universe. We start with The Creepiest Thing I Heard This Week — a winter nightmare from Japan about the Yuki-onna, the mysterious “snow woman” who appears during blizzards… and quietly breathes the warmth out of anyone who helps her. Then, on The Devil Within, we open a two-part investigation into the 1955 Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter — the farmhouse siege that helped shape modern alien mythology. Over on The Ides of April, we begin our deep dive into the fall of Tsar Nicholas II and the brutal end of the Romanov dynasty. History turns fast — and it doesn’t look back. The guys from Taboo Treasures are still shaking off the holidays — they’ll be back next week with something wild. This week on Criminal Mischief, we examine the disappearance of Anna Walshe — a mother of three whose New Year’s Day “work emergency” unraveled into something far darker. A true can’t-miss. And in This Week in Horror, we’re talking PRIMATE — the pet-turned-predator creature feature that feels like CUJO’s unhinged cousin. 🚨 New Show Drop — TODAY Our brand-new series FINDING ME with Josh Wolf officially launches today. Honest, vulnerable, funny, and deeply human — this is one you’ll want in your feed from episode one. Follow, rate, review, and share — and we’ll see you across the Evio universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

THE IDES OF APRIL Episode One: The End of the Romanovs — Power, Abdication, and Inevitability In this first episode, we trace how the fall of the Romanov dynasty began long before gunfire echoed in a basement. From battlefield catastrophe to political collapse, this is the story of how abdication ended authority—but not danger. CHAPTERS Chapter One — The Abdication The Russian Empire collapses under the weight of war, famine, and failed leadership. Nicholas II abdicates the throne in 1917, believing surrendering power will save his family and stabilize the nation. Instead, it seals his fate. Chapter Two — Five Children and a Dynasty Behind the crown stood a family: five children, a sickly heir, and a court defined by secrecy and ritual. Fabergé Easter eggs become symbols of continuity, illusion, and imperial fragility as the Romanovs slip from rulers to prisoners. Chapter Three — Why the Bolsheviks Could Not Let Him Live As civil war erupts, the Bolsheviks confront a brutal reality: Nicholas no longer rules—but he still represents. Alive, he remains a rallying point, a bargaining chip, and a threat. The decision is not vengeance—it is preemption. Abdication ends power. It does not end meaning. And revolutions cannot tolerate symbols that still breathe. 🎧 LISTEN & FOLLOW Follow The Ides of April and the full Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts. ⭐ RATE & REVIEW Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—it helps more than you think. 📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBEWatch full episodes and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications. 🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK Explore all shows and projects at ⁠eviocreative.com⁠ ✉ GET IN TOUCH Email tips, stories, or corrections to ⁠info@eviocreative.com⁠ 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: ⁠www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF⁠ 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: ⁠www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN⁠ 🛰 EXPRESSVPN Protect your data anywhere. Get up to 4 months free: ⁠www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN⁠ 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: ⁠www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN⁠ 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: ⁠www.ollie.com/IDES⁠ 🔥 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: ⁠www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

THE IDES OF APRIL — BONUS EPISODE The Knife That Wouldn’t Stay Put: Rasputin, Provenance, and the Seduction of Artifacts What happens after an assassination? Sometimes the story doesn’t end with the body—it migrates into objects. In this bonus episode of The Ides of April, we examine the strange afterlife of a knife long rumored to have killed Grigori Rasputin—a weapon with questionable provenance, a lucrative auction history, and a surprising cameo in one of the most famous nonfiction books of the late 20th century. This is a story not about what can be proven—but about what people want to believe. 🗡 IN THIS EPISODE Cold Open — Objects That Want History Some artifacts carry history. Others acquire it. We begin with the unsettling question of how objects tied to violence become more powerful than the violence itself. Chapter One — Did a Knife Even Kill Rasputin? We return to the historical record: gunshots, blunt force trauma, drowning—and the notable absence of reliable forensic evidence that a knife played a decisive role at all. Why blades appear in later retellings, and what that says about how assassination stories evolve. Chapter Two — Provenance by Repetition How a weapon with no firm documentation becomes the knife through repetition, auction language, and carefully hedged claims. A look at how phrases like “attributed to” and “traditionally believed” manufacture legitimacy without proof. Chapter Three — Savannah, Storytelling, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and EvilThe Rasputin knife enters American pop culture through Savannah, Georgia, and the world of curated eccentricity captured by John Berendt. Why the knife fits perfectly into a city—and a book—where objects operate as social currency rather than evidence. Chapter Four — Auctions, Aftermarkets, and the Price of Belief What auction houses actually sell when they sell history. Why price can substitute for proof, how ownership becomes evidence, and why assassination artifacts gain value even as certainty evaporates. Chapter Five — Why We Keep the Knife A deeper look at why audiences crave singular objects: knives, bullets, relics. How they simplify chaos, localize guilt, and allow us to believe violence can be contained—when history suggests otherwise. ❄ CLOSING THOUGHT Artifacts don’t prove history. They negotiate with it. The knife attributed to Rasputin’s death survives not because it’s verifiable—but because it’s useful. It gives shape to uncertainty. It flatters belief. It offers closure history never promised. 🎧 THE USUAL EVIO CREATIVE CTAs LISTEN & FOLLOW Follow The Ides of April and the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts. ⭐ RATE & REVIEW If you enjoy these deep-dive episodes, leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps independent shows survive—and we read every one. 📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBEWatch full episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications. 🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK Explore all shows and upcoming projects at eviocreative.com ✉ GET IN TOUCH Have a historical object, myth, or claim you think deserves scrutiny? Email info@eviocreative.com 🔁 SHARE THE SHOW If this episode made you reconsider how history is packaged and sold, share it. Word of mouth keeps this network alive. 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need. For 50% off your first year: www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

THE IDES OF APRIL A Christmas Assassination: The Death of Rasputin Christmas 1916. Russia is starving. The First World War is grinding the empire into dust. Faith, monarchy, and legitimacy are collapsing in real time. And inside a candlelit palace, a small group of aristocrats convinces itself that killing one man might still save the nation. In this stand-alone holiday episode of The Ides of April, we examine the assassination of Grigori Rasputin—a murder born of fear, myth, and desperation, carried out just days before Christmas, and destined to change nothing. 🎄 IN THIS EPISODE Cold Open — “They Killed Him Once” A story that refuses to end quietly. Poison. Bullets. Ice. And the unsettling question of why Rasputin’s death had to be so absolute. Chapter One — Russia in December: War, Winter, and the Need for a Devil World War I has hollowed out the Russian Empire. Soldiers freeze at the front. Cities starve. The Tsar is absent. And Rasputin—mystic, peasant, outsider—becomes the human symbol of everything the ruling class can no longer control. Christmas approaches as faith collides with collapse. Chapter Two — The Night at the Moika Palace Inside a palace dressed for the holidays, a plan unravels. Poison fails. Gunshots follow. Panic replaces precision. Rasputin’s murder becomes legend not because it was supernatural—but because it was chaotic, amateur, and fueled by fear rather than certainty. Chapter Three — The Assassination That Saved NothingRasputin’s death does not stabilize Russia. It accelerates its collapse. This chapter examines why political assassinations so often fail to deliver the futures they promise—and how killing a symbol can reveal the moment an empire stops believing in itself. ❄ CLOSING THOUGHT The murder of Rasputin was not an act of strength. It was an admission of panic. Violence did not save imperial Russia. It only revealed how desperate its guardians had become. 🎁 HOLIDAY GREETING As the year closes and the season asks us to reflect on endings and beginnings, we wish you peace, safety, and perspective. History rarely offers clean endings. Be gentle with yourselves—and with each other. 🔮 NEXT WEEK ON THE IDES OF APRIL Another assassination. Another belief that history could be redirected by a single act of violence. It couldn’t. 🎧 THE USUAL EVIO CREATIVE CTAs LISTEN & FOLLOW Follow The Ides of April and the entire Evio Creative lineup wherever you get your podcasts. ⭐ RATE & REVIEW If this episode stayed with you, leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps independent shows survive—and we read every one.📺 WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE Watch full episodes, clips, and exclusives from all Evio Creative shows. 👉 Subscribe to Evio Creative on YouTube and turn on notifications. 🌐 VISIT THE NETWORK Explore all shows and upcoming projects at eviocreative.com ✉ GET IN TOUCH Have a story, tip, or correction? Email info@eviocreative.com 🔁 SHARE THE SHOW If this episode felt worth sitting with, share it. Word of mouth keeps this network alive. QUINCELuxury essentials at affordable prices.Free shipping + 365-day returns: www.QUINCE.com/MISCHIEF 📱 MINTMOBILEPremium wireless for just $15/month.Switch and get free shipping: www.mintmobil.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰 EXPRESSVPNProtect your data anywhere.Get up to 4 months free: www.ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD CBD and THC gummies shipped nationwide. 20% off: www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOODReal, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 60% off your first box: www.ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH The only finance app you’ll ever need.For 50% off your first year: www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

🕯 THE DEATH OF THE NEW AMERICA - PART TWO “THE FALL OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY” In Part Two, we move to Los Angeles, 1968—a city balancing glamour with growing unrest, a fading Ambassador Hotel with a storied past, and a night when American optimism was dealt another catastrophic blow. We examine the life and radicalization of Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a young immigrant shaped by trauma, identity fractures, and political turmoil. Through diary entries, ballistic reconstruction, eyewitness testimony, and historical context, we follow the path that led him to the kitchen pantry of the Ambassador Hotel. In the final chapter, we witness the last moments of RFK’s life—the gunshots, the chaos, Ethel Kennedy’s grief, the frantic battle to save him, and America’s sense that an entire era of hope had died alongside him. Blending historical detail with poetic drop-ins from the Kennedys’ favorite poets, including Tennyson and Aeschylus, this closing chapter situates RFK’s death within the wider national trauma of the 1960s. 📚 CHAPTERS 4. Los Angeles, 1968: The Ambassador Hotel and a Country on the Brink 5. Sirhan Sirhan: The Making of an Assassin 6. The Night RFK Fell: A Kingdom Interrupted ✨ WHAT TO EXPECT • A sweeping history of the Ambassador Hotel • The cultural fracture lines of Los Angeles in 1968 • Sirhan Sirhan’s path toward violence • RFK’s final moments and the emotional shockwave that followed • The end of the Kennedy era and the symbolic death of the 1960s • Poetic and historical reflections woven into the narrative Quince — Luxury essentials at affordable prices 👉 https://www.quince.com/DEVILWITHIN Mint Mobile — Premium wireless for $15/month 👉 https://www.mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN ExpressVPN — Protect your data & access global content 👉 https://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN Mood — THC-free gummies & botanicals 👉 https://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN (use code DEVIL) Ollie Dog Food — Fresh, personalized dog meals 👉 https://www.ollie.com/IDES Monarch Money — The all-in-one personal finance app 👉 https://www.monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

🕊 THE DEATH OF THE NEW AMERICA - PART ONE “THE RISE OF ROBERT F. KENNEDY” In the first installment of this two-part series, The Ides of April traces the origins of the Kennedy dynasty—its ruthless ambition, its early tragedies, and the extraordinary forces that shaped Robert F. Kennedy into the most unlikely moral voice of the 1960s. We begin with the unvarnished story of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and the empire he built through Hollywood maneuvering, shrewd investments, insider access, and political calculation. From there, we follow the family’s early ascent into American power—and their first devastating fall with the death of Joseph Kennedy Jr. in WWII. We then explore the partnership between Jack and Bobby, forged in crisis and defined by the Cuban Missile standoff, internal political strife, and the enormous emotional cost of holding up a crumbling world order. RFK’s transformation—from loyal strategist to grieving brother to emerging moral leader—sets the stage for his unprecedented rise in 1968. 📚 CHAPTERS 1. The House of Kennedy: Power, Fortune, and Tragedy 2. The Brothers and the Burden: From Cuba to Dallas 3. Bobby for President: A Nation Fractured, A Hope Rising ✨ WHAT TO EXPECT • A cinematic retelling of the Kennedy dynasty • RFK’s deep involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis • The emotional aftermath of JFK’s assassination • The explosive political climate of 1968 • RFK’s evolution into the frontrunning voice of a divided nation Quince — Luxury essentials at affordable prices 👉 https://www.quince.com/DEVILWITHINMint Mobile — Premium wireless for $15/month 👉 https://www.mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN ExpressVPN — Protect your data & access global content 👉 https://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN Mood — THC-free gummies & botanicals 👉 https://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN (use code DEVIL) Ollie Dog Food — Fresh, personalized dog meals 👉 https://www.ollie.com/IDES Monarch Money — The all-in-one pers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Assassination of President James A. Garfield (Part Two) The Martyr and the Madman — Chapters 4–6In Part Two, the gunshot is only the beginning. President James Garfield survives the attack, but his greatest danger is not the bullet—it is the century’s medicine. As the White House transforms into a sickroom, Dr. Willard Bliss assumes control of the case with the fatal confidence of a man convinced error is impossible. While Garfield fights through agony, the nation holds a collective vigil. Crowds gather outside the White House. Newspapers print hourly updates. Telegraph lines pulse with hope and fear. And somewhere across town, the assassin Charles Guiteau celebrates his “divine mission” and prepares for immortality. This episode explores: • The catastrophic medical treatment that slowly kills the president • The national outpouring of grief, prayer, and unprecedented unity • Chester A. Arthur’s transformation from machine politician to unexpected reformer • Guiteau’s bizarre, theatrical trial, where madness becomes spectacle • The reform born from tragedy—the Pendleton Civil Service Act • How Garfield’s death reshaped American governance • Whitman’s poetry as a frame for national sorrow The episode concludes with Garfield’s final hours, Guiteau’s execution, and the surprising legacy left behind: a presidency that lasted just six months but changed the Republic forever. ⭐ If this story moved you, please follow, rate, and review The Ides of April. Your support brings the next historical saga into the world. Explore more shows from the Evio Creative Network — The Devil Within, Taboo Treasures, Criminal Mischief, and The Devil’s Ledger — at eviocreative.com. Follow us on Instagram: @idesofaprilpod, @thedevilwithinpod, @taboo_treasures, and @eviocreative. 💼 SPONSORS 🧥 QUINCE Luxury essentials at affordable prices. Free shipping + 365-day returns: Quince.com/DEVILWITHIN 📱 MINT MOBILE Premium wireless for just $15/month. Switch and get free shipping: MintMobile.com/DEVILWITHIN 🛰️ EXPRESSVPN Protect your data & unlock global content. Get 3 months free: ExpressVPN.com/DEVILWITHIN 🌿 MOOD Premium THC-free gummies & botanicals delivered discreetly. 20% off: Mood.com/DEVILWITHIN 🐶 OLLIE DOG FOOD Real, fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. 50% off your first box: Ollie.com/IDES 🔥 MONARCH MONEY The only finance app Branden actually uses. Get 60% off your first year: Monarch.com/IDES Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PART ONE The Assassination of President James A. Garfield (Part One) The Scholar and the Madman — Chapters 1–3 In Part One of our two-episode event, we enter the final summer of the 19th century and watch the American Republic stand on the edge of transformation. President James Abram Garfield, a reluctant leader with a brilliant mind, rises from obscurity to the highest office in the nation. But as he steps into a presidency full of promise, another man —Charles Julius Guiteau, failed preacher, failed lawyer, failed everything—begins interpreting his own delusions as divine instruction. This episode explores: • Garfield’s improbable rise from canal boat laborer to scholar, general, and president • The vicious fracture inside the Republican Party between the Stalwarts and Half-Breeds • The spoils system that corrupted Washington and set the stage for tragedy • Guiteau’s descent into delusion, religious mania, and political obsession • The 36-ballot convention meltdown that accidentally created a president • Whitman and Longfellow’s poems that echo the spiritual tension of the era • The slow collision of two men whose fates were already entwined Part One ends on the morning of July 2nd, 1881 inside the Baltimore & Potomac Station—where history will soon change direction in an instant. ➡ Part Two continues with the seventy-nine-day national vigil, the medical disaster, and thetrial of the assassin who believed God had chosen him. If this story moved you, please follow, rate, and review The Ides of April. Your support brings the next historical saga into the world. Explore more shows from the Evio Creative Network — The Devil Within, Taboo Treasures, Criminal Mischief, and The Devil’s Ledger — at eviocreative.com. Follow us on Instagram: @idesofaprilpod, @thedevilwithinpod, @taboo_treasures, and @eviocreative. SPONSORS: OLLIE — Human-grade dog food delivered to your door 👉 ollie.com/IDES for 60% off MONARCH MONEY — The modern way to manage your finances 👉 monarch.com/IDES for 50% off your first year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

THE IDES OF APRIL The Dagger & The Crown: The Assassination of Francisco Pizarro Part Two — The Blade Beneath the Crown The city of Lima rises — proud, radiant, and trembling under the weight of its own ambition. Francisco Pizarro stands atop the world he carved from blood and myth, convinced that stone, cathedral bells, and royal seals will insulate him from consequence. But cities cast shadows, and in those shadows gather men who were once brothers, now sharpened into retribution. In these final chapters, we watch the slow tightening of fate: whispers in wine-lit courtyards, sons raised on vengeance, stairwells echoing with the footfalls of men who believe righteousness can be carried in a blade. And when steel flashes in candlelight, it is not an empire that kills Pizarro — but memory. His blood settles into palace tile. His name settles into history. And the Andes keep their secrets, remembering not the conqueror, but the people he failed to erase. 📜 Chapters Included Chapter IV — The City of Kings Lima rises, but in its shadow conspirators breathe. Chapter V — Death in the Palace of Conquest A blade in candlelight ends the life of the conqueror who believed himself untouchable. Chapter VI — What Remains of Empire Aftermath, judgment, and the truth time refuses to bury. 🎧 Listen & Follow Subscribe to The Ides of April — where history is not lesson but haunting, not dates but destiny. 🕯 Sponsor Shout-Outs Support partners who make these stories possible: • Quince → quince.com/DEVILWITHIN • Mint Mobile → mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN • ExpressVPN → expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN • MOOD → mood.com/DEVILWITHIN • Ollie → ollie.com/IDES • Monarch → monarch.com/IDES 🕊 Evio Creative Network Listen to our other series: • The Devil Within • Criminal Mischief • The Devil’s Ledger • Taboo Treasures Follow: @eviocreative • @idesofaprilpod • @thedevilwithinpod Next Week Tease Next time on The Ides of April: A new figure rises from the ashes of faith and politics — a saint to some, a fanatic to others, and a force history refuses to forget. A martyrdom? A myth? A reckoning? Prepare for candlelight, swords, and a man who believed heaven could be built with fire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

THE IDES OF APRIL The Dagger & The Crown: The Assassination of Francisco Pizarro Part One — When Gold First Sang Before there was an empire carved into the spine of the Andes, there was a boy in Extremadura shaped by hunger, illegitimacy, and the conviction that the world owed him more than soil and silence. This first half of our journey into the rise and fall of Francisco Pizarro explores the origins of a man forged by poverty, bonded by blood to ambitious brothers, and drawn into destiny by whispers of a golden kingdom beyond the horizon. From the hard earth of Spain to the mythic heights of the Inca world, we witness the capture of Atahualpa, the shattering of an empire, and the moment when gold — sacred to a people, profane to their conquerors — became both ransom and curse. In these opening chapters, Pizarro rises not through grace, but through will: a man convinced he must seize what birth denied him, unaware that every step toward glory tightens the noose of consequence. 📜 Chapters Included Chapter I — When Gold First Sang The boy from Extremadura becomes a man defined by hunger and ambition, setting his sights on mythic Peru. Chapter II — The Shackled Sun The capture of Atahualpa, the ransom room lined in gold, and the moment a civilization crumbles under foreign desire. Chapter III — Twins Divided, Brothers Broken A brotherhood forged in conquest fractures as pride, resentment, and destiny pull Pizarro and Almagro apart. 🎧 Listen & Follow Follow The Ides of April for cinematic history told in flame-lit whispers — where men chase crowns and history asks the bill. 🕯 Sponsor Shout-Outs Support the storytellers who bring history alive:• Quince — luxury without the markup 👉 quince.com/IDES for free shipping & 365-day returns • Mint Mobile — premium wireless for $15/month 👉 mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN • ExpressVPN — privacy everywhere 👉 expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN for up to 4 months free • MOOD — legal THC & CBD shipped nationwide 👉 mood.com/DEVILWITHIN for 20% off • Ollie — fresh, human-grade dog food 👉 ollie.com/IDES for 60% off • Monarch — the modern personal finance command center 👉 monarch.com/IDES for 50% off your first year 🕊 Evio Creative Network Explore more immersive storytelling: • The Devil Within • Criminal Mischief • The Devil’s Ledger • Taboo Treasures Follow: @eviocreative • @idesofaprilpod • @thedevilwithinpod Next Week Tease In Part Two, the City of Kings rises on the Pacific shore — and in its shadow, betrayal blooms. Daggers are sharpened in silence, loyalty curdles into vengeance, and fate enters Pizarro’s palace wearing the face of a brother. History does not fall in thunder. It falls in footsteps. And they are approaching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

⛪ The Keys of Blood — Part Two Presented by the Evio Creative Podcast Network Before popes sat behind a curtain of velvet and Swiss guards… before the Church wrapped itself in ceremony and certainty… there was a Rome so fragile, a single whisper could break it. In Part Two of The Keys of Blood: The Assassination of Pope John VIII, we descend into the final hours of a papacy balancing between faith and fear. The enemies have changed — from pagan raiders on the horizon to Roman nobles at the dinner table — but the threat is the same: power without allegiance, belief without protection. This is the half of the story where hope runs thin, candles burn low, and holy walls echo with the sound of footsteps that do not belong. ⚒️ Episode IV: The Hammer and the Veil Rome is quieter now — too quiet. The Saracens have withdrawn, but the peace they leave behind is brittle, unnatural, and heavy with dread. Pope John VIII walks the halls of the Lateran like a ghost haunting his own life. He fortifies walls, counts dwindling coins, and sleeps beside a dagger wrapped in scripture. Meanwhile, Rome’s noble families circle like wolves waiting for the shepherd to stumble. Loyalty evaporates. Conspiracy thickens. In the dark chapel of Saint Leo, John studies a relic hammer older than empire — a reminder that creation and destruction are brothers, and both may wear the garments of God. ✣ Episode V: The Assassination It happens the way power always falls: quietly first, then all at once. In the bitter winter of 882, whispers crystallize into action. Doors close. Torches move through the Lateran. A pope writes his final unfinished prayer. And steel — swung not by infidels, but by Christians — finds its mark. There is no trial. No trumpet. Just the snap of bone, the hiss of oil, the severing of a throat in a palace meant for saints. Rome wakes pretending nothing happened. But history remembers the sound. A papacy believed divine learns it can bleed. 🕯️ Episode VI: The Keys of Blood The morning after, Rome resumes — markets open, priests chant, and an election begins as if faith were a garment easily cleaned of blood. Yet nothing is the same. A murdered pope becomes a mirror the Church cannot bear to look into. The illusion of sacred invulnerability shatters. The century that follows will be chaos — popes made and unmade, corpses put on trial, faith wielded like a blade. And yet, in the ashes, something stubborn endures: a harder, leaner Church that has tasted mortality… and learned to survive it. 🕯️ What This Chapter Explores A cinematic finale to the darkest chapter in papal history:     •    The final unraveling of Rome’s sacred authority     •    How a hammer reshaped a millennium of religious power     •    The psychology of holy men facing mortal danger     •    The birth of the Dark Century — and the reforms it forced into being This is not just the death of a pope — it is the death of an illusion. 💀 Credits Written & narrated by Branden Morgan Produced by Evio Creative in partnership with Bellaire Studios Press & media: eviocreative.com 🕯️ Sponsor Shoutouts Support deep-dive storytelling by visiting our partners:     •    Quince — timeless essentials, honest prices: quince.com/IDES     •    Mint Mobile — premium wireless for $15/mo: mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN     •    ExpressVPN — protect your privacy: expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN     •    MOOD — legal THC/CBD delivered: mood.com/DEVILWITHIN     •    Ollie Dog Food — 60% off fresh dog meals: ollie.com/IDES     •    Monarch — smart financial planning: monarch.com/IDES (50% off first year) 🎙️ Network CTA Listen to more from the Evio Creative Network: The Devil Within • The Devil’s Ledger • Criminal Mischief • Taboo Treasures Follow: @eviocreative • @idesofaprilpod • @thedevilwithinpod • @taboo_treasures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

⛪ Blood and Papal Gold – Part One Presented by the Evio Creative Podcast Network Before the Vatican was marble and gold… before the Church had armies and crowns… there was Rome — a ruin with a heartbeat. In this first half of The Keys of Blood: The Assassination of Pope John VIII, we enter the smoke and silence of the ninth century — a time when popes ruled by letter instead of sword, when faith was a fragile currency, and when the empire that once conquered the world had been reduced to a city clinging to its own memory. ⚜️ Episode I: The Broken Empire Europe is in fragments. Charlemagne’s heirs bicker over borders while Viking and Saracen raiders carve the continent apart. Into this chaos steps Pope John VIII, a scholar forced into kingship. His Rome is a relic surrounded by wolves, and his only weapon is diplomacy — or what’s left of it. But when he dares to pay tribute to Saracen pirates to spare the city, his mercy is mistaken for weakness, and whispers of betrayal begin to echo through the marble halls of the Lateran. ⚓ Episode II: The Pope and the Pirates As the raiders tighten their grip, John is forced to choose between faith and survival. His decision to ransom Rome with gold saves lives but shatters his reputation. The Frankish kings mock him; the clergy call him coward; the nobles begin to conspire. When he crowns Charles the Bald as Holy Roman Emperor, hoping for salvation, the emperor dies within months — leaving the papacy more isolated than ever. Rome’s enemies circle closer, and John’s greatest fear becomes clear: the Church will not fall to pagans, but to its own believers. 👑 Episode III: The Emperor’s Shadow In this final chapter of Part One, the illusion of empire collapses for good. As Saracens burn the coasts and noble families tear Rome apart from within, Pope John VIII fights a losing battle to keep faith alive in a city that no longer believes. He writes, he pleads, he endures. Yet within the candlelit halls of the Lateran, betrayal is already gathering — not in the form of armies, but of whispers. The hammer that will one day kill him has not yet fallen, but its echo is already in the air. 🕯️ What to Expect A cinematic historical narrative written in the immersive, literary tone of The Ides of April, exploring:     •    The fall of Charlemagne’s empire and the rise of feudal chaos     •    The paradox of a pope who bought peace with gold     •    How faith, politics, and paranoia became indistinguishable     •    The first cracks in the illusion of papal invincibility 💀 Credits Written and narrated by Branden Morgan Produced by Evio Creative in partnership with Bellaire Studios Sound design and original score by [Audio Engineer Name] For press or partnerships, visit eviocreative.com (https://www.eviocreative.com/) 🕯️ Sponsor Shoutouts Support The Keys of Blood and every Evio Creative series by visiting our partners: 🧥 Quince — timeless essentials at honest prices. Visit https://www.quince.com/IDES for free shipping and 365-day returns. 📱 Mint Mobile — premium wireless for just $15 a month. Visit https://www.mintmobile.com/DEVILWITHIN for unlimited talk and text. 🕵️ ExpressVPN — protect your data everywhere. Visit https://www.expressvpn.com/DEVILWITHIN for up to four months free. 🌿 MOOD — legal THC and CBD gummies shipped nationwide. Visit https://www.mood.com/DEVILWITHIN for 20% off your first order. 🐾 Ollie Dog Food — fresh, human-grade meals for your dog. Visit https://www.ollie.com/IDES for 60% off your welcome kit. 💰 Monarch — take control of your finances at https://www.monarch.com/IDES for 50% off your first year. 🎙️ Network CTA Listen to more from the Evio Creative Podcast Network, including The Devil Within, Criminal Mischief, The Devil’s Ledger, and Taboo Treasures. Follow @eviocreative, @thedevilwithinpod, and @idesofaprilpod for behind-the-scenes features and episode drops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Shot Heard Around the World — Part II Chapters 4–6: “The Plotters,” “The Shot Heard Around the World,” “The War to End All Wars” A wrong turn.A teenage assassin.And a single moment that tore the modern world apart. In Part II of The Shot Heard Around the World, Branden Morgan takes us inside the conspiracy that killed the Archduke — and the avalanche that followed.From Gavrilo Princip’s desperate act of violence to the impossible tangle of alliances that turned one assassination into World War I, this is the anatomy of catastrophe. We follow the chaos in Sarajevo, the political fury in Vienna, and the slow, almost hypnotic collapse of reason across a continent drunk on power. By the end, the old empires are gone, millions are dead, and the myth of progress lies buried in the mud of the Western Front. Part II concludes with the war’s haunting legacy — how its “peace” became prelude, and how Europe, scarred and starving, unknowingly prepared itself for something even worse. 🎧 Featuring: Inside The Black Hand and the six men who changed history The “blank check” that sealed Europe’s fate The rise of trench warfare and the fall of civilization 📣 Follow & Support: Instagram: @idesofaprilpod For press & inquiries: info@eviocreative.com Rate, review, and follow The Ides of April wherever you get your podcasts. 💼 Sponsors:Take the online quiz and introduce Ollie to your pet at ollie.com/ides for 60% off your first box of meals.And use code IDES at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. 🔥 The Ides of April — because one gunshot doesn’t just end an empire. It ends an era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

🎙️ The Ides of AprilThe Shot Heard Around the World — Part I Chapters 1–3: “The Heir of an Empire,” “A City on Edge,” “Europe in Tinder” He was born to rule an empire he never truly believed in.Archduke Franz Ferdinand — heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, reformer, romantic, and the man whose death would ignite the modern age. In this sweeping first part of The Shot Heard Around the World, Branden Morgan traces the improbable life of the Archduke, the fragile peace of Sarajevo, and the continent teetering on the edge of disaster. From his forbidden marriage to Sophie Chotek to the volatile web of alliances that bound Europe in mutual paranoia, this is the story of how one city — and one bullet — became the hinge upon which the twentieth century turned. Through vivid storytelling and sharp historical insight, The Ides of April brings to life the world that existed just before the fall — a world too confident to imagine it could end. 🎧 Featuring: The rise and decay of the Austro-Hungarian Empire The secret societies plotting revolution in the Balkans The chain of alliances that made peace impossible 💥 The Ides of April — where history’s turning points sound eerily familiar. 📣 Follow & Support: Instagram: @idesofaprilpod Press & inquiries: info@eviocreative.com Rate, review, and follow The Ides of April wherever you get your podcasts 💼 Sponsors: Take the online quiz and introduce Ollie to your pet at ollie.com/ides for 60% off your first box. Use code IDES at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. 🔥 The Ides of April — because history doesn’t whisper. It detonates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices