1. Logan Productions
LoganProductions makes Pixel Art history videos in a similar comedic style to Oversimplified. His video topics include alternate history, geography, and niche history breakdowns.
2. AlternateHistoryHub
Like the name suggests, AlternateHistoryHub focuses mainly on alternate history; videos on what the world would look like if a certain historical event (e.g. WWII) went differently. Expect topics like “What if Japan had converted to Christianity?” and “What if Napoleon never rose to power?” among many others.
The visual style is also similar to Oversimplified’s; the only difference is the narration style may be a bit more “professional”.
3. Simple History
Simple History is another animated history channel. Its animations are a tad more realistic/human than Oversimplified’s and the narration style is more “professional”.
While Oversimplified focuses on well-known geopolitical history events (e.g. wars), Simple History delves into slightly more unknown territory.
Example videos include “Shameless Copycat Combat Vehicles in History”, “Strange Military Traditions” and “The Secret Police of Sparta”.
4. Sam O’Nella Academy
Judging by the display picture, you’d be right to think that Sam O’Nella has a very similar visual style to Oversimplified. This also goes for the narration style too. And humour.
But Sam O’Nella Academy is less a history channel and more of a channel that covers interesting topics (mainly history).
Expect to find videos like “Where Animals’ Scientific Names Come From”, “World War II’s Unluckiest Ship”, and “The Journey of a Beef Cow”.
5. Whatifalthist
While the name suggests a focus on “what if”/alternate history, Whatifalthist actually creates content on a number of different topics; geopolitics, sociology, economics, and of course history/alternate history.
His videos include detailed hand-drawn maps mixed with statistics/graphs and stock photos.
6. History Matters
History Matters is a more academic-focused history channel focused on making history easier to understand for students taking exams. It still has a visual style similar to Oversimplified, but the content angles are just a tad more on the academic side (vs the entertainment side).
It’s still great fun to watch. Expect to find short animated documentaries on “Why didn’t the USA annex all of Mexico in 1848?”, “Why Don’t Countries Formally Declare War Anymore?”, and “Why did the Soviet Calendar fail?”
7. BlueJay
BlueJay is probably the most similar channel to Oversimplified in terms of visual and narration style. Where it differs is in content; BlueJay focuses on the more meta topics of history; the videos that are side-dishes to Oversimplified’s main courses.
Expect to find many “in a nutshell” videos on a variety of topics like “Historic Duels that put the Wild West to Shame”, “Absurd Historical Trends that Need to Come Back”, and “History’s Worst Olympic Marathon in a Nutshell”
What does Reddit recommend?
This list wouldn’t be complete without a curation of what others are saying on Reddit. Here’s a bunch of threads to check out for more info:
Nevertheless, here are the other most commonly mentioned channels on Reddit discussions of Oversimplified:
- History House Productions
- Feature History
- Sabaton
- Extra Credits History
- Indy Nidel
- Historia Civilis
- Armchair Historian
