Every strange thing in history has a reason.
Why Then is a small independent studio making animated YouTube videos about history's oddest decisions, deals, disasters and turning points. Each story is checked against sources, and the sources are listed under every video.
Watch on YouTubeStories we've told
A few frames from our recent videos.
The soldier who would not stop
1945–1974. Hiroo Onoda kept fighting in the Philippine jungle for 29 years after the Second World War ended.
He volunteered for Auschwitz
1940. Witold Pilecki let himself be arrested so he could report from inside the camp.
The bat bomb Coming soon
1943. The US strapped tiny firebombs to bats. In a test, they burned down their own base.
The Toledo War Coming soon
1835. Ohio and Michigan nearly went to war over one town. Michigan lost, then got rich.
About the studio
One small team, every step in house.
Researched
Every script is checked against published sources, and we pin a correction when we get something wrong.
Animated
We write, illustrate, animate and edit each video ourselves, as Shorts and as longer videos.
In six languages
Our stories also go out on our channels in German, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Hindi.
Our channels
Find us on YouTube in your language.