Channel ideas

How to start a faceless history YouTube channel

Pick a slice of history you can make surprising, open every video on one strange true detail, check it against a real source, and narrate it yourself over simple illustrations. History suits a faceless channel because almost none of it was filmed: a drawing can show a Roman road being built or a 1518 street full of dancers. A recurring narrator, like Alpy's Ancient Stickman, ten thousand years old and still figuring it out, makes your videos recognisable in the feed.

Last updated 2 October 2026

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Choose your slice of history

  • Myth-busting: what people get wrong about an era (Vikings, castles, Napoleon)
  • Everyday life: what a peasant ate, how a Roman soldier marched, how people kept food cold
  • Strange true events: the odd episodes textbooks skip
  • How it worked: the engineering, money or logistics behind something famous

One slice is enough to start. A channel that is always "strange true events" builds an audience faster than one that jumps between wars, biographies and documentaries, because viewers know what the next video will give them.

12 video ideas

  • Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the building of the Great Pyramid
  • The Dancing Plague of 1518: when Strasbourg could not stop dancing
  • The Great Emu War: Australia's 1932 campaign against birds
  • Oxford University is older than the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan
  • How the Black Death raised wages for the people who survived it
  • Was Napoleon actually short?
  • Everything a Roman soldier carried on the march
  • The Library of Alexandria did not burn in one night
  • Did medieval people really avoid drinking water?
  • How people kept food cold before refrigerators: the ice trade
  • The first recorded strike: the tomb builders of ancient Egypt
  • Why the Titanic carried too few lifeboats, legally

Each of these is one surprising claim the whole video pays off. Before you script any of them, check the claim yourself (see below); popular history is full of details that are almost true.

A worked opening

The first ten seconds decide whether anyone stays. Start on the strange detail, not the background. For the Dancing Plague, compare:

  • Weak: "Today we're going to look at an unusual event from sixteenth-century Europe."
  • Strong: "In July 1518, a woman stepped into a street in Strasbourg and started to dance. She didn't stop for days. Within weeks, dozens of people had joined her, and nobody could explain why."

The strong version gives a date, a place, one person and a question, all in about forty words. That is also exactly what an illustration needs: a street, a dancer, a crowd that grows. Write openings you could draw.

Get the history right

  • Trace each claim to a historian, not to another video. University pages, museum collections and books with footnotes beat listicles; a claim every channel repeats is not proof.
  • Say when historians disagree. "Historians still argue about why" is more interesting than false certainty, and comment sections reward it.
  • Separate the event from the legend. Many famous details (Nero fiddling, Marie Antoinette and the cake) are later stories; say so.
  • Keep dates and numbers you can defend. Give a range or say "about" when the sources do.

What YouTube's rules mean for history

  • War is allowed; gore is not. YouTube's advertiser-friendly guidelines list non-graphic educational discussion of war and conflict as suitable for ads, and graphic depictions of injury or death as not. Describe battles; do not dwell on wounds.
  • Original beats reused. The monetisation policies limit reused content (other people's videos with little added) and inauthentic content (mass-produced, interchangeable videos). Your own script, your own narration and your own illustrations are the safe side of both.
  • Old images still need checking. Many historical works are out of copyright, but a museum's photo or scan of one can carry its own licence. Drawn scenes avoid the question.

Making the videos

Write the script (the 3-step guide has a prompt for it), record it, and give it to Alpy with the Ancient Stickman or Classic Stickman as narrator. Alpy draws a scene for each part of what you say and keeps the character the same in every scene. Videos can be 10 seconds to 20 minutes; about $4.83 per three-minute video, from $29/month.

Questions

Can a faceless history channel be monetised?
Yes, if the videos are original and meet YouTube's channel monetisation policies. Non-graphic educational coverage of war is listed as suitable for ads; graphic injury and death are not.
Do I need to be a historian?
No, but you need sources. Explaining what historians say, and where they disagree, is what makes a history channel trusted.
Can I use old paintings and photos in my videos?
Often, but check each one: a work may be out of copyright while the photo or scan of it is licensed. Illustrating the scenes yourself, or with Alpy, avoids that.
Which Alpy character suits history?
The Ancient Stickman (history, prehistory, survival and human origins) or the Classic Stickman (psychology, history, science and curious questions). See all characters.

Related

Sources

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