402. The Norman Conquests: The Real Story of 1066 (Part 2)
Who was William the Conqueror? Who was Harold Godwinson? Who was Harald Hardrada? And how did these three rivals change the course of Englis...
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Empire
How do empires rise? Why do they fall? And how have they shaped the world around us today? William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the stories, personalities and events of empire over the...
Episodes
20 of 415 episodes401. The Norman Conquests: Secrets of the Bayeux Tapestry (Part 1)
The Bayeux Tapestry shows one of the defining moments in English history. But look closer at its dragon-prowed ships and its warriors, and t...
400. Stalin: A Poisonous Legacy (Part 6)
Fiona Hill is the leading authority on Russia and has been in the room with Putin and Trump. She joins Anita Anand and William Dalrymple to...
399. Stalin: Hitler’s Downfall At Stalingrad (Part 5)
Antony Beevor wrote the definitive book on the Battle of Stalingrad. He joins William Dalrymple and Anita Anand to discuss how Hitler and St...
398. Stalin: The Great Terror (Part 4)
Soon after Stalin’s purges and mass violence, Nazi soldiers launch a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union, opening up the Eastern Front of...
397. Stalin: Killing Trotsky (Part 3)
Was it an ice axe or an ice pick? The murder of Trotsky in Mexico is infamous, but what does it say about Stalin’s willingness to seek out a...
396. Stalin: The Bolshevik Revolution (Part 2)
Despite later mythology, Stalin was effectively a nobody during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Unlike Trotsky and Lenin, he was not on the...
395. Stalin: The Rise of A Tyrant (Part 1)
How did Stalin become one of the most ruthless dictators in World History? What was his childhood like in Georgia? How did he rise from a po...
394. Road To 9/11: Hijackers, CIA Failures, and America’s Darkest Day (Part 6)
How did the CIA fail to tell the FBI that known Al-Qaeda terrorists were already training inside the United States? Who was the calculated m...
393. Road To 9/11: Interviewing Bin Laden In The Caves of Tora Bora (Part 5)
What was it like to interview Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora caves? Who were the other terrorists behind the infamous 1998 fatwa? How did...
392. Road To 9/11: Bin Laden vs Saudi Arabia (Part 4)
How did the Gulf War drive a permanent wedge between Osama bin Laden and the Saudi royal family? Why did the bin Laden family finally decide...
391. Road To 9/11: The Rise of Osama Bin Laden (Part 3)
Who were the bin Ladens, and how did they build a construction empire in Saudi Arabia? What was Osama bin Laden’s childhood like, and how wa...
390. Road To 9/11: The Soviet-Afghan War (Part 2)
Did the CIA actually fund Osama bin Laden during the Soviet-Afghan war? Who was Abdullah Azzam, the radical scholar who turned jihad into a...
389. Road To 9/11: Origin of Al-Qaeda (Part 1)
What were the building blocks of the rise of Radical Islamism that paved the road to the 9/11 terror attacks? How did the torture of radical...
388. Viking Mythology: Thor, Ragnarok, & Jesus Christ (Ep 6)
Who are Thor and Ragnarok in Norse Mythology? How did the Vikings fuse their own spiritual beliefs with Christianity? And how do Norse spiri...
387. The Vikings Invade Britain (Ep 5)
Why did the Vikings invade Britain, and how did they mix into society? What did they do with the gold they stole from churches? Which Viking...
386. The Picts: Scotland’s Tattooed Warriors (Ep 4)
Who were the mysterious peoples who ruled parts of Scotland for 500 years? What is the true origin of the Loch Ness Monster? Is there a secr...
385. Saint Patrick: Slave, Rebel, & Ireland’s Patron Saint (Ep 3)
Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated all over the world every year by the Irish diaspora, but what is the real history behind the patron saint...
384. The Roman Invasion: Gods on Hadrian’s Wall (Ep 2)
The Roman Conquest of Britain. The furthest western point of the empire. How did life change for ordinary people after the invasion? Why do...
383. Romans vs Druids: The War For Celtic Britain (Ep 1)
What are the links between the Druids and Stonehenge? Why did Romans massacre Druids in Anglesey, Wales? What is the Pagan Calendar and how...