Empire: World History

181. The Dragon Empress: China’s Game of Thrones

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The inculcation of Buddhism from India as the state religion in China was enabled by the violent rise of China’s only ever woman Emperor. Raised by ...

180. Gold & God: Connecting India & Ancient Rome

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It was actually India, not China, that was the greatest trading partner of the Roman Empire. During this era, it’s clear that sea travel was the fas...

179. The Golden Road: Rise of the Indosphere

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilisation, creating around it a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religi...

178. The Vietnam War: Nixon, Vietnamisation, and the Fall of Saigon

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With Richard Nixon now in the White House and not wanting to have his presidency consumed by Vietnam like his predecessor’s was, he begins to search...

177. The Vietnam War: Lyndon Johnson, Americanisation, and Operation Rolling Thunder

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With the death of JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson took over the Presidency and immediately had to wrestle with America’s relationship with Vietnam after the ...

176. The Vietnam War: The Rise of Ho Chi Minh

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Vietnam, or Indochina as it was known, had been under French colonial rule since the nineteenth century. This was until the Vietnamese nationalist gro...

175. The CIA vs Fidel Castro

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Following the fall of Batista, the Cuban revolution took a more radical turn. Castro was not a communist to begin with, but as those around him became...

174. The Cuban Revolution

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s 1959 and the swaggering Cuban revolutionary, Fidel Castro, has just overthrown the unpopular American backed dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Che G...

173. The Korean War: Dividing the Peninsula

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Korean War was a brutal affair. It is estimated that 3,000,000 people were killed in the conflict that absolutely devastated the Korean Peninsula....

172. The Birth of North Korea

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Whilst we know the Korean Peninsula is split into two quite separate countries, North Korea and South Korea, that has not always been been the case. K...

171. The Bengal Famine: Chaos in Calcutta

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

By 1943, the price of rice was beyond unaffordable for most in Bengal, and people were dying in the streets. Despite government censorship of letters,...

170. The Bengal Famine: A Disaster on the Horizon

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, the British administration feared that Japanese forces would take India as part of their campaign. To p...

169. Freedom Fighters Betrayed: Colonising the Philippines

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

By the end of the Spanish-US war, the Philippines was on the menu. Two battles played out simultaneously on the archipelago: and old and a new empire ...

168. Teddy Roosevelt Takes on the Old World

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1898, whilst his boss was on a break at the osteopath, Teddy Roosevelt basically started a war. A master of the press, he managed to whip up war fe...

167. Paradise Lost: The Taking of Hawaii

10 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 7th July 1898, President McKinley formally annexed Hawaii, making it a colonial territory of the USA. It was not until 21st August, 1959, that it b...

166. How To Hide An Empire

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Not everyone agrees that the USA should be classed as an empire. But in the late 1800s, after white settlers had colonised western states, America tur...

165. A Massacre at Dawn

03 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Arizona Territory, April 30, 1871. The canyon known as Aravaipa lies still in the predawn darkness, the only sounds to be heard in the early-morning c...

164. How the West was Won: The Truth Behind the Westerns

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A whole genre of movies is based on a relatively short period of nineteenth-century American history. But what is the real story behind battles betwee...

163. The Tattooed Girl: From Mormon to Native American

26 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1850, 13-year-old Olive Oatman and her family set off on the perilous journey by foot from Missouri to Arizona. Olive and her little sister were ca...

162. The Oregon Trail & the Gold Rush

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fort Laramie was once a stockade where European fur traders and Native Americans lived together peacefully. But by the 1850s it became a stop-over alo...

161. The Trail of Tears

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite having fought alongside them, President Andrew Jackson hated Native Nations. In the early 1800s, he sought to deceive Cherokee tribes into giv...

160. Native Nations vs Thomas Jefferson

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

North America was never virgin territory. For thousands of years it has been home to established nations of Indigenous people who founded ancient citi...

159. The American Revolution: Building The New Rome (Ep 4)

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The British have surrendered, they’ll be leaving soon. Now the Americans have a new and arguably harder task than before. They have to meld those 13...

158. The American Revolution: Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness (Ep 3)

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Declaration of Independence establishes the ideals on which this break away nation founds itself on. But it’s full of contradictions. It complai...

157. The American Revolution: The Shot Heard Around the World (Ep 2)

05 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The infamous Boston Tea Party sees colonists dressed as Native Americans dump British tea in the surrounding waters. Calls of “the British are comin...

156. The American Revolution: No Taxation Without Representation (Ep 1)

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From sugar to paper, a series of taxes in the 1760s spark outrage amongst American colonists that snowball into a revolution. Was it inevitable that t...

155. The Founding Fathers: Benjamin Franklin (Ep 5)

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We're all about the Benjamins. Franklin is unquestionably the most well-rounded of the Founding Fathers. Not only did he help draft the Declaration of...

154. The Founding Fathers: John Adams (Ep 4)

29 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Often given less attention than the other Founding Fathers, John Adams is no less significant. Not only did he go on to be the second US President, bu...

153. The Founding Fathers: Alexander Hamilton (Ep 3)

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence impoverished in sq...

152. The Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson (Ep 2)

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Jefferson is one of the most complex figures in the whole American Revolution. A child of the enlightenment, it was he who wrote 'we hold these...

151. The Founding Fathers: George Washington (Ep 1)

22 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Everybody knows Washington as the strapping, powerful general and then president who helped to overthrow the British and forge America, but how did he...

150. Worlds Colliding: Seizing Settlers in New England

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Deerfield, February 1704. The small, puritan town of roughly 300 inhabitants in western Massachusetts has been riven with tension ever since the Frenc...

149. Pocahontas: Kidnapped in Virginia

15 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most famous names in American history, Pocahontas had an extraordinary life. She was the daughter of Powhatan, a great Native American chie...

148. America: The Empire of Liberty

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Empire that dare not speak its name. America was born through an explicit rejection of empire as it forced the British from the continent and inde...

147. Queen Victoria: Empress of India (Ep 4)

08 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1877 Queen Victoria took on the title Empress of India, a nation which she undoubtedly had close to her heart. Yet, under her reign and that of her...

146. Queen Victoria: The Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets (Ep 3)

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Across 1851, over 6,000,000 people went to London to see the Great Exhibition. Designed to showcase the very best of what Britain and the empire could...

145. Victoria & Albert (Ep 2)

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is one of the great love affairs of history. Upon meeting again shortly after her 18th birthday, Victoria and Albert became smitten with each other...

144. The Making of Queen Victoria (Ep 1)

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Born on the 24th May 1819, Alexandrina Victoria was fifth in line to the throne at a time in which the monarchy’s popularity was declining. Yet, ove...

143. Isabella of Castile: The Spanish Inquisition, the Conquest of Granada, and Columbus

24 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For centuries Spain had been an outlier in Europe due to its religious diversity; Christians, Jews, and Muslims all existed reasonably peacefully acro...

142. Isabella of Castile: Uniting Spain

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To some she is Europe’s first great queen, to others she is one of history’s great villains, but there is no doubt that Isabella of Castile holds ...

141. Nur Jahan: The Most Powerful Mughal Woman

17 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With Jahangir sliding into more of an opium and alcohol fuelled slumber with each passing day, Nur Jahan took the reins of the Mughal Empire. In this ...

140. Nur Jahan: The Light of the World

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nur Jahan was born on a roadside as her well-to-do parents fled from Safavid Persia for the tolerant court of the Mughal emperor. Her first marriage w...

139. Mrs Genghis Khan

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Börte came from a powerful nomadic tribe and in many ways her marriage to Genghis Khan set him up to become the great conqueror we know. They married...

138. The Graceful Reed: Ruling the Islamic Empire

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sold as a slave to the great Abbasid Caliph, al-Khayzuran quickly rose to the very top of the pyramid. Through marriage and motherhood, she became wif...

137. Empress Theodora: Making Heaven on Earth

03 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Empress Theodora is often unfairly remembered for the salacious stories that have been told about her when she was forced to work in a brothel. Sh...

136. Empress Theodora: From the Brothel to the Throne

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Placed by her mother into a brothel when she was just a child, Theodora was born into the most brutal of worlds. It was a Constantinople riven with di...

135. Helena: Queen of the World and Finder of the One True Cross

28 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Born in poverty at a time when the Roman Empire was in danger of cracking up and disintegrating, Helena was set for a life of obscurity as a stable ha...

134. Cleopatra: The Would-Be Empress of Rome

26 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With Julius Caesar dead, Cleopatra turned to another of Rome’s dominant figures. She became entwined with Mark Antony, the ruler of the eastern half...

133. Cleopatra: Queen of the Nile

21 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Born in the romantic splendour of Ptolemaic Egypt, not far from the Library of Alexandria, Cleopatra was destined for greatness. She ascended to the t...

132. Journey to Nalanda and the Library of Jewels

19 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In late autumn, 629 AD, Xuanzang set out for the great university of Nalanda from Chang’an. Across the desert, over the Pamirs, and through multiple...

131. Buddhism Goes to China

14 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Buddhism reached China in the 1st century AD, yet it remained a minor, foreign religion for the next 100 years. It was not until the fall of the Han d...

130. India meets Rome: Making the Image of the Buddha

12 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1st century AD, the nomadic Kushans settled in what is now Afghanistan and established settlements and trade. From here, they moved down over t...

129. Ashoka: The Great Buddhist Emperor of India

07 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ruling in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka was one of India’s greatest ever rulers. Under his rule, the Mauryan Empire grew into the largest empire India ...

128. The Life of the Buddha

05 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India was the forgotten heart of the ancient world. For a millennium and a half, from about 250 BC to 1200 AD, India was a confident exporter of its d...

127. Inventing Curry: The British Taste for India

29 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From the beginning of the Raj, British tastes began to turn away from Indian cuisine towards a European palate. The colonial classes sneered at Indian...

126. Punch & Chilli: The East India Company at the Table

27 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the East India Company first arrived on the shores of India, the food they ate in their first factories was not so different from that of Britain...

125. The Origin of the Houthis

22 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since November 2023, the Houthis have been attacking international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. They set off from the Yemeni coastline on speedboats...

124. Saddam Hussein vs The Ayatollah

20 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In September 1980, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces invaded neighbouring Iran and so began the longest conventional war in modern history. After initia...

123. Hezbollah: The Party of God

15 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In June 1982, Israeli tanks rolled over the Lebanese border. Soon after, Iran sent 1,500 Revolutionary Guards into Lebanon to help fight them. Thereaf...

122. Iran & Saudi Arabia: The Rivalry that Split the Islamic World

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

1979 was the year that set the Islamic world on the path to today. In Iran, the revolution established the nation as a theocracy that sought to defend...

121. The Fall of the Shah of Shahs

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Shah cracks down on dissent, to the point even his great ally Jimmy Carter begins to cool on the relationship. The economy continues to overheat a...

120. The Iranian Revolution: The Rise of Ayatollah Khomeini

06 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With the Last Shah’s reforms - known as the White Revolution - starting to take effect, Iran looked to be in a healthy position. Economic growth is ...

119. The Last Shah

01 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Reza Pahlavi rules but he is still bedevilled by the interference of the great powers. Britain has its claws in deep with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Compan...

118. Iran's First Revolution

30 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout the 19th century, Iran was a pawn of the great colonial powers. It failed to industrialise, its economy stagnated, and resentment at foreig...

117. Nader Shah: The Sword of Persia

25 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nader Shah was not born to rule. He was poor, the son of a shepherd in a semi-nomadic tribe, and had no connection to the throne. But he was physicall...

116. Isfahan: The City of Dreams

23 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Isfahan, half of the world. It had been a city for years, but at the end of the 16th century Shah Abbas made it his capital and totally transformed it...

115. The Great Conversion: How Iran became Shia

18 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did the great divide within Islam, the split between Sunni and Shia, develop? We trace how the great 16th century confrontation between the Ottoma...

114. The Persian Renaissance

16 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After conquering much of Eurasia, Timur showed no interest in building institutions and so after his death, like the Mongol Empire before it, the Timu...

113. Timur: Scourge of God

11 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Timur, known to many as Tamburlaine the Great from the iconic Marlowe play. Despite having a limp and struggling to get onto a horse, he erupted from ...

112. Ferdowsi: How One Poet Saved Persian Civilisation

09 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After the Arab conquest, Persia was turned upside down. Patronage went to Islam as opposed to Zoroastrianism. The official language of state was now A...

111. Shackleton: The Hero of Antarctica

04 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As the timber creaked under the pressure of the Antarctic ice, Shackleton knew his voyage aboard the Endurance was doomed. What the ice gets, the ice ...

110. Antarctica: The Continent that wouldn’t be Conquered

02 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Antarctica, the great land of ice. It was first spotted in the early years of the 19th century but it wasn't until 1895 that humans, in the form of a ...

109. The Endeavour: Into the Unknown

28 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With Alexander Dalrymple sidelined, Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks are ready to set off on an expedition to track the Transit of Venus and see wh...

108. The Endeavour & the Great Southern Continent

26 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1760’s a clever, young, ambitious Scotsman named Alexander Dalrymple began advocating a theory as to the existence of a great southern contin...

107. China's Greatest Admiral: The Story of Zheng He

19 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 15th century, Admiral Zheng He, on the orders of the Emperor of China, embarked upon a series of extraordinary voyages of exploration. These v...

106. The Rise of Islam

14 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With the Sassanian Empire defeated and the Byzantine Empire exhausted, there is a power vacuum in the centre of the world. Both of these superpowers h...

105. The Last Great War of Antiquity

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Eurasia is divided into two great superpowers. Khusrow II rules the Sassanian Empire. Maurice, the last of the Justinian dynasty, rules their mighty r...

104. How Persian Religion Changed the World

07 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Three great religions have come out of Persia and all of them have influenced world history. First there was Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic re...

103. Alexander the Great: Defeating Darius

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Darius has already been defeated by Alexander. His wife has been kidnapped and has now died in childbirth. The omens sent by the gods bode ill for him...

102. Alexander the Great: The Conquest of Persia

30 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Darius III rules Persia and he has already demonstrated his heroism and skill in battle. The Empire itself, despite having been through a period of co...

101. Salamis: Athens’ Revenge

28 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Leonidas and the 300 have been defeated at Thermopylae, leaving the way to Athens open. With the Persians advancing, many Athenians flee to the island...

100. Thermopylae: Xerxes, Leonidas, and the 300

23 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

August 480BC; the might of the Persian army, roughly 100,000 soldiers, face down a few thousand Greeks, led by Leonidas and his brave 300. In light of...

99. Marathon and the Rise of Greece

21 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ionia has revolted and so Darius turns his gaze away from India and towards Greece. He crushes the rebellion, quelling all resistance. He then looks t...

98. Darius the Great: Ruling from India to the Mediterranean

16 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Persian Empire that Darius took control of was already mighty and powerful; his predecessor, Cambyses, had conquered Egypt, further expanding its ...

97. Cyrus the Great: Building the First Superpower

14 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Born the son of a khan, a tribal chieftain, Cyrus would go on to be a titanic figure of world history. He took Persia from being a minor regional powe...

96. Empires of Iran

09 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Persia was the first great superpower. The empire built by Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes and the rest of the Achaemenids stretched from India in the east to t...

95. The History of Putin's War

07 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022, but how did we get to this point? After the brutality of the Second World War, Ukraine was compl...

Welcome to the Empire Club

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the Empire Club. Do you want bonus episodes? Do you want discounts on the books mentioned in the weeks podcast? Do y...

94. The Bloody History of Russia & Ukraine

02 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The history of Russia and Ukraine has been irrevocably entwined for centuries. When the Bolsheviks took over and Civil War erupted across the Russian ...

93. Murdering the Romanovs: The End of a Dynasty

31 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dawn breaks on 16th July 1918. For Nicholas, Alexandra, and the rest of the Romanov family this is just another day in exile. They sit down for breakf...

92. Killing Rasputin

26 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Born in Siberia to a peasant family, Rasputin was an incredibly charismatic, physically striking, and politically savvy figure. He was a holy man, a m...

91. Lenin and The Rise of the Bolsheviks

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Tsar has abdicated and the provisional government rules Russia, but Petrograd is overflowing with revolutionaries who want more radical change. Le...

90. The Russian Revolution: Overthrowing the Tsar

19 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Russian politics is fast destabilising. Strikes, assassinations, and famines have made Russia increasingly turbulent at the turn of the century. Revol...

89. The Final Act of the Great Game

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Fearing Russian designs on the region, the eyes of the British turn towards Tibet. Francis Younghusband, the Victorian adventurer and elite player of ...

88. The Russo-Japanese War: Asia Strikes Back

12 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

1905 was one of the most pivotal moments in history. Japan, the supposedly weaker Asian power, overwhelmingly defeated the mighty Russian Empire. The ...

87. Tolstoy: War and the Russian Empire

10 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tolstoy was one of the greatest writers of all time. His books have constructed how we think about Russian imperial history. But he was not just an ob...

86. Crushing the Khans: Russia Seizes the Centre of the World

05 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As the other European empires were consolidating their holdings in Asia, Russia took 1.5million square miles of territory. Moving south from the Orenb...

85. The Russian Conquest of America

03 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 18th century Vitus Bering went from Russia's east coast and landed in America. Over the next 150 years, Russia colonised more and more land, fi...

84. A Tale of Two Nurses: Seacole & Nightingale

28 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Lady with the Lamp, the great nurse who forever changed public health for the better: Florence Nightingale lives large in the national consciousne...

83. The Charge of the Light Brigade

26 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Crimean War continues to drag on. The allies' siege of Sevastopol is grinding to a stalemate. The Russians seek to counterattack to tip the balanc...