Empire: World History

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 discuss how Stalin’s violent l

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 Stalin’s armies faced gruelling

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 World War II.  Who was Stalin

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 and destroy his rivals? Who was

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 frontline amongst the revoluti

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 poet training to be a priest, to

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 mastermind behind the scheme to

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 Monica Lewinsky derail the res

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 to disown him? How did he man

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 was he radicalised by a purita

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 global franchise? How did 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 members of the Muslim Brother

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 spiritual practices continue in som

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 stereotypes are true - and wh

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 secret code behind the Pictish car

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 of Ireland? How is the traditi

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 Middle Eastern gods end up on

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 is modern Halloween derived fr

382. Empire of AI: Karen Hao On Today’s Hidden Colonialism (Ep 2)

Are modern AI companies the new empires? What is the hidden human cost behind chatbots like ChatGPT? How does Silicon Valley’s rhetoric echo the East India Company? In t

381. Musk, Bezos & The New East India Companies (Ep 1)

Are modern tech corporations the new East India Company? What is the dark history behind Silicon Valley? What do Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have in common with Cecil Rhodes