It's considered to be the bloodiest civil war in history, but there's a fair chance you've never heard of it. The Taiping Rebellion convulsed China from 1850 to 1864, leading to over 20 million deaths and severely weakening the Qing dynasty, but it remains little known outside of China today. Speaking to Rob Attar, Professor Stephen R Platt answers listener ... Show More
Yesterday
Nationalism: everything you wanted to know
Human beings tend to identify with being in a group, and, historically, few groupings have been more potent than the idea of the nation. But when did people first embrace the idea of the nation state? Is nationalism predominantly a right-wing creed? And does it thrive during peri ... Show More
45m 17s
Aug 22
Preview: The forgers who faked a fortune
In 1775, a respectable lady, a mild-mannered apothecary and his fast-living identical twin stood accused of pulling off a scam that had earnt them a fortune. But as their trial unfolded, the defendants turned on one another, and the plot thickened – who was the real orchestrator ... Show More
8m 52s
Aug 21
From dodos to 'lost' tribes: a history of extinction
After causing the extinction of the dodo, humans soon realised that we had the power to destroy entire species – and we continue to reckon with that power. Speaking to James Osborne, Sadiah Qureshi discusses her new book Vanished, which looks at the connections between extinction ... Show More
35m 6s
Jun 8
The First Emperor of China
In the third century BC, China was a land fractured by war - a patchwork of rival kingdoms struggling for dominance. Out of this chaos rose a single, extraordinary figure who would reshape the course of history: Chin Shrr Hwong, the First Emperor of China. His achievements were m ... Show More
58m 24s
Mar 2025
Real Wives of Dictators | Jiang Qing, Chairman Mao's Wife
For better or (mostly) worse, Jiang Qing left her mark on the 20th century.
Even before she was married to Chairman Mao, Jiang was a charismatic actor, and her passion for culture helped her spearhead the Cultural Revolution as part of the Communist Party in China, later in life. ... Show More
43 m
Jun 9
[BEST OF] The History of Modern China
From the Taiping and Boxer Rebellions, to the Chinese Revolution and Civil War, through the Long March and the rise of Mao Zedong, to the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, all the way to Deng's Reform and China today, Professor of East Asian and Global History Dr. Ken H ... Show More
7 h
Apr 2025
The Egyptian Revolution & Nasser's Era w/ Ahmad Shokr (AR&D Ep. 7)
With this episode of Guerrilla History, we roll into our next case study in our series African Revolutions and Decolonization. Here, we turn our focus to Egypt, and particularly the 23 July Revolution in 1952 and the rise of Nasser. However, to tell this story, we turn back to th ... Show More
1h 42m
Mar 2025
Confederacy: Myth of the Lost Cause
How do you justify a war you lost, and that destroyed countless homes, businesses, towns and families? This was a question facing the southern states after the Civil War.
Their answer? The myth of the Lost Cause.
In this final episode of our series on the Confederacy, Don catches ... Show More
38m 14s
Jun 23
Frenemies: Russia & the USA, a History
For nearly half a century, the United States and Russia stood as adversaries, entrenched in a tense geopolitical rivalry known as the Cold War. Yet this period represents only a brief chapter in the broader, more complex history of their relationship...In this episode, Professor ... Show More
1h 3m