Mar 26

345. Chairman Mao: The Cultural Revolution (Ep 6)

What were Mao’s motivations for launching The Cultural Revolution? Who were the Red Guards, and why did Mao indoctrinate teenagers? How did Mao die, and who came next? Anita and William are joined once again by Rana Mitter, author of A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the ... Show More

49m 1s

Mar 24

344. Chairman Mao: The Great Leap Forward (Ep 5)

Why did Mao declare war on sparrows as part of The Great Leap Forward? What caused China to attack India in 1962? How did Mao use a swimming pool to embarrass Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev? Anita and William are joined once again by Rana Mitter, author of A Bitter Revolution: C ... Show More

49m 6s

Mar 20

Christiane Amanpour On Iran & Trump’s Miscalculations

William and Anita are joined by renowned British-Iranian journalist, Christiane Amanpour, to discuss the war in Iran, and how it has echoes of the events she has covered since leaving Tehran in 1979. How did the Iran-Iraq War of 1980 shape the military tactics of today’s Islamic ... Show More

34m 18s

Aug 2025

595. The First World War: The Battle of the Frontiers (Part 2)

What was Britain's first military move following the outbreak of the First World War? Where did the French launch their initial attack on the Germans? Whose army was the biggest and best of all the participants in the war? And, what unfolded at the pivotal Battle of the Ardennes ... Show More

1 h

Apr 2025

VE Day: The Seelow Heights (Part 5)

How did the Battle of Berlin begin? Was Germany doomed from the start? Did Stalin make the situation worse? Al Murray and James Holland explore the opening moments of the Battle of Berlin - from Stalin's psychotic leadership style, the pincer movement that captured the heart of N ... Show More

55m 51s

Sep 2025

598. The First World War: The Eastern Front Explodes (Part 5)

While the Western front was raging following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, what was unfolding on the Eastern Front? Why was it an even bloodier and more brutal arena than the West? As Austria took on its great antagonist - the spark of the entire war - Serbia, why ... Show More

1h 10m

Sep 2025

81. The Man Who Saved The World: Abandoning Communism (Ep 2)

How did Oleg Gordievsky get recruited to work for MI6? What effect did living in Copenhagen have on his political views? And how did Britain nearly blow the recruitment of one of the most consequential spies in history? Listen as David and Gordon continue their series on Oleg Gor ... Show More

47m 37s

Sep 2025

599. The First World War: Downfall of the Habsburgs (Part 6)

After endeavouring to wreak their revenge on Serbia, what would be the greatest hammer blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War? With Leviv having fallen apocalyptically to the Russian hordes, what had gone so wrong? How might the war have been brought to an ... Show More

1h 1m

Aug 2025

594. The First World War: The Invasion of Belgium (Part 1)

Following the declaration of war in 1914, how did the outbreak of the First World War unfold? What were the earliest military engagements of this terrible, totemic event? Who were its key political players and how did they respond? What was the attitude to the war in Germany? Wer ... Show More

1 h

Oct 2025

The Cold War

For decades after the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States of America were locked in a conflict of ideology that took the planet to the brink of catastrophe. Known as the Cold War, it was an era of paranoia, fear and mutual suspicion, where the contest for sup ... Show More

57m 50s

Sep 2025

597. The First World War: The Massacre of the Innocents (Part 4)

What happened at the crucial, bloody, Battle of Ypres in October 1914? How did the battle come about? Why did the Germans and the British fight each other so brutally and for so long to take Ypres? What made the fighting so particularly violent? How were the British able to repel ... Show More

55m 15s

Nov 2025

99. Putin's Secret Army: Trump, Wagner And Russia (Ep 2)

How did Donald Trump win the 2016 US election? Was Russian interference really behind his unlikely success? And how does one man rock the electoral system of the world’s most powerful nation? In the second instalment of their series on Yevgeny Prigozhin, David and Gordon delve in ... Show More

44m 15s

Oct 2025

608. Nelson: Slaughter in Naples (Part 1)

What happened when the heroic Horatio Nelson, victor of the Battle of the Nile, sailed into the seething city of Naples? Why would his meeting with the glamorous celebrity, Lady Emma Hamilton, shape the rest of his life? And, why would his decision to lend his support to the fool ... Show More

1h 22m

261. Race To Berlin 1945: A Devastated C...