Show 64 - Supernova in the East III

Is it safe to hand control of the deadliest army in the world to a 20-year old? If you are Thracian, Triballian, Illyrian or Theban, the answer is definitely no. Alexander becomes king and fights off threats to his rule in all directions. 

What's the recipe for making a historically world-class apex predator? In the case of Alexander the Great, it might be the three Ns: Nature, Nurture, and Nepotism. 

Pagan Viking Sea Kings spend the 10th and 11th centuries morphing into Christian monarchs. But with rulers like Harald Bluetooth and Svein Forkbeard it's debatable whether things will be any less horrific for Scandinavia's neighbors 

Après Pearl Harbor le Japon se lance à la conquête des colonies occidentales en Asie du Sud-Est. Shanghai, Hongkong, Singapour, Guam, Wake son conquis en quelques jours ainsi que la Malaisie, la Birmanie et les Philippines. Mais la bataille navale de Midway va marquer le tournant ... Show More

The annihilation of Hiroshima ends the war with Japan, but peace brings new enmities and flashpoints: Divided Berlin, Korea, Hungary and Suez. With Jonathan Dimbleby. 

Although the entire Cold War passed without shots being fired between the two superpowers, the Cold War was anything but bloodless. The Korean conflict marked the beginning of proxy wars, regional conflicts backed by the full military might of both the United States and the Sovie ... Show More

Author Ian W. Toll who has written extensively on the Pacific Theater in the Second World War joins Dan to put the finishing touches on the Supernova in the East subject matter. 1. Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942 by Ian W. Toll 2. The Conquering Tide: War i ... Show More

On the 4th of June 1942, the US Navy took on the might of Japan's Imperial Navy in the battle of Midway. It was America's Trafalgar! At the end of the fighting devastating losses had been inflicted on the Japanese and the entire strategic position in the Pacific was upended in fa ... Show More

Beginning only five years after the end of World War Two, the Korean War was an exceptionally violent conflict which led to the death of at least 2.5 million people. It became the most deadly conflict of the Cold War era, a political battle of capitalism versus communism, that al ... Show More

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45. After several years of rising tension, and the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, full-scale war between Japan and China broke out in the summer of 1937. The Japanese captured many major Chinese ports and cities ... Show More

In the third part of his documentary looking at the Asian contribution to WW1, Sarfraz Manzoor examines the effect of WW1 on India, nationally and locally. Through letters from servicemen and families, the loss to loved ones becomes clear - not just on an emotional level, but als ... Show More

Haroon al Rashid divided his realm among his children, and the young men were quickly goaded into conflict with one another by their advisors. The unexperienced princes found the underlying tensions simply too powerful to overcome. But the predictability of war was upended by its ... Show More

While the Umayyads fought among themselves in distant Syria, dangerous developments were underway in Khurasan. The umma’s divisions in the Eastern province were deep enough to give the coming revolution its first foothold in the caliphate. Its final Umayyad governor, Nasr ibn Say ... Show More