On 6 August 1945 the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, approached Hiroshima and opened up its bomb doors. Once its payload dropped, the city was engulfed with blinding light and a huge explosion produced a giant mushroom cloud. When the attack was over and after the Enola Gay had returned to its airbase on the North Mariana islands, around 100,000 Japanese residents of Hiroshima were killed, and humanity had entered a new phase of warfare. Joining today is Iain MacGregor, author of ...
Jul 04, 2025•48 min•Season 1Ep. 226
Horace, born Quintus Horatius Flaccus in 65 BCE in Venusia, was one of ancient Rome’s most celebrated lyric poets. He lived through the turbulent transition from Republic to Empire and became closely associated with Emperor Augustus’s regime. Though he once fought on the losing side at the Battle of Philippi against Caesar, he later gained favour through the patronage of Maecenas, a key advisor to Augustus. Horace is best known for his Odes, Satires, Epistles, and the Ars Poetica—works that blen...
Jun 27, 2025•49 min•Season 1Ep. 224
Latest film club is the Maya epic from Mel Gibson. With a cast of unknowns, it put the civilisation overshadowed by the Aztecs back on the map. Links Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 24, 2025•54 min
Boudicca, Cleopatra, Artemisia and Olympias are just a few if the many women of the ancient world that we know about, but it’s significant that we know about them from male writers. That gives a certain perspective, not necessarily inaccurate, but it can be. Today I’m speaking with a classicist who writes about antiquity having gone direct to the sources and translating them herself, and has written a quite wonderful history of ancient Greece and Rome that is unusual in the discipline for saying...
Jun 20, 2025•44 min•Season 1Ep. 224
On 20 November 1917, after a bombardment of the trenches near the town of Cambrai, German troops prepared for an attack by their British opponents. Out of the gloom emerged steel mechanised vehicles. The tank. Within minutes the Germans were overrun and the Mark IV tank had achieved its first stunning victory, a major milestone for this military innovation. Mark Urban joins to discuss his latest book, Tank, which selects 10 and includes iconic beasts such as the Tiger and the T-34. We talk about...
Jun 13, 2025•55 min•Season 1Ep. 222
In March 1992 in Vilnius, Lithuania, an old man walked into the recently established British Embassy, holding a bag containing sausages. But those sausages were concealing documents liberated from the KGB archives in Moscow, and the old man was Vasili Mitrokhin, chief archivist of Russia’s secret police. His defection provided the West with vast amounts of material that provided information on the Cambridge Spy ring, but also ongoing operations including the Illegals – Soviet moles burrowed deep...
Jun 06, 2025•44 min•Season 1Ep. 222
Part two of May’s Film club double bill is The Report, Scott Z. Burn’s movie on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the CIA’s torture program, so sit back and enjoy Roger Tim and I discussing The Report. Links Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Jun 03, 2025•34 min
In April 1945, during Operation Howard in enemy occupied territory, troops of the SAS were ambushed by German Panzerfausts. Several were pinned down and they suffered heavy losses. Along came Paddy Mayne who, in an act of suicidal bravery, drove along an open road to reach his men, all the while giving and taking fire. HE collected wounded, returned to safety before again heading out to retrieve more of his men. For this action, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery recommended Mayne for the Victoria...
May 30, 2025•41 min•Season 1Ep. 221
Film Club for May is Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s controversial film of the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Next week it’s The Report, on the CIA’s torture program but sit back and enjoy Roger Tim and me on discussing Zero Dark Thirty. Links Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adcho...
May 27, 2025•40 min
Early in the morning of 25th June 1950 the Korean People’s Army – the North Koreans – crossed the 38th parallel and the Korean War had begun. It was a particularly brutal conflict, with up to 3 million civilian deaths, a million South Koreans and 1.5million North Koreans left dead. But why did it begin, and why, after the near cataclysmic invasion had been repulsed, did the Americans overreach thus bringing China into the war? Historian Rob Lyman joins to discuss this forgotten confrontation, on...
May 23, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 221
On 15 March 1877 play began between England and Australia in Melbourne. So began an extraordinary tradition of the finest form of sport: the Test Match. An incredible innovation that involved two teams playing cricket for up to nine days in one case, it is unique in sporting contests. However Test Cricket is bound up by Empire, class and race. Great teams have been barred from competing, and there have been moments of high controversy including Bodyline and the D ’Oliveira Affair. One thing rema...
May 20, 2025•43 min•Season 1Ep. 220
On 6th June 1944 the British 3rd Division landed on Sword Beach, Normandy, as they joined Canadian, American and other allied troops in the liberation of Europe. Progress was not easy for the British troops as they suffered heavy losses, and the objective of the vital city of Caen on day 1 was not achieved. But what of the experience of the soldiers on that day? Max Hastings joins to discuss his new book Sword, which features many accounts of men on the ground to create a wonderfully realistic p...
May 16, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 219
In early May of 1941, in the deserts of Iraq that had seen the armies of Alexander battle Darius, a force of 9000 Arabs and Iraqis descended on the small British airfield of Habbinayah. Only 39 pilots and a small collection of antiquated and obsolete aircraft stood between British maintenance of crucial oilfields, and their loss and consequent disaster for fuel supplies to the British Army and the Royal Navy in Egypt and throughout the Mediterranean. Joining today is James Dunford Wood who descr...
May 13, 2025•45 min•Season 1Ep. 217
At 1830 hours on 4th May 1945, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery accepted the unconditional surrender of German forces in northwestern Europe from Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeberg. This was one of a number of surrenders that took place across the European theatre of World War Two. Months later Japan surrendered with a radio statement that has since become a satirical masterpiece. Al Murray joins to discuss these and more as we delve into whether Monty won the surrenders, and did the Americans ha...
May 09, 2025•48 min•Season 1Ep. 215
On the afternoon of 6 March 1988 in Gibraltar on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsular, Mairead Farrell and two other Provisional IRA volunteers of were shot dead by members of the Special Air Service. The three were on an operation to target one of the last outposts of the British Empire, but their movements were known to the security services. Farrell was one of a small number of female IRA members in an organisation dominated by men. How were mothers, wives, daughters and sisters impacte...
May 06, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 215
At the end of the Second World War Asian colonies were desperate for independence: India, Burma, Indochina, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies all boasted independence movements that now demanded autonomy. But was Britain, which had fought a costly war against fascism and domination and won, willing to grant self-government to its former colonies? And what of France and the Netherlands, and the characters involved including Subhas Chandra Bose. Joining today is historian Phil Craig, author of 1945...
May 02, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 213
On 8 June 1982 the Sir Galahad troop ship was about to offload the Welsh Guards at Bluff Cove in the Falkland Islands. As the guardsmen were waiting, an Argentine Skyhawk attacked and the Galahad was hit. 48 men were killed, and 97 wounded, among them Simon Weston. Weston, a proud Welshman, suffered horrific burns and endured 96 operations and surgical procedures. He is one of many interviewees in a new book on monuments in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, and of course, Wales, in addition t...
Apr 25, 2025•50 min•Season 1Ep. 213
This month’s movie is Downfall, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel and starring Bruno Ganz, the depiction of the last days of Adolf Hitler as we reach the 80th anniversary. Roger Moorhouse, historian of Nazi Germany joins, along with Director Tim Hewitt. Links Downfall on Wikipedia Downfall on IMDB Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 23 min
In August 1941 Army Group North of the Wehrmacht approached the suburbs of Leningrad, as St. Petersburg was called. Within days the city was surrounded, and would remain so for nearly two and a half years. The suffering endured by its residents was horrifying and included widespread cannibalism. But this is a city of art, architecture, literature, music and dance, the home of Alexander Pushkin and a place of revolution. Joining to discuss St. Petersburg is author Sinclair McKay, author of a new ...
Apr 18, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 212
On 25th December 1941, General Alan Brooke (or Alanbrooke) was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the commanding officer of the British Army during the Second World War. His new boss, Winston Spencer Churchill was a hard taskmaster with high standards who had no problem with sacking generals. But, he had a helping hand in the form of General Pug Ismay, soldier, statesman and diplomat. Joining today are two historians, John Kiszely, the author of a biography of Ismay, and Gordon Corri...
Apr 15, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 211
Today’s guest is Helen Lederer, actress, comedian, writer and the author of Not That I’m Bitter, her life’s memoir which includes the 1980s comedy scene, and her family story during the Second World War which we’re going to talk about today. Helen Lederer Links Not That I’m Bitter My IWM: Helen Lederer - Aspects of History Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: histor...
Apr 11, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 210
On 17 March 1821 the Greek Revolution began in the small town of Areopoli, part of the Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese. An uprising against the Ottoman Empire was soon joined by many communities throughout the Peloponnese and Greece. Now, many Greeks that would disagree with where it began, but the more important question is why? Joining today is historian Yanni Kotsonis, author of The Greek Revolution and the Violent Birth of Nationalism as we discuss the revolution, what it meant for Greeks,...
Apr 04, 2025•53 min•Season 1Ep. 207
Welcome to Aspects of History’s film club. Every month we pick a historical film and chat about it with myself, filmmaker Tim Hewitt and historian Roger Moorhouse. This month it’s Cross of Iron starring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner. We chat about the movie then it’s our awards including the much coveted Simon Baker award for best performance. Links Cross of Iron on Wikipedia Cross of Iron on IMDB Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscripti...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 1 min
During March we’ve had Women’s History Month, and in that vein I invited two Aspects of History authors on to discuss. Sarah Gristwood is a historian and the editor of the recent Secret Voices, and Miranda Malins is a novelist and historian, and is currently writing a non fiction book on the Cromwell dynasty. We discuss whether we need Women’s History months and the challenges facing women in history, and women writing history. Aspects of History has produced an anthology of female writing, Hers...
Mar 29, 2025•38 min•Season 1Ep. 208
In around 108AD, the Legio IX Hispania, or the Ninth Legion, a unit of just over 5,000 men, was last recorded at York in Britannia, and possibly heading north towards Caledonia, modern day Scotland. What happened next no one knows for sure, and the Ninth disappeared from historical record. The loss would have been a stunning humiliation for the Rome, but what would be the response of Hadrian, the emperor who took power a few years later in 117AD? Within a few years a new wall dividing Britannia ...
Mar 26, 2025•39 min
On the morning of 24th March 1945 the British and Canadian 6th Airborne Division and the American 17th Airborne Division began parachuting into German held territory on the eastern side of the River Rhine. So began the largest single lift airborne operation of all time as nearly 17,000 men were dropped, using nearly two thousand transport planes and defended by around 3,000 fighters. Varsity was the last major operation of the war as the allies successfully made it onto German held territory and...
Mar 22, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 207
As the Vietnam War progressed, discipline among US troops began to deteriorate, to the stage where incidents of ‘fragging’ – the practice of killing officers and NCOs with grenades – became more widespread, as did the shooting of officers when out on patrol or during contact. This phenomena encapsulates the latter half of the American presence in Vietnam as soldiers refused to engage in operations when there was no discernible objective. Joining to discuss Nixon’s Vietnam in this second episode ...
Mar 19, 2025•42 min•Season 1Ep. 206
On 8 March 1965 at Da Nang in South Vietnam, 3,500 Marines landed thus marking the beginning of US combat troops in Vietnam. 8 years later the Americans would withdraw having lost more than 58,000 dead, and 300,000 wounded. The Vietnam War itself cost, and these numbers are approximate, around 300,000 South Vietnamese troops dead, 1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong dead and more than 3 million civilians killed. Joining today is Geoffrey Wawro, historian and author of a new military history...
Mar 15, 2025•43 min•Season 1Ep. 203
A quick bonus episode and discussion on Ukraine with Gordon Corrigan for you as I was keen to get his thoughts in light of his successful Substack writing, and to follow on from Saturday’s episode. Gordon is an acclaimed historian and the author of The Second World War: A Military History. Links are in the show notes. Gordon Corrigan Links Gordon's Substack The Second World War: A Military History Tessa Dunlop Links Where Politics Meets History Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual ...
Mar 12, 2025•35 min•Season 1Ep. 203
In 416BC, during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the island of Melos was a non-combatant. Strategically located in the middle of the Aegean, The Athenians arrived and demanded Melos surrender and thus be absorbed into their empire. The Melians refused, and so one of the most famous and influential passages in Thucydides’ history as recounted by the delegates of Athens: ‘the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.’ We are returning t...
Mar 08, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 203
