How did beaver fur and codfish turn a failed French attempt at colonisation into a success? What is the historical context behind Quebec as a French-speaking region of Canada? Did Indigenous leaders cleverly manipulate French settlers into fighting their tribal wars? William and Anita discuss how the trade in fur and fish supercharged the growth of New France. ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access ...
Jun 30, 2025•54 min•Season 19Ep. 6
Who was the first European to try and colonise Canada? Who was John Cabot and why was he spied on by Columbus? Why did Jacques Cartier kidnap Indigenous Canadians and take them back to France? What is the mythology behind Canada being known as “Turtle Island”? William and Anita explore the early history of the colonisation of Canada and how European settlers of the 16th century thought they had found China… ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access...
Jun 25, 2025•46 min•Season 19Ep. 5
When did the US first ask to buy Greenland? Why did America occupy the region in World War II? And how did a secret plan codenamed “Project Iceworm” lead to nuclear waste spilling on Greenland’s soil? Anita and William are joined by Daniel Immerwahr, author of How To Hide An Empire, to discuss the history of America’s involvement with Greenland, and Trump’s not so hidden imperial goals… ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-fr...
Jun 23, 2025•45 min•Season 19Ep. 4
How did the Danish missionary Hans Egede combine capitalism and religion in his colonisation of Greenland in the 1700s? Why have we forgotten about Danish colonialism in India and Greenland? When did Greenlanders gain self-determination? Anita and William discuss how the Danes colonised Greenland in the 18th century, using a system not too dissimilar to the East India Company: royal monopolies and efforts to eradicate Indigenous culture. ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empi...
Jun 18, 2025•43 min•Season 19Ep. 3
How did the Vikings and the Inuit interact in Greenland? When was the last record of Norse settlers in the region? How did climate change affect the decline of Viking settlers in Greenland, and why is their disappearance shrouded in mystery? William and Anita are joined once again by Eleanor Barraclough, author of Embers of The Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age, to explore the last of the Norse Settlers. ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early a...
Jun 16, 2025•42 min•Season 19Ep. 2
How did the first Asian UN Secretary General prevent multiple Armeggedons in the 1960s? What is the mystery surrounding his predecessor’s death? How did the Global South shape the UN in a post-colonial landscape? What does the future of the UN look like in these uncertain times? In this special bonus episode we have made public for all, William and Anita are joined by Thant Myint-U, author of Peacekeeper: U Thant, The United Nations and the Untold Story of the 1960s, to discuss how his grandfath...
Jun 15, 2025•22 min
How did the Norse settlers in Greenland adapt to the harsh Arctic environment, and what did their diet consist of beyond fish? What role did walrus ivory play in their trade with Norway? And who were the "horny zombies" encountered in the Vinland sagas? In the first chapter of the new series on the history behind Trump's Shopping List, William and Anita are joined by Eleanor Barraclough, author of Embers of The Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age, to discuss how the Norse made their way we...
Jun 11, 2025•45 min•Season 19Ep. 1
When was Checkpoint Charlie created in Berlin? What triggered Stalin to enact a blockade on West Berlin? And how did the Western powers airlift over 2.3 million tons of supplies to their occupied zone of the city from 1948 to 1949? William and Anita are joined once again by Giles Milton, author of Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World, to discuss the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, and the way in which the Iron Curtain hardened towards the end of the 1940s....
Jun 09, 2025•42 min•Season 18Ep. 7
What was life like in Berlin in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War? Why did the Red Army steal taps from Berlin houses when they reached the city? Was the famous photo of the red flag on the Reichstag staged or authentic? Anita and William are joined by Giles Milton, author of Checkmate in Berlin: The Cold War Showdown That Shaped the Modern World, to discuss the division and destitution of the capital city after the Second World War. ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member o...
Jun 04, 2025•1 hr•Season 18Ep. 6
Did the Western powers fail at Yalta? Did Churchill hold strong in his red line about the fate of Poland? Why did the Big Three eat a huge feast in the middle of a war zone? In the final episode in the story of the infamous Yalta conference, Anita and William discuss the moment that Stalin, FDR, and Churchill signed on the dotted line. ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bon...
Jun 02, 2025•56 min•Season 18Ep. 5
Who created the United Nations? How did The Big Three divide Germany between themselves? Why did Poland see the Yalta conference as “The Great Betrayal”? Anita and William explore the origins of the United Nations and how the compromises made by world leaders in 1945 continue to affect geopolitics today… Love History? Get our exclusive History Today deal! You can get started with a 3-month trial for only £5 at https://historytoday.com/empire ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the ...
May 28, 2025•45 min•Season 18Ep. 4
Where did The Big Three stay as they carved up the post-war world map, and why were their rooms full of bedbugs? Why did FDR refuse to allow the press to photograph him arriving at Yalta? What role did Churchill and FDR’s daughters play in the political negotiations? William and Anita discuss the first day of the Yalta conference and the unlikely alliances that begin to form as The Big Three redesign Europe… Love History? Get our exclusive History Today deal! You can get started with a 3-month t...
May 26, 2025•42 min•Season 18Ep. 3
How did FDR become the mediator between Stalin and Churchill at the 1945 conference? Why did Churchill call Yalta the “Hades Riviera”? What was Mussolini’s rude nickname for FDR? Anita and William dive into the backstories of Churchill and FDR ahead of their arrival in Yalta, and explore the meetings that led up to the eight days that changed the world, including Churchill’s “naughty document” that signed away Eastern Europe to the Soviets... Love History? Get our exclusive History Today deal! Y...
May 21, 2025•44 min•Season 18Ep. 2
How did one peace conference in Yalta in 1945 completely transform the world in just eight days? What was Joseph Stalin's backstory before becoming the Soviet leader? What is the relevance of the Yalta conference to global politics today? In a brand new series, Anita and William explore how Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt drew new borders and created new empire-like spheres of influence towards the end of The Second World War. With Europe left in a state of devastation...
May 19, 2025•40 min•Season 18Ep. 1
What led to the Second Opium War? Why wasn’t China colonised by Europeans? When did China start referring to this period as the “century of humiliation” and how did this narrative shape nationalism in the 20th century? Anita and William are joined by Stephen R. Platt, author of Imperial Twilight, for the final instalment of this series in which they discuss the Second Opium War and how its legacy continues to shape geopolitics today. Love History? Get our exclusive History Today deal! You can ge...
May 14, 2025•50 min•Season 17Ep. 9
Who won the First Opium War? Why did British troops feel guilty about their role? What treaty led to Britain taking control of Hong Kong? Anita and William discuss the tragic imbalance of The First Opium War, and the traumatic ways in which Chinese citizens responded to the humiliation it entailed… Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, a...
May 12, 2025•53 min•Season 17Ep. 8
How did opium traders convince the British Cabinet to wage war on China? Who was Lord Palmerston? Why was China, one of the biggest empires in the world, so ill-prepared for war at sea? William and Anita discuss how James Matheson launched a propaganda campaign in the British press which led to warships being sent to China, on the way to start The First Opium War… Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show t...
May 07, 2025•45 min•Season 17Ep. 7
Who was Commissioner Lin and how did he crack down on foreign opium in China? Why was Charles Elliot so hopeless that he landed Queen Victoria with a bill owing millions to drug dealers? What was the Canton factory system and what was it like to live there? Anita and William meander through the at-times shocking story of how Victorian drug dealers willingly handed over millions of pounds worth of their product to Commissioner Lin, the emperor’s right-hand man. Empire Club: Become a member of the...
May 05, 2025•53 min•Season 17Ep. 6
Who were Jardine and Matheson? What was life like for workers growing opium in India? How does George Orwell relate to the East India Company opium trade? William and Anita explore how William Jardine and James Matheson accumulated immense power and wealth by becoming international drug dealers in the 1830s… Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive new...
Apr 30, 2025•57 min•Season 17Ep. 5
How did the Macartney Mission fail so spectacularly? Where does the word ‘kowtow’ come from? Why were the diplomats banished from the Forbidden City? Listen as William and Anita continue the story of how the Macartney expedition completely failed to develop diplomatic relations with imperial China in 1793. _____________ Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our e...
Apr 28, 2025•36 min•Season 17Ep. 4
Who led the first British envoy to China? What did Europeans think of China in the 1700s? Why did the diplomats bring a huge planetarium as a gift for the Chinese emperor? William and Anita continue the story of the build up to the Opium Wars with the story of the doomed British envoy to China. _____________ Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive new...
Apr 23, 2025•39 min•Season 17Ep. 3
How did Britain create a violent monopoly on opium production in India in the 1700s? What was the Opium Agency? Why did Chinese elites use opium during sex? Anita and William discuss how the East India Company competed with other traders to sell Indian opium to China despite it being outlawed… _____________ Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive news...
Apr 21, 2025•46 min•Season 17Ep. 2
How did the British taste for tea start a war over the right to sell drugs to China? When did tea become fashionable in Britain? How did the Dutch bring tea to India? William and Anita explore how the nation’s love of tea created a domino effect that led to the East India Company running a more prolific international drug cartel than Pablo Escobar… _____________ Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tic...
Apr 16, 2025•39 min•Season 17Ep. 1
How did Ireland go from a farming economy to the home of Big Tech and Big Pharma in Europe in a few decades? Why were women imprisoned in “Magdalene Laundries” in Ireland until 1996? How did Irish society grapple with abuse within the Catholic Church? To conclude our series on Ireland & Empire, Anita and William are joined by the brilliant Fintan O’Toole, author of We Don’t Know Ourselves, to reflect on how Irish society has transformed since the 1950s, and how the country’s colonial past in...
Apr 14, 2025•56 min•Season 16Ep. 16
What ended The Troubles? Why was 1998 the right moment for a peace treaty? Which issues caused the most heated debate? What was the food like in the negotiating room? Exactly 27 years on since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, what does its future look like? Listen as William and Anita are joined by Alastair Campbell, the lead strategist for Tony Blair’s New Labour government at the time, to discuss what it was really like to negotiate peace in Northern Ireland in 1998. _____________ Empire ...
Apr 09, 2025•57 min•Season 16Ep. 15
Who was responsible for the murder of Jean McConville? Which IRA secrets were revealed in the Belfast Project tapes? How did Gerry Adams move into politics and become a key figure in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement? Listen as Anita and William are joined for the final time by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss how the families of the Disappeared searched for their loved ones after the ceasefire in the 1990s, and Patrick’s discovery of who killed Jean McConville in 1...
Apr 07, 2025•49 min•Season 16Ep. 14
Who organised the bombing of The Old Bailey in Central London? Why was Jean McConville abducted in December 1972? Why did the British government choose not to intervene when hunger strikers like Bobby Sands refused food in 1981? How was the graveside grenade incident linked to the first seed of peace that would one day end The Troubles? In the third of four episodes, William and Anita are joined once again by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss Bloody Friday, the infamous IRA...
Apr 02, 2025•56 min•Season 16Ep. 13
What was the British Army’s policy of “Internment” in Northern Ireland, and how did it drive membership for the Provisional IRA? Who was General Kitson? How did the Price sisters go from peaceful protestors to IRA frontline soldiers? What happened on Bloody Sunday? In the second of four episodes, Anita and William are joined once again by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss early IRA bombing campaigns in Belfast, and how the British Army in Northern Ireland employed methods u...
Mar 31, 2025•41 min•Season 16Ep. 12
What were The Troubles and why did they lead to 30 years of violence and division in Northern Ireland? How were Irish Catholics inspired by the American Civil Rights movement in 1969? Why did the British government deploy troops on the streets of Belfast? In the first of four episodes, Anita and William are joined by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, to discuss the beginning of The Troubles, and to introduce three key characters: Ian Paisley, Gerry Adams, and Dolours Price. __________...
Mar 27, 2025•45 min•Season 16Ep. 11
In the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence in 1921, Michael Collins is sent to London to meet Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and other British officials to negotiate a treaty. After weeks of travelling back and forth across the Irish Sea, Collins and his fellow Sinn Féin negotiators return with a deal. Ireland would become a Free State, but it would remain in the British Empire, and the Irish must swear an oath of allegiance to the King. Eamonn De Valera, the president of the repub...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Season 16Ep. 10
