The rise and fall of empires, rulers, and the events that shaped world history.
William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the intricate stories of revolutions, imperial wars, and the people who built and lost empires.
From the British Empire to the Ottomans to Ancient India, history is shaped by power struggles and territorial conquests. How does it continue to affect the world today?
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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...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 inform...
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 ...
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...
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...
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...
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. __________...
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...
The Irish republicans who led the Easter Rising of 1916 are tried for treason by the British government, and sentenced to death. Some are so unwell they have to be tied to a chair to be killed, and the brutality of these executions turns the tide of public opinion in Ireland, increasing support for the Republican cause. The remaining revolutionaries are carted off to prisons and internment camps, where they come up with new ideas for the next fight for independence. The British press has misrepr...
The 1916 Easter Rising was a definitive moment in 20th-century Irish history. Its memory was evoked throughout The Troubles, with republicans wearing commemorative Easter Lily badges to honour the revolutionary martyrs that came before them. On Easter Monday in 1916, amongst the backdrop of the ongoing First World War, Irish revolutionaries brought the anti-colonial struggle to Britain’s doorstep. Armed men and women stormed and seized important buildings across Dublin, and proclaimed the beginn...
Colm Tóibín returns to discuss the devastating impact of the Great Famine in Ireland, focusing on the British government's response, the suffering of the Irish people, and the subsequent diaspora to America. The episode explores the social, economic, and political consequences of the famine, including the rise of Irish nationalism and the transformation of land ownership. It also examines the famine's legacy in both Irish and English culture, considering the limited fictional representation of the event and the complex issue of historical apologies.
How did the memory of the Great Famine shape Irish identity? Could it have been prevented? From 1845 to 1852, a disease decimated potato crops across Ireland. Farmers of small plots who relied entirely on this monoculture were launched into complete destitution. Desperate families were evicted from their homes and suffered through starvation. British public policy offered limited assistance, such as workhouses and public works schemes. But people who were used to hunkering down inside during win...
Ireland may have been England’s first colony but, by the 17th century, Irishmen were carving out their own imperial legacies in India. Gerald Aungier, an ambitious East India Company official, saw Bombay as a new frontier for plantation and trade. Drawing from his family’s plantation experience in Ireland, he laid the foundations for the establishment of the legal and economic framework that would define colonial rule in India for centuries. A hundred years later, John Nicholson, an Ulster-born ...
The Restoration reinstates the monarchy in England, Scotland & Ireland, and Irish Catholics believe that they will get their lands back for their loyalty to the king. And when the openly Catholic King James II succeeds his older brother, they are even more hopeful. But English Protestants fear that his reign will lead to a Catholic dynasty, and invite the Dutch William of Orange to take the throne. James II flees to France and gathers troops to back his cause. He arrives on the coast of Ireland ...
His statue may stand proudly outside the Houses of Parliament in London, but in Ireland, Oliver Cromwell is remembered as “the Devil from over the Sea” for the bloodshed he unleashed there from 1649 to 1653. Rising to prominence as a Parliamentarian during the English Civil Wars, Oliver Cromwell sought revenge against the Catholics who had killed Protestant colonists in Ireland during the rebellion of 1641. Soon after overseeing the execution of King Charles I, Cromwell feared that Ireland would...
After victory in China, Genghis Khan goes west and takes on the Khwarezmians, surprising his enemy with a daring assault. He conquers all in his path and now controls the biggest empire the world has ever seen. But whose shoulders are broad enough to become his successor? Listen to Goalhanger and Wondery's podcast, Legacy, as Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan explore the life of Genghis Khan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In 1607, after launching a failed rebellion in Ulster against the English, Hugh O’Neill and other Irish nobles are forced to flee Ireland, and their lands are confiscated. In response to the revolt, an insidious narrative about Irish people emerges in Tudor England, describing them as ‘caterpillars’ and ‘barbarians’ who needed ‘civilising’. In the wake of the development of the Ulster Plantation, a group of London merchants establish The Honourable Irish Society to colonise County Derry, renamin...
