Everyone leaves a legacy. In their new podcast series, produced by Goalhanger & Wondery, Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan tell the wild stories of some of the most extraordinary men and women ever to have lived – and ask whether they have the reputation they deserve. Search Legacy now, wherever you get your podcasts, or binge the entire season ad-free on Amazon Music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad...
Nov 24, 2023•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tenochtitlan, once the glittering jewel at the heart of the mighty Aztec Empire, has fallen. Hernán Cortés stands triumphant, the master of this New Spain. Or so it seems. For the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtemoc, is still alive and well. And in the jungles of Mexico and Honduras, a dark and bloody story is only just beginning … In the final episode of this astonishing journey, Dominic and Tom discuss the aftermath of the fall of Tenochtitlan, the fates of Cuauhtemoc, Cortés and Malinche, the expe...
Nov 23, 2023•59 min•Ep 391•Transcript available on Metacast "Conquer or die indeed, Cortes thought… The hour of decision was at hand…" It is the spring of 1521 and the fate of Mexico hangs by a thread. Smallpox has ripped through the local population, while the ruthless Spanish commander, Hernán Cortés, has cut off the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, from its surrounding provinces. So begins one of the bloodiest and most dramatic struggles in all history - an extraordinary clash between the Old World and the New, as the Spanish tighten their grip on the isl...
Nov 20, 2023•40 min•Ep 390•Transcript available on Metacast Things have never looked bleaker for Hernán Cortés and his band of Spaniards. They are trapped, starving and terrified in the heart of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, surrounded by an enraged people bent on revenge. And with their imperial hostage Montezuma dead, they only have one option left - a desperate escape in the dead of night. Can they make it across the lake with their gold? Or will the Aztecs intercept them before it’s too late? In today’s episode of this epic series, Tom and Dominic ...
Nov 16, 2023•47 min•Ep 389•Transcript available on Metacast “The blood flowed like water…” It is 1520 and word has reached Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan that another group of Spaniards led by the ferocious Pánfilo de Narváez, have landed on the coast to hunt him down. Taking drastic action, he decides to leave the city with his wily mistress Malinche to pursue the newcomers, but not before taking the Emperor of the Aztecs, Montezuma, as his hostage. But can Cortés really overcome a much larger force commanded by such a formidable rival? And can his lieut...
Nov 14, 2023•52 min•Ep 388•Transcript available on Metacast The year is 1519. Hernán Cortés and his Spanish comrades have arrived in Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztecs, and have been welcomed by their Emperor Montezuma. But what is Montezuma planning? Are the Spaniards his guests - or his prisoners? Has he really acknowledged them as his overlords? Or are they destined for a rather darker fate, as the latest inmates in his mysterious zoo? In today’s episode, Tom and Dominic follow the Spaniards as they explore the magnificent city of Tenochtitl...
Nov 13, 2023•46 min•Ep 387•Transcript available on Metacast “Conquer or die! Conquer or die! Conquer or die!” Making a decision that will change the course of history, Hernán Cortés chooses to disobey his orders and head inland in search of the gold-rich empire of the mysterious Montezuma. Ahead lie the mountain passes that will lead him down into the Valley of Mexico, a vast lake shimmering at its heart. In the middle of the lake lies the island city of Tenochtitlan, a vision of bustling marketplaces and soaring pyramids. But are the Spaniards advancing...
Nov 09, 2023•51 min•Ep 386•Transcript available on Metacast Hernán Cortés has set sail from Cuba, eager to find the truth behind the rumours of gold on the coast of Mexico. Ahead lies a world he can barely imagine - a land of pyramid temples, terrifying gods and unknown peoples - the empire of the Aztecs. But Cortés has a secret weapon: a woman whose very name has become a byword for treachery … In today’s episode, Dominic and Tom explore the extraordinary story of Malinche, the slave-girl given by the Mayans to the Spanish, who becomes Cortés’s translat...
Nov 07, 2023•55 min•Ep 385•Transcript available on Metacast The meeting of the controversial Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and the formidable Emperor Montezuma in 1519 was one of the great hinge moments of world history, and the beginning of the end for the mightiest of the New World empires: the realm of the Aztecs. The build-up to this extraordinary encounter is at once a thrilling adventure story and a tragic tale of violence, brutality and loss. It’s a story of temples and sacrifices, exploration and imperialism, with cataclysmic consequences fo...
Nov 06, 2023•54 min•Ep 384•Transcript available on Metacast Within the turmoil of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte stands out to his military superiors, first by defeating the British at Toulon, then by putting down a royalist mob in Paris when outnumbered four to one, with a “whiff of grapeshot”. Having finally shaken off the humiliation of the failed invasion of Sardinia which began his career, he is made Commander of the Interior, and rewarded with command of the Army of Italy. Has the Corsican rebel finally given up on his roots, and embrace...
Nov 02, 2023•54 min•Ep 383•Transcript available on Metacast “I would plunge the avenging dagger, up to the hilt, in the breast of the tyrant!” Born in Corsica a year after the island was given to France by the Genoese, Napoleon Bonaparte grew up in a world of political and civil unrest. His father had close ties with the leader of the Corsican resistance movement, Pasquale Paoli, who would leave a lasting impression on young Napoleon. However, sent to study at a military academy in France, the future Emperor would begin to shed his Corsican roots, and st...
Oct 30, 2023•48 min•Ep 382•Transcript available on Metacast Cook has been sent by the Royal Navy to the Pacific to track the transit of Venus from Tahiti, but also with a second, secret mission: once he’s reached Tahiti, he will go on to search for the great southern continent, Terra Australis. Encountering Tahitians, Maori and Aboriginal Australians, Cook and his crew develop relations with them which will often turn sour. Join Tom and Dominic in the second part of our series on Captain Cook, as they delve into his exploring of the Pacific, his relation...
Oct 25, 2023•56 min•Ep 381•Transcript available on Metacast The greatest sea explorer of all time, James Cook was born to a humble Yorkshire family, and first stood out for his talents as a cartographer for the Royal Navy in Newfoundland. He would go on to lead three epic voyages to the Pacific during the 18th century, as part of history’s first ever scientific research team, accompanied by Joseph Banks, two cats, a dog and a goat. First sent to track the transit of Venus, he would go on to encounter a new continent, Terra Australis… Join Tom and Dominic...
Oct 22, 2023•52 min•Ep 380•Transcript available on Metacast The setting for so many of the Arabian Nights, like the stories of Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, or Aladdin, Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age had a shimmering image, a dimension of mystery and wonder… Join Tom and Dominic in the final part of our series on the history of Baghdad, as they explore the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, and the city of Caliphs, Hadiths, thieves, and of course, pigeon racing! *The Rest Is History Live Tour 2023*: Tom and Dominic are back...
Oct 18, 2023•51 min•Ep 379•Transcript available on Metacast Baghdad was a place of fabulous sophistication and teeming multitudes, where terrible things could happen, but great wonders could also be found… During the Islamic Golden Age, it was the most global city the world had ever seen, a truly diverse cosmopolis, with silks and porcelains from China, spices from India, slaves from the frozen shores of the distant “North”, and ships coming and going from Vietnam, Indonesia, and the southern-most reaches of Africa. Arabic was the universal language, wit...
Oct 15, 2023•53 min•Ep 378•Transcript available on Metacast “No city in the world will ever rival it for prosperity...“ Baghdad, originally a Christian village in Iraq, was chosen by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur as the site for the new capital of his empire, and it would become a cosmopolis to rival Rome or Babylon. Its foundations were built in a perfect circle, with walls 90 feet tall, and at its heart, the monumental Palace of the Golden Gate. Rejecting the Umayyad Caliphate's desire to conquer Constantinople, Al-Mansur founded his own “centre of the ...
Oct 11, 2023•47 min•Ep 377•Transcript available on Metacast A story of great myth and of huge historical significance, the foundation of Baghdad is a fundamental episode in the development of Islam. The Umayyad Caliphate, the first great Islamic empire, stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China; no dynasty had ever presided over a greater array of conquests. But amongst growing sectarian and internal divisions, discontent on the fringes of the caliphate, and the emergence of influential religious scholars, the Umayyads are challenged by a...
Oct 08, 2023•53 min•Ep 376•Transcript available on Metacast The Mitfords were the most glamorous aristocrats on the London scene in the 1920s, with at their head Diana, the most beautiful woman in London, who would eventually marry Oswald Mosley. However, her younger sister Unity would strike up a relationship with her own fascist leader: Adolf Hitler. Having first moved to Berlin in 1934, Unity would eventually become part of the Führer’s inner-circle: having described them both as “perfect example of aryan womanhood”, her and Diana were his guests at t...
Oct 04, 2023•55 min•Ep 375•Transcript available on Metacast “You will never catch Sir Oswald admitting to anti-semitism - all he does is embody it!” Following the violent scenes at Kensington Olympia, the British fascist movement is in decline. Britain is swirling with unemployment, having just come out of a decade of general strikes, and as the country suffers, changes and becomes more urbanised, the fascists seek a scapegoat to pin Britain’s downfall on. On the 6th of October 1936, Mosley gathers with 3000 of his blackshirts to march through Cable Stre...
Oct 01, 2023•47 min•Ep 374•Transcript available on Metacast The fascists in Britain have found a leader known across the country: the sinister yet complex Oswald Mosley. Following stints as an MP for both the Tories and Labour, Mosley, a veteran of the First World War, forms the British Union of Fascists in 1932, making a big effort to appeal to women and the working class. Although his rhetoric is surprisingly anti-militarist, the violence that occurs at his fascist meeting in Kensington Olympia in 1934, the same month as the Night of the Long Knives, w...
Sep 27, 2023•57 min•Ep 373•Transcript available on Metacast The cultural roots of fascism swirled around Britain at the turn of the 20th century, as medieval nostalgia, an obsession with hygiene, anti-semitism, and concern for the environment grew in the wake of modern development. In the 1920s, Britain faced similarly tough conditions to the European countries where fascism did take hold; major economic difficulties, unpopular governments, and intense fears of Bolshevism. But did fascism ever really find an audience in Britain? Listen to the first episo...
Sep 24, 2023•56 min•Ep 372•Transcript available on Metacast The U.S. have given up on ousting the socialist President Allende through democratic means, and shift to a more militaristic approach, in the form of General Pinochet. Once known as the ‘dull dog’, a man who had a reputation for procuring Jeeps for his fellow troops, the son of a customs official, he would overthrow Allende and become a bloodthirsty tyrant, killing thousands and torturing far, far more. In our second episode on the 1973 Chilean coup, Tom and Dominic look at how the coup itself u...
Sep 21, 2023•53 min•Ep 371•Transcript available on Metacast In the midst of the Cold War, the 1973 coup against the socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende, led by General Pinochet with the support of Richard Nixon, remains a seismic episode in Latin American history. A story imbued in American Imperialism, Allende sees off waves of attempts by the U.S. to oust and undermine him, until they exhaust all legal and parliamentary means, and seek new ways to derail Chilean socialism. In today’s episode, Tom and Dominic delve into Salvador Allende’s rise ...
Sep 20, 2023•46 min•Ep 370•Transcript available on Metacast In anticipation of the U.S. release of PAX, here’s the book’s introduction for you to enjoy, read by its author, our very own Tom Holland… Available in the United States and Canada from 26th September; PAX is already in bookstores across the UK. *The Rest Is History Live Tour 2023*: Tom and Dominic are back on tour this autumn! See them live in London, New Zealand, and Australia! Buy your tickets here: restishistorypod.com Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Learn more about your ...
Sep 18, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast “Are you not entertained?!” The emblem of Rome, the Colosseum was the unsettling but glamorous home of Roman violence, used for gladiatorial bouts, naval reenactments, and by the emperors to re-stage popular myths. Built by the Flavian dynasty in the first century AD, it is both an awe-inspiring monument to the grandeur of antiquity, and a blood-spattered arena of death. But why was it built? What was the deeper meaning of the cruelty it celebrated? In today’s episode Tom and Dominic delve into ...
Sep 17, 2023•56 min•Ep 369•Transcript available on Metacast “To be a boy at one of these schools was to be alternately tyrant and slave.” More gruesome even than the Battle of Hogwarts, 18th century British Public schools were hotbeds for violence and uproar, despite their deeply Christian origins. From raucous rebellions featuring students fighting militias and building barricades, hostage-taking and pistol-firing, to animal assassinations, abysmal teaching and gruesome hazing rituals, their organised brutality was mis-sold as “character-building”. Join...
Sep 13, 2023•57 min•Ep 368•Transcript available on Metacast Eclectic traditions, obscure codes and cryptic ancient languages: the world of Harry Potter has captivated the imagination of children from all backgrounds for decades. A fantasy series inspired by a long lineage of stories, from Tolkien to Narnia, all committed to the importance of the building of moral character. Join Tom and Dominic in the first part of our series on Harry Potter, as they trace the roots of J.K. Rowling’s novels, and demystify the world of eminent headmasters, weird sports, p...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep 367•Transcript available on Metacast “Let us advance courageously, to change the backward condition of our country, and turn it into a modern and powerful socialist state!” Deng Xiaoping, a man purged by Mao and his followers twice before becoming leader of China, paved the way for a modern Chinese state and economy, opening the country up to foreign investment and technology, whilst maintaining firm control of the Chinese Communist Party. In today’s episode, Tom and Dominic are joined by Friend of the Show Professor Rana Mitter, a...
Sep 06, 2023•59 min•Ep 366•Transcript available on Metacast The father of sadism and a prophet of totalitarianism, the Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and writer, an uncompromising and unashamed libertine with the eerie ability to corrupt those around him. Arrested first by the French monarchy and then by the revolutionaries, he spent much of his life in jail, narrowly avoiding the death penalty thanks to Robespierre’s deposition on the day of his proposed execution. Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the Marquis, his turbulent life, his time i...
Sep 03, 2023•58 min•Ep 365•Transcript available on Metacast Does money really make the world go round? Economics, business and finance have long been subjects we leave to the stockbrokers, hedge fund managers and business school professors who spend their lives obsessing over them - but there’s no reason we shouldn’t discuss ‘money’ in the same way we talk about sport and TV. In their new podcast, The Rest Is Money, business correspondent and broadcaster Steph McGovern is joined by old friend and economics expert Robert Peston to explore everything we ne...
Aug 31, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
