Podcast
In Our Time: History
Hosted by BBC Radio 4 · EN
Historical themes, events and key individuals from Akhenaten to Xenophon.
223episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
The Mexican-American War
Jun 28, 201800:49:06Tap to summarizeMelvyn and guests discuss the 1846-48 conflict after which the United States of Mexico lost half its territory to the United States of America. The US gained land covered by the states of Texas, Utah, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and part of Colorado. The outcome had a profound impact on Native Americans and led to civil war in defeated Mexico. It also raised the question of whether slavery would be legal in this acquired territory - something that would only be resolved in the US Civil War, which this victory hastened.With Frank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of EdinburghJacqueline Fear-Segal Professor of American and Indigenous Histories at the University of East AngliaAndThomas Rath Lecturer in Latin American History at University College LondonProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →Persepolis
Jun 7, 201800:51:14Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of the great 'City of the Persians' founded by Darius I as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire that stretched from the Indus Valley to Egypt and the coast of the Black Sea. It was known as the richest city under the sun and was a centre at which the Empire's subject peoples paid tribute to a succession of Achaemenid leaders, until the arrival of Alexander III of Macedon who destroyed it by fire supposedly in revenge for the burning of the Acropolis in Athens.The image above is a detail from a relief at the Apadana, the huge audience hall, and shows a lion attacking a bull.With Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff UniversityVesta Sarkhosh Curtis Curator of Middle Eastern Coins at the British MuseumAndLindsay Allen Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History at King's College LondonProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →Margaret of Anjou
May 24, 201800:50:39Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most remarkable queens of the Middle Ages who took control when her husband, Henry VI, was incapable. Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482) wanted Henry to stay in power for the sake of their son, the heir to the throne, and her refusal to back down was seen by her enemies as a cause of the great dynastic struggle of the Wars of the Roses. The image above is from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book, showing John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, presenting Margaret with that book on her betrothal to HenryWithKatherine Lewis Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of HuddersfieldJames Ross Reader in Late Medieval History at the University of WinchesterAnd Joanna Laynesmith Visiting Research Fellow at the University of ReadingProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →The Emancipation of the Serfs
May 17, 201800:49:54Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1861 declaration by Tsar Alexander II that serfs were now legally free of their landlords. Until then, over a third of Russians were tied to the land on which they lived and worked and in practice there was little to distinguish their condition from slavery. Russia had lost the Crimean War in 1855 and there had been hundreds of uprisings, prompting the Tsar to tell the nobles, "The existing condition of owning souls cannot remain unchanged. It is better to begin to destroy serfdom from above than to wait until that time when it begins to destroy itself from below." Reform was constrained by the Tsar's wish to keep the nobles on side and, for the serfs, tied by debt and law to the little land they were then allotted, the benefits were hard to see. With Sarah Hudspith Associate Professor in Russian at the University of LeedsSimon Dixon The Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History at UCLAndShane O'Rourke Senior Lecturer in History at the University of YorkProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →The Almoravid Empire
May 3, 201800:49:26Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Berber people who grew to dominate the western Maghreb, founded Marrakesh and took control of Al-Andalus. They were desert people, wearing veils over their faces to keep out the sand, and they wanted a simpler form of Islam. They called themselves the Murabitun, the people who gathered together to fight the holy war, and they were tough fighters; the Spanish knight El Cid fought them and lost, and the legend that built around him said the Almoravids were terrible and had to be resisted. They kept back the Christians of northern Spain, so helping extend Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula, before they themselves were destroyed and replaced by their rivals, the Almohads, from the Atlas Mountains.The image above shows the interior of the cupola, Almoravid Koubba, Marrakesh (C11th)With Amira K Bennison Professor in the History and Culture of the Maghreb at the University of CambridgeNicola Clarke Lecturer in the History of the Islamic World at Newcastle UniversityAnd Hugh Kennedy Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of LondonProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →Roman Slavery
Apr 5, 201800:50:40Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of slavery in the Roman world, from its early conquests to the fall of the Western Empire. The system became so entrenched that no-one appeared to question it, following Aristotle's view that slavery was a natural state. Whole populations could be marched into slavery after military conquests, and the freedom that Roman citizens prized for themselves, even in poverty, was partly defined by how it contrasted with enslavement. Slaves could be killed or tortured with impunity, yet they could be given great responsibility and, once freed, use their contacts to earn fortunes. The relationship between slave and master informed early Christian ideas of how the faithful related to God, informing debate for centuries.WithNeville Morley Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of ExeterUlrike Roth Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of EdinburghAndMyles Lavan Senior lecturer in Ancient History at the University of St AndrewsProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →Tocqueville: Democracy in America
Mar 22, 201800:50:51Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) and his examination of the American democratic system. He wrote De La Démocratie en Amérique in two parts, published in 1835 and 1840, when France was ruled by the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe. Tocqueville was interested in how aspects of American democracy, in the age of President Andrew Jackson, could be applied to Europe as it moved away from rule by monarchs and aristocrats. His work has been revisited by politicians ever since, particularly in America, with its analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of direct democracy and its warnings of mediocrity and the tyranny of the majority.WithRobert Gildea Professor of Modern History at the University of OxfordSusan-Mary Grant Professor of American History at Newcastle Universityand Jeremy Jennings Professor of Political Theory and Head of the School of Politics & Economics at King's College LondonProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →The Highland Clearances
Mar 8, 201800:51:08Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss how and why Highlanders and Islanders were cleared from their homes in waves in C18th and C19th, following the break up of the Clans after the Battle of Culloden. Initially, landlords tried to keep people on their estates for money-making schemes, but the end of the Napoleonic Wars brought convulsive changes. Some of the evictions were notorious, with the sudden and fatal burning of townships, to make way for sheep and deer farming. For many, migration brought a new start elsewhere in Britain or in the British colonies, while for some it meant death from disease while in transit. After more than a century of upheaval, the Clearances left an indelible mark on the people and landscape of the Highlands and Western Isles.The image above is a detail from a print of 'Lochaber No More' by John Watson Nicol 1856-1926With Sir Tom Devine Professor Emeritus of Scottish History at the University of EdinburghMarjory Harper Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen and Visiting Professor at the University of the Highlands and IslandsAndMurray Pittock Bradley Professor of English Literature and Pro Vice Principal at the University of GlasgowProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →Sun Tzu and The Art of War
Mar 1, 201800:48:23Tap to summarizeMelvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas attributed to Sun Tzu (544-496BC, according to tradition), a legendary figure from the beginning of the Iron Age in China, around the time of Confucius. He may have been the historical figure Sun Wu, a military adviser at the court of King Helu of Wu (who reigned between about 514 and 496 BC), one of the kings in power in the Warring States period of Chinese history (6th - 5th century BC). Sun Tzu was credited as the author of The Art of War, a work on military strategy that soon became influential in China and then Japan both for its guidance on conducting and avoiding war and for its approach to strategy generally. After The Art of War was translated into European languages in C18th, its influence spread to military academies around the world.The image above is of a terracotta warrior from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor, who unified China after the Warring States period.With Hilde De Weerdt Professor of Chinese History at Leiden UniversityTim Barrett Professor Emeritus of East Asian History at SOAS, University of LondonAndImre Galambos Reader in Chinese Studies at the University of CambridgeProducer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcribe →Frederick Douglass
Feb 8, 201800:52:22Tap to summarizeIn a programme first broadcast in 2018, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of Frederick Douglass, who was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818 and, once he had escaped, became one of that century's most prominent abolitionists. He was such a good orator, his opponents doubted his story, but he told it in grim detail in 1845 in his book 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.' He went on to address huge audiences in Great Britain and Ireland and there some of his supporters paid off his owner, so Douglass could be free in law and not fear recapture. After the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, he campaigned for equal rights for African-Americans, arguing against those such as Lincoln who had wanted freed slaves to leave America and found a colony elsewhere. "We were born here," he said, "and here we will remain."WithCeleste-Marie Bernier Professor of Black Studies in the English Department at the University of EdinburghKaren Salt Assistant Professor in Transnational American Studies at the University of NottinghamAndNicholas Guyatt Reader in North American History at the University of CambridgeProducer: Simon Tillotson.
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