History Uncensored

How does Vladimir Putin use history to justify Russia’s war in Ukraine? In this episode, Bianca Nobilo speaks to Bill Browder about the Kremlin’s use of historical narratives and how Putin’s version of Russia’s past has helped frame the war as a fight against fascism, Nazism and threats to the Russian people. They explore why Putin needs these myths to sustain support for the war, and whether the...

On September 24, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, the leaders of two global rivals will meet at the White House. But to understand why this meeting matters, we have to go back to 1985, when Ronald Reagan welcomed China’s leader Li Xiannian to Washington. Back then, the balance of power looked completely different. 41 years later, Trump and Xi meet in a world of trade wars, Taiwan tensions, AI competit...

Artificial intelligence could change humanity forever. But the history of AI began thousands of years before computers, machine learning and ChatGPT existed. In just a few decades, humans have gone from mechanical computers and early ideas about machine intelligence to powerful AI systems capable of generating text and images, writing code, solving complex problems and performing tasks once though...

Attorney and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton joins Bianca Nobilo to reflect on the decisions that followed September 11 and how they reshaped American foreign policy and the world. From NATO’s historic invocation of Article 5 and relations with Russia, to the rise of China and the conflict with Iran, Bolton examines the choices that brought America to this moment...

Britain was once the world’s dominant global power. A relatively small island nation built an empire spanning nearly a quarter of the Earth’s land, controlled vital trade routes, and became the centre of the Industrial Revolution. But how did Great Britain punch so far above its weight - and when did that extraordinary system of power actually break? The UK today remains a nuclear power, a permane...

Across Europe, migration is increasingly becoming a source of geopolitical tension and in some cases: a tool of state power. In recent weeks, Europe’s borders have produced extraordinary scenes: around 72,000 people crossed from Morocco illegally into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, while a record 230 people reached Britain in a single inflatable boat. Meanwhile, tunnels have been discovered beneath...

For decades, Israel and Iran have been portrayed as bitter enemies - but their history tells a far more complicated story. Long before today’s war, Iran and Israel were strategic partners, trading oil, weapons, intelligence and military technology - even after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Their relationship stretches back much further, through the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great and centuries o...

Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the most consequential - and controversial - political leaders of the 21st century. To supporters, he is "King Bibi," the leader who has kept Israel secure through decades of war and regional instability. To critics, he is responsible for prolonging conflict and undermining the prospects for peace. He also faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Co...

Opus Dei presents itself as a Catholic movement dedicated to finding holiness in everyday life. Critics and former members, however, allege a far darker reality. Bianca Nobilo is joined by investigative journalist Gareth Gore, author of Opus, who traces the organisation's rise from its founding in Spain in 1928 to its influence in politics, finance and the Catholic Church. He examines allegations...

As attention remains focused on the of years. Strait of Hormuz, another strategic waterway is emerging as a critical geopolitical flashpoint: Bab el-Mandeb, the ancient "Gate of Tears." Why has this narrow passage between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean has become one of the world's most important maritime chokepoints? From ancient trade routes and imperial rivalries to the Houthis' attacks on co...

Has America and Israel's war with Iran marked the beginning of the end of the post-1991 American order in the Middle East? For more than three decades after the Gulf War, the United States appeared to guarantee regional security, protect global energy routes and shape the outcome of major conflicts. The 2026 war with Iran has prompted renewed debate over whether that era has come to an end. The co...

Across Europe, governments and intelligence agencies have accused Russia of escalating a campaign of hybrid warfare, from sabotage and GPS interference to cyber operations and suspected attacks on critical infrastructure. Much of the attention is focused on Kaliningrad - Russia's heavily militarised exclave on the Baltic Sea - and the nearby Suwałki Gap, NATO's only land link to the Baltic states....

When did America actually become a democracy and could it be losing it? As the United States marks 250 years since independence, this episode examines one of the country's biggest founding myths: that America has always been a democracy. From the Constitution of 1787 to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the programme traces how political rights gradually expanded from a system that excluded most Amer...

Keir Starmer is stepping down as the UK’s Prime Minister, less than two years after winning the election with a landslide victory. Between 1979 and 2016, Britain had five prime ministers in 37 years… and since 2016, it has had six in roughly a decade. So is the UK political system broken, or is this chaos exactly what the parliamentary model was designed to do? Bianca Nobilo looks back at three ce...

Who is the real Vladimir Putin? For decades, the Russian president has been portrayed as everything from a master strategist and nationalist strongman to a ruthless former spy. How much of that image reflects reality and how much is carefully crafted mythology? Bianca Nobilo is joined by historian and Russia expert Mark Galeotti to examine the formative experiences that shaped Putin's worldview, f...

White phosphorus has been used on battlefields for more than a century, but its deployment over populated areas continues to spark fierce legal and ethical debate. Bianca Nobilo examines the growing scrutiny surrounding Israel's use of white phosphorus in Lebanon, where human rights groups have raised concerns about the impact on civilians. Capable of burning at extreme temperatures and causing se...

How did the UFC go from a controversial fringe spectacle in 1993 to hosting an event at the White House? Combat sports journalist Luke Thomas joins Bianca Nobilo to discuss the UFC's extraordinary rise, its ties to Donald Trump, and how the promotion became one of the most influential forces in modern sports and culture. From its no-holds-barred beginnings to the heart of American political power,...

Racketeering. Wire fraud. Money laundering. Those are the charges that helped bring down some of the most powerful figures in world football. Not a crime syndicate, but FIFA — the organisation that governs the world's most popular sport. With more member associations than the United Nations and an audience measured in billions, FIFA oversees the biggest sporting event on Earth: the World Cup. But...

Is Putin fighting a war from a position of power…. or desperation? Ukraine’s drones have been attacking his home town of St Petersburg - pushing the war well and truly into the heart of Russia. At the same time…Russia continues relentless bombing of Ukrainian cities and claims to be advancing. So the question everyone is asking but nobody seems to be able to answer clearly is this: who is ACTUALLY...

Why has one island shaped the ambitions of empires, triggered superpower confrontations, and repeatedly found itself at the centre of world history? This is the story of Cuba - the largest island in the Caribbean, just 90 miles from Florida, and one of the most strategically important pieces of real estate on Earth. Long before Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cuba was covet...

A small island sitting dangerously close to a rival superpower. A military flashpoint shaped by ideology, geography, and fear. Is that Cuba - or Taiwan? In this deep-dive, Bianca Nobilo explores the striking parallels between Cuba and Taiwan, two islands shaped by the ambitions of far larger powers. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait, Bianca looks at why great po...

Eugenics is often treated as a dead ideology buried with Nazi Germany but historians and scientists argue the idea never truly disappeared - it simply evolved. Bianca Nobilo speaks to geneticists Adam Rutherford and Professor Debby Sneed, exploring how eugenics became tied to empire, racial hierarchy, forced sterilisation and genocide. Later examining the flawed science that sustained it and traci...

Why do powerful men keep idolising the ancient world? From Xi Jinping invoking Thucydides at a US-China summit, to Putin’s “Third Rome,” to Elon Musk posting “America is New Rome,” modern leaders repeatedly reach back to Greece and Rome when talking about power, destiny and empire. Bianca Nobilo explores what leaders’ historical obsessions, like Hitler and Napoleon reveal about them and why ancien...

What even is time? Physicists still can’t fully agree. Einstein showed that time bends and warps. Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli argues it may not fundamentally exist at all. And yet modern life is ruled by clocks, schedules, deadlines and timestamps measured down to fractions of a second. Across ancient civilizations, humans developed ways to make the invisible movements of the sky measurabl...

Bianca Nobilo takes us through the history behind the headlines again as President Donald Trump meets Xi Jinping in China in his first visit there in over a decade. The relationship between the two countries is one of the most important in the world. What happens between them shapes the future of the global order - trade, war, Taiwan, the Middle East, climate change. But it hasn’t always been a re...