History Uncensored

Puyi began life as the emperor of China, carried into the Forbidden City as a toddler and placed upon the Dragon Throne before he was even three years old. At least in theory, Puyi ruled over around a quarter of the world’s population. Raised inside one of the most isolated and luxurious courts on earth, he was treated as divine. Eunuchs dressed him, bowed before him, and carried out his every com...

Right now, there are more than 12,000 nuclear weapons on Earth. The detonation of just one could kill hundreds of thousands, flatten a city, poison survivors for generations, and reshape global politics permanently. These weapons are the ultimate currency of power. So why do some countries get to have them, while others are told they can’t? Why is Israel widely believed to possess nuclear weapons,...

America was born by rejecting a king so why, 250 years later, does it keep rolling out the royal treatment? Bianca Nobilo explores the long, strange evolution of the US–UK relationship: from revolution and resentment to handshakes, state dinners and carefully choreographed diplomacy. Why has Donald Trump received such extraordinary royal attention? What does it reveal about power, politics, and pe...

Just eleven minutes after Israel declared statehood in 1948, the United States became the first country to recognise it. Nearly seventy years later, it was also the first to formally and controversially recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. This video explores one of the most consequential and emotionally charged alliances in modern history. The US–Israel relationship has been shaped not just b...

Formed in the aftermath of World War II, NATO was designed to deter Soviet expansion, anchor American power in Europe, and prevent another catastrophic war. But from its very beginning, NATO has been more than just a military pact—it’s been a political balancing act between security, sovereignty, and influence. From the creation of Article 5 and the promise of collective defence, to Cold War tensi...

The Israel-Lebanon conflict didn’t start overnight - it’s the result of decades of war, displacement, and unresolved tensions. From Lebanon’s fragile beginnings and the arrival of Palestinian refugees, to the rise of the PLO, Israel’s invasions, and the emergence of Hezbollah. Bianca Nobilo traces the key moments that shaped one of the Middle East’s most enduring conflicts. Learn more about your a...

In America, apocalyptic thinking has repeatedly surged at moments of crisis. During the Cold War, evangelicals read global conflict as a countdown to the end and after 9/11, similar language returned. And today, figures around Donald Trump - and some of his supporters - have framed him not just as a political leader, but as a divinely chosen figure in a cosmic struggle between good and evil. So, w...

500 years ago, a teenage warlord reshaped Iran forever. When Shah Ismail seized power in 1501, he didn’t just conquer territory - he forcibly transformed Iran into a Shia nation, laying the foundations of its modern identity. From the rise of the Safavid Empire to the belief in the Hidden Imam, Bianca Nobilo explores how religion, power, and politics became inseparably linked. This video looks at...

Across the 'manosphere' and trad-wife culture, a claim keeps resurfacing: that marriage works best when men lead and women obey. Accordingly, nearly a third of Gen Z men agreed that a wife should always obey her husband, and a third said the husband should have the final say in important decisions. That’s more likely than Baby Boomers or any other living generation to think so. The people pushing...

Are some wars inevitable and can we actually predict where conflict will break out next? In today's video, we break down the world’s most dangerous geopolitical hotspots, from rising tensions between global powers to long-standing regional flashpoints. As instability grows across multiple regions, the question is no longer if conflict will emerge but where, and why. We map conflicts from Russia, C...

What do a Hollywood party, a shocking death, and a desperate attempt to clean up the film industry have to do with the Oscars? Join Bianca Nobilo as she explores the infamous 1921 scandal involving silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and the tragic death of actress Virginia Rappe - an event that ignited public outrage and threatened to destroy Hollywood’s reputation. As scandal after scandal...

The Strait of Hormuz is a strip of water, a few miles wide, through which passes enough energy to shake the whole world. It's one of the most geopolitically charged waterways on Earth, and this is not an accident of the present. It is the result of strategic geography that has channelled trade, empire and coercion for centuries. Bianca Nobilo gives us a quick history... Learn more about your ad ch...

Bianca Nobilo dives into the compelling history of the American Mafia, speaking to former mob boss Michael Franzese and more. Who were the first real gangs of New York? How deeply involved in American politics - and assassinations was the Mafia? And what did it feel like to watch your criminal empire crumble from the inside? Behind the suits and swagger were rackets, intimidation and victims - lis...

Friday the 13th is considered unlucky by many - but why? There’s at least one every year, with the next one coming up this week and the calendar date causes people to skip travels, avoid important business deals and generally feel a sense of unease. It’s easy to assume it comes from ancient superstition - but this isn’t actually the case. History Uncensored’s Bianca Nobilo explains more… Learn mor...

Iran has been governed by the Islamic Republic for more than four decades, with the regime suppressing fundamental rights and killing thousands of Iranian people in the last few months alone. Resistance to the system has repeatedly erupted - from student uprisings, to reform movements, to mass protests led by women and young people. So why hasn’t it fallen? History Uncensored's Bianca Nobilo discu...

If you want to understand world history, regional, Middle Eastern politics, and our world's broader contest between democracy and autocracy, you have to understand Iran. It is one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations and the first ancient superpower, the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus, a state that has been repeatedly conquered by Greeks, Arabs, Mongols, yet its strong national identity r...

Kings once ruled by divine right... but now royals can be arrested by Thames Valley Police. But how did we get here? Bianca Nobilo gives us 1,000 years of royal scandal in just three minutes, before speaking to royal author Robert Hardman to discuss whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor can be removed from the line of succession and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...

How hard is it really to depose a Prime Minister? Can they be impeached like a US president? And can a monarch remove a PM? History Uncensored's Bianca Nobilo talks us through the ways in which to remove a leader in the UK - drawing on past examples of when a bid to oust someone has been successful... and when it has not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An entire colony of 100 people gone - leaving a single word carved into wood. A man who parachuted from a plane into a storm, never to be seen again. A ship found sailing across the Atlantic, missing all of its passengers. All of them vanished, forever. Bianca Nobilo talks us through the five most mysterious disappearances - and explains how although they may be unsolved, there is still new eviden...

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct while in public office on today, his 66th birthday. It's possibly the biggest royal scandal of our time - but there have, of course, been many throughout history. Bianca Nobilo speaks to royal author Tom Bower to discuss what today might mean for the former prince - and for the future of the monarchy as a whole. Learn more abo...

Award-winning historian and best-selling author William Dalrymple joins History Uncensored host Bianca Nobilo to discuss life in India, the hidden cause of the American Revolution, ancient superpowers ... and the mystery of a deceased cockatoo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Olympics were not always a celebration of peace and unity. In the past, they were weaponised by dictators and marred by violence and corruption. They have however always been a recurring instrument of power, identity, and spectacle. Bianca Nobilo takes us on a journey from the ancient games to how the Olympics became a Cold War battlefield. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoice...

Following her deep-dive in our Samurai Uncensored episode, Bianca Nobilo finds out more about what the Japanese warriors were really like from specialist Dr Jonathan Lopez-Vera. Many of us have a preconceived notion of the samurai, thanks to the depiction of them in film and video games - but the truth is actually much different from the myth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices...

The myth of the samurai slices through the fog of history. The elite warriors and masters of the sword who are bound to live and die with honour are shrouded in myth. Where did the samurai actually come from? What did they really live by - and what was invented later? And were women ever part of the warrior class - or is that pure legend? Bianca Nobilo talks us through the history of the legendary...

Deepfakes nudes have moved from fringe experiment to mass phenomenon. The creation and distribution of tampered-with images has affected hundreds of thousands of people, overwhelmingly women, without their consent. It's a problem that's only worsening today with the growth of AI - and history explains why this behaviour is happening. Bianca Nobilo delves into the past of deepfakes and nude images...