History of the World podcast

MASTERS OF WAR (2) - We travel back in time to the 4th Century BCE and the tension filled world of the Greeks and Persians, where the greatest military commanders needed to be truly great to prevail. Featuring Epaminondas, Philip II of Macedon, Darius III of Persia and Alexander the Great.

A look at the source material for the first Mongol episode, alongside an acknowledgement of how history can change somebody's name such as that of Genghis Khan.

1130 - 1214 - Many of us have heard stories regarding the Mongols and their empire, but how much do we know about their origins and how could a peoples with their humble origins have the ability to terrorise developed cultures so successfully?

MASTERS OF WAR (1) - Looking back at some of the greatest military commanders and leaders in history. This week we review Egyptian Pharoah Ramesses II, Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III, Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great and Athenian General Themistocles.

Our usual look at the source materials that we used for this week's episode, including a look at how Chat GPT has come in useful for targetting important information on the worldwide web.

907 - 1279 - The story of the Song Dynasty takes us from the fall of the Tang Dynasty through to the conquest of China by the Mongols. We will take a closer look at the imperial examination process, innovations in printing, and some controversial changes in national policies.

HUMAN ANCESTORS (2) - We pick up from our last magazine episode and track the story of human ancestry from the emergence of the neanderthals and the first Homo sapiens , through to the events that left Homo sapiens as the last species on earth. We look at the earliest innovations of art and how humans adapted to the varying global climates.

581 - 608 - Originating from the unifying Sui Dyansty, the Tang China brought back the glory of an affluent and united Chinese nation for the first time since the days of the Han Dynasty. Overexpansion and a large diversity of ethnicities put pressures on the dynasty that threatened its very existence.

A discussion on the source material used for the Tang Dynasty episode, plus a brief look at what's ahead in 2024, plus some information about the challenges of writing chronological medieval history and pronouncing words in different languages that you have no knowledge of.

HUMAN ANCESTORS (1) - In this episode we will be going right back to the very beginning, looking into the first upright walkers, then the australopithecines, homo habilis, homo erectus, hand tool construction, fire production and homo heidelbergensis.

668 - 1392 - The period following the Three Kingdoms period was a time for Korea to be unified on and off, but still there were many outside influences trying to conquer the resource rich peninsula. This would also bring positive cultural reforms to the people of the peninsula too.

UNLIKELY VICTORIES (2) - In this edition of the magazine we look back at some of history's victories in battle against the odds. Clontarf (1014), Legnano (1176), Rio Salado (1340) and Agincourt (1415).

8000 BCE - 668 CE - Before Korea was unified by the Kingdom of Silla in the seventh century, a number of polities vied for position both in and north of the Korean peninsula, overseen closely by the societies of China.

UNLIKELY VICTORIES (1) - In this edition of the magazine we look back at some of history's victories in battle against the odds. Salamis (480BCE), Zela (47BCE) and Edington (878)

1333 - 1573 - We march forward in our Japanese story from the collapse of the Kamakura Shogunate as we recognise the rise of a new shogunate which would see challenges to its authority consistently throughout its tenure.

This week's journey back in time will take us to the iconic Crusader Battle of Arsuf, the apogees of the Umayyad Caliphate and the Roman Empire and to the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge.

This podcast episode of the magazine takes a closer look at Ötzi the Iceman, the Roman Emperor Vaspasian, the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in the United States and the Ayyubid Sultan, Saladin. There is also a "state of the podcast" address within this episode.

1185 - 1333 - The Kamakura period of Japanese history saw a time when a military regime took control of the nation, and were subject to the first international invasion of the Japanese islands.

Join us on this busy little tour of history where we will be visiting the pre-historic village of Çatalhöyük, the affluent times in the middle of the second millennium BCE, the Battle of Actium which directly involved the famous Egyptian Queen Pharoah Cleopatra, and how medieval feudalism in Europe became a thing of the past.

1185 - Tension between the clans during the Heian period of Japanese history was reaching boiling point particularly after the Taira clan had expelled the Minamoto from the capital city of Heian-kyu (Kyoto). The result was the outbreak of the Genpei War, and the Battle of Dan-no-ura was the concluding episode of this war.

794 - 1180 - We are covering the period of Japan's history from the relocation of the capital city to Heian-kyō up to the outbreak of the Genpei War.

40000 BCE - 794 CE - We haven't studied Japan in too much detail until now, so it is necessary for us to introduce the story of the islands from the very beginning.

This week's magazine episode takes us back to pre-historic Europe when modern humans met the neanderthals, ancient Mesoamerica where we encounter the Olmecs, Classical Rome where we study the early years of the life of Julius Caesar, and the story of the first Europeans to visit New York City.

1206 - 1526 - After the Ghurids crossed the Khyber Pass, Islam fast became a major religion of the Indian subcontinent, adding to the cultural diversity of these lands, but would this change be short lived or permanent?

In this week's episode we look back on the mysterious Mitochondrial Eve, the mysterious Xia dynasty of ancient China, and the not so mysterious Battle of Carrhae between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Persian Empire.