History Undone

On this episode of History Undone, Fergus Macphee is joined once again by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry & Dr Klaus Schmider to discuss one of the most significant events of the 20th Century: the Spanish Civil War. It was a bloody and fiercely ideological war, that saw Francisco Franco's Nationalists control the country and would see him lead Spain until his death in 1975. Yet today we ask, what...

On this episode of History Undone, Fergus Macphee is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry & Nigel Jones to discuss the sometimes chaotic tenure of Winston Churchill during the Second World War. There periods of disquiet when he could have been ousted, assassination attempts, a near miss in the Blitz and ill health; yet he remained. So what if he had not? This is History Undone. Hosted on Acas...

On this episode of History Undone, Fergus Macphee is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry & Dr Klaus Schmider to discuss one of the most devastating blockades in history: the siege of Leningrad. It is less mythologised than Stalingrad, perhaps because of the catastrophic loss of life and genocidal implications. Yet the Nazis never pushed on with a full-scale invasion, deciding instead to bomb...

On this episode of History Undone, Fergus Macphee is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Dr Klaus Schmider to discuss a plan that Nazi Germany never went through with. At the end of 1940, Hitler faced a choice of where to head next and Admiral Raeder's thoughts were clear: head south through the Mediterranean, capture British Empire strongholds and push through to the oil fields. Yet that ne...

On this episode of History Undone, Fergus Macphee is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry & Professor Adam Smith to discuss the decision by Britain and France not to officially enter the American Civil War. Both European nations had commercial and diplomatic interests within the Confederacy and their neutrality was not guaranteed. So after the Trent Affair in 1861, how close did the British E...

On this episode of History Undone, our new host Fergus Macphee is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Dr Siavush Randjbar-Daemi to discuss one of the most important moments in the history of the Middle East which still has lasting ramifications today: the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The monarchy had ruled Iran for over two and half thousand years, but from the end of the 19th century Britain...

On this edition of History Undone, Fergus Macphee is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry to discuss China's Civil War and the rise of the Chinese Communist Party. The scale and the figures involved in the post WWII phase of the conflict were truly staggering, yet as time wore on it was clear the tide had turned against the nationalist KMT. Yet if the world had not witnessed Mao Zedong's rise, wh...

On this episode of History Undone, Fergus Macphee is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Dr Michael Rowe to discuss one of Napoleon's greatest defeats at the Battle of Leipzig. It was the largest Europe had ever seen until the First World War, ended Napoleon's campaign to the East of the Rhine and saw him exiled to Elba. Yet if he had won that day, the team discover the consequences may have...

On this episode of History Undone, Darryl Morris is joined by channel favourites Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Jonathan Parshall to discuss the 'Kantokuen', or in other words, the drawn up Japanese plan to invade Siberia. Of course, this was never enacted, and in 1941 Japan pushed South and attacked Pearl Harbor. Yet what if they had pushed North instead? Would they have had the resources, and w...

On this edition of History Undone, Darryl Morris is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Professor Sergey Radchenko to discuss the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and one of its most mythologised moments. On the 27th of October, also known as 'Black Saturday' Vasily Arkhipov did not consent to firing a torpedo with the capabilities of the Hiroshima bomb, from Soviet sub B-59. Yet how consequenti...

On this episodes of History Undone, Darryl Morris, Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry & Drachinifel discuss one of the most important moments of naval warfare: The Battle of Tsushima. The encounter that effectively ended the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, it was a catastrophic defeat for Russia and Tsar Nicholas II. Victory saw a changing of the guard on the seas in the Far East, meaning Japan was...

On this episode of History Undone, Darryl Morris is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Drachinifel to discuss one of the most overlooked arenas of the First World War: the Atlantic theatre. Often called the 'first battle of the Atlantic', the German U-boat campaign seriously threatened to starve Britain out of the war, yet only brief periods of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1915 and 191...

On today's History Undone Darryl Morris is joined by Dr Klaus Schmider and Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry to discuss one of Adolf Hitler's most critical decisions of the Second World War. During the early days of Operation Barbarossa, he made an order for army groups to split north and south, rather than push on and head straight for Moscow, seeing the capital as a secondary objective. By the time me...

It's the 25th of October 1415, St Crispin's Day, and a small stretch of land in northern France is about to have its name etched into legend. The Battle of Agincourt was a momumental and historic victory for the English over the French, who, despite being heavily outnumbered came out on top. Yet a battle that took place over the course of just one day, could have altered the course of history. So...

It’s the 24th of December 1942, Christmas Eve. In the depths of the ruins of Stalingrad, all German hope of rescue has been extinguished. On this special Christmas edition of History Undone, Darryl Morris is joined by Dr Klaus Schmider & Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry to discuss the horrors of the encirclement or the 'kessel' at Stalingrad. German troops found themselves trapped within four days,...

On this episode of History Undone, Darryl Morris, Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Jonathan Parshall discuss one of the most overlooked campaigns of the Second World War: Burma and the South East Asian theatre. Japan occupied the nation from 1942 until 1945 and despite pushing on for a failed invasion of India in 1944, there was an opportunity two years earlier that Japan did not take. So what if I...

Darryl Morris is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Anna Reid to discuss arguably one of the most consequential what ifs of the 20th Century and beyond: the October Revolution in 1917 and subsequent Russian Civil War. It not only ended centuries of tsarist rule and pulled Russia out of the First World War, but led to the creation of the Soviet Union and its most famous figures. Without the...

On this episode of History Undone Darryl Morris is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Dr Timothy Orr to discuss Robert E Lee's decision to fight for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Considered the south's finest general, Lee was actually offered command of the Union's forces in Virginia by President Abraham Lincoln, but he would not fight against his home state that had secede...

History Undone's brand new host Darryl Morris is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Professor Anna Whitelock to discuss one of the most mythologised events in British history: The Gunpowder Plot. Guy Fawkes' name has become the stuff of legend, yet he was just part of a group of 13 conspirators who in 1605 planted 36 barrels of gunpowder beneath Parliament, with the goal of assassinating Ki...

James Hanson is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Professor Marcus Bull to discuss one of the most famous and mythologised battles of the 16th century period: The Great Siege of Malta in 1565. It was a fierce battle between empires, faiths and ideals, as the greatly outnumbered Christian Knights Hospitaller, which had been headquartered on the island for 35 years, held out against the migh...

This episode of History Undone is sponsored by Visit Malta. To find out more information, head to visitmalta.com #ad James Hanson is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and the historical consultant on Christopher Nolan's 2017 movie 'Dunkirk' Joshua Levine to describe the miraculous evacuation of British and French troops in 1940. In what was actually a crushing military defeat, the highly unusu...

James Hanson is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Dr Klaus Schmider to discuss the monumental decision that has been debated by historians for decades: Adolf Hitler's declaration of war against the US after Pearl Harbour. Was it a necessary action that he needed to take, or a devastating mistake which cost Germany the war? It is undoubtedly one that, had he not made, the Second World War w...

This episode of History Undone is sponsored by Visit Malta. To find out more information, head to visitmalta.com #ad James Hanson is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Nigel Jones to discuss what could have happened had Britain sued for peace with Nazi Germany after the disastrous fall of France in May 1940. There were some in Britain who were certainly keen on the idea, but the appointment...

James Hanson is joined by Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry and Professor Alexander Watson to discuss one of the most profound what ifs of 20th century history - the decision by the US to enter the First World War in 1917. Without the nation's involvement does Germany rule much of Eastern Europe, do you still see the rise of the Nazis and are the US and UK allies today? This is History Undone.  Thi...

This episode of History Undone is sponsored by Visit Malta. To find out more information, head to visitmalta.com #ad On today's History Undone, the team cover the Falklands War in 1982 and James Hanson is joined by arguably two of the best placed people on earth to discuss the conflict. Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry served, and even fired the first shots in the conflict and Professor Sir Lawrence Fr...