Podcast

The story of Asma al-Assad is one of the most bizarre and morally corrosive chapters in modern Middle Eastern history. But how did “Emma from West London” end up in the presidential palace in Damascus? It began with a cousin's connection, a mother at the Syrian embassy, and a romance with a shy ophthalmology student... <p>The post #27 Syria – The Double Life of Asma al...

Why did Hamas launch the October 7 attacks, and what did they actually expect to happen? October 7 shattered regional stability and thrust a small, blockaded enclave into a total war that rewrote modern history. But how did Hamas actually seize power in the first place?  Surprisingly, it began through a democratic election in 2006,... <p>The post #26 Gaza: From Hamas vs Fatah Coup to October...

February 1948. Communist stormtroopers marched through the freezing streets of Prague while regular citizens watched in stunned disbelief. This single week shattered Czechoslovakia’s democracy and forced a young, affluent bourgeois boy named Václav Havel into state-mandated exile from his own country's intellectual elite. What followed across four decades was a surreal, high-stakes battle of...

When corrupt President Viktor Yanukovych turned his back on the European Union to side with Vladimir Putin, he sparked a revolution. What began as peaceful protests on Maidan quickly escalated into a deadly crackdown, leaving scores killed and wounded. But the sudden departure of the 'Kremlin's man in Kyiv' was only the beginning.  In this... <p>The post #24 Ukraine – Fr...

August 1991. Soviet tanks rolled into the centre of Moscow while most people were away on their summer holidays. This included the two most prominent politicians of the world's largest country and nuclear power, arch-rivals Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. What followed was a chaotic, alcohol-fueled gamble by communist hardliners, including KGB Chief Vladimir Kryuchkov.... <p>The po...

Caught between absolute power and violent coups, Juan Perón experienced both sides of political revolutions.  Following a short imprisonment by military rivals, hundreds of thousands of Argentines took to the streets to demand his release, paving his way to the presidency. This was just the beginning of a chaotic legacy, as the women by his... <p>The post #22 Argentina – Perón’s...

For a special Aussie edition of Putschcast, all four hosts come together to review some rebellious periods in Australian colonial history, hardly known even to most Aussies. First up, the 1808 Rum Rebellion, Australia's only military coup. When Governor William Bligh (yes, that Bligh from the Mutiny on the Bounty) tried to shut down the... <p>The post #21 Australia – Colonial Upri...

It wasn't just a war of independence, it was a civil war, a bloodbath, and the blueprint for modern nationalism all rolled into one. The Greek Revolution of the 1820s reshaped Europe, but the real story is darker and more complicated than the heroic tales suggest. We chat with Dr. Michalis Sotiropoulos, historian of modern... <p>The post #20 Greece – Forging a Nation through Revol...

He was a hot-dog seller who became a warlord. A convicted criminal who commanded the world's most feared mercenary army, the Wagner Group. And then he did what no one had dared since the Soviet collapse: he pointed Russian tanks at Moscow and took a swing at the Kremlin. On this episode, we sit down... <p>The post #19 Russia – Prigozhin’s March on Moscow first appeared on Pu...

In the early 20th century, Mexico was a playground for a dictator, foreign corporations and a tiny elite while millions of peasants lived in desperate poverty. In this Putschcast episode, we ride into the chaos of the Mexican Revolution. Joining us is Dr Robert Weis, an expert on modern Mexico, who walks us through the... <p>The post #18 Mexico – Another Revolution devoures its Childre...

How could a city break away from its own country to try and build a radical, democratic utopia from scratch? In the middle of a war with a foreign power. In the spring of 1871, Paris did exactly that. Amidst the chaos and starvation of the Franco-Prussian War, the working class rose up to establish... <p>The post #17 France – The radical Women of the Paris Commune first appeared on Put...

What happens when a dead Pope is dug up, dressed in vestments, and put on trial by his living successor? A necrophilic coup? Yes, this story is true and Steve Guerra from The History of the Papacy podcast joins Putschcast to unpack the Cadaver Synod of 897 AD, the single most bizarre chapter in Rome's... <p>The post #16 Vatican – The Cadaver Synod first appeared on Putschcast: A r...

111 years after the Armenian Genocide, we provide context around the turbulent years that lead up to the massacres and the subsuquent fall of the Ottoman Empire.  In this episode, historian Professor Adrian Jones and political scientist Dr Tezcan Gümüş dismantle the narrative of the “Sick Man of Europe” to explore the empire's desperate gamble... <p>The post #15 Ottoman Empi...

Exactly thirty years ago, a single Russian missile strike, guided by his satellite phone, ended the life of former Soviet General turned rebel leader, Dzhokhar Dudayev. For five years, he had been in charge of a tiny speck of land in Russia's deep south called Chechnya. His fellow Caucasian mountain rebels put up a fight... <p>The post #14 Chechnya – Humiliation leads to Assassina...

Western media calls Hezbollah a terrorist group and leaves it at that. This Putschcast episode does something more: it shows how the organisation governs; terrorising its own people while supporting others. Journalist Dr Rami Aycha offers an inside look at Hassan Nasrallah – his rise, 30-year reign, and brutal death by Israeli forces. Aycha's connection... <p>The post #13 Lebanon &#8211...

John the Baptist was not just a prophet and religious firebrand; he was also a political revolutionary, according to the Bible. He took on the Roman client King Herod Antipas and called for more equality while challenging the status quo, immoral behaviour, and hypocritical religious leaders. However, what was his relationship and connection to Jesus... <p>The post #12 Galilee – Jesus&#...

The Haitian Revolution is the only successful slave revolt that birthed a free republic. Professor Nicolai von Eggers brings a crucial perspective to understanding the revolution not just as a military event, but as a profound political upheaval in the colony of Saint-Domingue, which at the time, was the world's most profitable colony. We unpack... <p>The post #11 Haiti – Successf...