History of the World podcast

By Chris Hasler

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Rate for this podcast

Subscribers: 450
Reviews: 6
Episodes: 259

Skye
 Feb 3, 2022
These are presented intelligently and concisely. They are a joy and interesting to listen to.

Steve Marshall
 Aug 22, 2021
really well done and informative a joy to listen to. thank you for your hard work

jordanzo the great
 Dec 28, 2020
Chris speaks in an informed and direct manner. his voice has a lovely brittish accent that would indicate some region of England to those familiar with accents. anyway the content and delivery are second to none and the podcast is ad free

Adam
 Oct 22, 2020
Great podcast that takes a layman chronologically through world history, tells and explains the story, how the story was discovered, how sure are we of all of it, and does it in a clear and entertaining way.


 Mar 14, 2020

Description

Become a Paid Subscriber: https://anchor.fm/historyoftheworldpodcast/subscribe This is the History of the World podcast!!! The incredible story of the human history of the world. Come and join us on this incredible journey!

Episode Date
The History of the World podcast Magazine - 5th June 2023
00:50:44

Unscripted (52) - In this episode of the podcast, we look back at the day of the Battle of Hastings in England in 1066, the incredible geoglyphic creations of the Nazca cultures of Ancient Peru, the amazing life of the early modern King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolfus, and what happened to Egypt after the fall of the New Kingdom.

Jun 05, 2023
SPECIAL - The Pre-Columbian Mound Builders of North America
00:44:35

800 BCE - 1750 CE - This episode serves as a general overview of the archaeological cultures of North America and their connections to each other, as we learn more about the type of people who were living in the eastern United States before the arrival of Europeans.

May 29, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 42a - The Emirate of Granada
00:50:22

1230 - 1492 - The story of the last nation of Al-Andalus is the story of the Emirate of Granada. We determine how it was formed and the sequence of events that led to its destruction.

May 22, 2023
Unscripted (51) ( Retrospective special )
00:40:05

Join us on this journey back in time to New Kingdom Egypt, Ptolemaic Egypt, Classical World China, and medieval Iceland.

May 08, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 55 - SUMMARY - Medieval Europe, Part Two
00:58:34

1000 - 1453 - The modern countries of Europe were beginning to evolve and mature as they jostled for lands and superiority over one another. Underpinning the status of the new nations was the influence of religion with the Papacy attempting to rule supreme over the kingdoms of Europe and attempting to create a Roman Catholic bubble that may persecute other religious movements at will.

Apr 24, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 54 - SUMMARY - Medieval Europe, Part One
00:37:44

600 - 1085 - The modern nations of Europe begin to emerge as populations civilise, populate and Christianise. The Papacy becomes central to European politics.

Apr 17, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 53 - BATTLE - The Battle of Kutná Hora ( 1421 )
00:44:59

1421 - The execution of Jan Hus caused rebellion in the Kingdom of Bohemia, when early Protestants against the Catholic Church rallied to send a message to the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope. This battle is a part of the wider Hussite Wars.

Apr 10, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 52 - BATTLE - The Battle of Grunwald ( 1410 )
00:52:42

1410 - The Christianisation of the states of north-east Europe left the Teutonic Order with no neighbouring nations to conduct military missions against. As the relatively new nations of Poland and Lithuania tried to establish their status, the Teutonic Order would inevitably become involved.

Apr 03, 2023
BONUS - The Ancient World Cup Final
00:41:28

A special preview of the Ancient World Cup Final between the Ancient Egyptians and The Romans

Mar 27, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 51 - BATTLE - The Battle on the Ice ( 1242 )
00:44:28

1242 - Paganism remained dominant in the north-east corner of Europe, but the race to convert the natives brought the Western Catholic Crusaders into conflict with the Eastern Orthodox Russians. The resulting conflict took place on the surface of a frozen lake.

Mar 20, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 50 - The Siege of Orléans and Joan of Arc
00:53:59

1415 - 1431 - The incredible story of how a young peasant girl managed to convince the French royal court to show a more aggressive attitude to the wars in France and how it was able to turn the tables on the English during the Hundred Years' War.

Mar 13, 2023
Unscripted (50) ( Retrospective special )
00:41:27

Something completely new for the History of the World podcast.  While we wait for the new episode, we revive some of the great stories that we have already told in years gone by.  Plus the result of the first semi-final of the History of the World podcast Ancient World Cup.

Mar 06, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 49 - BATTLE - The Battle of Agincourt ( 1415 )
00:46:46

1415 - King Henry V of England was committed to targetting the French and launched an attack on France to reclaim lost lands and take the hand of the French king's daughter.  Henry would actually end up in a race against time to escape France with his life.

Feb 27, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 48 - BATTLE - The Battle of Crécy ( 1346 )
00:52:13

1346 - All of the male descedants of King Philip IV of France had died out, apart from one, King Edward III of England.  The French would find a way to avoid crowning Edward in favour of a cousin and this would cause Edward to raise a massive army and invade the north of France.

Feb 20, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 47 - The Hundred Years' War
00:45:29

1337 - 1453 - The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France and their ruling dynasties, the Plantagenets and the Capetians.  This is a whistle-stop tour of the main events that shaped the conflicts.

Feb 13, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 46 - The Black Death
00:48:03

1346 - 1353 - It was not the first time that the bubonic plague had hit Eurasia, but this time nobody could have expected the sudden and relentless wave of devastation that affected all of the nations of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

Feb 06, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 45 - BATTLE - The Battle of Bannockburn ( 1314 )
00:54:10

1314 - After the death of King Edward I of England, the Hammer of the Scots, the self proclaimed Scottish king, Robert the Bruce started a campaign of seizing Scottish castles garrisoned by the English.  When Stirling Castle was about to fall to the Scots, King Edward II of England had no choice but to act.

Jan 30, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 44 - The First War of Scottish Independence
00:48:43

1290 - 1314 - A series of tragedies left the comparatively stable Scottish monarchy in disarray leading to the opportunistic King Edward I of England attempting to enforce overlordship on the Scots.  William Wallace and Robert the Bruce in particular looked to oppose this action.

Jan 23, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 43 - Magna Carta
00:47:18

1166 - 1216 - The events and actions of the reign of King John of England brought about the circumstances from which the highest members of English society sought to challenge the king's authority and lay down some legal terms that would limit the power of the monarch.

Jan 16, 2023
Vol 4 Ep 42 - BATTLE - The Battle of Río Salado ( 1340 )
00:56:08

1340 - The Muslim taifas of the Iberian peninsula had all been reconquered apart from Granada.  A new threat now emerged from North Africa with ambitions of creating a foothold in the peninsula and taking control of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Jan 09, 2023
Unscripted (49)
00:13:00

News about the next proper episode of the podcast and a catch up with some of the e-mails and reviews.

Jan 05, 2023
Unscripted (48) ( Boxing Day )
00:12:51

Another festive catch up and an opportunity to discuss the notion of Boxing Day and a bit about its traditional history.

Dec 26, 2022
Unscripted (47) ( Christmas Day )
00:16:12

A long awaited catch up with Chris on Christmas Day, with a little look into the whole tradition of Christmas Day and why it even exists as it does.

Dec 25, 2022
Unscripted (46) ( Strangers )
00:17:31

In this week's unscripted episode, we'll be discussing why there are unscripted episodes at all, we'll be answering History of the World podcast illuminati member, Corben Havener's question about when prehistoric tribes became big enough that not all individual members could know all others, and we'll be looking ahead at the final episodes of our journey through medieval Europe.

Dec 12, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 41 - BATTLE - The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa ( 1212 )
00:52:00

1212 - A new wave of powerful Berber Muslims called the Almohads controlled southern Spain.  Castilian raids into Almohad territory brought the Almohad army from Africa, and their aggression caused the Pope to call for a crusade which climaxed with this pivotal battle.

Dec 05, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 40 - Reconquista, the Early Years ( El Cid )
00:45:41

711 - 1102 - The Christianised Visigothic Kingdom was invaded and conquered by the Islamic Caliphate.  The remnants of the Visigoths went north into the mountains and began the process of reconquest (reconquista), to bring the Iberian Peninsula back under Christian rule again.

Nov 28, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 39 - BATTLE - The Battle of Legnano ( 1176 )
00:48:28

1176 - Since the days of the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto the Great, during the tenth century, Italy was the poorer brother of Germany.  A key factor within this relationship was the Papacy, and by the latter half of the eleventh century, with the support of the Pope, the Italians had had enough of being the Holy Roman Empire's whipping boys.

Nov 21, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 38 - BATTLE - The Battle of Arsuf ( 1191 )
00:52:43

1191 - The Battle of Arsuf was the conflict between two of the most celebrated military leaders, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin of the Ayyubids.  The challenges of maintaining discipline in testing circumstances for both armies are highlighted well in this particular showdown.

Nov 14, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 37 - BATTLE - The Battle of Hattin ( 1187 )
00:45:42

1187 - After the situation settled down after the Second Crusade, the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt collapsed making way for the Muslim icon, Saladin, to become a national leader and an imperial warlord.  After bringing together a number of Muslim realms, the next target would be the infidels of Christian Outremer.

Nov 07, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 36 - Crusades in the Holy Land, Part Two
00:50:36

1099 - 1302 - After the conclusion of the First Crusade, four Christian nation states were established in the Levant.  These Crusader States would have to battle for their survival over the next two hundred years, and this episode focuses on that protracted battle.

Oct 31, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 35 - BATTLE - The Siege of Jerusalem ( 1099 )
00:51:15

1099 - The climax of the First Crusade sees the remainder of the Crusader armies attempt to take control of the Holy City from its newest owners, the Isma'ili Shia Islamic Fatimid Caliphate, with devastating consequences.

Oct 24, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 34 - Crusades in the Holy Land, Part One
00:45:58

1095 - 1098 - The Crusade to the Holy Land was an ambitious undertaking when considering the distance to travel to fight enemies on their own soil.  We look at the motivating factors and the politics of the age to discover why so many people decided to make this dangerous pilgrimage.

Oct 17, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 33 - Medieval Feudalism
00:43:13

768 - 1453 - Unpacking the true meaning of feudalism by examining the different relationships between classes of people living in Western Europe during the medieval period.

Oct 10, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 32 - The Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire
00:44:47

739 - 1392 - After an introduction to the Papacy, we concentrate on the period from when the Pope approached the Franks for protection, through to the battles between the peoples of northern Italy who traditionally either supported the Pope or the Holy Roman Emperor.

Oct 03, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 31 - Christian Monasticism
00:54:19

251 - 1221 - From the isolated hermit lifestyle of Saint Anthony in Egypt through to the medicant style of monasticism of Saint Dominic, we explore the diverse and ever changing fortunes and faces of the first millennium of Christian monasticism.

Sep 26, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 30 - Medieval Weaponry
00:37:50

500 - 1500 - Attackers and defenders evolved in parallel to each other, so we can examine the relationship of archers against armour, and siege engines against defensive walls, as well as the melee weapons of the age and the differences around the world.

Sep 19, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 29 - Medieval Communication
00:33:25

300000 BCE - 1492 CE - To understand how communication was possible over long distances in medieval times, we delve into the history of travel from the ancient age, right through to the eve of the Age of Exploration.

Sep 12, 2022
Vol 3 Ep 80 - Volcanic Winter of 536
00:51:48

536 - The theory of an unproven volcanic eruption that may have been one of the largest eruptions in history.  The theory is explored through writing, science and thought.

Sep 05, 2022
SPECIAL - New Netherland
00:51:58

1607 - 1674 - The turbulent story of the 17th Century Dutch colony in North America which signified the birth of the modern city of New York, and saw the difficulties faced between European nations and Native American peoples.

Aug 29, 2022
SPECIAL - The History of Crete
01:05:09

5330000 BCE - today - We condense the history of the Mediterranean island of Crete into one episode, plotting the ages of the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Etocretans, Romans, Aghlabids, Venetians, Ottomans and Nazi Germans, as well as the ultimate mother culture of Greece itself.

Aug 22, 2022
SPECIAL - The Khoisan peoples
00:48:58

150000 BCE - today - Who are the Khoisan people and why are they so different to all other human life on the planet?  How has their lifestyle been affected by the many waves of migrations into their lands?  What traditions of their culture have they carried into today's world and where do they fit into today's society?

Aug 15, 2022
Unscripted (45)
00:21:16

The final unscripted episode before resuming full episodes next week.  We provide you with a summary of the upcoming episodes and then catch up with all of the latest listener messages and reviews.

Aug 08, 2022
Unscripted (44) ( Saxo Grammaticus )
00:23:19

A catch up on the listener messages and reviews and a brief mention on who Saxo Grammaticus was and what influence he had on Denmark and literature.

Aug 03, 2022
Unscripted (43) ( Old Swiss Confederacy )
00:21:20

A state of the podcast address with some important and exciting news about the next full episode.  We also discuss the origin of the nation of Switzerland by looking at the alliance of cantons that symbolises the beginnings of this modern country.

Aug 02, 2022
Unscripted (42)
00:16:06

The usual state of the podcast updates and all of your kind messages and reviews in one place.

Jul 19, 2022
Unscripted (41) ( The House of Knýtlinga )
00:26:00

A quick dive into the Scandinavian dynasty also called Gorm and Jelling, descended from Vikings and producing the mighty multi-national king Cnut the Great.

Jul 18, 2022
Unscripted (40) ( Tostig Godwinson )
00:24:07

An off the cuff focus on the younger brother of King Harold II of England and his unique story.

Jul 05, 2022
Unscripted (39)
00:19:06

A long awaited update from the History of the World podcast including an update on what's been going on in June, plus a look forward at what we may expect in July.

Jul 04, 2022
Unscripted (38)
00:26:55

A look forward to the special episodes coming soon thanks to the ideas put forward by members of the History of the World podcast illuminati, including the latest listener messages and review.  We look forward to the Chalke Valley History Festival and the podcast's fourth birthday.

Jun 21, 2022
Unscripted (37)
00:14:05

We catch up with all the listener messages and reviews from the last two weeks and welcome the new members of the History of the World Podcast illuminati.

Jun 15, 2022
Unscripted (36)
00:20:22

Find out about my visit to the Podcast Show 2022 in London this past May, and we fondly remember our good friend Nick Barksdale who sadly passed away this month.

Jun 14, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 28 - BATTLE - The Battle of Hastings ( 1066 )
00:53:52

1066 - Both the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy had matured into states that faced each other across the English Channel, and had their futures entwined with each other as a consequence.  One powerful duke of Normandy called William had great ambitions for his neighbours across the water.

May 30, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 27 - The Normans
00:50:40

845 - 1194 - The Normans take up a much larger role than many initially know and this episode looks to tell the entire story of the Normans of Normandy.

May 23, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 26 - BATTLE - The Battle of Clontarf ( 1014 )
01:02:28

1014 - The story of the history of Ireland and the Irish folklore legend of Brian Boru and how he managed his unlikely inheritance in a medieval world of fierce competition on both local and national levels.

May 16, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 25 - BATTLE - The Battle of Edington ( 878 )
00:48:47

878 - The inevitable showdown between the Danish Vikings whose intensity against the Anglo-Saxons reached breaking point.  We discover more about King Alfred the Great and how he set the foundations for the nation that would become England.

May 09, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 24 - PROFILE - Snorri Sturluson
00:48:28

1179 - 1241 This episode tells the life story of the Icelandic saga  writer and statesman who lived during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries during the closing years of Icelandic independence.

May 02, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 23 - The Kyivan Rus'
00:55:32

862 - 1242 - The story of the creation of the medieval nation state that was the birth of a unique modern culture with a rich history that would have a fortune changing influence on European and global politics.  The fusion of Viking and Slavic cultures.


Apr 25, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 22 - The Vikings
00:52:50

793 - 1035 - Glorious literature tells us that the Vikings were savage raiders who sailed the seas and plundered from others.  This episode investigates what we do know about the Vikings and their history and whether those preconceptions are completely fair.

Apr 18, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 21 - The Anglo-Saxons
00:47:30

410 - 939 - From the abandonment of Britannia by the Romans, the island became a place of tribal warfare for many centuries, but from the chaos emerged the beginnings of a modern English nation.

Apr 11, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 20 - The Picts
00:50:53

43 - 848 - When the Romans invaded Britain they discovered people who  had decorated their bodies with bright colours.  Who were these people  and what became of them?

Apr 04, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 19 - BATTLE - The Battle of Lechfeld ( 955 )
00:48:33

955 - East Francia was a struggling new nation facing the threat of new European invasions from the peoples of the steppe.  It would take military intelligence and bravery for East Francia to be able to deal with the threat of the Hungarians on this occasion.

Mar 28, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 18 - BATTLE - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass ( 778 )
00:47:28

778 - The battle that involved Charlemagne and gave us a surprising result.  It is immortalised by the Song of Roland, but this episode looks to revise the later medieval romantic poetry and find out the truth from the contemporary voices.

Mar 21, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 17 - The Franks, Part Two ( Charlemagne / Carolingians )
00:52:49

715 - 987 - Early Medieval France was as important as any nation of Europe in its history.  This episode deals with the rekindling of kingship through the Carolingians and their relationship with the Papacy, and how their succession tradition proved to damage the empire and make way for the fragmentation of the Frankish Empire.

Mar 14, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 16 - BATTLE - The Battle of Tours ( 732 )
01:00:21

732 - The Frankish expansion was impressive but the Umayyad expansion was intercontinental and seemingly unstoppable.  It would fall on the shoulders of a man called Charles Martel to unlock the solution to the insatiable desires of the Muslims.

Mar 07, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 15 - The Franks, Part One ( Merovingians )
00:42:05

451 - 718 - A number of culturally linked Germanic tribes were initially united by King Clovis who expanded their realm significantly.  The kings would gradually lose power, to be led by their senior statesmen until the time when Asiatic peoples entered Europe, this time from the west.

Feb 28, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 14 - Romano-Barbaric Italy ( Ostrogoths / Lombards )
01:14:18

476 - 774 - The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 did not signal the end of romanitas in the Italian peninsula, but it does signal the injection of Germanic culture there.  It should have added depth to the peninsula, but instead it brought bloodshed and poverty.

Feb 21, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 13 - The Visigoths
00:59:49

238 - 712 - The Visigoths were one of two major branches of Gothic tribes who originated in eastern Europe and migrated to the west where they carved out their own fortune and cemented their place in the evolution of the modern countries of the Iberian peninsula.

Feb 14, 2022
Unscripted (35)
00:23:27

In this, the second of two unscripted episodes this weekend, we introduce the team competing in Group L of the Ancient World Cup and look ahead at what we can expect from the upcoming episodes of Volume Four.

Feb 07, 2022
Unscripted (34)
00:24:35

This episode of the History of the World podcast focuses on listener media interaction by reading out your messages and reviews.

Feb 06, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 12 - BATTLE - The Fall of Constantinople ( 1453 )
01:00:02

1453 - Was the Fall of Constantinople a foregone conclusion, and is it correct to regard it as the fall of the once great city?  The fascinating story of the city, the characters and the sequence of events that led to the dramatic end of Roman culture.

Jan 24, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 11 - BATTLE - The Battle of Manzikert ( 1071 )
01:12:52

1071 - The Seljuk Turks came to power and threatened Byzantine territory more than any other society before.  The Byzantines required a strong leader to stand up to this new powerhouse of the Middle East, and so a battle would take place with wider reaching ramifications to the world around it.

Jan 17, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 10 - BATTLE - The Battle of Kleidion ( 1014 )
00:56:40

1014 - The tensions between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines reaches the point of no return when two great military monarchs called Samuel and Basil meet in battle, and a strategical match plays out which results in the ultimate destruction of one nation.

Jan 10, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 9 - The Byzantine Empire, Part Four
00:54:22

976 - 1422 - The glorious period of Basil the Bulgar Slayer rampaging through Bulgaria and destroying it was the last great imperial act of the Romans before their slow and painful decline began.  We even speak of a conquest of the Byzantine Empire by Crusading Christians before the rise of the Ottomans even happened.

Jan 03, 2022
Vol 4 Ep 8 - The Byzantine Empire, Part Three
00:54:18

718 - 976 - This period represents a reestablishment of the Byzantine Empire in a new world of Christian competition, and emerging nations looking to challenge Byzantine dominance and ideology.

Dec 27, 2021
Vol 4 Ep 7 - The Byzantine Empire, Part Two
00:49:18

628 - 718 - The emergence of the Arabs and the Bulgars on the fringes of Byzantine lands had a profound effect on the legacy of the Heraclian dynasty of Byzantine rulers.  The empire dramatically decreased in size and had to become familiar with a new style of existence.

Dec 20, 2021
Vol 4 Ep 6 - The Byzantine Empire, Part One
00:52:11

395 - 628 - How did Eastern Rome and Western Rome drift apart, and how did the fall of Western Rome impact Eastern Rome?  We meet Justinian, Belisarius and Heraclius and explore the Byzantine relationship with the Sasanian Persians, the Avars, the Ostrogoths and the Lombards.

Dec 13, 2021
Vol 4 Ep 5 - The Rise of the Ottomans
00:54:35

1280 - 1453 - The story of how one of the great second millennium empires of Eurasia rose to significance and put the Christian world of south east Europe on notice with its military expertise and diplomatic guile.

Dec 06, 2021
Vol 4 Ep 4 - The Great Seljuk Empire
00:56:51

1037 – 1194 - From humble beginnings in the lands of the Oghuz Turks, Seljuk traveled east to become Islamised and start a movement which would conquer the lands of the Middle East and directly permanently influence the politics of Eurasia and religion.

Nov 29, 2021
Vol 4 Ep 3 - The Abbasid Caliphate
00:53:10

750 - 945 - The Abbasid Caliphate marked the Golden Age of Arabic culture when Baghdad became the cultural and economical centre of the world, but many dynastic entities rose to power creating an empire of intense competition.

Nov 22, 2021
Vol 4 Ep 2 - The Umayyad Caliphate
00:55:57

661 - 750 - The Umayyad Caliphate grew to become the largest land empire that the world had ever seen, but such were the challenges of keeping the Islamic world united that constant civil wars would underpin this dynasty's rule of the caliphate.

Nov 15, 2021
Vol 4 Ep 1 - The Rashidun Caliphate ( Prophet Muhammad )
01:04:27

632 - 661 - This episode tells the story of the life of Muhammad and his struggles to follow his life's purpose to spread the word of Islam.  We also tell the story of what the Islamic world did after the death of Muhammad and the success of their proliferation.

Nov 08, 2021
SPECIAL - The Mississippian Culture
00:57:08

800 - 1600 - In this special episode we explore the culmination of many millenniums of mound building cultures in the lands of the modern United States and find out what happened to them when European colonisers arrived in the sixteenth century.

Nov 01, 2021
Unscripted (33)
00:35:56

The final unscripted episode before new episodes are released from next week and a final look at what's to come in Volume Four before we start our long journey through medieval history.

Oct 18, 2021
Unscripted (32)
00:28:06

Big news on this week's unscripted episode regarding the launch date for Volume Four and information about a couple of special episodes to come later this month.

Oct 11, 2021
Unscripted (31)
00:34:27

Another look ahead to Volume 4 and a preview of what we can expect to hear about South East Asia.  We discuss what humans consider to be aesthetically beautiful about other human beings, and provide news regarding two upcoming special episodes.

Oct 04, 2021
Unscripted (30) ( The Twelve Olympians )
00:32:01

An informal look at the Greek pantheon of Olympian deities and what they are individually best known for.  Also we present all of the usual weekly updates and correspondence from the best podcast audience ever.

Sep 27, 2021
Unscripted (29)
00:24:45

Looking ahead to the next volume of podcasts, we whet our appetites with the prospect of medieval Japan and it's transition from seasonal farmers to samurai warriors.  We also catch up with your messages and reviews.

Sep 20, 2021
Unscripted (28) ( Jewish-Roman Wars )
00:28:11

Welcome along to yet another unscripted episode where we pay particular attention to the Jews of Jerusalem and how their troublesome journey through Classical Antiquity led to numerous conflicts with the Romans and their ultimate expulsion.

Sep 13, 2021
Unscripted (27)
00:17:44

Another look ahead to Volume Four where we will focus on the lands of India and China, and track the rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongols.  We hear more of your e-mail and reviews.

Sep 06, 2021
Unscripted (26) ( Xiongnu )
00:29:32

The Xiongnu were more than a match for their powerful Chinese neighbours during the early imperial years of China.  They were the reason behind the Chinese desire to start construction of the Great Wall.  Who were they and what happened to them?

Aug 30, 2021
Unscripted (25)
00:23:00

A look ahead to the material of Volume Four where the spread of Christian and Muslim societies brought them into conflict with each other, other peoples and themselves in the lead up to the Renaissance.

Aug 23, 2021
Unscripted (24)
00:26:35

Another look forward to Volume Four and an insight into some of the episodes which take us through European politics after the fall of the Western Roman Empire through to the creation of medieval kingdoms and their Christianisation which led to the Crusades after the Seljuk Turks took control of Jerusalem and introduced a less tolerant religious attitude.

Aug 16, 2021
Unscripted (23) ( Aksum )
00:26:09

We take a brief trip to the Horn of Africa and the lands of the Blue Nile which became a significant trade centre as the gateway between the Red Sea and the oceans beyond.

Aug 08, 2021
Unscripted (22)
00:25:54

A spoiler for the start of Volume 4 as we look at what to expect from the volume's opening episodes.   As ever, we read out your e-mails and reviews as well as welcoming the latest set of members into the History of the World podcast illuminati.

Aug 02, 2021
Unscripted (21) ( Ancient Olympic Games )
00:24:11

An informal chat about the emergence and disappearance of the ancient sporting tradition that lasted for centuries called the Olympic Games.

Jul 26, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 79 - SUMMARY - The Classical World, Part Four
00:53:48

200 - 600 - The Sasanians were firmly in control of their Silk Road branch while Rome and China languished.  This period saw the rise of the Gupta, Maya and Aksumites but was also the age of the mysterious Hunnic tribes of the Eurasian Steppe.

Jul 18, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 78 - SUMMARY - The Classical World, Part Three
00:35:32

100 BCE - 200 CE - The emergence of the Silk Road saw the rise and fall of four great global empires and the spread of trade encouraged the spread of philosophy and religion across the whole of the Eurasian landmass.

Jul 11, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 77 - SUMMARY - The Classical World, Part Two
00:46:12

400 - 100 BCE - Classical cultures flourished very quickly during this period.  Empires grew to significant proportions and this time, not just in one area of the world.

Jul 04, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 76 - SUMMARY - The Classical World, Part One
00:40:36

700 - 400 BCE - From the time when the Assyrians were the greatest power on the planet, a sudden surge of culture and learning from east to west would bring the world forward from a relative dark age to an age of modern thinking.

Jun 27, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 75 - Classic Period Maya
00:44:57

250 - 900 - Before the canoe building Mayans that Europeans encountered, Mayan ancestors dominated the Guatemala highlands hidden in the dense rainforest and building great temples and palaces to honour their traditions and rituals.

Jun 20, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 74 - Teotihuacán
00:41:40

600 BCE - 750 CE - The greatest multi-pyramid site of the Americas and a very mysterious home to some of the most comfortable regular citizens of the entire ancient world.

Jun 13, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 73 - The Zapotecs
00:45:54

500 BCE - 750 CE - Ethnic Zapotecs make up part of the modern Mexican population today, but they were once the dominant civilisation of Mesoamerica.  The Classical Age Zapotec Empire ruled from the stratified city of Monte Albán.

Jun 06, 2021
Unscripted (20)
00:24:40

A look back at some of the e-mails and reviews of the week including an interesting listener question relating to negative reactions to the History of the World podcast.

May 31, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 72 - Early Intermediate Peru ( Nazca / Moche )
00:49:22

100 BCE - 800 CE - The Nazca and the Moche were the two main cultures to emerge in the remnant of the Chavín.  We will explore the incredible large geoglyphs that were created on the desert landscape and take a closer look at what the temple sites can tell us about the lifestyle of these people.

May 23, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 71 - The Silk Road
00:39:04

30 - 230 - The episode required to tie together all of the previous seventy episodes of this volume.  East meets west as Han China negotiates the Kushan Empire and the Parthian Empire to develop a trade relationship with the Roman Empire, with the same intention occurring in the reverse direction.

May 16, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 70 - Ancient China: China's Dark Ages
00:49:16

220 - 581 - The incredibly complex period of Chinese history which was distinguished by the pushing of centralised power to the south and the establishment of competing kingdoms of various ethnicities in the north.  This is the story of how China eventually reunified after the fall of the Han.

May 09, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 69 - BATTLE - The Battle of Red Cliffs ( 208 )
00:45:35

208 - This is the legendary story of the Three Kingdoms of China and how the warlords Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan could not overcome one another, meaning that China would have to be split into three separate kingdoms, Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu.

May 02, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 68 - Ancient China: The Han Dynasty, Part Two
00:48:07

108 BCE - 208 CE - While trade and subjugation brings wealth, corruption and warfare brings expense, and The Han Dynasty's later years tells the story of this precarious balancing act and its consequences.

Apr 25, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 67 - Ancient China: The Han Dynasty, Part One
00:45:43

210 - 108 BCE - Some of the great characters of ancient China lived through this period such as Liu Bang and his consort Empress Lu, the great patriarchal leader of the Xiongnu Empire, Modu Chanyu, and then later on the Emperor Wu with his well traveled envoy Zhang Qian.

Apr 18, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 66 - Ancient China: The Qin Dynasty
00:44:07

900 - 210 BCE - How the outlying Qin state come to rule over the whole of China, and the unique story of the first emperor and how this short lived dynasty has left an immortal legacy for the emperor who wanted to be immortal.


Apr 11, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 65 - Ancient China: The Zhou Dynasty
00:43:59

1046 - 256 BCE - The longest of all dynasties in Chinese history but certainly not the strongest.  This episode covers the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period with special reference to Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism.

Apr 04, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 64a - The Evolution of Religion
00:39:23

From the beginning of human nature, the aspect of religion has accompanied us through our evolutionary journey, but what started religion and what factors turned it into what we know today?

Mar 29, 2021
BONUS - Nick Barksdale interviews Chris Hasler
01:06:56

2019 - Between the publication of Volume Two and Volume Three, Chris was interviewed by the man behind the successful YouTube channel, the Study of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Nick Barksdale.  Here is the audio version.

Mar 29, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 64 - Abrahamic Religion ( Christianity / Islam / Judaism )
00:46:03

1300 BCE - 900 CE - History has seen repeated tensions between the three Abrahamic religions whose history is intertwined and all come from the same original theory of there being one almighty God.  The different interpretations of God's teachings have divided the monotheistic followers into distinct religions and sects of those religions too.

Mar 28, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 63 - Ancient Indian Religion ( Buddhism / Hinduism )
00:51:52

3300 BCE - 570 CE - How did Hinduism and Buddhism emergence and how did each religion cope with the fragmentation or their followers?  Why do we see so little of Buddhism in India despite the continued protection and preservation of the Bodhi Tree there?

Mar 21, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 62 - The Gupta Empire
00:43:40

320 - 570 - Indian lands ruled by Indian people.  The lands of the subcontinent moved forward into their own prosperous Classical Age.  Find out what they did and how this era came and went.

Mar 14, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 61 - The Kushan Empire
00:43:19

30 - 375 - They migrated across the steppe as nomads and then plugged a gap between all of the mightiest empires of the world.  They controlled the interesting new trade route between east and west, but no-one talks about them much by comparison.  That is until this week!

Mar 07, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 60 - PROFILE - Ashoka the Great
00:49:49

304 - 232 BCE - One of history's most profoundly affected emperors who would have to turn to religion in order to combat his guilt.  Find out how Ashoka affected Buddhism and how Buddhism affected Ashoka.

Feb 28, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 59 - The Maurya Empire
00:47:01

600 - 185 BCE - It's time to bring our story of the Indian subcontinent up to date with particular focus of Chandragupta Maurya, Chanakya and Ashoka the Great, and the emergence of the early Vedic religions.

Feb 21, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 58 - BATTLE - The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains ( 451 )
00:51:52

451 - In an era of kings and commanders, all of central Europe picked their side and clashed on the Catalaunian plains.  The battle was so brutal that it never ended.

Feb 14, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 57 - The Huns ( Attila )
00:43:07

370 - 469 - Attila the Hun was a very real threat to both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires.  How could a simple leader of the barbarian confederation cause so much terror to the most dominant players in Europe?

Feb 07, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 56 - The Scythians
00:46:32

1000 - 100 BCE - Who's in for a round of drug-fueled blood drinking, alongside cutting chunks out of your own ears and fastening as many human scalps as possible onto your horse's bridle to see who the greatest warrior of the Steppe is?

Jan 31, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 55 - Migration Period of Europe
00:47:29

300 - 570 - In an episode that could turn out to be worse than a sports programme reporting on a draft or a transfer window, we find out who was going where and at what price during the middle of the first millennium in Europe.

Jan 24, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 54 - BATTLE - The Battle of Adrianople ( 378 ) ( Goths )
00:42:40

378 - A vital crossroads in the timeline of the Roman Empire comes when thousands of Germans come flooding across the Roman border looking for refuge and Romans look to exploit the situation.  Many interesting factors will contribute to the outcome which will leave scars in the minds of everyone involved.

Jan 17, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 53 - The Celts
00:48:41

450 BCE - 60 CE - The original barbarians to the Romans, with their appetite for war and their mysterious past.  There are bound to be a thing or two that you never knew about these peoples whose legacy is just as strong as the Romans.

Jan 10, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 52 - SUMMARY - Ancient Rome, Part Two
00:43:47

41 - 476 - The story of the Principate and the Dominate which includes the struggles of the Jews and the rise of Christianity as well as the pressures from the barbarians and the factors that led to the ultimate split of the Empire and the fall of the West.

Jan 03, 2021
Vol 3 Ep 51 - SUMMARY - Ancient Rome, Part One
00:53:12

753 BCE - 14 CE - From the foundation of Rome by King Romulus to the beginning of the Empire with Emperor Augustus and everything in between.

Dec 27, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 50 - The Fall of the Western Roman Empire
00:54:22

337 - 476 - The fall of the western Roman Empire is the story of how barbarian tribes had learned and evolved from the empire on its doorstep, and when the Huns arrived in Europe, how those tribes were forced to pressurise the Romans and the subsequent consequences.

Dec 20, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 49 - BATTLE - The Battle of the Milvian Bridge ( 312 )
00:50:06

312 - Was this the battle that caused Christianity to become the globally mighty religion that we know today, or did the Christian scribes of history use Constantine as a propaganda tool to push the word of Jesus into the consciousness of everybody?

Dec 13, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 48 - Ancient Rome: The Reign of Constantine
00:39:01

305 - 330 - This period begins with the retirement of Diocletian to the opening of the new capital city of Constantinople.  What is Constantine the Great's true legacy to history and was this the end of Classical Rome?

Dec 06, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 47 - Ancient Rome: Crisis and Collapse of the Principate
00:38:10

222 - 304 - The Roman Empire was on the verge of falling apart until some radical thinking by one particular Emperor looked like it could change the direction and save the future of the Empire.

Nov 29, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 46 - Ancient Rome: The Severan Dynasty
00:56:16

193 - 222 - There were Five Good Emperors and then there seemed to be none.  Just how did the quality of the Princeps decline so dramatically and what pressures were responsible for making it happen?

Nov 22, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 45 - Ancient Rome: The Five Good Emperors
00:51:12

98 - 192 - The Pax Romana continues and tells a story of Roman stability through the second century.  Gone are the egotistical megalomaniac emperors from the first century, or are they?

Nov 15, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 44 - EVENT - The Eruption of Mount Vesuvius ( Pompeii )
00:35:31

79 - The Romans could not have ever known the catastrophe that suddenly destroyed all civilisation around the Gulf of Naples in less than 24 hours.

Nov 08, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 43 - Ancient Rome: The Flavian Dynasty
00:45:07

68 - 98 - The Year of the Four Emperors came out of the chaos of the reign of Nero.  Find out how Vespasian managed to steady the Roman ship and whether his two sons would be able to continue his good work in the aftermath.

Nov 01, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 42 - Ancient Rome: The Julio-Claudian Dynasty
00:55:00

14 - 68 - Although we covered the life and reign of Augustus in previous episodes, we can now explore the reigns of emperors 2, 3, 4 and 5 as we find out more about the unpredictability of Rome deciding to go back to a monarchical constitution in order to regulate the powerful Roman Senate.

Oct 25, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 41 - Ancient Rome: From Republic to Empire
00:42:02
509 BCE - 284 CE - A whistle-stop tour of some of the aspects of Rome and how some of them changed over time.
Oct 18, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 40 - PROFILE - Cleopatra
00:54:45

69 - 30 BCE - One of the most famous women of ancient and classical history, but was she the irresistible lady that we might expect?

Oct 11, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 39 - BATTLE - The Battle of Actium ( 31 BCE )
00:44:30

31 BCE - The Second Triumvirate had fallen apart and once again the place of conflict would be Greece.  An incredible naval battle with an unusual ending as Mark Antony and Octavian come to blows about the legacy of Julius Caesar and who would be at the forefront of its promotion.

Oct 04, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 38 - The Beginning of the Roman Empire ( Augustus )
00:48:17

44 BCE - 14 CE - Rome recovers after the death of Julius Caesar, and the constitution of Rome would change for good.  One man emerges from all others to become the most trusted leader of the entire Roman Republic.

Sep 27, 2020
Unscripted (19) ( Trepanning )
00:41:10

We continue our short break from the narative by exploring the grim and sinister act of trepanation which explores the widely practised act of boring a hole in the human skull as we try to understand the reasons behind this high risk procedure.

Sep 20, 2020
Unscripted (18) ( The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World )
00:41:10

An informal look at the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, topped off with the usual updates from the HotWorld forums.

Sep 13, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 37 - PROFILE - Julius Caesar, Part Two
00:53:40
60 - 44 BCE - The continuation of Caesar's story covering the First Triumvirate, The Gallic Wars and Caesar's Civil War.  Rome could never be the same again.
Sep 06, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 36 - PROFILE - Julius Caesar, Part One
00:41:28

100 - 60 BCE - The story of the chaotic Roman world that Caesar was born into, and what it would take for a charismatic and talented young man with connections to climb the political ladder of the Republic.

Aug 30, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 35 - BATTLE - The Battle of Zela ( 47 BCE )
00:43:06

47 BCE - Veni, vidi, vici.  Julius Caesar was short handed when he felt obliged to deal with the Pontic problem.  Discover how Pontus still caused headaches for the Romans, even after the reign and lifetime of the great Mithridates VI.

Aug 23, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 34 - BATTLE - The Battle of Alesia ( 52 BCE )
00:48:03

52 BCE - The Battle of Alesia is the story of a siege under siege.  We meet Julius Caesar, who had the Gallic confederation in a precarious spot.  The Gallic leader, Vercingetorix, was entrusted to defend Alesia.  This battle was historically signifant as this was a pivotal part of the wider Gallic Wars between Rome and Gaul.

Aug 16, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 33 - BATTLE - The Battle of Carrhae ( 53 BCE )
00:47:02

53 BCE - The first major encounter between the Romans and the Parthians involved the mighty Roman army taking on an extremely unusual army.  It was an army with absolutely no infantry.  Find out what Crassus would do to deal with this unique threat.

Aug 09, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 32 - BATTLE - The Battle of Mount Vesuvius ( 73 BCE ) ( Spartacus )
00:47:45

73 BCE - The story of the first acts of rebellion by the group of slaves involving Spartacus.  It would be one thing for a few dozen gladiators escaping captivity, but how did this become a problem of national significance?

Aug 02, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 31 - Ancient Rome: The Late Roman Republic ( The First Triumvirate )
00:52:27

146 - 44 BCE - The story of the Optimates and the Populares and the characters who witnessed Rome's gradual decline from its being the most powerful entity in the world to a republic fragmented by civil strife, and introducing the incredible life of Julius Caesar.

Jul 26, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 30 - BATTLE - The Battle of Zama ( 202 BCE )
00:46:27

202 BCE - This world isn't big enough for both of us.  Carthage under Hannibal takes on Rome under Scipio.

Jul 19, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 29 - BATTLE - The Battle of Cannae ( 216 BCE )
00:50:29

216 BCE - If crossing the Alps with 37 elephants wasn't enough to impress you, then what Hannibal achieved at Cannae just a couple of years later defies belief on the deadliest day in the history of Europe before this battle.

Jul 12, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 28 - Ancient Rome: The Punic Wars, Part Two
00:52:36

221 - 146 BCE - The incredible story of how Hannibal crossed the Alps with tens of thousands of men and a number of war elephants and penetrated the lands of the Romans in such a way that Rome's very existence was under threat.  Who won the war and what was the ultimate consequence?

Jul 05, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 27 - Ancient Rome: The Punic Wars, Part One
00:39:58

264 - 219 BCE - After King Pyrrhus of Epirus left modern Italian lands, much tension existed between the societies and the eventual escalation led to the First Punic War centred in and around the island of Sicily.  See what happens to the economies of two mighty powerhouses when each of them refuses to back down.

Jun 28, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 26 - Ancient Rome: The Early Roman Republic
00:46:08

509 - 272 BCE - With the monarchy abolished, Rome would still continue to have political and social issues as the Conflict of the Orders brought tensions between the patricians and the plebeians and threatened to halt Roman expansion before it even began.

Jun 21, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 25 - Ancient Rome: The Roman Kingdom
00:41:08

753 - 509 BCE - The story of Romulus and Remus and the Seven Kings of Rome, but just how much of it was actually true and how much was pure mythology?

Jun 14, 2020
SPECIAL - The House of Vasa
00:58:10
1523 - 1668 - The House of Vasa was predominantly the royal house of Sweden, but also of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.  Its greatest member was Gustavus Adolphus the Great.
May 31, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 24 - SUMMARY - Ancient Greece, Part Two
00:51:41
336 - 30 BCE - A deeper look at the chronology of the Hellenistic world with special attention to some of the academic advances.
May 24, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 23 - SUMMARY - Ancient Greece, Part One
00:41:28
1200 - 336 BCE - From the fall of the Mycenaeans, to the rise of Alexander the Great, and everything else in between.
May 17, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 22 - Ancient Greece: Hellenistic Period
00:42:44
323 - 30 BCE - The sudden imperial expansion of Alexander the Great's Macedonian kingdom had a profound effect on the vast area's diverse cultures.  This episode explores that effect.
May 10, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 21 - Ancient Greece: The Diadochi
00:51:29
323 - 281 BCE - Meet Philip III and Alexander IV, Antipater, Craterus, Antigonus, Demetrius, Cassander, Eumenes, Seleucus, Polyperchon, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Peithon among others.
May 03, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 20 - BATTLE - The Battle of Gaugamela ( 331 BCE )
00:53:11
331 BCE - The inevitable showdown between Alexander the Great and Darius III took place at Gaugamela, in a battle which would change the world as everyone know it forever.
Apr 26, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 19 - BATTLE - The Battle of Issus ( 333 BCE )
00:42:54
333 BCE - Alexander the Great had ventured deeper into Persian territory than any other invader.  So Darius decided to make a surprise move to cut him off from his supply lines entrapping him in a narrow mountain pass.
Apr 19, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 18 - PROFILE - Alexander the Great
00:42:42
356 - 323 BCE - In our second profile episode, we look at a man who is arguably the greatest military leader ever, the Macedonian king, Alexander the Great.
Apr 12, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 17 - Ancient Greece: The Rise of Macedon
00:41:49
362 - 335 BCE - With the southern Balkan poleis exhausted through continued warfare, one leader in the north was holding all the cards.  This is the story of Philip II of Macedon's achievements.
Apr 05, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 16 - Ancient Greece: Classical Greek Culture
00:45:53
510 - 323 BCE - Greek Gods, Olympic Games, Oracle of Delphi, architecture, pottery, Great Dionysia, historians, science, mathematics, philosophy and education all rolled up into one complete episode.
Mar 29, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 15 - BATTLE - The Battle of Leuctra ( 371 BCE )
00:42:48
With Athens a shadow of its former self, the road to glory was left open to the Spartans, but an old adversary called Thebes would have something to say about it.
Mar 22, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 14 - Ancient Greece: Peloponnesian War, Part Two
00:46:12
447 - 404 BCE - The conflict reaches a defining climax as natural events and individual decisions involve much of the Greek speaking world.  Will it be Athens or Sparta who prevails?
Mar 15, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 13 - Ancient Greece: Peloponnesian War, Part One
00:43:44
479 - 447 BCE - The Persians had been expelled from the Balkan peninsula. Fate deals its hand to the Greek lands as the region heads towards further conflict.
Mar 08, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 12 - Second Persian Invasion of Greece, Part Two
00:45:08
480 - 479 BCE - The Achaemenid Persians were now able to march on Athens.  Would the Athenians stay and fight, or abandon their city?  Would the Spartans assist the Athenians, or would either polis put itself in front of their alliance now that the pressure was so high?
Mar 01, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 11 - Second Persian Invasion of Greece, Part One
00:48:48
480 BCE - Following defeat at Marathon, the Persians were back.  Had the Greeks done enough to prepare for the return and would the interminably militant force of Sparta make the difference?
Feb 23, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 10 - BATTLE - The Battle of Marathon ( 490 BCE )
00:50:47
490 BCE - The Achaemenid Persians had been succesfully expanding their influence across the known world, but when the Athenians supported a revolt of Greek people within the Persian Empire, the Achaemenids sought revenge.
Feb 16, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 9 - Ancient Greece: Greek Colonisation
00:44:22
750 - 550 BCE - For a couple of centuries, the people of the Greek poleis all jumped into their boats and scattered in all directions.  Where were they going?  What were they doing?  Why were they doing it?
Feb 09, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 8 - Ancient Greece: Ancient Athens, Part Two
00:47:40
565 - 493 BCE - The Peisistratid tyranny came under pressure as Athens demanded democracy so vehemently that even the mighty Spartans could not impose their authority over the Athenians.
Feb 02, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 7 - Ancient Greece: Ancient Athens, Part One
00:38:19
800 - 565 BCE - We walk through the journey of the Greek capital during the Archaic period and discover what this independent city did to avoid tyranny before succumbing to it.
Jan 26, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 6 - Ancient Greece: Dark Age and Archaic Greece
00:42:04
1200 - 600 BCE - Exactly what did happen in Greece after the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the disappearance of the Mycenaean culture, and what are poleis?
Jan 19, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 5 - Ancient Persia: Iranian Religion in Antiquity ( Zoroastrianism )
00:41:25
609 BCE - 651 CE - What is Zoroastrianism and how did it originate?  Which belief systems did it influence and which belief systems existed alongside it in Iranian lands?  How did the Persian elite view and use Zoroastrianism in their respective empires?
Jan 12, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 4 - Ancient Persia: The Sasanian Empire
00:45:54
226 - 651 CE - The rise of the Persians who would rule their own traditional lands once again, and the journey through the centuries which would lead them to the ultimate climax against the Romans at Constantinople.
Jan 05, 2020
Vol 3 Ep 3 - Ancient Persia: The Parthian Empire ( & Seleucids )
00:42:25
329 BCE - 224 CE - Plotting the progress of the Persian Empire after its fall to Alexander the Great, and leading into the incredible and inevitable conflicts with the Romans.
Dec 29, 2019
Vol 3 Ep 2 - Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid Empire, Part Two
00:46:09
522 - 329 BCE - A closer look at the dramatic stories of the empire under the rule of Darius the Great, Xerxes I and Darius III.
Dec 22, 2019
Vol 3 Ep 1 - Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid Empire, Part One
00:42:29
609 - 522 BCE - This episode will bridge the gap between the fall of the Assyrian Empire and the rise of the Achaemenid Empire including the life of Cyrus the Great.
Dec 15, 2019
Unscripted (17) ( The Iron Age )
00:22:22
With this being the last unofficial episode before next week's launch of Volume 3, we take a closer look at the period between the Bronze Age and the Classical Age.
Dec 09, 2019
Unscripted (16)
00:17:15
A look forward to the subject matter for Volume 3, plus an announcement regarding when the first episode will come out.
Dec 01, 2019
Unscripted (15) ( The First Day Ever )
00:19:15
On what date, in which year was the first day ever?
Nov 24, 2019
Unscripted (14) ( Kassites )
00:23:01
The most successful dynasty of Babylon, in terms of longevity, is not talked about enough, until now.
Nov 17, 2019
Unscripted (13)
00:18:13
A light hearted look at the History of the World podcast's history on YouTube.
Nov 10, 2019
Unscripted (12) ( Thutmose III )
00:26:19
How does this great 15th century BCE pharaoh of Egypt stack up to the featured pharaoh of volume two of the podcast, Ramesses II?
Nov 03, 2019
Unscripted (11) ( Mitanni )
00:21:48
More to fill those empty weeks between volumes with a brief reminder about who the Mitanni's were and what they did.
Oct 27, 2019
Unscripted (10) ( Homo luzonensis )
00:24:56
A new species of hominin was named in 2019 called Homo luzonensis.  What is it, and where does it fit into our story of human evolution?
Oct 20, 2019
Unscripted (9)
00:14:43
A short and sweet debrief following the conclusion of volume two, and a look ahead at what is coming soon.
Oct 13, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 37 - SUMMARY - The Ancient World, Part Two
00:53:15
1750 - 700 BCE - Continuing the journey through the Bronze Age, crossing over the Late Bronze Age Collapse and into the Iron Age, to a time where history meets the origin of modern religion.
Oct 06, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 36 - SUMMARY - The Ancient World, Part One
00:42:15
3000 - 1750 BCE - The rise of powerful kingdoms and civilisations in Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley, bronzeworking in Europe and China and long distance trade and construction in the Americas.
Sep 29, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 35 - Ancient medicine
00:40:19
10000 - 700 BCE - The Neolithic Revolution was a huge leap forward for humankind, but it came at a price in regard to our health.  How did we interpret these new ailments and diseases and how did we combat them?
Sep 22, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 34 - Ancient weaponry
00:41:47
2500000 - 700 BCE - Why did we start killing each other and how come we were so good at it?
Sep 15, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 33 - Archaic Americas
00:40:50
7000 - 700 BCE - Starting in Mesoamerica, we head south to explore the rainforests, highlands and savannah of South America, before heading to the Arctic tundra and heading south again to the grasslands and woodlands of the modern United States.
Sep 08, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 32 - Chavín culture
00:40:47
3500 - 200 BCE - In the mysterious Peruvian highlands, people were gathering from far and wide to take a psychedelic journey into a dark labyrinth to meet the ferocious looking jaguar deity of the Chavin.
Sep 01, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 31 - The Olmecs
00:36:05
1600 - 400 BCE - Just what was the Olmec fascination with rubber balls all about?  Did the Olmecs copy the Egyptians by constructing the first Mesoamerican pyramid?
Aug 25, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 30 - Ancient China: Shang dynasty
00:47:19
1750 - 1046 BCE - Plotting the rise and fall of the Shang dynasty where archaeology meets traditional stories.  An incredible bronze age with innovative techniques and the comparison of cultural advances with the rest of the world.
Aug 18, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 29 - Neolithic cultures of China
00:42:50
7000 - 1750 BCE - What happened before the Shang dynasty?  We have the traditional stories to go by, but does it stack up against the archaeological evidence?
Aug 11, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 28a - The Yamnaya Culture
00:36:33

3400 - 2600 BCE - The Yamnaya Culture was a successful part of the wider Kurgan culture of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe. This Bronze Age culture influenced its neighbours and may have brought Bronze Age culture and modern European language to the European continent, as well as influencing the futures of Persia and India. (True first publish date - 1st May 2013)

Aug 04, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 28 - Indo-European languages
00:37:28
7000 BCE onwards - Proto-Indo-Europeans are believed to have spoken a language ancestral to over four hundred languages of the modern world.  Why do we believe this when there is no firm evidence of a Proto-Indo-European language though?
Aug 04, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 27 - Mohenjo-daro
00:38:09
2500 - 1600 BCE - The city of Mohenjo-daro has some surprisingly modern civil aspects. This episode explores the discoveries and suggest what they can tell us about the people who lived there.
Jul 28, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 26 - Indus Valley Civilisation ( Harappans )
00:42:17
3300 - 1600 BCE - A mysterious, but peaceful and successful trading civilisation.  Their undeciphered script cannot hide some amazing and unique aspects.
Jul 21, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 25 - The Trojan War ( Troy )
00:45:28
1190 BCE? - The Trojan War is a mythological story about a city called Troy which was attacked after a large wooden horse was pulled into the city secretly containing Greek warriors.  Is there any chance that it could be based on truth?
Jul 14, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 24 - Mycenaean Greece
00:50:34
1600 - 1070 BCE - Mythology and archaeology are the ingredients of a good ancient period story and the Mycenaeans are no exception.  The rise and fall of the first civilised mainland Greeks.
Jul 07, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 23 - The Minoan civilisation
00:44:58
2000 - 1450 BCE - Our first European civilisation takes us to the island of Crete in the Mediterranean where we learn of bare breasted ladies, bull-leaping, huge palaces and the ferocious Minotaur in the labrynth.
Jun 30, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 22 - The History of Writing, Part Two
00:38:56
1200 BCE - 900 CE - Alphabets emerged from early writing systems and were so practical that they evolved and supplanted many of the systems in place around the world.  Find out how.
Jun 23, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 21 - The History of Writing, Part One
00:45:40
3300 - 1200 BCE - What is writing and why did people start doing it?  We analyse the earliest known writing systems and read between the lines.
Jun 16, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 20 - SUMMARY - Ancient Egypt
00:52:53
3150 - 30 BCE - A rapid, rollercoaster ride through three thousand years of drama, dynasties, deities, disputes and development.  Who can resist?
Jun 09, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 19 - Ancient Egypt: Third Intermediate and Late Period
00:45:19
1213 - 525 BCE - Just what caused the New Kingdom to collapse and what did Egypt become in the one thousand years between this and Cleopatra?
Jun 02, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 18 - Ancient Egypt: Religion
00:46:02
3100 - 30 BCE - The complex pantheon of Egyptian deities and their links to everyday life and other cultures are explored.
May 26, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 17 - BATTLE - The Battle of Kadesh ( 1274 BCE )
00:51:32
1274 BCE - The Hittites have control of the city of Kadesh, but the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II wants it back.  Find out what happens when Ramesses takes 20,000 men and 2000 chariots into the lands of modern Syria to conquer the city.
May 19, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 16 - PROFILE - Ramesses II
00:52:36
1303 - 1213 BCE - This is first of our special profile episodes which focus on an historical individual.  This time we are looking at Ramesses II, otherwise known as Ramesses the Great, Pharaoh of the New Kingdom of Egypt.
May 12, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 15 - Ancient Egypt: The New Kingdom
00:42:40
1620 - 1324 BCE - More specifically the story of the Eighteenth Dynasty, a golden age in Egyptian history.  However, keeping it in the family may not have necessarily been beneficial to the Royal Family.
May 05, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 14 - Ancient Egypt: The Pyramids
00:49:50
2600 - 1525 BCE - An attempt to decipher the mystery of the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, The Great Pyramid of Giza, as well as all the other pyramids, the people who built them and their motives and methods.
Apr 28, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 13 - Ancient Egypt: The Middle Kingdom
00:52:59
2040 - 1640 BCE - A new kingdom emerges in the Egyptian lands, but things are slightly different this time, with the Pharaohs needing to build their reputation by displaying those strong leadership qualities that are needed to keep the Egyptian society bonded together.
Apr 21, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 12 - Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom
00:43:25
3150 - 2134 BCE - From the unification of the Egyptian kingdom through its journey through great prosperity and a golden age of pyramid building, right through to its subsequent fall towards the end of the third millennium BCE.
Apr 14, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 11 - SUMMARY - The Ancient Near East
00:42:27
3000 - 700 BCE - We walk together through the entire journey of Mesopotamia, eastern Anatolia and the Levant during the two thousand year plus ancient era of the Near East.
Apr 07, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 10 - The Religion of Canaan and Phoenicia
00:49:48
1200 - 516 BCE - Digging deeper into the spiritual side of the geographical area which gave birth to Judaism and how polytheism turned into monotheism.  We try to uncover the true identity of God.
Mar 31, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 9 - The Phoenicians
00:46:12
1200 - 264 BCE - The expert Mediterranean traders that the Greeks called the Phoenicians, who established the important colony of Carthage, the principal centre of Phoenician politics.
Mar 24, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 8 - BATTLE - The Siege of Lachish ( 701 BCE )
00:48:23
701 BCE - Assyria under the rule of Sennacherib needed to subjugate the Kingdom of Judah under the rule of Hezekiah.  Sennacherib wanted the Judean capital city of Jerusalem, but first he would need to take the city of Lachish.
Mar 17, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 7 - The Assyrian Empire
00:51:21
2000 - 610 BCE - The incredible story of an empire that survived the Late Bronze Age Collapse and then dominated the Near East like no other before, with iron age technology and an aggressive foreign policy.
Mar 10, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 6 - The Late Bronze Age Collapse
00:46:55
1200 - 1050 BCE - All of the societies of the Near East either weakened considerably or disappeared altogether.  What could have possibly happened to cause this dramatic turn of events?
Mar 03, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 5 - The Hittites
00:38:39
1700 - 1200 BCE - The first Indo-Europeans documented arrived in Anatolia and completely changed the face of the Near East, even going toe to toe with the mighty Egyptians, as well as the revived Assyrians.
Feb 24, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 4 - First Babylonian Dynasty ( Hammurabi )
00:39:52
1900 - 1595 BCE - Semitic speakers from the west had established their own kingdoms throughout Mesopotamia.  The Babylonians became the most powerful of the first half of the second millennium BCE especially under the lawmaker king, Hammurabi.
Feb 17, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 3 - Ur
00:52:15
3000 - 2000 BCE - The fascinating rise and fall of this iconic Sumerian city-state and a look at the incredible work of Sir Leonard Woolley.
Feb 10, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 2 - The Akkadian Empire ( Sargon of Akkad )
00:43:37
2300 - 2083 BCE - Sargon the Great conquered Sumer and extended what some refer to as the first Empire.  This is the story of the earliest known civilised Semitic speakers.
Feb 03, 2019
Vol 2 Ep 1 - Early Dynastic Mesopotamia ( Sumerians )
00:46:53
3000 - 2340 BCE - The first known civilisation of Mesopotamia.  Separating fact from myth within the first cuneiform writings, and the Sumerian conquest and decline.
Jan 27, 2019
Unscripted (8) ( Lascaux )
00:16:27
We take a brief look at the unignorable prehistoric cave art of Lascaux and why it could have been created.
Jan 20, 2019
Unscripted (7) ( Göbekli Tepe )
00:24:06
We take a brief but closer look at some of the diverse theories relating to the construction and meaning of Göbekli Tepe.
Jan 13, 2019
Unscripted (6)
00:17:42
History of the World podcast welcomes in the New Year with some of your valued messages, an update on the performance of the podcast, and most importantly of all, an announcement about the start of Volume 2.
Jan 06, 2019
Unscripted (5) - Review of 2018
00:17:07
Put on your tuxedo or your evening gown for the prestigious 2018 History of the World podcast awards ceremony.
Dec 30, 2018
Unscripted (4) ( Piltdown Man )
00:18:50
We discuss the incredible story of Piltdown Man as well as provide updates relating to the state of the podcast.
Dec 23, 2018
Unscripted (3)
00:16:51
A brief look forward to the next volume of podcasts focusing on the Ancient World.
Dec 16, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 24 - SUMMARY - Civilisation
00:37:17
A summary of the Neolithic period of human history covering the period between 10,000 BCE and 3000 BCE.  An attempt to collate all that we have learned from Episodes 15 through to 23.
Dec 10, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 23 - Neolithic Egypt
00:37:55
A vital look at how the drying out of the Sahara desert forced populations to congregate and adapt along the Nile's banks forcing powerful leaders to take the future of Egypt into their own hands.
Dec 02, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 22 - Neolithic Mesopotamia ( Uruk )
00:37:24
We explore how all of the Neolithic advances and environmental changes affected the prehistoric peoples and cultures of Mesopotamia previous to the ancient dynastic Sumerian period.
Nov 25, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 21 - The origin of towns ( Eridu )
00:36:19
We explore two very fundamental changes to village life in and around the rivers of the Fertile Crescent. Irrigation and the emergence of a class based society.
Nov 18, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 20 - Megaliths, Part Two ( Stonehenge )
00:38:12
This week's podcast centres around Stonehenge, but in order to try to understand this most famous of megaliths, we discuss the Neolithic wonders of the Orkney Islands and the Carnac Stones of Brittany.
Nov 11, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 19 - Megaliths, Part One ( Göbekli Tepe )
00:45:36
Göbekli Tepe in the Fertile Crescent appears to have marked the start of a megalithic period which ultimately spread across Europe.  Clouded in mystery, we endeavour to uncover the facts.
Nov 04, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 18 - The origin of metallurgy
00:45:44
Humans of the Fertile Crescent appear to have started mastering the ability to use metals during the Neolithic period.  We meet Ötzi, who was one of the first coppersmiths of Europe.
Oct 28, 2018
Unscripted (2)
00:19:00
A look at some of the correspondence and other podcasts that have inspired the History of the World podcast.
Oct 21, 2018
Unscripted (1)
00:17:10
A brief look at the history and the future of the History of the World podcast.
Oct 14, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 17 - The origin of villages ( Çatalhöyük / Jericho )
00:43:03
We talk about the emergence of sedentary lifestyles of the Mesolithic and early Neolithic with the interesting story of Tell Abu Hureyra, before tackling the hugely famous sites of Çatalhöyük and Jericho.
Oct 07, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 16 - The spread of agriculture
00:38:27
The big question to be answered, did farming spread or emerge?  We travel to Europe, the Indus Valley, the Far East and the Americas to find the answer.
Sep 30, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 15 - The origin of agriculture
00:41:21
We try to unravel the mystery of the human transition from the success of nomadic hunter-gathering, to the laborious risks of sedentary agriculture and farming.
Sep 23, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 14 - SUMMARY - The Paleolithic Age
00:44:39
We look at at the previous 13 episodes and explore some of the aspects as yet undiscussed including the changing cultures of Old Europe.
Sep 16, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 13 - Paleolithic art and ritual
00:40:08
Red ochre, shark teeth, ostrich eggs, lion men, hand stencils, cannibalism, friendly wolves, ritual burials, animal masks and big buttocks.
Sep 09, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 12 - Hunter-gatherers
00:39:03
A look back at our changing diet and the ways and means in which we had to evolve ourselves and our technologies to succeed in the ever changing and differing environments of the world.
Sep 02, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 11 - The spread of Homo sapiens, Part Two
00:37:40
Modern humans expand to Japan, America and Europe, but what happened when they met the neanderthals for the final time?
Aug 26, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 10 - The spread of Homo sapiens, Part One
00:39:05
This podcast is heading for Australia, stopping at Israel, Denisova, Flores and Wallacea.  Please remember to pick up all of your belongings.
Aug 19, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 9 - The origin of Homo sapiens
00:42:22
Social media indicates that we love talking about ourselves, so let's do it.  Let's talk about ourselves, the modern human, and how it all started from 300,000 years ago in Africa.
Aug 12, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 8 - The ice ages
00:40:02
Find out about the geological science behind glaciation studies, the effect that ice ages have had on our ancestors and the story of Napi being chased across Canada by a sixteen thousand tonne quartzite rock.
Aug 05, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 7 - The neanderthals
00:35:35
The highly anticipated neanderthals, our rugged cousin who appeared to be quite brutish but was surprisingly intelligent.  Quite possibly someone who would be up for going to a pub quiz with you.
Jul 29, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 6 - Prehistoric speech and language
00:29:41
How is it that we can talk?  Why are we the only animal that can successfully produce audio podcasts that can be listened to and understood?  And who wants to get to know Washoe the chimpanzee?
Jul 22, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 5 - Lower paleolithic stone tools ( Olduvai Gorge )
00:31:53
Let us put some flesh on the bones of our prehistoric hominin story, and discover what our ancestors created to get carved flesh from the bones of animals. We investigate the technological advances from over three million years ago up to the last million years.
Jul 15, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 4 - Homo erectus
00:33:59
Homo erectus, as the name would suggest, is the first fully upright human and it was definitely a migratory species.  Find out more about the journeys and advancements of human evolution in this episode.
Jul 08, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 3 - Homo habilis
00:31:18
Homo habilis is thought to be the first species of human to have lived.  Find out who he was and who else lived around him.
Jul 02, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 2 - The australopithecines ( Lucy )
00:36:04
They were alive from around 5 million to 2 million years ago, slowly evolving in East Africa and trying to become human.
Jun 26, 2018
Vol 1 Ep 1 - Introduction to the Prehistoric World
00:36:28
This episode introduces the podcast and begins our journey from 66 million years ago through to the first ancestors of modern humans around 6 million years ago.
Jun 24, 2018