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About This Podcast
I talk to the world's best historians and let them tell the stories. And the stories are wonderful! (And occasionally I change the subject and talk about films, philosophy or whatever!).
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Recent Episodes
S1E105 POWs of the Crimean War
The subject today comes out of the Crimean war (1853-1856).I talked to Professor Donald Rayfield, Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian history at Queen Mary University of London, about the war…
S1E104 The Return of the Emperor (Justinian II - part 2)
Part 1 of the podcast told the sad story of how some shocking misjudgements on the part of Justinian saw him dragged to the Hippodrome where a man with a pair of pliers cut off his nose, cut out his…
S1E103 Mutilated and exiled (the Emperor Justinian II - part 1)
Justinian II becomes emperor at sixteen. Even allowing for the hostility of our sources the reign is not all plain sailing.I'm joined by Professor David Parnell to work through the first half of one…
S1E104 Buckingham: the most hated man in England
You don't have to be young and beautiful to get ahead in Stuart England but it really doesn't hurt. The is the story of 'gorgeous George' - that is to say George Villiers (later Duke of Buckingham)…
S1E103 YEAR ZERO: Jonathan Clements on the First Emperor of China
Jonathan Clements returns to talk about his book on the First Emperor of China and the man who was sent to kill him: facts and fictions in Zhang Yimou’s movie Hero (2002), the evil mirror-universe…
S1E102 The Big Hop of 1919
It is astonishing to me that we went from the first powered flight of a few hundred feet in 1903 to attempting to fly the Atlantic in 1919. The Daily Mail had offered a prize of £10,000 to cross the…
S1E101 Martin Luther, serfdom and the German Peasants’ War
Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at Oxford University is on excellent form to talk me through the German Peasant's War of 1524-25. Things I learned:- take Martin Luther seriously (but not…
S1E100 World War I: The surprising victory of 1918
Today the thing we find mysterious is why WWI lasted as long as it did. Why continue a pointless slaughter. Comparisions with the war in Ukraine suggest an answer!My guess is is Professor David…
S1E99 Ed West on 1066 and all that
Ed West is a journalist and massively popular substacker - do check out his substack The Wrong Side of History. But he has a sideline in history so I got him on the show to talk about 1066 and the…
S1E98 Edward I - a Great and Terrible King
A six-foot-two prince who loved tournaments, outfoxed a revolution, and nearly died on crusade returns to build castles that still dominate the Welsh coast and to bend Scotland to his will until…
S1E97 Empress Wu Zetian and the Age of Female Rule
“With the heart of a serpent and the nature of a wolf, she gathered sycophants to her cause and brought destruction to the just. She slew her sister, butchered her brothers, killed her prince, and…
S1E96 Napoleon III Part 2: The Power of Lust
As promised in part 1 we started the podcast by talking about some of Napoleon III’s many mistresses. Women like Harriet Howard, the Brighton bootmaker’s daughter, Virginia de Castiglione, sent by…
S1E95 Napoleon III Part 1: The Lust for Power
From exiled prince to emperor, Napoleon III's rise to power reads like a political thriller too wild to be true. Edward Shawcross tells the story of Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, a man who attempted…
S1E94 From Eunuchs to Corsairs: The World of Islamic Slavery
Fourteen centuries of enslavement, from the Prophet Muhammad's day to modern Mauritania. Justin Marozzi's fascinating book "Captives and Companions" has as its subject the complex history of slavery…
S1E93 The Tokyo Tribunal: War Crimes, Justice, and Geopolitics
This episode looks at the courtroom drama that helped to shape Asia after World War II with Princeton University's Gary Bass. Far more than a simple account of justice served, the Tokyo War Crimes…
S1E92 The Pilgrimage of Grace: When England Fought the Reformation
When 50,000 northerners marched under their banners in 1536, England witnessed its largest rebellion since the Peasants' Revolt. The Pilgrimage of Grace wasn't just a protest - it threatened to undo…
S1E91 Byzantium and the First Crusade
The ever excellent Professor David Parnell (of Belisarius and Antonina fame) came on to talk about the First Crusade. And given his interest in the Eastern Roman Empire we spent a lot of time talking…
S1E90 Shattered Jewels - Japan's Path to War (3 and final)
What makes a nation launch an attack it cannot hope to win? Admiral Yamamoto, who planned the Pearl Harbor attack, warned Japan's leadership they would have only six months before America would…
S1E89 Manchuria to Pearl Harbor: Japan's Path to War (2)
How did Japan become embroiled in one of history's deadliest conflicts? The answer lies not in December 1941, but decades earlier. Jonathan Clements returns to unravel the forces that propelled Japan…
S1E88 An Alien Game: Japan's Path to War (1)
The transformation of Japan from hermit kingdom to imperial power happened with breathtaking speed. When American Commodore Perry's "black ships" steamed into Tokyo Bay in the 1850s, they shattered…
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Subject to Change has published 107 episodes since September 2018, covering topics in Education, Film Reviews.
Subject to Change is currently highly active with new episodes monthly. Average episode length is 1h 6m.
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