15. Walls and Borders

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  No, Tom isn't turning Brixton's River Effra green, nor is Dominic distributing shamrocks throughout the Oxfordshire countryside, but they're here anyway with a very special ...

17 Mar 202258min

What links the Mexican Republic, Palmerston, the Hapsburgs, Napoleon III and butterfly catching? Please tweet us if you can think of anything other than the following answer, which is the incredible s...

14 Mar 20221h 8min

[Episode 4 of 4] 'In the noughties, Russian democracy becomes a form of show business' In the final instalment of our Russia mini-series, Tom and Dominic reach the climax of Putin’s rise to power, c...

10 Mar 202235min

[Episode 3 of 4] 'You certainly won't understand what ordinary Russians see in Vladimir Putin if you don't understand what happened in the 1990s. A time of utter, utter collapse.'  In part three of ...

9 Mar 202237min

[Episode 2 of 4] This episode of The Rest Is History marks the second instalment in our four part series on the Soviet Union, Russia and the rise of Vladimir Putin. From the 70th anniversary of the ...

8 Mar 202232min

[Episode 1 of 4] Welcome to our new four part series on the latter years of the Soviet Union, its fall, Putin's early life and his subsequent rise to power. Today's episode focuses on Brezhnev, Puti...

7 Mar 202235min

How much do you know about the lethal price people have paid over the centuries to look fashionable? In today's episode Tom and Dominic are joined by Dr. Alison Matthews David to discuss the dark sec...

3 Mar 202256min

What happened to the Roman Empire after its fall? In the second of two episodes, Tom and Dominic discuss where Rome endured, how its ghost still haunts 21st century geopolitics, and which member of t...

1 Mar 202248min