History of the World podcast

907 - 1279 - The story of the Song Dynasty takes us from the fall of the Tang Dynasty through to the conquest of China by the Mongols. We will take a closer look at the imperial examination process, i...

15 Jan 202442min

HUMAN ANCESTORS (2) - We pick up from our last magazine episode and track the story of human ancestry from the emergence of the neanderthals and the first Homo sapiens, through to the events that left...

8 Jan 202453min

581 - 608 - Originating from the unifying Sui Dyansty, the Tang China brought back the glory of an affluent and united Chinese nation for the first time since the days of the Han Dynasty. Overexpansio...

1 Jan 202444min

A discussion on the source material used for the Tang Dynasty episode, plus a brief look at what's ahead in 2024, plus some information about the challenges of writing chronological medieval history a...

1 Jan 202418min

HUMAN ANCESTORS (1) - In this episode we will be going right back to the very beginning, looking into the first upright walkers, then the australopithecines, homo habilis, homo erectus, hand tool cons...

25 Dec 202331min

668 - 1392 - The period following the Three Kingdoms period was a time for Korea to be unified on and off, but still there were many outside influences trying to conquer the resource rich peninsula. T...

18 Dec 202336min

UNLIKELY VICTORIES (2) - In this edition of the magazine we look back at some of history's victories in battle against the odds. Clontarf (1014), Legnano (1176), Rio Salado (1340) and Agincourt (1415)...

11 Dec 202343min

8000 BCE - 668 CE - Before Korea was unified by the Kingdom of Silla in the seventh century, a number of polities vied for position both in and north of the Korean peninsula, overseen closely by the s...

4 Dec 202343min