Episodes

  • Nelson's Pathfinders with Michael Barritt

    Nelson's Pathfinders with Michael Barritt
    Jul 18 2025
    In 1795 the Admiralty established the Royal Navy’s Hydrography office, which became the world leader in charting the waters of the globe, as ships of the line sailed the oceans, pursuing their traditional enemy, the French. Treacherous waters were navigated with a skill that is quite breathtaking, and laid the groundwork, along with Trafalgar, for a century of domination of the waves. Joining today is historian and Royal Navy veteran Michael Barritt, author of Nelson’s Pathfinders, himself a hydrographer, as he explains the growth of the discipline, and how it was used to help the great admirals of the navy including Collingwood and Nelson. Episode Links Nelson's Pathfinders: A Forgotten Story in the Triumph of British Sea Power Michael Barritt on The Battle of Trafalgar Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    47 mins
  • Iran's Grand Strategy with Vali Nasr

    Iran's Grand Strategy with Vali Nasr
    Jul 11 2025
    On 13 June of this year, one month ago, Israeli forces launched aerial and drone attacks on Iran thus beginning what is now called the Twelve Day War or the Iran-Israel War. The coverage here in the West has focussed on whether the bombing has been successful, but is there a strategic goal in place that takes into account Iran’s strategy? Perhaps, but my guest today is Vali Nasr who has written a new book, Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History, which is both timely, and unusual in that it seeks to examine Iran’s Islamic regime from its own point of view, and so not through our Western lens. We discuss the events that have moulded the Iran at loggerheads with Israel and the US today. Vali Nasr Links Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History Vali Nasr - Wikipedia Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    46 mins
  • Summer Reads with The Gang

    Summer Reads with The Gang
    Jul 8 2025
    This week three writers join to talk summer reading recommendations from the world of history and historical fiction. Books The Spy in the Archive Sceptred Isle Rain of Ruin Test Cricket: A History The Pretender Korea The CIA Book Club Lest We Forget 1945 The Reckoning On Democracy & Death Cults Last Days of Budapest The Sorrow & the Loss These Wicked Devices March Violets - Bernie Gunther The Good Soldier Svejk A Good Man in Africa Guests Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Antonia Senior - Historical Fiction Reviewer The Times Roger Moorhouse - Historian Richard Foreman - Author and Publisher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 32 mins
  • Hiroshima with Iain MacGregor

    Hiroshima with Iain MacGregor
    Jul 4 2025
    On 6 August 1945 the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, approached Hiroshima and opened up its bomb doors. Once its payload dropped, the city was engulfed with blinding light and a huge explosion produced a giant mushroom cloud. When the attack was over and after the Enola Gay had returned to its airbase on the North Mariana islands, around 100,000 Japanese residents of Hiroshima were killed, and humanity had entered a new phase of warfare. Joining today is Iain MacGregor, author of The Hiroshima Men as we discuss the people involved and the thinking that led to this moment. Iain MacGregor Links The Hiroshima Men Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    50 mins
  • Horace with Peter Stothard

    Horace with Peter Stothard
    Jun 27 2025
    Horace, born Quintus Horatius Flaccus in 65 BCE in Venusia, was one of ancient Rome’s most celebrated lyric poets. He lived through the turbulent transition from Republic to Empire and became closely associated with Emperor Augustus’s regime. Though he once fought on the losing side at the Battle of Philippi against Caesar, he later gained favour through the patronage of Maecenas, a key advisor to Augustus. Horace is best known for his Odes, Satires, Epistles, and the Ars Poetica—works that blend wit, philosophical reflection, and poetic elegance, and so naturally he is a perfect subject for Peter Stothard, historian and author. Looking for something to do at the end of June? You could do worse than head to the Chalke History Festival. Peter Stothard Links Horace: Poet on a Volcano Chalke Chalke History Festival Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    51 mins
  • Film Club: Apocalypto (2006)

    Film Club: Apocalypto (2006)
    Jun 24 2025
    Latest film club is the Maya epic from Mel Gibson. With a cast of unknowns, it put the civilisation overshadowed by the Aztecs back on the map. Links Ollie on X Tim on X Roger on X Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    56 mins
  • Ancient Greece through Artemisia & Olympias with Daisy Dunn

    Ancient Greece through Artemisia & Olympias with Daisy Dunn
    Jun 20 2025
    Boudicca, Cleopatra, Artemisia and Olympias are just a few if the many women of the ancient world that we know about, but it’s significant that we know about them from male writers. That gives a certain perspective, not necessarily inaccurate, but it can be. Today I’m speaking with a classicist who writes about antiquity having gone direct to the sources and translating them herself, and has written a quite wonderful history of ancient Greece and Rome that is unusual in the discipline for saying something new. My guest is Daisy Dunn, author of The Missing Thread and we talk about some of the key female figures from Greece: Artemisia, a naval commander from the west coast of Asia Minor fighting for the Persians, and Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. We delve into a number of other areas for a most stimulating chat. Looking for something to do at the end of June? You could do worse than head to the Chalke History Festival. Daisy Dunn Links The Missing Thread Chalke Chalke History Festival Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • The Tank with Mark Urban

    The Tank with Mark Urban
    Jun 13 2025
    On 20 November 1917, after a bombardment of the trenches near the town of Cambrai, German troops prepared for an attack by their British opponents. Out of the gloom emerged steel mechanised vehicles. The tank. Within minutes the Germans were overrun and the Mark IV tank had achieved its first stunning victory, a major milestone for this military innovation. Mark Urban joins to discuss his latest book, Tank, which selects 10 and includes iconic beasts such as the Tiger and the T-34. We talk about where tank warfare is heading, in the context of the conflict in Ukraine and the recent Strategic Defence Review, and how tanks have changed in over 100 years. Gordon Corera is speaking to me as part of the Chalke History Festival, which runs from 23rd to 29th June. Aspects of History is sponsoring Gordon’s talk with the novelist Charles Cumming. Mark Urban Links Tank Chalke Chalke History Festival Aspects of History Links Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99 Ollie on X Aspects of History on Instagram Get in touch: history@aspectsofhistory.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    57 mins