Artwork for In Our Time: History

In Our Time: History

BBC Radio 4

Historical themes, events and key individuals from Akhenaten to Xenophon.

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20 episodes
Updated June 25

Episodes20

June 25 · 52 min
The Welsh Marches
How the Norman invasion of Britain created semi-independent warlord territories in Wales.
June 18 · 55 min
The Levellers
The political movement during the English Civil War committed to a new idea of equality.
June 11 · 57 min
The Garamantes
The ancient civilisation which thrived in the Sahara Desert over 2,000 years ago.
April 30 · 55 min
The Spanish-American War 1898
How a war that began in Cuba saw the US acquire the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico.
April 2 · 54 min
Margaret Beaufort
How one woman helped her son survive the Wars of the Roses to become the first Tudor king.
March 26 · 52 min
The Columbian Exchange
The impact of the spread of animals, crops and diseases between continents after 1492.
March 12 · 49 min
The Code of Hammurabi
The impact of the wide-ranging laws of Hammurabi, King of Babylon from 4,000 years ago.
February 26 · 50 min
The Roman Arena
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the origins and harsh realities of the gladiator life.
Jun 19, 2025 · 52 min
Paul von Hindenburg
How the cult of personality around this German WWI figurehead helped usher in Hitler.
May 29, 2025 · 47 min
The Korean Empire
How Korea embraced modernisation at the end of the 19th Century in a bid for independence.
May 8, 2025 · 51 min
The Battle of Clontarf
Brian Boru's celebrated defeat of Hiberno-Norse forces and allies outside Dublin in 1014.
May 1, 2025 · 49 min
The Gracchi
Why two brothers became linked to the fall of the Roman Republic and rise of the emperors.
Apr 10, 2025 · 50 min
Cyrus the Great
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.
Mar 13, 2025 · 52 min
Catherine of Aragon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman so important that two Tudor royals married her.
Feb 13, 2025 · 47 min
The Battle of Valmy
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the day in 1792 when the French Revolution risked defeat.
Jan 16, 2025 · 56 min
Plutarch's Parallel Lives
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential Greek biographer and his main work
Dec 26, 2024 · 50 min
The Hanoverian Succession
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the politics that led to the coronation of George I.
Dec 12, 2024 · 50 min
The Antikythera Mechanism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mysterious ancient Greek astronomical computer.
Nov 28, 2024 · 51 min
The Venetian Empire
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise and eventual decline of the Venetian Empire.
Oct 31, 2024 · 51 min
The Haymarket Affair
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1886 bombing in Chicago amid violent labour conflict.