34. The Sick Man of Europe

Who were the Druids and what did they use Stonehenge for? Why did Romans massacre Druids in Anglesey, Wales? What is the Pagan Calendar and how is modern Halloween derived from it? What can we learn from the mysterious ‘bog bodies’? In Episode 1 of this new series, William Dalrym ...  Show more

Are modern AI companies the new empires? What is the hidden human cost behind chatbots like ChatGPT? How does Silicon Valley’s rhetoric echo the East India Company? In this episode, Anita is joined by award-winning tech journalist Karen Hao, author of Empire of AI, to explore the ...  Show more

The Ottoman Empire was already well in decline by 1914 and had earned the moniker "Sick Man of Europe." 

After the Fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans became the most powerful dynasty in existence. But the great empire began to decline, and in the early 20th century, a leader named Talaat and a group of radical nationalists worked to remove the ineffectual sultan and restore the Ot ...  Show more

Eugene Rogan answers listener questions on one of history’s most powerful – and long-lasting – empires   How did the Ottomans dominate swathes of Europe, Asia and Africa for up to seven centuries? How did their sack of Constantinople in 1453 change the course of history? And why ...  Show more

By understanding the dramatic story of the Ottoman Empire - from its early years as a collection of raiders and conquerors to its undeniable power in the 15th and 16th centuries to its catastrophic collapse in the wreckage of the First World War - one can better grasp the current ...  Show more