38. Sykes-Picot: Carving up the Middle-East

How did Algiers become a centre for revolutionaries from around the world in the 1960s? What happened to the “pied noirs” white settlers after Algeria gained independence? Who was Frantz Fanon, and why did he end up in Algeria where he was inspired to write Wretched of The Earth? ...  Show more

How did the French use systemic torture during the Battle of Algiers? Which army generals plotted to overthrow the French president? Why did the bloody birth of an independent Algeria herald further trouble to come? In the fourth episode of this series, William and Anita explore ...  Show more

How much blame for the current troubles in the Middle East lies with the decisions made by the West in 1919 – when the Ottoman Empire was carved up arbitrarily into the modern states we know today? Is it true that Arab society has tended to define itself less by what it aspires t ...  Show more

The First World War put an end to 600 years of Ottoman rule. Buoyed by promises of self-determination on the part of the victorious powers, the region’s peoples prepared for a future free of imperial rule. They were to be bitterly disappointed. European rhetoric about self-rul ...

At the end of World War I, colonial powers carved up the Ottoman Empire and the reverberations are still being felt today. Historian Ted Widmer discusses the circumstances that led to this fateful episode and why Woodrow Wilson wasn't able to extend his principle of "self-determi ...  Show more

This episode brings us to one of the most complicated conflicts raging in the Middle East. Thomas and Aimen both know the country well and walk us through the actors and their motives. They’ll also explain how Syria became such a killing field as a result of the Arab Spring and h ...  Show more