Vol 4 Ep 51 - BATTLE - The Battle on the Ice ...

Reflections on Volume 4 and looking forward to Volume 5, including the big announcement about the name of the volume and our usual review of listener messages. 

1200 - 1449 - Step into the fourteenth century, a world caught between collapse and rebirth. As the Mongol Empire fractures, new powers rise across Europe, Asia and Africa. From the birth of the Ming dynasty to the brilliance of Mali and the devastation of the Black Death, this e ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Battle of Lepanto, 1571, the last great sea battle between galleys, in which the Catholic fleet of the Holy League of principally Venice, Spain, the Papal States, Malta, Genoa, and Savoy defeated the Ottoman forces of Selim II. When much of Eur ...  Show more

As soon as news reached the West that Jerusalem had fallen a new Crusade was called. The German, French and English Kings all led armies East but only Frederick Barbarossa went by land. He led a large army across the Balkans towards Constantinople and Isaac Angelos had to decided ...  Show more

In the call to crusade that ignited the idea of holy war in the minds of the western European populace, Pope Urban II painted a picture of evil “infidels” torturing and massacring the Christians of the Holy Land. However, when the armed pilgrims of the First Crusade crossed over ...  Show more

The first Crusade began in 1095, and launched a struggle for control of Jerusalem in a series of arduous battles spanning more than two centuries. Learn more about the origin, escalation and consequences of the Crusades in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.