Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped th...

We're all taught in school about the Louisiana Purchase, supposedly the greatest bargain in American history. Napoleon's deal with the Americans is widely remembered as a triumph for the United States… but is this history really as simple as we’re often taught?Our guest today is ...  Show more

When and where did the Civil War end? Was it really over when Lee surrendered at Appomattox?Don is joined for this episode by Caroline E. Janney, Professor at the University of Virginia and author of 'Ends of War: The Unfinished Fight of Lee’s Army after Appomattox'.Listen to hea ...  Show more

The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have ended without it? Was there an ulterior motive? Would the Americans have dropped a third if they had it?

At the end ...

The decision by the United States to drop atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 remains one of the most controversial moments in modern history. Did the atomic bombs force Japan's surrender in the Second World War? Or is this far too simple a narrati ...  Show more

When the atom bomb was dropped in 1945, how did its inventor, J Robert Oppenheimer, feel? To mark the release of Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster Oppenheimer, biographer Kai Bird joins Elinor Evans to discuss the man behind the creation of nuclear weaponry, and the difficult m ...  Show more

Why was the second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki? How did Japanese mutineers in government try to keep the war going? When did the Emperor Hirohito admit defeat? Join James Holland and Al Murray for Part 3 as they explore the monumental decisions that led to the world's first a ...  Show more