106. The Rise of Islam

How did Lucknow become the final battleground of the 1857 Uprising? Who was Begum Hazrat Mahal, and how did she hold together a rebellion against overwhelming odds? How did the 1857 Uprising lead to the fall of the East India Company, and the rise of the harsher British Raj? In t ...  Show more

How did the British finally break into Delhi during the 1857 Uprising? Why did a sudden solar eclipse change the fate of the siege overnight? Why is the British victory considered one of Delhi’s greatest tragedies? In Episode 7 of the series, William and Anita discuss the bloody ...  Show more

En apenas unas décadas, el islam medieval forjó uno de los mayores imperios de todos los tiempos, mientras abasíes,omeyas y fatimíes se disputaban la hegemonía y la legitimidad. El año 661 marca el inicio de una edad dorada para el islam con la irrupción en escena del clan Omeya, ...  Show more

A story of great myth and of huge historical significance, the foundation of Baghdad is a fundamental episode in the development of Islam. The Umayyad Caliphate, the first great Islamic empire, stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China; no dynasty had ever preside ...  Show more

For over six hundred years the Ottoman Empire ruled swathes of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Europe. As an Islamic superpower centred on what is now Turkey, theirs is a story of surprising alliances and enemies, trade, war and progress. But who were its leaders? How ...  Show more

Neil Faulkner reveals how the Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870-1920 helped give rise to the first modern jihad   Neil Faulkner, author of Empire and Jihad, describes how Britain’s entanglements in the Middle East and north Africa in the decades leading up to the First World War helped tri ...  Show more