249. Victorian Narcos: Doomed Envoy to China ...

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

What really happened during the infamous Battle of Algiers? How did the Algerian War of Independence begin? Who was the radical mastermind who restructured the resistance movement under the noses of the French army? In the third episode of this series, William and Anita discuss t ...  Show more

2/2. The British Empire aggressively pursued the opium trade well into the 19th century, fueling an addiction epidemic within China. The Qing government was determined to stamp out this destructive trade, leading to the First and Second Opium Wars. But the British Royal Navy w ...

Henrietta Harrison discusses her Cundill Prize-shortlisted book on the interpreters who took on the dangerous task of communicating between the British empire and Qing China. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she explores the extraordinary life stories of two key translators, and reve ...  Show more

Broadcaster and historian Michael Wood joins Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook to discuss the world’s oldest civilisation. What were the great moments in Chinese history and why do the Opium Wars still feature so prominently in the modern Chinese school syllabus? The birth of the ...  Show more

In this week's episode, we give an overview of the First Opium War, one of the most humiliating events in Modern Chinese history. From this event that culminated in the first of many unequal treaties in 1842, China began a steady downhill slide and suffered a multitude of setback ...  Show more