The Taiping Rebellion: everything you wanted ...

King Harold II of England – otherwise known as Harold Godwinson – famously died at the battle of Hastings, with his demise at the hands of Duke William of Normandy ushering in a new Norman era. Speaking to David Musgrove, historian Tom Licence draws on his new biography of the An ...  Show more

What do goddesses of love have in common with goddesses of war? Historian Ronald Hutton argues that some of the ancient world’s most powerful female deities were united by a potent combination of sex, violence and ecstatic experience. Speaking to Danny Bird, Hutton traces a linea ...  Show more

“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together ...  Show more

“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” — Zeng Guofan“Infants but recently born were torn from their mother’s breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” — A Briti ...  Show more

China's Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao was one of the most staggeringly brutal events in recent human history. Tom and Dominic are joined by historian Rana Mitter, who specialises in the history of Republican China. *The Rest Is History Live Tour 2023*: Tom and Dominic ...  Show more