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Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Subject to Change

I talk to the world"s best historians and let them tell the stories. And the stories are wonderful! (And occasionally I change the subject and talk about films, philosophy or whatever!).

history film reviews

All Episodes

75:26

Empress Wu Zetian and the Age of Female Rule

Subject to Change ·

2025/10/29

“With the heart of a serpent and the nature of a wolf, she gathered sycophants to her cause and brought destruction to the just. She slew her sister, butchered her brothers, killed her prince, and poisoned her mother. She is hated by men and gods alike.” Jonathan Clements came back on to talk about his book on Wu Zetian (623–705), the only woman ever to rule China in her own name. Rising from lowly concubine/chambermaid to God-Emperor, she outmanoeuvred courtiers, generals, monks and poets al...

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63:48

Napoleon III Part 2: The Power of Lust

Subject to Change ·

2025/10/06

As promised in part 1 we started the podcast by talking about some of Napoleon III’s many mistresses. Women like Harriet Howard, the Brighton bootmaker’s daughter, Virginia de Castiglione, sent by the Italians to seduce and spy on him (and welcomed with open arms!), Marguerite Bellanger and Louise de Mercy-Argenteau. His wife hated his infidelities but at least in the case of Louise she took comfort that she was a proper aristocrat! Moving on from the scandalous we talked about Napoleon...

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66:21

Napoleon III Part 1: The Lust for Power

Subject to Change ·

2025/09/30

From exiled prince to emperor, Napoleon III's rise to power reads like a political thriller too wild to be true. Edward Shawcross tells the story of Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew, a man who attempted not one but two comically failed coups before finally succeeding in becoming Emperor of France. This episode explores Louis-Napoleon's bizarre childhood as the imperial nephew raised in Swiss exile, where his mother turned their home into a shrine to Napoleon while teaching him the arts of conspir...

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64:21

From Eunuchs to Corsairs: The World of Islamic Slavery

Subject to Change ·

2025/09/02

Fourteen centuries of enslavement, from the Prophet Muhammad's day to modern Mauritania. Justin Marozzi's fascinating book "Captives and Companions" has as its subject the complex history of slavery across the Islamic world, challenging simplistic narratives and revealing uncomfortable truths about power, race, and religion. Our conversation touches on how Islam didn't invent slavery but incorporated existing practices while encouraging manumission. We talk about the huge diversity of ...

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76:56

The Tokyo Tribunal: War Crimes, Justice, and Geopolitics

Subject to Change ·

2025/08/18

This episode looks at the courtroom drama that helped to shape Asia after World War II with Princeton University's Gary Bass. Far more than a simple account of justice served, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal represents a fascinating intersection of international law, power politics, and competing visions of history that continues to reverberate through East Asian relations today. The tribunal tried 28 Japanese leaders for crimes that began long before Pearl Harbor. Imperial Japan's expansionis...

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84:40

The Pilgrimage of Grace: When England Fought the...

Subject to Change ·

2025/07/28

When 50,000 northerners marched under their banners in 1536, England witnessed its largest rebellion since the Peasants' Revolt. The Pilgrimage of Grace wasn't merely a protest—it was a defining moment that threatened to unravel the English Reformation and return the kingdom to Rome. Professor Peter Marshall, renowned Tudor historian from Warwick University, takes us deep into this extraordinary episode where religious devotion, political power, and regional identity collided with explosive ...

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73:18

Byzantium and the First Crusade

Subject to Change ·

2025/07/09

The story of the First Crusade isn't simply one of religious fervor or military conquest – it's a tale of desperate empires, complex political maneuvering, and unlikely alliances that would reshape medieval history. When Byzantine Emperor Alexius I found his thousand-year-old empire crumbling under Turkish advances in the late 11th century, he made an unprecedented move that would change the course of history: he asked the West for help. What followed was extraordinary. Pope Urban II's call ...

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84:29

Shattered Jewels - Japan's Path to War (3 and final)

Subject to Change ·

2025/06/19

What makes a nation launch an attack it cannot hope to win? Admiral Yamamoto, who planned the Pearl Harbor attack, warned Japan's leadership they would have only six months before America would mobilize its entire continent to destroy them. He was right, but his warning was ignored. The episode starts with a discussion about the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and museum, where we gain insight into how Japan's military establishment viewed their expansionist ambitions. This museum is not just ...

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64:26

Manchuria to Pearl Harbor: Japan's Path to War (2)

Subject to Change ·

2025/06/11

How did Japan become embroiled in one of history's deadliest conflicts? The answer lies not in December 1941, but decades earlier. Jonathan Clements returns to unravel the forces that propelled Japan down a path to war with the world's greatest industrial power. Following Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, the country emerged with new confidence only to face the humiliation of the Triple Intervention, when European powers forced them to surrender their hard-won territories. This...

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69:15

An Alien Game: Japan's Path to War (1)

Subject to Change ·

2025/06/03

The transformation of Japan from hermit kingdom to imperial power happened with breathtaking speed. When American Commodore Perry's "black ships" steamed into Tokyo Bay in the 1850s, they shattered Japan's 250-year isolation with technology that seemed to come "from 200 years in the future." This technological gap created a constitutional crisis that would ultimately topple the Tokugawa Shogunate and usher in the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Jonathan Clements guides us through this pivotal per...

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60:52

How England Nearly Conquered France & Why They Failed

Subject to Change ·

2025/05/02

The Hundred Years' War shaped medieval Europe's political landscape for over a century—but what really caused this epic conflict between England and France? In this illuminating conversation, former UK Supreme Court Justice and acclaimed medieval historian Lord Jonathan Sumption cuts through myths and misconceptions to reveal the war's true origins. Contrary to popular belief, the war didn't begin as a simple grab for the French crown. Instead, it stemmed from a complex constitutional crisis...

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78:03

Imperial Twilight: How Trade, Tea, and Opium Led to War

Subject to Change ·

2025/04/09

The story of the Opium War is one of history's most consequential yet widely misunderstood conflicts. Professor Stephen Platt joined me to unravel the fascinating web of events that led Britain and China into a collision that would reshape Asia and the global balance of power for centuries to come. Far from being a simple tale of drug dealers backed by imperial force, Stephen reveals cultural misunderstandings, diplomatic failures, and economic pressures eventually converging with devastatin...

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73:52

The Curse of a King - with Christopher de Bellaigue

Subject to Change ·

2025/03/17

I spoke to Christopher before about his book the Lion House. That was part 1 of a trilogy on the life of Suleiman the Magnificent. Christopher is back to talk about part 2: The Golden Throne - the Curse of a King. From the intricate power dynamics of the Ottoman court to bloody naval battles in the Mediterranean, "The Golden Throne" recreates the world of Suleiman the Magnificent at the height of his reign. We discover an empire where Christian slaves could rise to the highest positions of po...

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78:38

Anton Howes on Salt (and on much, much more!)

Subject to Change ·

2025/02/14

Anton Howes writes the brilliant Age of Invention substack. We were supposed to talk about the history of salt and its powerful impact on people and states. We certainly did talk about that but also a lot more! - history's efflorescences - Henry VIII's ruthless tax grabs - The feebleness of England (until suddenly . . .) - Rebel space colonies - The Spanish and English Armadas - Lot's wicked daughters - The Roman (non) Industrial Revolution And amidst all our digressions I mentioned the film ...

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76:13

Tiberius - a good emperor, a broken man

Subject to Change ·

2025/01/15

In this episode Professor Ed Watts and I look at the brilliant career and sad life of the Emperor Tiberius. We try to understand how this most capable and intelligent man came to be seen by history as one of the most monstrous of the Roman emperors.In researching for the podcast I came across a really stirring defence of Tiberius in the shape of a monograph by Norman Douglas. On looking into who Norman Douglas was I discovered that he was a great literary figure of the first half of the 20th ...

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58:21

Christ's Samurai with Jonathan Clements - part 2

Subject to Change ·

2024/12/27

This is part 2 of my podcast with Jonathan Clements on Japan's Christian century. In this episode we get on to the rebellion itself. Sensitive listeners may want to brace themselves!You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here.

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58:46

Christ's Samurai with Jonathan Clements - part 1

Subject to Change ·

2024/12/19

A two part podcast on Japan's Christian century. Jonathan Clements wrote a brilliant book called Christ's Samurai about the Shimabara rebellion of 1638. We cover the story in two parts - this is part 1 and tells of the early successes and later disasters of the efforts to bring christianity to Japan. Part 2 will cover the story of the rebellion itself.You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here.

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55:46

In the Kingdom of Ice - with Hampton Sides

Subject to Change ·

2024/12/02

Hampton Sides loves to tell stories of people fighting against impossible odds.The story of the Jeannette's voyage is right in that vein. His book is called In the Kingdom of Ice and the subtitle sums it up - the Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette.Look forward to hearing about US naval officer George de Long's polar expedition of 1879, including:a rich and eccentric newspaper ownera syphilitic navigatora mentally unbalanced German cartographera wonderful love storyand courag...

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56:55

Spring Heeled Jack - with Mike Dash

Subject to Change ·

2024/11/09

Spring Heeled Jack was an uncatchable villain from Victorian times. His speciality was attacking young women, raking their faces and clothes with metal claws and sometimes breathing fire in their faces. We have good evidence for his existence with newspaper reports and police and courts involved. But the more historian Mike Dash peels away the layers the harder it becomes to be sure of anything. A proper historical investigation into a proper mystery!

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55:09

Giles Milton on Nathaniel’s Nutmeg

Subject to Change ·

2024/10/07

The 'spice wars' between the Dutch and the English in the 1600's were quite something. Giles Milton told the story in his remarkable book Nathaniel's Nutmeg. What I hadn't realised until reading this was how feeble and disorganised the English were compared to their competitors. And the Dutch in particular were as ruthless as they were capable.Visits to the court of Ivan the Terrible, a knight of the realm imprisoned in a cupboard under the stairs, horrific torture, courage and persistence be...

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97 results

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