History As It Happens

00:38:14

The Rise and Fall of Political Islam

History As It Happens ·

2026/10/06

Subscribe now to skip ads, get early access, and listen to all of our bonus content.The Middle East is undergoing transformative changes. It's difficult, if not impossible, to see where things will end up. What is clear, however, is that political Islam — what the scholar Mohammed Ayoob says was "the dominant ideological challenger to the region’s authoritarian political systems" — is declining. Public confidence that Islamist movements, whether radical or pragmatic, can affect positive change for

en

00:09:07

Thomas Jefferson's DNA (Bonus)

History As It Happens ·

2026/10/02

Subscribe to listen to the full 28-minute episode (or preview the first 9 minutes).Scientists sequenced Thomas Jefferson’s genome from three strands of his hair for a project led by the Smithsonian Institution to prove that Jefferson fathered children with his slave Sally Hemings.According to The New York Times, researchers used cutting-edge techniques to extract and sequence the DNA, then compared it with DNA samples from 13 living Hemings and Jefferson family descendants.This story is, in some

en

00:42:05

The Worst President? Meet James Buchanan

History As It Happens ·

2026/10/02

Subscribe for ad-free listening, early access, and all of our bonus content!In leafy Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C., there stands a bronze statue of the fifteenth president of the United States. Only an inscription etched in the surrounding marble identifies its subject: BUCHANAN.Yes, a statue to the terrible James Buchanan, who interfered in a notorious Supreme Court ruling, consistently took the side of the Southern Slave Power, and barely lifted a finger to save the Union after seven

en

00:44:19

Origins of 'Ethnic Cleansing'

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/29

As some Israeli government ministers call for the "voluntary migration" of all Palestinians from Gaza, the termethnic cleansing is back in the news. Before the 1990s, international institutions and mainstream political figures seldom used the term. Then came the Serb atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia, andethnic cleansinggained wide acceptance.What does it mean? Does it have a legal grounding? Or is it a euphemism for genocide? Our guest is sociologist Martin Shaw, a leading genocide scholar and

en

00:32:13

War Criminals of Kosovo

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/25

Subscribe to skip ads and get all of our bonus content.A special tribunal in The Hague convicted a hero of Kosovo's independence struggle of war crimes. Hashim Thaci was sentenced to 25 years for the crimes of arbitrary detention, torture, and murder. Three other former Kosovo Liberation Army figures were also convicted for targeting ethnic Albanians whom they suspected of collaborating with the Serbian invaders in the late 1990s.The wheels of justice turn slowly, and in the arena of international

en

00:39:56

Russia vs. the West

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/22

Subscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and all of our bonus content.Vladimir Putin and the Russian foreign policy establishment's goal is not to outlast the West only in Ukraine, but to create an alternate world order of anti-Western countries, a world where Russia can evade sanctions, throw around its influence, and disseminate its propaganda to receptive audiences. This is according to political scientist Hanna Notte, the author of 'We Shall Outlast Them: Putin's Global Campaign to

en

00:46:09

Origins of the Imperial Presidency

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/18

Subscribe for ad-free listening, early access, and all of our bonus content!The Constitution created what were supposed to be three coequal branches, and only Congress was given the authority to declare war. Yet we are living in the age of the imperial presidency — of endless war, executive orders, government secrecy, and a lack of accountability. These are all fit for a monarchy instead of a republic.How did we get here? What structures led to the rise of the imperial presidency? What decisions led

en

00:08:13

Here Come the Houthis (Bonus)

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/16

Subscribe to listen to the entire 22-minute episode (or preview 8 minutes).New developments in Yemen bode poorly for global oil flows or a peaceful settlement of the Greater Middle East's raging conflicts. The Associated Press reports the Houthi rebels have seized two strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, bolstering their ability to control a critical maritime shipping route.The Houthis’ latest gains in their ongoing conflict with Saudi Arabia follow the seizure of the Red Sea port of Mokha and

en

00:34:45

Martin at Monticello! Thomas Jefferson's World

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/15

Subscribe today to support the show and enjoy ad-free listening!History As It Happens is "on location" in this episode. Host Martin Di Caro visits Thomas Jefferson's historic Monticello estate in Virginia to talk to Brandon Dillard, its director of historic interpretation and audience engagement. Their conversation covers Monticello's new America250-related exhibits and the challenge of interpreting the past in hyper-partisan times.Subscribe today to support our important work! Subscriptions begin

en

00:34:06

Structures of 'Forever War,' Revisited

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/08

Subscribe to enjoy ad-free episodes and early access, plus all our bonus content.Maybe U.S. presidents need to read a how-to manual on avoiding quagmires. Or maybe it wouldn't make much difference anyway. To understand why the United States keeps being sucked into protracted conflicts in the Greater Middle East, we must look beyond individual decision-making, says Emma Ashford of the Stimson Center in Washington. Instead, we must weigh the structural causes and incentives that have led one

en

00:59:25

Origins of Israel's Lobby

History As It Happens ·

2026/09/04

Subscribe now to skip ads and get all of our bonus content.Since the aftermath of the Second World War and the establishment of an independent Jewish state of Israel in 1948, U.S. foreign policy has been in the "grip of a foreign power," according to the authors of "Israel's Lobby."Authors Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick contend that the lobby has successfully pressured generations of U.S. leaders to set aside American interests in favor of Israeli interests, even though the two are often not aligned

en

00:44:21

'The Battle of Algiers' 60 Years On

History As It Happens ·

2026/08/28

Subscribe to get ad-free listening, early access, and all of our bonus content!Sixty years ago, in late August 1966, a remarkable film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo's 'The Battle of Algiers' portrayed the brutal realities of the Algerian war for independence against colonial France. It has inspired revolutionaries fighting for national liberation ever since. Historian Martin Evans, an expert on empires at the University of Sussex, explores why

en

00:51:50

Myanmar's Long, Long, Long Civil War

History As It Happens ·

2026/08/25

Subscribe today for ad-free listening, early access, and all of our bonus content.Myanmar is not a country. It is a place of endless violence and ethnic strife, with its 50 million people trapped in another civil war, now in its fifth year, with no end in sight. Since its independence from Great Britain after the Second World War, Burma (now Myanmar) has been ruled mostly by military juntas. Every generation or so, a better future has seemed possible, but democracy and economic prosperity have

en

00:49:41

American Empires

History As It Happens ·

2026/08/21

Subscribe today for ad-free listening and early access!Since returning to the White House in 2025, President Trump has threatened to annex Greenland by force, mused about making Canada the 51st state, claimed he was ready to retake the Panama Canal, and turned Venezuela into a vassal by kidnapping its leader. Trump is trying to turn the clock back to a time when annexation (or territorial expansionism) was a norm in international relations. Since its birth, the United States has been expansionist,

en

01:03:36

What Happened at Camp David?

History As It Happens ·

2026/08/18

Subscribe today for ad-free listening!The Oslo Peace Process seems like ancient history. Today, a truly just and durable peace between Israel and the Palestinians appears impossible, as Gaza has been destroyed and Jewish settler-terrorists rampage through the West Bank with the support of their state. President Trump's vision for Gaza may render any surviving Palestinians as second-class citizens. A quarter-century ago, in the summer of 2000, President Bill Clinton brought Israeli and Palestinian

en

00:30:31

Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Iran, Israel, and U.S. Hegemony

History As It Happens ·

2026/08/14

Congress' attempts to end the Trump administration's Iran war fiasco have thus far come up short. The same goes for the movement to end U.S. weapons and bulldozer shipments to the Israeli government, which has used American military hardware to destroy Gaza and southern Lebanon, killing tens of thousands of people in the process.In this conversation with Sen. Van Hollen, we cover the War Powers Act and Iran, unrestrained executive power, the Libya intervention of 2011, Israel and AIPAC, the

en

00:44:29

Quagmires

History As It Happens ·

2026/08/11

Subscribe to enjoy ad-free listening, early access, and all of our bonus content!The American way of war is broken. Like many of his White House predecessors, Donald Trump is stuck in a stalemate of his own making. In Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq — to name four major wars — the president who went to war was unable to extricate the U.S. from the morass. It was up to his successor to salvage something from the wreckage of U.S. credibility and prestige. Our guest is Will Walldorf, who teaches

en

01:07:44

Crushing Cuba, 1959 to Present

History As It Happens ·

2026/08/07

Subscribe for ad-free listening and early access!The Trump administration is attempting to topple Cuba's government through economic warfare. An oil embargo and other punitive measures have led to severe consequences, including massive blackouts and water shortages. Ordinary Cubans are suffering, yet both they and their communist government are persevering — at least for now. The New York Times reports the CIA has established a secret task force to increase the pressure. The Cold War may be over,

en

42:18

What a Time To Be an American: The Bicentennial

History As It Happens ·

2026/06/19

Subscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content. The national mood was dour. Political scandals and a lost war cast long shadows. The economy was mired in stagflation. Americans were losing confidence in the future. It was the summer of '76 — 1976! Yet despite the tough times, millions celebrated the nation's bicentennial, which was both patriotic and a bit schlocky. Historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel reflect on that strange summer as many Americans today shrug their

en

49:48

Gordon Wood's Remarkable Legacy (Bonus)

History As It Happens ·

2026/06/17

Enjoy this entire 49-minute bonus episode! To listen to future bonus content and get early access to ad-free episodes, become a subscriber today. History As It Happens Premium costs $5 per month. **** On June 7, 2026, the historian Gordon Wood died at 92. He was one of the greatest scholars of the American Revolution and early Republic, who did "as much as anyone to deepen understanding and change perceptions of the forces and events that led to the birth of the United States," according to The New

en

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

pplpod

pplpod

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

This Day in Disney History

ATIS Products

Blues Moments in Time...

The Blues Hotel Collective