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In the modern imagination, the history of antisemitism often focuses on the horrors of the 20th century or the pogroms of Tsarist Russia. But to understand the birth of modern Jewish politics, we must look to the year 1840 and the city of Damascus. In this week’s podcast, I explored the “Damascus Affair,” a crisis that Jonathan Frankel argues was a landmark moment for the Jewish world. When a Capuchin friar and his servant vanished in Damascus, the local Christian community and the French consul revived the medieval blood libel—the false accusation that Jews murder Christians to use their blood…
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In this episode of Explaining History, we delve into the intricate web of diplomacy, ambition, and betrayal that led the Ottoman Empire into the Great War. Drawing from Eugene Rogan’s “The Fall of the Ottomans,” we explore the Empire’s precarious position in the years before 1914, caught between the competing interests of Europe’s great powers.Discover Germany’s strategic “Weltpolitik,” which saw the Ottomans as a key partner to challenge British and Russian dominance, leading to ambitious proje
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During the Second World War Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took to the throne of Iran, placed into power by the British and the Soviets to depose his Nazi backing father. The Shah was able to break from the constitutional limitations upon him in 1953 after the British and Americans overthrew Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. A decade later, the Shah began to radically transform Iran socially and economically, but in doing so built up powerful revolutionary tensions. For more on Iran, you can read
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In this episode, I draw on My Palestine by Mohammad Tarbush to examine two often-overlooked episodes in the history of Zionism and its global reception.First, we revisit the 1975 United Nations General Assembly vote that declared Zionism a form of racism—an extraordinary moment that sent shockwaves through international diplomacy, reshaped alliances in the Cold War, and left a lasting legacy in debates about race, colonialism, and nationhood.Second, we turn to the influential role of the British
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What can the Roman legions of Constantine, the Ottoman forces of Mehmet the Conqueror, and the US Army of World War II teach us about modern military power?In this timely episode of the Explaining History Podcast, I speak with former senior British officer and acclaimed military historian Barney White-Spunner about his forthcoming book Nation In Arms (out 14 August). Drawing from five pivotal armies that helped shape the European continent—the Roman, Ottoman, New Model, Prussian, and American—Wh
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At the heart of Britain’s war time alliance was a deep wariness at what the outcome of the war would portend. Churchill was desperate for the USA to enter the war and Roosevelt saw the struggle against fascism as vital to America’s security, but the US president like Wilson before him imagined a world without European empires. In this episode we examine James Barr’s excellent book Lords of the Desert and explore the origins of wartime Anglo American rivalries in the Middle East.Newsflash: You ca
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In this episode, we tear away the euphemisms and expose a grim reality: sanctions kill. Drawing on a 2025 study from The Lancet Global Health, we show how economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other powers are responsible for up to 777,000 deaths each year, with children and the elderly most at risk.We trace the history of sanctions from the League of Nations to Iraq, Venezuela, Iran, and beyond. We compare sanctions to siege warfare—and ask why a practice this deadly continues to be framed
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The extent to which western soft power and legal and moral authority has been shredded by Gaza is lost upon British, American and European populations for the most part, but across the global south a new movement appears to be coalescing around South Africa and Columbia. In Europe, Ireland and Spain have joined with them and sixteen other global south countries to form the Hague Group, dedicated to upholding international law as it relates to Gaza. This, until quite recently, was inconceivable a
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This episode explores part of the story of St John Philby, father to Kim and eventually advisor to King Ibn Saud. Philby was one of the few administrators that the British government and its colonial government in India could find who understood Arabia and Mesopotamia. In 1915 as British fortunes against the Ottoman Empire took a turn for the worst, Philby was sent to Basra to reorganise the city’s finances after the retreat of the Turks. He would eventually help to organise the financial admini
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Here’s a polished episode description based on Michael Hudson’s blog post:🎙️ Episode Description: In this compelling episode, we dive into Michael Hudson’s incisive analysis of the escalating U.S.–Iran confrontation. Drawing from Hudson’s recent essay on Naked Capitalism, we uncover how America’s strategic confrontation with Iran is deeply tied to control over oil-rich regions and global financial dynamics (nakedcapitalism.com).In this episode, we explore:📈 The Resource-Imperial Link: Hudson arg