After a brief civil war in March-April 1948, the new president of Costa Rica, Jose Figueres, took the audacious step of dissolving the Armed Forces. The Central American country is now one of just over 20 countries without a standing army - we find out more. Plus, Maya Angelou's ground-breaking memoir, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and the remarkable story of the raising of the Swedish warship, the Vasa. Photo: Costa Rican soldiers in San Jose after the end of the civil war, April 1948 (Credit: Getty Images)

Abolishing the army

A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.

Personal Journals

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History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It’s 10 years since the world’s deadliest outbreak of Ebola started in West Africa. We hear from a survivor and discuss the legacy of the epidemic with the BBC's global health reporter Tulip Mazumdar.  Plus, the first World War Two battalion to be led by an African-American woman. Major Charity Adams’ son tells her story.  We hear about the group of men arrested in Egypt in 2001 at a gay nightclub who became known as the Cairo 52. We also hear about the avalanche on Mount Everest which killed 16 sherpas carrying supplies 10 years ago.  Finally, the train service between India and Bangladesh that lay dormant for 43 years which rumbled back into life in 2008. Contributors:  Yusuf Kabba – an Ebola survivor from Sierra Leone
Tulip Mazumdar -  the BBC's Global Heath reporter. 
Stanley Earley – son of Major Charity Adams
Omer (a pseudonym) - arrested and imprisoned at a gay club in Cairo
Lakpa Rita Sherpa -  helped recover bodies after the avalanche on Mount Everest in 2014
Dr Azad Chowdhury – on the inaugural Friendship Express (Photo: Liberian Health Minister Burnice Dahn washes her hands at a holding centre for Ebola patients in 2014. Credit: Getty Images)

Ebola outbreak and the Friendship Train returns

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It's 30 years since Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, was stolen from the national gallery in Oslo, Norway. We hear from the man who helped to recover it. Our expert guest is historian and author, Susan Ronald, who explores the history of art heists in the 20th century. Plus, a first hand account from Kampala terror attacks in 2010 and the mystery of St Teresa of Avila's severed hand. Finally, we hear about the last World War II soldier to surrender. Hiroo Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who spent nearly 30 years in the Philippine jungle, believing World War Two was still going on. Contributors:
Kuddzu Isaac - DJ and Kampala terror attack survivor
Charley Hill - Scotland Yard art detective and private investigator
Susan Ronald - historian and author
Sister Jenifer - the Mother Superior of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, Ronda
Hiroo Onoda  -  Japanese WWII soldier
Christos and Ioanna Kotsikas - residents of Thessaly, Greece (Photo: The Scream. Credit: Getty Images)

The history of art heists

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It has been 50 years since Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, so we're exploring Swedish history.
 
Also in 1974, Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral. One father who took the leave tells us about this pioneering policy.
 
We hear from one of the inventors of Bluetooth. The technology was named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king.
 
Our expert guest is Eva Krutmeijer, Swedish science writer and co-author of the book ' Innovation, the Swedish Way’.  Plus, the invention of the three-point safety belt for cars, that is estimated to have saved more than one million lives around the world, and the story behind Sweden’s Cinnamon Bun Day.
 
Finally, 1974 was just the beginning for the Swedish quartet, Abba, who shared their name with a herring company. By the end of the decade, they were one of most recognisable music acts of the 20th century. 
 
 
 
Contributors:
Per Edlund - one of the first fathers in his town to take split paid parental leave
Sven Mattison - one of the inventors of Bluetooth
Eva Krutmeijer - Swedish science writer and co-author of the book 'Innovation, the Swedish Way'
Gunnar Ornmark - stepson of Nils Bohlin who invented the three-point safety belt for cars
Kaeth Gardestedt - who came up with the idea of Sweden's Cinnamon Bun Day
Görel Hanser - manager of Abba
 
(Photo: Abba in 1974. Credit: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

Swedish History

It's 75 years since the founding of Nato. In 1949, a group of 12 countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to block the expansion of the Soviet Union. Professor Sten Rynning, the author of Nato: From Cold War to Ukraine, talks about some of the most significant moments in Nato's history. It's 30 years since the beginning of the Rwandan genocide. We hear from one of the survivors, Antoinette Mutabazi. This programme contains disturbing content. Plus, Riyaz Begum reflects on Britain's Mirpuri migration, Janet Heimlich, daughter of Dr Henry Heimlich talks about the origins of the Heimlich Manoeuvre and Adam Trimingham, Brighton based journalist and nudist David Johnson recall the arrival of Britain's first nudist beach. (Photo: British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin signs the North Atlantic Treaty. Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Seventy-five years of Nato and the Heimlich Manoeuvre

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. To mark 50 years since the discovery of the Terracotta Army, we're exploring modern Chinese history. We hear from the man who helped to modernise the Chinese language by creating a new writing system. It's called Pinyin and it used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words. Our expert guest is the writer, Mark O'Neill, whose book 'The Man Who Made China a Literate Nation' forms the basis of a great discussion about historical language changes throughout history. Plus, a first hand experience of life in labour camps during Mao Zedong’s cultural revolution and the women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial army during the 1930s. This programme contains disturbing content. Contributors:
Mark O'Neill - writer
Zhou Youguang - linguist
Jingyu Li - victim of Mao Zedong's labour camps
Peng Zhuying - survivor of sexual slavery
Yuan Zhongyi - archaeologist
Dr Li Xiuzhen - archaeologist
Simon Napier-Bell - manager of Wham (Photo: Terracotta Army. Credit: Getty Images)

Abolishing the army

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