Aspects of History

By Oliver Webb-Carter

The editor of Aspects of History, Ollie Webb-Carter, interviews historians and authors on the past - from the ancient world right up to the modern day. In each episode, Ollie seeks to get to the botto... more

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FAQs about Aspects of History:

How many episodes does Aspects of History have?

The podcast currently has 264 episodes available.

Aspects of History episodes:

April 04, 2025 The Greek Revolution with Yanni Kotsonis
On 17 March 1821 the Greek Revolution began in the small town of Areopoli, part of the Mani Peninsula in the Peloponnese. An uprising against the Ottoman Empire was soon joined by many communities throughout the Peloponnese and Greece. Now, many Greeks that would disagree with where it began, but the more important question is why?
Joining today is historian Yanni Kotsonis, author of The Greek Revolution and the Violent Birth of Nationalism as we discuss the revolution, what it meant for Greeks, for those in wider Europe, what happened during ten years of violence and how the Revolution is viewed in Greece today.
Yanni Kotsonis Links
The Greek Revolution and the Violent Birth of Nationalism
Aspects of History Links
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Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
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53min
April 01, 2025 Film Club: Cross of Iron (1977)
Welcome to Aspects of History’s film club. Every month we pick a historical film and chat about it with myself, filmmaker Tim Hewitt and historian Roger Moorhouse. This month it’s Cross of Iron starring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner. We chat about the movie then it’s our awards including the much coveted Simon Baker award for best performance.
Links
Cross of Iron on Wikipedia
Cross of Iron on IMDB
Ollie on X
Tim on X
Roger on X
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1h 2min
March 29, 2025 Women's History with Miranda Malins & Sarah Gristwood
During March we’ve had Women’s History Month, and in that vein I invited two Aspects of History authors on to discuss. Sarah Gristwood is a historian and the editor of the recent Secret Voices, and Miranda Malins is a novelist and historian, and is currently writing a non fiction book on the Cromwell dynasty. We discuss whether we need Women’s History months and the challenges facing women in history, and women writing history.
Aspects of History has produced an anthology of female writing, Herstory, which is available in the show notes, and throughout March our Substack has featured many women historians and fiction writers.
Women's History Links
Herstory - Aspects of History Anthology featuring authors including Antonia Fraser and Lucy Worsley
Aspects of History's Substack
Secret Voices, A Year of Women’s Diaries, Edited by Sarah Gristwood
The Puritan Princess & The Rebel Daughter, by Miranda Malins
Aspects of History Links
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Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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38min
March 26, 2025 Hadrian's Wall with Alistair Tosh
In around 108AD, the Legio IX Hispania, or the Ninth Legion, a unit of just over 5,000 men, was last recorded at York in Britannia, and possibly heading north towards Caledonia, modern day Scotland. What happened next no one knows for sure, and the Ninth disappeared from historical record. The loss would have been a stunning humiliation for the Rome, but what would be the response of Hadrian, the emperor who took power a few years later in 117AD?
Within a few years a new wall dividing Britannia from the wild Novantae and Selgovae tribes would be constructed, a wall that still stands today and is named after the emperor under which it was built. Joining the pod today is writer Alistair Tosh, author of Edge of Empire: Siege, and we chat Hadrian’s Wall in this bonus pod.
Episode Links
Edge of Empire: Siege, by Alistair Tosh
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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40min
March 22, 2025 Operation Varsity with Saul David
On the morning of 24th March 1945 the British and Canadian 6th Airborne Division and the American 17th Airborne Division began parachuting into German held territory on the eastern side of the River Rhine. So began the largest single lift airborne operation of all time as nearly 17,000 men were dropped, using nearly two thousand transport planes and defended by around 3,000 fighters.
Varsity was the last major operation of the war as the allies successfully made it onto German held territory and the route to Berlin was clear, though they were behind the Soviets in that race.
Joining to discuss is Saul David, bestselling military historian and author of Sky Warriors, his account of the British airborne troops during the Second World War.
Saul David Links
Sky Warriors
Saul on X
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
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42min
March 19, 2025 The Vietnam War, Part Two: Breakdown with Geoffrey Wawro
As the Vietnam War progressed, discipline among US troops began to deteriorate, to the stage where incidents of ‘fragging’ – the practice of killing officers and NCOs with grenades – became more widespread, as did the shooting of officers when out on patrol or during contact. This phenomena encapsulates the latter half of the American presence in Vietnam as soldiers refused to engage in operations when there was no discernible objective.
Joining to discuss Nixon’s Vietnam in this second episode following on from Saturday is Geoffrey Wawro, historian and author of The Vietnam War: A Military History. Geoff talks about the Vietnamese leadership as well as the reduction in troop numbers as Nixon’s secret plan is exposed.
Geoffrey Wawro Links
The Vietnam War: A Military History
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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43min
March 15, 2025 The Vietnam War, Part One: Quagmire with Geoffrey Wawro
On 8 March 1965 at Da Nang in South Vietnam, 3,500 Marines landed thus marking the beginning of US combat troops in Vietnam. 8 years later the Americans would withdraw having lost more than 58,000 dead, and 300,000 wounded. The Vietnam War itself cost, and these numbers are approximate, around 300,000 South Vietnamese troops dead, 1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong dead and more than 3 million civilians killed.
Joining today is Geoffrey Wawro, historian and author of a new military history of this tragic conflict. This is the first of a two-parter as Geoff describes the background of US involvement, the mistakes made by the military leaders, and the Nixon administration’s involvement. Part two is out on Wednesday as we discuss the war from 1968 as US troops lose discipline and the American public lost faith in the war.
Geoffrey Wawro Links
The Vietnam War: A Military History
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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43min
March 12, 2025 Ukraine with Gordon Corrigan
A quick bonus episode and discussion on Ukraine with Gordon Corrigan for you as I was keen to get his thoughts in light of his successful Substack writing, and to follow on from Saturday’s episode.
Gordon is an acclaimed historian and the author of The Second World War: A Military History. Links are in the show notes.
Gordon Corrigan Links
Gordon's Substack
The Second World War: A Military History
Tessa Dunlop Links
Where Politics Meets History
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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36min
March 08, 2025 Putin's War with Philip W Blood
In 416BC, during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the island of Melos was a non-combatant. Strategically located in the middle of the Aegean, The Athenians arrived and demanded Melos surrender and thus be absorbed into their empire. The Melians refused, and so one of the most famous and influential passages in Thucydides’ history as recounted by the delegates of Athens: ‘the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.’
We are returning to an era of empires asserting their dominance, and so joining to discuss Ukraine and its implications for Europe is historian and writer Philip Blood, author of Putin’s War as we discuss the war over the past three years and what can be done in the future.
As a brief little bonus for you, Tessa Dunlop joins to discuss the war as she launches a new podcast blending politics with history.
Philip Blood Links
Putin's War, Russian Genocide, Edited by Philip Blood
Fallout on Ghost - Writings on Ukraine from Philp and team
Philip on X
Tessa Dunlop Links
Where Politics Meets History
Aspects of History Links
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Ollie on X
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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1h 4min
March 05, 2025 Film Club: The Third Man (1949)
Welcome to a delayed Film Club and it’s The Third Man, Carol Reed’s 1949 masterpiece starring Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard and of course, Orson Welles from a script by Graham Greene. Joining Ollie we have director Tim Hewitt and historian Roger Moorhouse.
There are plenty of links in the show notes including Tim’s film based on the Greene short story A Little Place on the Edgware Road which you can watch for free.
Links
A Little Place Off the Edgware Road, directed by Tim Hewitt
The Third Man Special Collector's Edition
The Third Man
Touch of Evil
Journey Into Fear
The Criterion Collection
Ollie on X
Tim on X
Roger on X
Latest Issue out - Annual Subscription to Aspects of History Magazine only $9.99/£9.99
Aspects of History on Instagram
Get in touch: [email protected]

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1h 9min

FAQs about Aspects of History:

How many episodes does Aspects of History have?

The podcast currently has 264 episodes available.

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