Misha Glenny on the extraordinary history of Poland - includes the Miracle on the Vistula in 1920, the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, and how Solidarity set in motion the Soviet Union's collapse.

Recorded on location in Warsaw, Krakow and Zamosc, with contributions from Professor Norman Davies and Olesya Khromechuk of the Ukrainian Instititute. The image shows the Warsaw Uprising Monument.

The producer for BBC audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

"The last king of Poland was arrested, put in chains and marched off to Russia." Professor Norman Davies.

Between 1795 and 1918 there was no Poland, but the idea of Poland remained extremely strong. Travelling by bus and train around the south east, Misha Glenny and producer Miles Warde go in search of what kept Poland alive. With contributions from Professor Natalia Nowakowska and Timothy Garton-Ash. Part of the How to Invent a Country series for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

The image shows the Warsaw Uprising Monument which features in episode three

Long before Putin tried it on, long before the Soviet Union as well, Ukraine was controlled by somebody else - the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In the first of a new series, Misha Glenny and Miles Warde travel to eastern Poland to find out more.

It's a tale of terrifying power politics, when an ancient European kingdom was sliced up like a cake. Beginning in Krakow, they travel by train and tiny bus in an arc around the south east to the Renaissance city of Zamosc, near the border with Ukraine.

With contributions from Norman Davies, Adam Zamoyski, Professor Natalia Nowakowska, Bartek Ziobro of Krakow Explorers and Olesya Khromeychuk of the Ukrainian Institute in London.

The image shows the Warsaw Uprising Monument which features in episode three.

This is the latest in the How to Invent a Country podcast series which has previously travelled to Germany, the USA, Scandinavia and Brazil.

Presenter Misha Glenny is a former BBC Central European correspondent and the author of McMafia.

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Miles Warde

Not many people recall the Dominion of Pakistan. It was set up after the British left India in 1947, and there were two territories a thousand miles apart, East and West Pakistan. The only thing connecting them was religion. “We don’t even look the same,” says Qasa Alom, a Birmingham born British Bangladeshi. “They are tall and fair, we are short and darker. My cousin was teased by Pakistanis, who said he smelled of fish.”

The liberation war of 1971 was really nasty. The fighting only ended when India came in on the side of Bangladesh, by when millions had been forced to flee. This year Independence Day - March 26 - marks half a century since the country was born.

“Why wouldn’t I want to make this programme?” says Qasa Alom. “It’s such a massive story, the birth of the seventh most populous nation in the world, my origin country, a place we hardly ever hear about. The stories of Pakistan and of India, they are frequently on the airwaves but Bangladesh has been left out. Even in my own community, my generation seems to know absolutely nothing about the war, the refugees, the genocide. Why is that?"

With contributions from Azmina Siddique and Huma Yusuf, plus members of Qasa's own family including his mum. Qasa Alom hosts the BBC Asian Network's Big Debate and was winner of radio presenter of the year at the Asian media awards 2020.

This is the story of how Norway threw off its patronising title of 'little brother' and emerged as the richest Scandinavian nation of all.

In 1814 - just as Napoleon's rampage across Europe was drawing to a close - Sweden took control of Norway. They did this with the permission of the other great powers. Norway did not became a free and sovereign nation until 1905, and during that century they continued to produce timber and fish. But they also produced Ibsen, Grieg and Munch, who painted The Scream; plus Nansen and Amundsen, who beat the British to the South Pole.

With contributions from Thomas Hylland Eriksen and Linn Ullman in Oslo, plus Erica Wagner, Dorthe Nors and Jacob Stougaard-Nielsen of UCL.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

The Swedes are very proud that they have not fought in a war since 1814, but they have not always been the knitwear pacifists they are today. Following a traumatic moment in their history - the Stockholm Bloodbath of 1520 - they set off on a two century rampage fuelled by religion and military skill. This reached a crazy crescendo when - like Napoleon and Hitler - King Charles XII of Sweden took on the Russians in what some have described as a defensive war.

With brilliant contributions from Erika Sandstrom, Gunnar Wetterberg, Peter Wilson, Anna Toon, Michael Pye and Ulf Zander.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde

In a brief September window, Misha Glenny and Miles Warde flew into Copenhagen to begin work on a new Invention of ... series. The plan - find out why Denmark, Sweden and Norway had responded to the pandemic in such different ways. Denmark was one of the first countries in Europe to lock down. Sweden famously took another route.

This is the ninth Invention series, and the aim is to understand what these three countries are - their people, the borders, the stories they tell themselves. Can history explain what is happening now?

With contributions from the novelists Dorthe Nors, Linn Ullman, and Carsten Jensen; historians Erika Sandstrom, Ulf Zander and Gunnar Wetterberg; tour guide and journalist Anna Toon; and author Michael Booth, author of The Almost Nearly Perfect People - Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia.

Presenter Misha Glenny is an award-winning reporter and author of McMafia

The producer for BBC Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

Declan Lawn talks to Micha Glenny about the differences between the north and the south and, in particular, the border.

Dr Joan Redmond talks to Misha Glenny about Ireland, England and the early seeds of war.

Fintan O'Toole talks to Misha Glenny about Catholics, Protestants, and Top of the Pops.