Although the Middle Ages were an undeniably turbulent period in the history of Europe, characterised in part by endemic violence, hardship and inequality, the latter half of the era was also a time of great change and discovery. What historians call the High and Late Middle Ages saw a proliferation of philosophical and scientific enquiry, and economic advancement. This was a time of intense literary and artistic production, religious dynamism, and global trade and travel. An age of contradictions and complexities.

So what drove the immense changes of the later medieval period? What dark currents swirled beneath this apparent progress? And how did the latter half of the Middle Ages ultimately lay the foundation for our modern world?

This is a Short History Of The European Middle Ages, Part 2 of 2.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Martyn Whittock, author of many books on the medieval period, including A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages.

Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman

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⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

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The period known as the Middle Ages was defined by more than knights and warfare. It began centuries before the First Crusade was called, in the confusion that followed the end of Roman rule in western Europe. And it persisted for a thousand years, until the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the discovery of the so-called New World ushered in the beginnings of modernity.

But just how important was the fall of Rome for people across the continent? What political and religious institutions sprang up to fill the power vacuum left behind? And who were the leaders who strengthened Europe sufficiently to once again launch armed expeditions across the sea?

This is a Short History Of The European Middle Ages, Part 1 of 2.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Martyn Whittock, author of many books on the medieval period, including A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages.

Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

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From the deserts of Central Asia to the gates of ancient China, from the bazaars of Persia to the harbours of the Mediterranean, the Silk Roads were never just one route. A living network of paths, mountain passes, and caravan trails, they carried not only silk and spices, but stories, beliefs, technologies, and ideas that would reshape entire civilisations. For more than a thousand years, they connected worlds that might otherwise never have met, and, in doing so, transformed them. The Silk Roads have witnessed empires rise and crumble, faiths spread and evolve, and cultures meet, merge, and create anew.

But what drove people to risk their lives travelling them? How did they impact the disparate worlds they joined together? And why, even today, do the Silk Roads still matter?

This is a Short History Of The Silk Roads.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at Oxford University, and author of The Silk Roads.

Written by Sean Coleman | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

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The sinking of the General Belgrano on May 2nd 1982 by a British submarine was one of the most controversial events of the Falklands War. The strike resulted in the deaths of 323 Argentine sailors, nearly half of Argentina’s total casualties during the conflict. But though the escalation over the preceding months was swift, in some ways, the Falklands War had been simmering for centuries. Argentina, the closest mainland nation to the islands, saw them as a part of its territory and national identity, while Britain defended its historical claim, citing the wishes of the islanders. In April 1982, decades of tension exploded into war, leaving nearly 1,000 dead.

But how did the islands fall under British control in the first place? Why did the war break out after so many years of diplomacy? And how did the political situations in both countries contribute to one of the strangest conflicts in modern British history?

This is a Short History Of The Falklands War.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Sir Lawrence Freedman, official historian of the Falklands Campaign.

Written by Nicola Rayner | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check by Sean Coleman

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

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⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

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For hundreds of years, Rwanda’s Hutu and Tutsi groups had lived in relative harmony. But the arrival of European colonists enforced and exaggerated the differences between them, until, from the mid-twentieth century, resentment began to boil over. By 1994, the two groups were sworn enemies. Over 100 days, violence engulfed the country, as members of the Hutu majority worked systematically to exterminate the Tutsi. Spurred on by government and military officials, neighbour turned against neighbour, friend against friend, until hundreds of thousands lay dead.

But what precipitated this senseless mass killing? Why were so many ordinary people willing to participate? And what responsibility does the international community bear for the bloodshed?

This is a Short History Of the Rwandan Genocide.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Allan C. Stam, Professor of Public Policy and Politics at the University of Virginia.

Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check by Sean Coleman

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

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⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Russia was a nation on the brink. Strikes, protests, and brutal uprisings were shaking the empire. Public faith in the monarchy was hanging by a thread. It was into this fragile world that Grigori Rasputin stepped. Whether he was truly a holy man, blessed with healing powers, or a fraud and a drunkard, his closeness to the Tsarina gave him a hold over the Russian court which seemed both inexplicable and irresistible.

But what was it about Rasputin that allowed him to enchant a desperate empress? How did rumours of scandal and corruption turn one man into a symbol of national decay? And why, even after his violent death, does his shadow still hang over the fall of Imperial Russia?

This is a Short History Of Rasputin.

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A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Francis Welch, a historian and author of Rasputin: A Short Life.

Written by Sean Coleman | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

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The Māori have had a presence in New Zealand for at least 800 years. For much of that time, they lived in imperfect harmony with the natural environment, developing a social and cultural system distinctly their own. But the age of European exploration from the 17th century changed all that. Over the centuries, their traditional claims to lands were eroded, and their population became dwarfed by that of the settlers, until the voices of activists grew loud enough to challenge the new status quo.

So, who were the first Māori? Just how did the arrival of Europeans impact them? What sparked their revival, and what challenges do they still face?

This is a Short History Of The Māori.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Dr. Peter Meihana, senior lecturer of history at Massey University in New Zealand, who identifies the Rangitani as his primary Māori tribal group

Written by Dan Smith | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

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⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

Nikola Tesla, the visionary inventor, helped shape the modern world. Hailing from what is now Croatia, he arrived in America with just four cents in his pocket and a head full of inventions. Within a few short years, he revolutionised the burgeoning industry of electricity. As well as induction motors that run our appliances and factories to this day, Telsa also invented robots and remote control, developed foundation technology for radio, and dreamed up plans for cell phones, the Internet, death ray weapons, and electric cars. He was also a charismatic showman who drew crowds but couldn’t bear to touch people. A workaholic who made vast sums and lost them.

But what drew this young man from central Europe to physics? What was his path from would-be priest to trailblazing inventor? And as a key figure in the engineering revolution that brought electricity into almost every aspect of modern life, why has he been largely overlooked by history?

This is a Short History Of Nikola Tesla.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Richard Munson, author of Tesla: Inventor of the Modern

Written by Nicola Rayner | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

During a career spanning half a century, David Bowie constantly reinvented his image and sound, creating the diverse body of work that made him a titan in the history of modern music. From the androgynous alien energy of Ziggy Stardust to the suave, enigmatic Thin White Duke, Bowie’s artistic restlessness became his trademark. Few artists have shaped popular culture with such imagination and fearlessness.

So how did a suburban boy transform himself into a rock superstar? What fuelled his boundless creativity? And how did he change pop music forever?

This is a Short History Of David Bowie.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Chris O'Leary, author of two books on the songs of David Bowie, Rebel Rebel and Ashes to Ashes.

Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the purchase of 820,000 square miles of land from Napoleon, including the modern states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Colorado, among many others. At the stroke of a pen, the nation almost doubled in size. But the purchase of Louisiana was only the beginning. Immediately, the American government was forced to reckon with a series of difficult questions – not least about how to incorporate this enormous, multi-ethnic territory into the United States, and what to do about the Indigenous population who had inhabited the Territory for millennia.

But why did Napoleon agree to sell Louisiana in the first place? How did this territory, and its inhabitants, become part of the fledgling United States? And what impact did these monumental events have on the course of American history?

This is a Short History Of the Louisiana Purchase.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Peter Kastor, Professor of History at Washington University in St. Louis, and lead researcher on the Creating a Federal Government project, a digital project reconstructing the careers of America's early federal employees.

Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman

Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices