The EI Podcast

Napoleonic geopolitics didn't make much impression on Europe's maps, but its influence was wide-ranging. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Napoleonic Europe: how the Emperor built a continent | Michael Broers

Image: Napoleon crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David. Credit: GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

Armand D'Angour on Aspasia of Miletus, wife of Pericles and friend to philosophers. Read by Sebastian Brown.

Image: 19th Century lithograph of Aspasia of Miletus. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo 

In the 1860s, commentators might have been justified in forecasting 'the end of history' and lauding universal progress. History was to return with a vengeance. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: A lifeboat rescuing passengers from the ship Alarm in the 1860s. Credit: North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock Photo 

Two years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a solution, military or diplomatic, seems as far away as ever.

On Worldview, leading historians and commentators reflect on a conflict that has altered the state of global geopolitics.

Jade McGlynn, author of Russia’s War, calls in from Kyiv (00:56).

Shashank Joshi, defence editor of the Economist and Hew Strachan, military historian, illuminate the battlefield picture (24:18). 

The possible outcomes are considered by Sergey Radchenko, expert on Russian foreign policy, and Tim Marshall, best-selling author, whose most recent book is The Future of Geography (1:00:45).

Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Worldview is produced by Alastair Benn and Marie Jessel. The sound engineer is Gareth Jones.

Image: The national flag of Ukraine above the Kyiv skyline. Credit: Mykhailo Prysiazhnyi / Alamy Stock Photo 

From the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. States are back and they're out to challenge the international order.

Image: Vladimir Putin captured from screen. Credit: Anton Dos Ventos / Alamy Stock Photo 

Llewelyn Morgan, author of Horace: A Very Short Introduction, joins EI's Paul Lay to explore the Augustan poet's vast and complex legacy.

Image: Bust of Horace. Credit: Cum Okolo / Alamy Stock Photo 

Al-Qaeda's success in Yemen can in part be explained by the group's adept use of poetry as propaganda. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: An al-Qaeda logo is seen on a street sign in the town of Jaar in southern Abyan province, Yemen. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo 

Alwyn Turner, author of Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era, speaks to Paul Lay about the early 20th century, an age of anxiety.

Image: Street musicians in London in the Edwardian era. Credit: KGPA Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo 

From the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. The organisation that emerged under the name ISIS is not simply a terrorist group. It is a hybrid organisation comprised of a proto-state, a millenarian cult capable of attracting recruits from far beyond its borders, a network of Salafi jihadist groups, an organised criminal ring and an insurgent army led by highly skilled former Baathist military and intelligence personnel. Read by Leighton Pugh.

Image: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters shown in propaganda photos released by the militants. Credit: Handout / Alamy Stock Photo 

Ahron Bregman, author of Cursed Victory: A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories, outlines his vision for a lasting peace between Israel, Palestinians and the Arabs.

Image: An Israeli flag is seen through a dust cloud near the border with the Gaza strip. Credit: Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo