European History Podcasts

The world of the early modern period (C10th – C16th) was one of religious obsession, power struggles and plunder. But it was also a world of stunning artistic endeavour. This collection shows how, encoded in the art and architecture of the time, you can find stories of political machinations, female influence and surging movements of […]

Go back in time and experience Darwin through the day of the first Japanese air raid attack on Australia, with the ABC Bombing of Darwin Walking Tour..

The State of the State lecture series focuses on the transformation of the modern state, with an emphasis on Western Europe and European integration, from a multidisciplinary perspective. The lecture series took place at the University of Oxford and was organized by Dr. Reidar Maliks of the Anglo-German ‘State of the State’ Fellowship Programme. The […]

How did Romantic writers address questions of identity? How did their experiences influence the way they expressed themselves? The Romantic period saw a rise in creative, artistic and intellectual pursuits in eighteenth century Europe. The era placed greater emphasis on emotion and intuition as opposed to the scientific rationalisation which had gained prominence during ‘The […]

The KJV400 Festival was held September 15-17, 2011 on the Union University campus. It was a festival that celebrated the broad cultural impact of the King James Version in honor of its 400th anniversary, and it featured addresses from Timothy George, Leland Ryken and John Woodbridge along with interdisiplinary analyses by Union faculty members.

Some of Britain’s most dramatic scenery is to be found in the Scottish Highlands. The sight of mighty Ben Nevis, the desolate plateau of the Cairngorms, or the imposing landscapes of Glen Coe can unleash the call of the wild in all of us. Although these landforms were largely carved by glacial activity that ended […]

How is it that a small, poor country in northern Europe became one of the most dynamic centres of Enlightenment thinking? This unit examines the cultural, intellectual and religious characteristics of Scotland in the eighteenth century that led to the emergence of such intellectual pioneers as James Hutton, Joseph Black and William Cullen, and briefly […]

This unit examines the role that Scots played in contributing to the developments in healthcare during the nineteenth century. The radical transformation of medicine in Europe included the admission of women as doctors and the increased numbers of specialised institutions such as asylums. Such developments were also influenced by wider social, economic, political and cultural […]

This unit looks deeper into the entanglements of welfare, crime and society. It encourages you to think through these entanglements through a focus on ‘problem populations and problem places’. It includes treatment of the victims of Hurricane Katrina that hit the US in 2007, and also of the governance of urban populations in the context […]

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the approach to medicine was vastly different from today. Health is now recognised, at least in most European countries, as a universal right, but what was it like in the past? How did social and political boundaries affect access to treatment, and what were the treatments of the day? […]

In this unit we shall look more closely at the evidence available to assess the truth of this argument. Were the working people, as opposed to the political leaders, interested in the issue of expansion? Was such interest evident only among certain sections of the community? Was it predominantly an enthusiasm for empire or not? […]

In this unit we examine the Royal Pavillion at Brighton, and its relationship to 19th century romanticism and exoticism. We begin with a biographical discussion of the Prince of Wales, afterwards Prince Regent and eventually King George IV, to whose specifications the Pavillion was built. With the help of video and still images we take […]

This unit examines the approach adopted by Tony Blair and New Labour to welfare reconstruction in the United Kingdom. Using extracts from speeches made by Tony Blair, you will listen to a discussion on how the Welfare State was remade by the ‘New Right’. This study unit is just one of many that can be […]

William Wilberforce, the politician and religious writer, was instrumental in the abolition of slavery in Britain in 1807. This unit explores Wilberforce’s career and writings and assesses their historical significance. In particular it examines the contribution that Evangelicalism, the religious tradition to which Wilberforce belonged, made in the transitions between the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Throughout […]

Wales is a vibrant nation with its own language, musical heritage and strong cultural identity. Central to this identity and a source of national pride, is rugby, which is deeply embedded in the national consciousness and explored in ‘Rugby and welsh identity’. Away from the sports pitch, this collection also looks at place and belonging, […]

2011 is the 300th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest figures in Western Philosophy – David Hume. As well as an economist and historian, Hume was specifically known for his scepticism and empiricism, and was also an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment period in the 18th century. In this audio collection, […]

Mozart’s world rediscovered in objects of his time. Professor Cliff Eisen looks at Mozart’s world through objects that were close to him. From BBC Radio 3.

Few families enjoy such a remarkable reputation for their contribution to the literature and intellectual life of Britain as the Godwins and the Shelleys. The Bodleian online exhibition ‘Shelley’s Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family’ explores how the reputation of this great literary family was shaped by the selective release of documents and […]

General Franco’s authoritarian dictatorship lasted for almost forty years. When he died in 1975, political parties of both the left and the right agreed to draw a line under the past for the sake of Spain’s peaceful transition to democracy. So why now, over 30 years later, is Spain breaking its self-imposed silence about its […]

Today tourists flock to the spectacular Greek island of Santorini. But how many realise that its stunning scenery was birthed by one of the largest and most destructive volcanic eruptions in history? This eruption left a geological caldera surrounded by huge amounts of volcanic ash. In this album, Open University geologists Richard Thorpe and Steve […]

From the middle of the 15th century onwards, the intellectual and cultural life of the West was revolutionised by the development of the printing press. This album explores the technological problems and solutions specific to the printing of music and shows how technology has transformed the way music scores are produced today. The five video […]

Presentations and lectures from the 1909 People’s Budget Symposium, held in October, 2009 on Lloyd George’s landmark budget in 1909, which gave way to significant social reforms.

What is Black British Jazz? This short film explores the research carried out by The Open University research team led by Dr Jason Toynbee who has been examining the history of Black British Jazz and the stories of the artists who have performed it. This video looks at the history of jazz and how the […]

If you could save one thing for posterity, what would it be? Your answer is likely to depend on the things you value. But the things that society values are changing all the time. The tracks on this album explore four different heritage stories. In the feature on the Lake District, we hear how the […]

Captain Jerry Roberts, UCL German alumnus and Second-World-War codebreaker, spoke at UCL on 11 March 2009 about his experiences breaking the ‘Tunny’ code at Bletchley Park: a much more complex machine than the better-known ‘Enigma’. Captain Roberts delivered his talk – ‘My Top-Secret Codebreaking During World War II: The Last British Survivor of Bletchley Park’s […]

Victorian Supremacy is a history podcast. Each week features various topics and the history behind them. There’s a certain emphasis on Victorian culture and turn of the century attitudes but it also covers other general history facts. This podcast accompanies victoriansupremacy@blogspot.com

The aim of this series is to offer insights into key moments in the story of Irish popular culture since the publication of Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies in the early nineteenth century. If the story of transnational Irish popular culture begins with Thomas Moore in the early nineteenth century, it wasn’t until the end of […]

The Museum of English Rural Life was founded by the University of Reading in 1951 to reflect and record the changing face of farming and the countryside. MERL houses Designated collections of national importance that span the full range of objects, archives, photographs, film and books. Today, it forms part of the University’s Museums and […]

This walk explores some of the oldest and most notable of London’s squares, from the time of Charles II to the reign of Queen Victoria. Along the way you will meet some of the many characters who have lived in the squares over the years.

Scrambles Amongst the Alps is one the great classics (some would say the greatest) of early mountaineering literature, and Edward Whymper (1840-1911) one of the leading figures of the early years of Alpine climbing. He is best known, of course, for his many attempts on the Matterhorn, and for the loss of four members of […]

A series of biographical lectures originally published in 1850. Each chapter is a philosophical treatment of the life of an intellectual. The six representatives are Plato, Swedenborg, Shakespeare, Montaigne, Napolean and Goethe. (Introduction by S. Kovalchik)

A podcast about oddities, curiosities, and all the weird and wonderful stuff that dwells in museum stores! Join curators Melissa and Poppy as they discover extraordinary artefacts from collections across the world, and answer your questions about life behind the scenes of the museum.

A look at some of the famous women in European history. Includes biographies on Cleopatra; Isabella of Castile; Joan of Arc; Maria Theresa; Josephine; Elizabeth of England; Mary of Scotland; Catherine of Russia; Marie Antoinette; and Madame Roland. Mr. Jenkins, whose name remains on the title-page of this volume, was prevented from finishing the work […]

David Hume is one of the great philosophers of the Western intellectual tradition. His philosophical writings earned him lasting fame and renown; his historical writing earned his bread and butter. His “The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688”, published between 1754 and 1764, was immensely popular and […]

This first volume of a two volume set traces the trials and triumphs of the Catholic Church during the period before the reformation up to the 19th century. The origins, causes and developments of the various protestant sects that were the fruit of the reformation are studied in depth, as well as the men, schools […]

G.K. Chesterton and James Walsh join Hilaire Belloc in an energetic rollout of the means by which history becomes propaganda, to the damage, not only to truth, but to the human soul. (Summary by Jan Baker)

Early in the course of the Reformation (1520) Martin Luther penned a trilogy of foundational documents addressing the German Nobility, the Church and the Christian. “To the Christian Nobility” appeared first. In it, Luther identifies and attacks the three walls with which the papacy insulates itself from reformation. Next, he discusses three areas that need […]

David Hume is one of the great philosophers of the Western intellectual tradition. His philosophical writings earned him lasting fame and renown; his historical writing earned his bread and butter. His “The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688”, published between 1754 and 1764, was immensely popular and […]

David Hume is one of the great philosophers of the Western intellectual tradition. His philosophical writings earned him lasting fame and renown; his historical writing earned his bread and butter. His “The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688”, published between 1754 and 1764, was immensely popular and […]

History that I find interesting

A biography of Queen Elizabeth the First, the last monarch of the Tudors. (Summary by Brendan Stallard)

Hemingway, Picasso, Scott & Zelda, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and scores of other fascinating characters come to life as we explore 1920’s Paris and the Lost Generation.

Dark times for British Catholics hung over England in the days of King Henry VIII. Henry, influenced by the hated Thomas Cromwell, fell into opposition with them, suppressing them, and closing religious houses. In that period a famous shrine, erected centuries earlier at Walsingham and dedicated to our Lady, drew people from far and near […]

There are few campaigns that, either in point of the immense scale upon which it was undertaken, the completeness of its failure, or the enormous loss of life entailed, appeal to the imagination in so great a degree as that of Napoleon against Russia. Fortunately, we have in the narratives of Sir Robert Wilson, British […]

David Hume is one of the great philosophers of the Western intellectual tradition. His philosophical writings earned him lasting fame and renown; his historical writing earned his bread and butter. His “The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution of 1688”, published between 1754 and 1764, was immensely popular and […]

Principles of Economics was a leading economics textbook of Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), first published in 1890. Marshall began writing the book in 1881, and he spent much of the next decade at work on it. His plan for the work gradually extended to a two-volume compilation on the whole of economic thought; the first volume […]

Wulf the Saxon is a classic George Henty tale of nobility, loyalty and courage set in 11th century Britain. It relates the adventures of Wulf, a young, but extremely capable Saxon Thane. Wulf with his friends and servitors devote their lives to the service of Harold Godwinson, both before and after he becomes king of […]

Principles of Economics was a leading economics textbook of Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), first published in 1890. Marshall began writing the book in 1881, and he spent much of the next decade at work on it. His plan for the work gradually extended to a two-volume compilation on the whole of economic thought; the first volume […]

From a cabin back in the mountains of Tennessee, forty-eight miles from the railroad, a young man went to the World War. He was untutored in the ways of the world. Caught by the enemy in the cove of a hill in the Forest of Argonne, he did not run; but sank into the bushes […]

This is not heart warming holiday fare. It is a short (one-act) unsubtle antiwar play by the English poet Alfred Noyes (1880-1958), published in 1915 while World War I is in progress. Part of the work is in verse. Music sung by Duane Steadman. (Summary by David Wales)