Podcast · 218 episodes

Empire: World History

by Goalhanger · English

The rise and fall of empires and the events that shaped world history. William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the intricate stories of revolutions, imperial wars, and the people who built and lost empires. From the British Empire to the Ottomans to Ancient India, history is shaped by power struggles and territorial conquests. How does it continue to affect the world today? Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

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400. Stalin: A Poisonous Legacy (Part 6)Putin’s “rehabilitation” of Stalin as part of a broader Kremlin strategy—reprogramming history, using Stalin’s WWII victory narrative, and modeling contemporary power (including repression and…30 Sep 2026 · 51 min

399. Stalin: Hitler’s Downfall At Stalingrad (Part 5)Part 5 of a series on Stalin and Stalingrad, explaining why the battle happened, how it was fought (bombing, rubble fighting, river crossings, sniper duels), and how Operation Uranus encircled and…26 Sep 2026 · 52 min

398. Stalin: The Great Terror (Part 4)How Stalin used the 1934 assassination of Sergei Kirov to launch the Great Terror—show trials, forced confessions, mass arrests/executions, purges of the military, and the regime’s collapse into…23 Sep 2026 · 43 min

All episodes

397. Stalin: Killing Trotsky (Part 3)Part 3 of a series on Stalin’s rivalry with Leon Trotsky, covering Trotsky’s rise, Stalin’s power grab after Lenin’s death, Trotsky’s exile and assassination in Mexico, and Joseph Stalin’s domestic…20 Sep 2026 · 49 min · 21 chapters

396. Stalin: The Bolshevik Revolution (Part 2)Episode 396 (Part 2) follows Joseph Stalin’s rise from obscure Bolshevik subordinate to a key power broker during the Russian Civil War and the early Soviet succession struggle after Lenin.16 Sep 2026 · 44 min · 19 chapters

395. Stalin: The Rise of A Tyrant (Part 1)Why Vladimir Putin’s Russia is reviving Stalin’s image, sparked by a new Moscow metro relief replica of a 1960s teardown, and what Stalin’s rise was really like in Part 1.13 Sep 2026 · 34 min · 12 chapters

394. Road To 9/11: Hijackers, CIA Failures, and America’s Darkest Day (Part 6)The lead-up to the 9/11 attacks, focusing on CIA/FBI failures, hijackers’ entry into the U.S., and al-Qaeda’s planning and training.9 Sep 2026 · 46 min · 7 chapters

393. Road To 9/11: Interviewing Bin Laden In The Caves of Tora Bora (Part 5)The episode recounts how Osama bin Laden’s first Western televised “declaration of war” was arranged and what it revealed about his media strategy, sanctuary in Afghanistan (Tora Bora/Jalalabad), and…6 Sep 2026 · 47 min · 21 chapters

392. Road To 9/11: Bin Laden vs Saudi Arabia (Part 4)Bin Laden’s fall from Saudi celebrity to a stateless terrorist financier, focusing on 1989-1996: return from the Soviet-Afghan war, the 1990 Kuwait crisis and U.S.2 Sep 2026 · 43 min · 16 chapters

391. Road To 9/11: The Rise of Osama Bin Laden (Part 3)Part 3 of “Road To 9/11” explains how Osama bin Laden’s family rose in Saudi Arabia and how his early religious/political formation developed into a path toward Afghanistan and later militancy.30 Aug 2026 · 45 min · 17 chapters

390. Road To 9/11: The Soviet-Afghan War (Part 2)How the Soviet-Afghan War (late 1970s–1989) and the refugee-and-jihad ecosystem around 1980s Peshawar helped create Al-Qaeda, linking Cold War geopolitics, Saudi-funded propaganda, and the careers of…26 Aug 2026 · 43 min · 16 chapters

389. Road To 9/11: Origin of Al-Qaeda (Part 1)The ideological origins of al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11, focusing on how mid-century Egyptian radical Islam formed inside prisons and culminated in Said Qutb’s writings.23 Aug 2026 · 55 min · 21 chapters

388. Viking Mythology: Thor, Ragnarok, & Jesus Christ (Ep 6)How Norse myth (especially Ragnarok, Odin, Loki, Thor, Yggdrasil) blended with Christianity in the British Isles, using monuments, coins, and later Icelandic texts; also covers Norse shamanic…19 Aug 2026 · 47 min · 18 chapters

387. The Vikings Invade Britain (Ep 5)The episode challenges Viking stereotypes (horned helmets, “always bloody raids”) and explains how Viking dragonships enabled coastal attacks on monasteries, then shifted into settlement—especially…16 Aug 2026 · 47 min · 16 chapters

386. The Picts: Scotland’s Tattooed Warriors (Ep 4)The Picts—“painted people” first named by Romans (AD 297)—and what archaeology, genetics, and art history reveal about their society in northeast Scotland (roughly until ~900 AD), including kingship,…12 Aug 2026 · 46 min · 22 chapters

385. Saint Patrick: Slave, Rebel, & Ireland’s Patron Saint (Ep 3)How St. Patrick’s story and early Irish society/church history are reconstructed from evidence, and how later Irish Christianity shaped (and altered) Patrick’s image.9 Aug 2026 · 55 min · 24 chapters

384. The Roman Invasion: Gods on Hadrian’s Wall (Ep 2)Roman Britain’s religious “porridge” on and around Hadrian’s Wall—how Roman soldiers and communities blended Roman, Celtic, and Eastern gods, plus early Christianity.5 Aug 2026 · 48 min · 17 chapters

383. Romans vs Druids: The War For Celtic Britain (Ep 1)Episode 383 (Ep 1) launches a six-part series on early gods and religions in Britain and Ireland, before Christianity and Rome.2 Aug 2026 · 47 min · 24 chapters

382. Empire of AI: Karen Hao On Today’s Hidden Colonialism (Ep 2)“Empire of AI” (episode 2) argues that major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.) function like “empires” through data/resource extraction, labor exploitation, information control, and…29 Jul 2026 · 57 min · 20 chapters

381. Musk, Bezos & The New East India Companies (Ep 1)Empire episode comparing modern “tech emperors” (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman) to historical corporate empires, especially the 1599 East India Company, arguing that mega-corporations replicate…26 Jul 2026 · 54 min · 22 chapters

380. Algerian Revolution: The Rise of Le Pen (Ep 6)This final episode of Empire’s Algerian series argues that France’s colonial legacy still shapes French policing and politics, culminating in the 2005 banlieue riots and the rise of far-right leader…22 Jul 2026 · 35 min · 15 chapters

379. Algerian Revolution: Black Panthers, LSD, & Nina Simone (Ep 5)The episode covers Algeria’s post-independence transition from 1962’s mass liberation celebrations to authoritarian rule under Houari Boumediene, and how Algeria became a global “third world”…19 Jul 2026 · 47 min · 17 chapters

378. Algerian Revolution: Birth of Independence (Ep 4)Episode 4 of Empire’s Algerian Revolution series focuses on the Battle of Algiers and how French tactics, torture, and political backlash shaped the path to Algerian independence.15 Jul 2026 · 31 min · 17 chapters

377. Algerian Revolution: The Battle of Algiers (Ep 3)The start and escalation of the Algerian War of Independence, beginning with the FLN’s coordinated attacks on 1 Nov 1954 (Toussaint Rouge), followed by the Philippeville massacre (Aug 1955), the…12 Jul 2026 · 38 min · 19 chapters