732 - The Frankish expansion was impressive but the Umayyad expansion was intercontinental and seemingly unstoppable.  It would fall on the shoulders of a man called Charles Martel to unlock the solution to the insatiable desires of the Muslims.

451 - 718 - A number of culturally linked Germanic tribes were initially united by King Clovis who expanded their realm significantly.  The kings would gradually lose power, to be led by their senior statesmen until the time when Asiatic peoples entered Europe, this time from the west.

476 - 774 - The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 did not signal the end of romanitas in the Italian peninsula, but it does signal the injection of Germanic culture there.  It should have added depth to the peninsula, but instead it brought bloodshed and poverty.

238 - 712 - The Visigoths were one of two major branches of Gothic tribes who originated in eastern Europe and migrated to the west where they carved out their own fortune and cemented their place in the evolution of the modern countries of the Iberian peninsula.

In this, the second of two unscripted episodes this weekend, we introduce the team competing in Group L of the Ancient World Cup and look ahead at what we can expect from the upcoming episodes of Volume Four.

This episode of the History of the World podcast focuses on listener media interaction by reading out your messages and reviews.

1453 - Was the Fall of Constantinople a foregone conclusion, and is it correct to regard it as the fall of the once great city?  The fascinating story of the city, the characters and the sequence of events that led to the dramatic end of Roman culture.

1071 - The Seljuk Turks came to power and threatened Byzantine territory more than any other society before.  The Byzantines required a strong leader to stand up to this new powerhouse of the Middle East, and so a battle would take place with wider reaching ramifications to the world around it.

1014 - The tensions between the Bulgarians and the Byzantines reaches the point of no return when two great military monarchs called Samuel and Basil meet in battle, and a strategical match plays out which results in the ultimate destruction of one nation.

146 BCE - 1204 CE - This is the story of the Balkan Peninsula from its post Classical Greek and Hellenistic period when it was conquered by the Roman Republic, through to the defeat of the Byzantine Empire by the Latins of the Fourth Crusade.