History of the World podcast

955 - East Francia was a struggling new nation facing the threat of new European invasions from the peoples of the steppe.  It would take military intelligence and bravery for East Francia to be able to deal with the threat of the Hungarians on this occasion.

778 - The battle that involved Charlemagne and gave us a surprising result.  It is immortalised by the Song of Roland, but this episode looks to revise the later medieval romantic poetry and find out the truth from the contemporary voices.

715 - 987 - Early Medieval France was as important as any nation of Europe in its history.  This episode deals with the rekindling of kingship through the Carolingians and their relationship with the Papacy, and how their succession tradition proved to damage the empire and make way for the fragmentation of the Frankish Empire.

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.