The EI Podcast

In war, we are, like the Duke of Wellington, still trying to guess what is on the other side of the hill, we just have more tools to help us do so. Read by Leighton Pugh Image: The Left Wing of the British army in Action at the Battle of Waterloo, June 18th 1815. Credit: Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Hitler's conviction that a new Eurasian order should be constructed with Germany at its zenith had its ideological roots in the early science of geopolitics. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: This map of Russia and surrounding countries highlights Hitler's campaign in Russia and how it went wrong. Credit: Bettmann

While no longer a state power, the Catholic Church remains a powerful political force in modern diplomacy. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image: Pope Francis with his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City, in 2018. Credit: Massimo Wallichia / Getty Images.

Scholars of esotericism are often asked to justify their field of research and its place in modern society. However, esotericism provides fertile ground for radical thinking and is a useful means of considering the limitations of standard western thought. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image:The Flammarion Wood engraving. The image is often used as a metaphorical illustration of either the scientific or the mystical quests for knowledge. Credit: RGB Ventures / SuperStock / Alamy Stock Photo.

Changing technology, climate change, and transformations in global finance mean another new era for cities is dawning: the fifth, or digital, age. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Ecological skyscraper in Milan. Credit: Paolo Bona / Alamy Stock Photo.

Central banks have held the financial world in their grip for much of the twentieth century, but is their reign coming to an end? In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by the former governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, along with journalist and author Merryn Somerset Webb, Iain Martin, Editor-in-Chief of Engelsberg Ideas, and economic historian, Samuel Gregg. Image: Currencies from around the world. Credit: Jochen Tak / Alamy Stock Photo 

The European Middle Ages have been deemed an era of regression but this couldn't be further from the truth. In this period, the foundations were laid to establish a liberal West centred around the rights of the individual. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Construction of highway, eighteenth century France Engineers on horseback inspecting the work, a painting Claude-Joseph Vernet, 1775. Credit: Lebrecht Music & Arts / Alamy Stock Photo.

How can the lessons of history be applied to the present? What are the benefits of taking the long view?  In this episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by the scholars Robert Crowcroft, editor of Applied History and Contemporary Policymaking: School of Statecraft, Phillip Bobbitt of the University of Texas, Iskander Rehman, an Ax:son Johnson Fellow at the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and Gill Bennett, former Chief Historian of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Image: The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull. Credit: Artimages / Alamy Stock Photo.

In our latest episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hessérus is joined by author, historian and journalist Katja Hoyer to discuss her new book Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990. Together, they discuss the GDR and its legacy today. Image: East German pioneers and musicians depicted in the porcelain frieze 'Building of the Republic' designed by German artist Max Lingner (1952–1953) on the building of the Council of Ministers of East Germany (former Reichsluftfahrtministerium), now the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus in Berlin, Germany. Credit: Azoor Photo / Alamy Stock Photo. 

Cities have been reduced to centres of soulless materialism and their citizens to non-stop consumers. If we hope to create beautiful surroundings, a rethink is required. Read by Leighton Pugh.  Image: The Vessel at Hudson Yards, New York City. Credit: robertharding / Alamy Stock Photo.