Chalke Talk

The podcast from the Chalke Valley History Festival
Released every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings

Chalke Talks for THEME: Empire


  • 12. THE PATIENT ASSASSIN: A TRUE TALE OF MASSACRE, REVENGE AND THE RAJ
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    On April 13th 1919, the British Indian Army opened fire on a crowd attending an unauthorised public meeting in Amritsar. Over 1,000 unarmed Indians were killed. Among the survivors was a young man who made a vow of vengeance that would ultimately prove successful. Prompted by her own family connections to the Amritsar massacre, Anita […]

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  • 35. TEN CITIES THAT MADE AN EMPIRE
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    Historian, broadcaster and former Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt takes a new approach towards the history and decline of the British Empire. By examining the stories and defining ideas of ten of the most important cities, he shows how they transformed the culture, economy and identity of the British Isles for good.

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  • THE BATTLE OF ISANDLWANA
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    The Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 was one of the most devastating defeats suffered by Britain at the hands of local inhabitants. The incredible Douglas Rattray explains the battle from both sides, highlighting the courage of the desperate British soldiers and the gallantry of the proud Zulu warriors. Our Eurocentric understanding of this titanic clash […]

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  • 92. ANCIENT WORLDS
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    Historian and broadcaster Michael Scott takes us on an epic journey of connections over 900 years. Explaining the birth of modern politics in Greece and Rome, the building of great empires, and the rise of great religions, he shows how our human story developed, and why the world exists as it does now. 

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  • 93. JERUSALEM: THE HOLY CITY AND THE MIDDLE EAST
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    Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilisations. Best-selling author Simon Sebag Montefiore tells the epic history of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence. 

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  • 94. WHEN BRITAIN BURNED THE WHITE HOUSE: THE 1814 INVASION OF WASHINGTON
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    In August 1814, the United States’ army was defeated in battle by a British invading force just outside Washington DC. In his compelling style, broadcaster and journalist Peter Snow recounts this unparalleled moment in American history, its far-reaching consequences for both sides and Britain’s and America’s decision never again to fight each other. 

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  • 95. THE ASSASSINATION OF JULIUS CAESAR
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    Thanks to Shakespeare, the death of Julius Caesar is the most famous assassination in history. But what actually happened on 15 March 44 BC is even more gripping than Shakespeare’s play. With a fresh perspective, American historian Professor Barry Strauss sheds new light on this fascinating, pivotal and carefully planned paramilitary operation and the mole […]

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  • 110. THIS ORIENT ISLE: ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND AND THE ISLAMIC WORLD
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    Professor Jerry Brotton turns his expert eye to Elizabeth I’s little-known relationship with the Islamic world, following her excommunication by the Pope in 1570. He reveals that England’s relations with the Muslim world were far more extensive than has ever been appreciated and that their influence was felt across the political, commercial and domestic landscape […]

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  • 117. EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI
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    Best-selling author of Wild Swans, Jung Chang gives a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of the most important woman in Chinese history. One of the Emperor’s concubines, she launched a palace coup to become the Empress Dowager Cixi, the absolute ruler of a third of the world’s population […]

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  • 129. THE BRITISH IN INDIA: THREE CENTURIES OF AMBITION AND EXPERIENCE
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    Distinguished historian David Gilmour traces the lives of hitherto unknown British men and women in India. They include soldiers, officials, businessmen, doctors and missionaries, planters and engineers, together with children, wives and sisters. He describes their work and their extraordinarily varied interactions with the native populations, painting a highly original portrait of three centuries of […]

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  • 135. THE SHORTEST HISTORY OF GERMANY
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    What is it about Germany? Lying at the heart of Europe, the story of the German peoples is an epic one of empires, wars and an extraordinarily rich culture. Internationally best-selling writer James Hawes gives a thrilling ride through German history from Julius Caesar to Angela Merkel and answers the eternal question: are the Germans really us, or them?

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  • 151. EMPIRES IN THE SUN: THE STRUGGLE FOR THE MASTERY OF AFRICA
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    In this talk about the men and ideas that radically changed the course of world history, Lawrence James investigates and analyses how, within a hundred years, Europeans persuaded and coerced Africa into becoming a subordinate part of the modern world. The continent proved to be a magnet for the high-minded, the philanthropic, the unscrupulous and […]

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  • 154. CLASH OF EMPIRES: ROME v GREECE
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    Rome. Greece. Two of the greatest civilisations ever to exist, yet the story of how the former came to conquer the latter just a few years after a brutal war with Carthage is little known today. The brilliant Ben Kane brings to life the characters, the political intrigue, the alliances made and broken, as well as the heroic […]

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  • 180. THE QUEEN
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    Renowned biographer A. N. Wilson celebrates the life of the Queen in this vibrant examination of Britain’s most iconic figure. He paints a vivid portrait of “Lilibet” the woman, and of her unfaltering reign during the tumultuous twentieth century, while asking candidly whether Britain can remain a constitutional monarchy after her reign ends.

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  • 189. LOTHARINGIA: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF EUROPE’S LOST COUNTRY
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    In 843 AD the territory of Emperor Charlemagne was divided between his three surviving grandsons. One inherited the area now known as France, another Germany and the third received the piece in between: Lotharingia, a huge swath of land that stretched from the mouth of the Rhine to the Alps. Simon Winder explains how the […]

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