History As It Happens

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 16-minute episode (or preview 6 minutes). President Trump is the eighth U.S. president to visit China since Richard Nixon's bold gamble to establish diplomatic relations with the Communist country in 1972. During his two-day summit with Xi Jinping last week, Trump's first China trip since 2017, the two leaders praised one another and discussed several pressing issues, but they came away with few, if any, substantive breakthroughs. Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft offers his post-summit analysis.

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content! The Nazis' official name was the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which may seem a strange choice given Hitler's ferocious hostility toward Marxism and Communism. Yet many right-wing pundits and politicians today argue that the Nazis were a left-wing movement opposed to capitalism, as evidenced by the party's name, rhetoric, and policies. Is it true? Historian Roger Griffin, one of the world's leading experts on fascism, is here with a nuanced take on these historical ambiguities. Recommended reading: Fascism: A Quick Immersion by Roger Griffin

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content! What emerged as a national movement to liberate Europe's Jews by establishing a Jewish homeland has become a racist, irrational, vengeful state ideology worthy of history's dustbin, contends historian Omer Bartov in his new book, "Israel: What Went Wrong?" Bartov, an expert on the Holocaust and genocide at Brown University, was among the first major historians to warn that Israel's destruction of Gaza could turn genocidal. He argues that decades of the occupation of Palestinian territories (since 1967) had already inured most Israeli Jews to the suffering of others before the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023. Today, he says those feelings have hardened into outright hostility or utter indifference. Where did it start going wrong? Bartov points to Israel's founding: David Ben-Gurion's opposition to writing a constitution and to defining the new state's borders. History As It Happens Premium costs $5/month or $50/year. 10-day free trial, cancel any time. Subscribe here: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/ 

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 18-minute episode (or preview 6 minutes). Two and a half months after President Trump ordered U.S. forces to bomb Iran, there is no war, no peace, and the Strait of Hormuz is still closed at both ends. The global economy is staggering from the loss of energy resources (oil and natural gas) that normally traverse the strait. Iran wants to establish its sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz as part of any settlement. What's actually happening out there? The Wall Street Journal's chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov joins us from Dubai, which faces the Persian Gulf.

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! Lebanon, a small country on the Mediterranean coast that cannot defend its borders, is once again stuck in a hellacious bind, between Hezbollah fanaticism and Israeli destruction. Since its long civil war (1975-90), sectarian strife and foreign occupation have intermixed with economic mismanagement and political paralysis, leaving Lebanon in a near-permanent state of crisis. In this episode, Maha Yahya of Carnegie Middle East Center joins us from Beirut to explain the causes of the country's deep domestic problems. Recommended reading: Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon by Robert Fisk

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! A decade before the state of Israel was born, a revolt rocked the British mandate of Palestine. It was an uprising of Arab peasants directed at their colonial overlords, Zionist immigrants, and Arab elites. The Great Revolt of 1936-1939 nearly succeeded before it was crushed by overwhelming force, a setback from which the Palestinian national movement never truly recovered. When you listen to this episode, you'll hear its echoes in today's crisis. Our guest is Ted Swedenburg, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Arkansas and author of Memories of Revolt: The 1936–1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past.

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Monday, May 4. The United States' failure to defeat Iran in an unprovoked, undeclared war is fueling the notion that the U.S. is in decline. Its security commitments cover the globe. The annual defense budget is approaching $1 trillion. But the Pentagon can neither defend its Persian Gulf bases from low-cost drone attacks nor reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Forty years ago, a Yale historian named Paul Kennedy argued in a best-selling book that the U.S., like all great powers, could not avoid relative decline, especially if it failed to square means and ends. In those days, the national debt was $3 trillion. Today, it's soaring toward $40 trillion. Our guest is one of Paul Kennedy's old students, historian Jeremi Suri. Jeremi Suri teaches history at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes the Democracy of Hope newsletter and co-hosts This is Democracy podcast. Further reading: The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! Shortly after taking office in 1969, President Richard Nixon believed he might intimidate, through military threats, the Soviet Union and North Vietnam into making concessions at the peace table. In Nixon's words, it was "Madman theory." It didn't work. Today, President Trump has tried to bluster and bluff his way to victory over Iran, even threatening to wipe out Iranian civilization. Now the president hopes a naval blockade will force Tehran into surrendering the Strait of Hormuz and its nuclear ambitions. Historian Carolyn Eisenberg is our guest. Historian Carolyn Eisenberg teaches at Hofstra University. She is an expert on the Vietnam War and the author of Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia.

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! In late April 1986, what should have been a routine test at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northeastern Ukraine turned into an epic disaster, the largest ever accidental release of deadly radiation. It contaminated the earth, exposed the rot in the Soviet system, and changed the course of history. To this day, Chernobyl is not only a place on a map. It's a symbol of death, destruction, and the terrible legacy of the USSR. Mariana Budjeryn is our guest. Mariana Budjeryn is a senior researcher with the Center for Nuclear Security Policy at MIT's Security Studies Program. She is the author of Inheriting the Bomb: The Collapse of the USSR and the Nuclear Disarmament of Ukraine. Further listening: When Ukraine Had Nukes w/ Mariana Budjeryn

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, April 23. When he took power 25 years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to turn his country into a Great Power again, after it had endured a decade of poverty and humiliation following the collapse of the Soviet Union. But Russia is on the sidelines as wars and blockades in the Greater Middle East roil the global order. Yes, Russia has reportedly assisted Iran with satellite targeting intelligence, and its economy may benefit from the bump in oil prices. But Moscow is in no position to provide robust military assistance to its "strategic partner" Iran, and none of its representatives have been invited to the peace talks in Islamabad. Historian Sergey Radchenko explains why Russian influence is essentially irrelevant in a region where it once exerted an important presence. Sergey Radchenko teaches history at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power. Further reading: Putin's Persian Problem by Sergey Radchenko (Foreign Policy)

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Monday, April 20. With Gaza destroyed and Jewish settlers rampaging the West Bank, and with the IDF occupying parts of southern Lebanon and Syria, talk of achieving "Greater Israel" is now commonplace among influential political and media figures in Israel, as well as the settlers who have their eyes set on annexing Palestinian territory. What does this Old Testament idea mean? And what current forces — religious, nationalist, and others — are driving it? Political scientist Ian Lustick is our guest. Ian Lustick is a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He's the author of many books, including For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel. His next book, Israel's Lobby: America in the Grip of a Foreign Power, will be released in August, co-authored with Eli Clifton. Further listening: What is Zionism? w/ Ian Lustick

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, April 16. There was an old idea behind President Trump's threats to annihilate Iran's bridges, power plants, and other civilian infrastructure. It's called strategic bombing, and it was devised more than a century ago by an Italian air power theorist with a French-sounding name. Giulio Douhet said air power should be used to destroy the enemy's capacity to make war while terrorizing its citizens to crush their will to persevere. In this episode, historian David M. Kennedy discusses Douhet's ideas and the sinister purposes to which they can be applied. Recommended reading: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 20-minute episode (or preview 5 minutes). After 16 years in power, the self-described illiberal democrat Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz political party were trounced in Hungary's national elections. Critics of Orbán's authoritarian style had long become concerned that he had so tilted the electoral system in Fidesz's favor that he might never be beaten. So, what happened to MAGA darling Viktor Orbán? Political scientist Veronica Anghel of the European University Institute is our guest.

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! Great Britain, France, and Israel's secret plan in 1956 to invade Egypt, regain control of the Suez Canal, and force the nationalist strongman Gamal Nasser from power ended in strategic disaster. The Eisenhower administration angrily opposed the surprise attack and pressured the aggressors to withdraw, ensuring Egypt would maintain control of the vital waterway. Today, as the U.S. fights a war of choice against Iran with no easy way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, some believe the United States is experiencing its own 'Suez moment,' which will accelerate its strategic decline in a region where so many American projects have failed. Historian Salim Yaqub is our guest. Salim Yaqub is a historian at U.C. Santa Barbara and an expert on U.S. involvement in the Middle East in the postwar era. He's the author of "Containing Arab Nationalism: The Eisenhower Doctrine and the Middle East."

Keep the narrative flow going in 2026. Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! Over eight long years in the 1980s, Iraq and Iran pulverized each other in an unwinnable, pointless war that nonetheless began as an existential threat to the new revolutionary government in Tehran. In the crucible of war, the Islamic Republic cemented hardline clerical rule, crushed dissent, forged an identity, demonstrated its resilience, ensured the country's independence, and created a powerful national narrative to challenge hostile "imperialists" in the West and East. In this episode, political scientist Hussein Banai, an expert on U.S.-Iran relations, discusses the enduring relevance of the Iran-Iraq War as the theocratic regime attempts to survive a U.S.-Israeli onslaught in 2026. Recommended reading: Republics of Myth: National Narratives and the US-Iran Conflict by Hussein Banai, Malcolm Byrne, and John Tirman Iran-Iraq War (Encyclopedia Britannica)

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 38-minute episode (or preview 10 minutes). Can a Siberian peasant influence the course of history? In the case of Grigori Rasputin, the answer was yes. A wanderer, mystic, and spiritual healer, Rasputin was also corrupt and lecherous — and his meddling in the affairs of state helped bring down the Tsarist autocracy in the crucible of war and revolution. In this episode, Antony Beevor, the renowned military historian, talks about his new biography, 'Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs.' Further reading: Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921 by Antony Beevor

Keep the narrative flow going in 2026. Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! Wars in Eastern Europe and the Greater Middle East are killing and displacing societies and roiling the global economy. There is no end in sight: despite possessing powerful military arsenals and cutting-edge tech, warring states are unable to achieve decisive victories in modern warfare. In this episode, historian Michael Kimmage, the director of the Kennan Institute, defines the limits of power and how the failure to grasp these limits threatens further disorder. Recommended reading: The War in Ukraine Changed the World in Ways We're Only Starting to Comprehend by Michael Kimmage (New York Times) Collisions: The War in Ukraine and the Origins of the New Global Instability by Michael Kimmage

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! With the Greater Middle East on fire from Gaza to Iran, bureaucratic and administrative changes taking place inside Israel may be easy to overlook. The right-wing coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu and the country's security establishment are annexing the West Bank. Even before the Six-Day War in 1967, the West Bank, often called Judea and Samaria, had been eyed by Jewish settlers, some of whom believe their holy books sanction the taking of Palestinian territory. In this episode, Dahlia Scheindlin and Yael Berda delve into the historical origins of today's crisis and explain how annexation has been realized. Dahlia Scheindlin is a public opinion researcher and a political advisor who has worked on nine national campaigns in Israel and in 15 other countries. She is the author of The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled. Yael Berda is an Associate Professor of Sociology & Anthropology at Hebrew University. Her research focuses on the way bureaucracy shapes politics, and how mundane and routine practices of the state determine citizenship, sovereignty, and social power. Recommended reading: 'Tectonic': Israeli Annexation of the West Bank Is Now a Legal Reality by Dahlia Scheindlin (Haaretz) The Theory of Annexation by Ronit Levine-Schnur, Tamar Megiddo, and Yael Berda (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies)

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 22-minute episode (or preview 7 minutes). President Donald Trump is not the first president to consider seizing Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. Forty-six years ago, Jimmy Carter and his national security team mulled deploying troops to take the oil-critical island to compel Iran's revolutionary government to free more than 50 Americans held hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Today, the idea behind any such attack would be to force open the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed to most tanker traffic after the U.S. and Israel started bombing on Feb. 28. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri reflects on Carter's bind and the potentially disastrous consequences if Trump deploys boots on the ground. Jeremi Suri teaches at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He cohosts 'This is Democracy' podcast and co-writes the Democracy of Hope newsletter. Subscribe: www.historyasithappens.com

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! The destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza is not over. More than five months after the ceasefire, Israel continues to kill Palestinians in airstrikes while restricting food and medicine to the enclave's desperate population. Yet the world's attention has moved on to other problems. Enter historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, who traveled to Gaza for 32 days to bear witness to the consequences of Israel's war of national annihilation. In this episode, Filiu shares what he experienced on the ground in Gaza, the subject of his new book, "A Historian in Gaza." Further reading: Why Gaza Matters by Jean-Pierre Filiu (in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations)

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, March 26. Israel is at war in Lebanon again, displacing a million Lebanese from their homes in the southern part of the country, its latest attempt to disarm Hezbollah. This new invasion continues a long pattern stretching back decades, where Israel tries and fails to create a Lebanon it can control. In 1982, that meant picking the country's president amid a destructive civil war. It almost worked — until an assassin's bomb killed Bashir Gemayel. Our guest is historian Ahron Bregman. Ahron Bregman is a historian at King's College London and the author of Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. Recommended reading: Lebanon's Negations by Loubna El-Amine (New York Review)

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Monday, March 23. One of the world's longest ruling autocrats, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the opening blow of a war to defeat or destroy Iran. During his 37 years in power, Ali Khamenei was a mysterious figure, forged by revolution and fired by anti-Western hostility. He tormented his people and exported violence across the Greater Middle East. Who was he? And what is his legacy? Our guest is historian Roham Alvandi. Dr Roham Alvandi is Associate Professor of International History and Director of the Iranian History Initiative at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, March 19. "Peace Through Strength" has long been a mantra in American foreign policy. Yet peace never seems to arrive despite all the strength. Instead, the Pentagon budget soars toward $1 trillion, and the U.S. military is being used to coerce and bomb other countries into submission once more — even after the cascading interventionist disasters of the post-9/11 period. In this episode, historian Brandan Buck charts the origins of "peace through strength" and reflects on the overlooked tradition of anti-war conservatism from the early 20th century. Recommended reading: When Peace Through Strength Means War is Peace by Brandan Buck and Beckett Elkins (The American Conservative)

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 28-minute episode (or preview 7 minutes). Nearly three weeks into launching an unprovoked attack on Iran, whose supreme leader was assassinated in an Israeli air strike, it has become clear that President Trump and his national security team badly misjudged their enemy. The regime is surviving. And, according to expert Vali Nasr, Iran is transitioning to an IRGC-led state with even more uncompromising leadership. Unintended consequences were, therefore, inevitable because key U.S. decision-makers misunderstood Iran and ignored intelligence warnings about the unlikelihood of regime collapse. Vali Nasr teaches Middle East studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of "Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History."

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode on Monday, March 16. Thirty-five years ago, a U.S. administration built an international coalition and received congressional authorization to fight a major war in the Middle East. Today, an American president leaps into war with a videotaped announcement and not a peep of public debate. In this episode, historian Jeffrey Engel compares and contrasts the First Gulf War of 1990-91 to today's U.S.-Israeli onslaught on Iran. In some important ways, today's conflict was made possible by the earlier war, which, at the time, was considered a decisive victory. But there were unintended consequences: the U.S. has been unable to extract itself from the Middle East. Historian Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. He's the author of When the World Seemed New: George H. W. Bush and the End of the Cold War.

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode on Thursday, March 12. What is neoliberalism? Is it to blame for the crisis of American democracy? In this follow-up episode to What is Neoliberalism?, the historian Nelson Lichtenstein discusses the enormous economic changes that have transformed American capitalism, from free trade to global financialization following the Cold War's final chapter. Rather than "neoliberalism," today's complex problems would seem to need a new lexicon. Recommended reading: A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 25-minute episode (or preview 5 minutes). The regionwide war now engulfing the Greater Middle East has threatened to involve Turkey, after Iranian ballistic missiles headed for the country were successfully intercepted by NATO air defenses. Also, last month, former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett warned that a "new Turkish threat is emerging," accusing Ankara of plotting to encircle Israel with Islamist allies. In this episode, historian Howard Eissenstat explains Turkey's real interests in the war's outcome and why its relationship with Israel is dangerously deteriorating. Howard Eissenstat teaches at St. Lawrence University and the Stockholm University Institute of Turkish Studies (SUITS). Eissenstat's research focuses on the intersection of nationalism, religious identity, and policy in the Turkish Republic.

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode on Monday, March 9. The Nazis were in many ways unique, but the Army psychiatrist who evaluated the two dozen defendants at Nuremberg in 1945 saw in Germany's war criminals the potential for authoritarianism in all societies, including America. Douglas Kelley's warnings were not well received at the time, but they resonate today, as unaccountable authoritarian figures make war in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Author Jack El-Hai is our guest. Jack El-Hai is a magazine writer and nonfiction author who covers history, medicine, and crime. Among his many books is The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII. Credit: Audio excerpts are from Nuremberg (2025), Sony Pictures Classics.

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode on Thursday, March 5. In wars from Eastern Europe to the Greater Middle East, new technologies and tactics are transforming some battlefields, while in other theaters, warring states are leaning on failed ideas and magical thinking to somehow produce different and better outcomes — all while civilians shudder under the earth-shaking power of missiles and bombs. In this episode, Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reflects on the changing face of battle and the old mistakes repeated by modern statesmen. Recommended reading: Ukraine marks biggest evolution in military tactics since WWII by Anatol Lieven (Responsible Statecraft)

Subscribe now to listen to this entire 20-minute episode (or preview 5 minutes). Is the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran legal under international law? Did President Donald Trump fulfill his oath to the Constitution before hurling the country into another war in the Greater Middle East? And what about Iran's retaliation, which is sending missiles and drones into Gulf States aligned with the U.S? In this episode, Adil Haque, an expert on international law and the ethics of war, answers pressing questions about the new conflict threatening to pitch the Greater Middle East into chaos. Subscribe at historyasithappens.com for all our bonus content, ad-free listening, and early access to two regular episodes every week.

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode on Monday, March 2. This is the third episode in an occasional series for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The idea of the frontier compelled Americans to seek new lands and independence since before the days of the American Revolution. Before the United States became a powerful global empire, ordinary Americans sought to conquer a continent, making war against Native Peoples. In this episode, historian Alan Taylor explains what drove common farmers to cross the Appalachians despite a royal proclamation forbidding such settlement. Alan Taylor is professor emeritus of history at the University of Virginia and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. America250 podcast series: Episode 1:  Thomas Paine's Common Sense Episode 2:  Ideas of the American Revolution Recommended reading: American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 by Alan Taylor

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! Editor's note: Shortly after this episode was published, news broke that Iran's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an air strike. Americans awoke on Saturday to learn their leaders, along with Israel, launched another unprovoked air attack against Iran. Unlike last June's 12-day-long war, President Donald Trump says the goal this time around is to topple the clerical regime in Tehran so the Iranian people can rise up. Historian Jeremi Suri, an expert on U.S. foreign policy, joins this special episode of History As It Happens to assess the start of another U.S. war of choice in the Greater Middle East. Historian Jeremi Suri teaches at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He co-hosts This is Democracy podcast and co-writes Democracy of Hope newsletter.

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! History As It Happens Premium subscribers got this episode on Thursday, Feb. 26. Twenty-six years after coming to power, Vladimir Putin is prosecuting a ruinous war in Ukraine and tightening the screws of repression at home. How much longer can his rule endure under these suffocating circumstances? In this episode, historian Nina Khrushcheva shares what she saw during her recent trip to Russia — in a society descending into tyranny, but where some expressions of discontent are still permitted. Khrushcheva teaches at the New School. She is an editor of and a contributor to Project Syndicate. She's the author of several books, including one about her great-grandfather: Nikita Khrushchev: An Outlier of the System (2024). Recommended reading: Russia's Descent into Tyranny by Nina Khrushcheva in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations. Subscribe to the podcast at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe now for early access to this episode and all future shows. Early access is the newest benefit of becoming a History As It Happens Premium subscriber. You'll get new episodes a day or two ahead of everyone else, plus ad-free listening and bonus content! The Russian invasion of Ukraine is entering its fifth year with no end in sight despite several rounds of U.S.-mediated negotiating sessions. The battlefield dead and wounded have reportedly surpassed a million men, yet neither side is on the brink of military or political collapse. Neither side is close to victory. In this episode, historians Michael Kimmage and Mark Galeotti try to place this tragic and unnecessary conflict in historical perspective, as the opposing armies send a generation of their young to fight and die over piles of rubble in eastern Ukraine. Michael Kimmage is the founding director of the independent Kennan Institute. He is the author of "Collisions: The War in Ukraine and the Origins of the New Global Instability." Mark Galeotti is an Honorary Professor at University College London, an expert on Russian military history, and the author of many books, including "Forged in War: A Military History of Russia From Its Beginnings to Today." Subscribe at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com

Subscribe now to listen to this entire 28-minute episode (or preview 7 minutes). The United States may soon be at war in the Middle East — again! President Trump is weighing whether to attack Iran, although neither he nor any administration official has bothered to fully explain why. Congress seems unwilling or incapable of intervening, although there is little public enthusiasm for another unnecessary war in the Greater Middle East. What the hell is going on? The Cato Institute's Justin Logan takes us inside the "imperial presidency." Justin Logan is the director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. He is an expert on U.S. grand strategy, international relations theory, and American foreign policy.

Subscribe now for access to the back catalog of 525+ episodes. Plus ad-free listening and bonus content. Germany is rearming, and it's making some of its European allies a little uncomfortable. No one believes a militarily powerful Germany would be bent on conquest. Rather, German hegemony, meant to deter Russian aggression, could renew rivalries and competition with European allies at a time when cooperation and coordination are necessary, according to historian Liana Fix. Liana Fix teaches at Georgetown University. She is a senior fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations, whose official publication is Foreign Affairs.  Recommended reading: Europe's Next Hegemon by Liana Fix (Foreign Affairs)

Subscribe now for 24/7 access to the entire catalog of 500+ episodes. Chinese President Xi Jinping is purging the military's leadership, raising doubts about the People's Liberation Army's readiness. China has not fought a war since 1979, so how can anyone know whether the United States' No. 1 rival can fight and win a conflict in Taiwan, the South China Sea, or some other flashpoint? David Finkelstein, an expert on Chinese military and security matters at CNA, is our guest. CNA is an independent research institute in Arlington, Virginia. 

Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening and bonus content. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026! "Nuremberg," starring Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, and Michael Shannon, has renewed interest in the landmark trials of Nazi war criminals after the Second World War. The movie is an important reminder that justice is possible if there's a will to seek it, as it seems unimaginable that many of today's worst perpetrators will ever end up in the dock at The Hague. Alex Whiting, an expert on international law and former ICC prosecutor, is our guest. Credit: audio excerpts are from Nuremberg (2025), Sony Pictures Classics. 

Subscribe now to listen to this entire 28-minute episode (or preview 7 minutes). Nuclear arms control, RIP. The expiration of the New START treaty, agreed in 2010, marks the end of an era that began in 1972 with the first major U.S.-Soviet strategic nuclear arms pact brokered by Nixon and Brezhnev. In this episode, weapons control expert Joe Cirincione reflects on the new arms race underway and the potential for more countries to take the nuclear leap, plunging the planet into a dangerous new era. Recommended reading: The Greatest Nuclear Threat by Joe Cirincione (Strategy & History newsletter) Why Trump Let Nuclear Arms Control Die by Stephen Holmes (Project Syndicate)

This is the second episode in an occasional series for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Listen to the first show here. Why did America's eighteenth-century revolutionaries revolt? Which ideas influenced their decisions and behavior? The answers depend on which revolutionaries you're talking about, from colonial society's elites to ordinary people hoping to survive the crisis with their lives and property. The ideas of the American Revolution are indispensable to understanding why a long and bloody war was fought to throw off the yoke of tyranny. Historian Kate Carté is our guest. Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening and bonus content. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026! Recommended reading: Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History by Kate Carté, historian, Southern Methodist University

Subscribe for 24/7 access to the entire catalog of 500+ episodes (or listen free to only the 40 most recent episodes). The fascism debate is intensifying as the Trump administration lurches deeper into authoritarianism. Analogies abound, trying to connect or liken what's happening today to the death of democracy in interwar Europe — or to dark chapters in America's past. Is there an American fascism? Is it possible to look for it without invoking history's most infamous fascist, Adolf Hitler? Historian Gavriel Rosenfeld is our guest. Gavriel Rosenfeld is a historian at Fairfield University and the president of the Center for Jewish History. He's the author or editor of eight books, including The Fourth Reich: The Specter of Nazism from World War II to the Present and Fascism in America: Past and Present. Additional reading: An American Führer? Nazi Analogies and the Attempt to Explain Donald Trump by Gavriel Rosenfeld (Cambridge University Press — article) The Counterfactual History Review — Blog by Gavriel Rosenfeld

Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening and bonus content. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026! It wasn't very long ago when U.S. policymakers relied on a species of grand strategist known as the Sovietologist. It was the Cold War, and the strategies for dealing with the USSR ranged from containment to rollback, to détente and peaceful bridge-building. Zbigniew Brzezinski formulated the latter. President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser was an ardent anti-communist with a pragmatic streak, whose goal was to accelerate the breakup of the Soviet Empire. He also supported Palestinian autonomy, and after the Cold War, Brzezinski backed NATO expansion in Eastern Europe while criticizing the excesses of the global war on terror. In this episode, the Financial Times' Edward Luce discusses his timely biography, Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet. Also read: Martin Di Caro's review of Luce's book for Responsible Statecraft.  

Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening and bonus content. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026! President Trump's harsh immigration crackdown would not be possible without a militarized law enforcement apparatus that presidents and legislators of both political parties built over decades. Even before the 9/11/2001 terrorist strikes, immigration began to be viewed as a national security concern requiring billions to beef up enforcement and deportations, while sensible immigration reform failed to pass Congress time and again. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri explores the origins of today's crisis as President Trump's federal paramilitary force terrorizes American communities. Jeremi Suri teaches history at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes the newsletter Democracy of Hope and co-hosts This is Democracy podcast. Further reading: ICE Needs the DOGE Treatment by Jeremi Suri (Wall Street Journal)

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 28-minute episode. (Or preview 7 minutes). On the streets of Minnesota, a federal paramilitary force in combat gear is executing a deliberate policy of terror and violence against American citizens and their immigrant neighbors. The lawless conduct of President Trump's immigration enforcers has supercharged a debate that's been roiling since 2016: Is Trumpism a form of fascism? In this episode, historian Roger Griffin argues that American (and global) democracy is under assault not from a resurgence of fascism, but from anti-liberal forces and ideas at odds with the universal values that were supposed to gain ascendance after 1945: democracy, human rights, and tolerance.

Subscribe now for 24/7 access to the entire catalog of 500+ episodes, ad-free listening, and bonus content. The Trump administration's National Security Strategy calls for "flexible realism" in foreign policy, a supposed departure from the military adventurism that led to disasters in the Greater Middle East. Realism prioritizes national interests rather than ideology or high principles, such as democracy and human rights. Is Donald Trump a realist? What are the historical origins of realism? What are its opposites? In this episode, scholars Linda Kinstler and Stephen Wertheim break it down. Linda Kinstler is a contributing writer for New York Times Magazine and a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Stephen Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.  Recommended reading: The Theory That Gives Trump a Blank Check For Aggression by Linda Kinstler (New York Times)

Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening and bonus content. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026! This month Iran's clerical leaders and security forces spilled oceans of blood to suppress mass demonstrations after Iranians took to the streets to protest the regime's economic and political failings. Systematic violence has always been a tool utilized by the Islamic Republic to enforce obedience, but never in its history have Iran's leaders killed so many people in a short amount of time, if an estimated death toll of at least 10,000 — possibly 20,000 — is accurate. In this episode, historian Naghmeh Sohrabi examines the origins of a regime whose current government is desperately trying to hold onto power by killing thousands of its people. Recommended reading: These Are the True Things — Naghmeh Sohrabi's Substack about Iran/Middle East How much longer can Iran's Islamic Republic survive? by Ali Ansari (New Statesman) Iran's coming reckoning by Siamak Namazi (Middle East Institute) Iran's ayatollah will fall — but the road may be long and deadly by Simon Sebag Montefiore (The Times of London)

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 37-minute episode. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the rules-based order is being ruptured by powerful countries who prefer coercion over negotiation. The following day, as if on cue, President Donald Trump broadcast his obsession with acquiring Greenland, although he said he would not use force. In this episode, the Quincy Institute's Anatol Lieven discusses the potential dangers when the world's most powerful leader seems to believe preposterously false ideas, such as the imaginary threat posed to Greenland by Russia or China. Editor's note: After this podcast was published, President Trump said he was dropping his threat to impose tariffs on European allies as a way of obtaining Greenland through economic pressure.  Non-subscribers may preview 12 minutes of this episode. Don't miss out! Subscribe: historyasithappens.supercast.com Recommended reading: Trump's new 'gangster' threats against Greenland cross line by Anatol Lieven (Responsible Statecraft)

Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening and bonus content. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026! This is the first in an occasional series of episodes (one or two per month) marking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In January 1776, a pamphlet printed in Philadelphia became an instant sensation. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" was a provocative attack on the British constitution and hereditary monarchy, and a call for American colonists to seek independence. In this episode, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, the executive director of Mount Vernon's George Washington Presidential Library, takes us back to the ideas and arguments that made a revolution. Recommended reading: To Make the World Again by Lindsay Chervinsky (Imperfect Union on Substack) Common Sense (contextus.org)

Subscribe now to enjoy ad-free listening. Keep the narrative flow going in 2026! Greenland's geostrategic importance to the United States has been evident since the Second World War, when FDR sent U.S. forces to occupy the island and capture German weather stations on its eastern shore. After WWII, President Harry Truman, in secret, offered to buy Greenland from Denmark, but Denmark turned him down. As the Cold War froze in 1949, the two nations became official allies under the NATO treaty. Today, despite having access to Greenland under a 1951 agreement, President Donald Trump is threatening to seize it, claiming falsely that if Washington doesn't act, Russia and China will. Mikkel Olesen of the Danish Institute for International Studies tries to make sense of this madness. Recommended reading: The history of U.S. presence in Greenland by Mikkel Olesen

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 30-minute episode. Since U.S. forces snatched Nicolàs Maduro and hauled him to New York, Americans have been asking questions about Venezuela, especially after the Trump administration announced its plans to run the country's moribund oil industry. Are U.S. oil firms clamoring to exploit Venezuela's enormous petroleum reserves? Does the global market need more oil? In this episode, historian Giuliano Garavini of Roma Tre University explains it all. He's an expert on the Global South, energy, and natural resources. Non-subscribers may preview 5 minutes of this episode. Subscribe: historyasithappens.supercast.com  

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy 24/7 access to the entire catalog of 500+ episodes. In the long history of U.S. intervention in Latin America, the name Jacobo Arbenz is forgotten in the United States. Not so in Guatemala, where the democratically elected leftist was toppled in a CIA-backed coup in 1954. Arbenz had angered United Fruit Company. More than 70 years before the U.S. abducted Nicolàs Maduro to seize control of Venezuela's oil, there was a coup over bananas. Historian Julia Young is our guest.