Episodes

  • 278. India’s First Partition: Burma’s Brexit (Part 1)

    278. India’s First Partition: Burma’s Brexit (Part 1)
    Aug 4 2025
    Why did Japan’s invasion of Burma in WW2 affect its path to independence? Who was the Burmese fascist leader who praised Hitler for his views on immigration? How did the separation of Burma link to the origin of the Rohingya Genocide? Anita and William are joined by Sam Dalrymple, author of Shattered Lands: Five Partitions And The Making of Modern Asia, to discuss Burma’s separation from India in 1937. Become a member of the Empire Club via empirepoduk.com to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    47 mins
  • 277. America Drills Through Hell’s Gorge (Part 5)

    277. America Drills Through Hell’s Gorge (Part 5)
    Jul 30 2025
    How did the US orchestrate the Panamanian Revolution to be able to build the Panama Canal? Why did French engineer Bunau-Varilla and the US sign a treaty about Panama without a single Panamanian in the room? How did Americans impose Jim Crow laws in The Canal Zone? William and Anita are joined by Matthew Parker, author of Hell’s Gorge: The Battle To Build The Panama Canal, to discuss how America finally completed the building of the Canal and entered the dawn of the American Century… Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • 276. The Biggest Corruption Scandal in French History (Part 4)

    276. The Biggest Corruption Scandal in French History (Part 4)
    Jul 28 2025
    How was George Eiffel of the Eiffel Tower involved in a huge corruption scandal associated with the Panama Canal? How many workers died during the French attempt to build the canal? And who was Bunau-Varilla and how did this smooth-talking moustache-wielding French engineer manage to sweet talk the US government to back his plan? Anita and William are joined once again by Matthew Parker, author of Hell’s Gorge: The Battle To Build The Panama Canal, to discuss how French dreams were dashed when the project came crumbling down, and how one man climbed out of the rubble and charmed his way to the White House… Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    32 mins
  • The Great Fire of London

    The Great Fire of London
    Jul 24 2025
    William and Anita are joined by historian and co-host of Goalhanger’s Journey Through Time, David Olusoga, to discuss their new series on The Great Fire of London. What caused the capital to go up in flames on 2nd September, 1666? How did a fire that started in a bakery grow to engulf so much of the city? Who was Samuel Pepys, the great diarist who documented the fire? Listen to Journey Through Time, a podcast telling history from the bottom up, to get the full story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    12 mins
  • 275. The Battle To Build The Panama Canal (Part 3)

    275. The Battle To Build The Panama Canal (Part 3)
    Jul 23 2025
    What madcap schemes did French engineers use to drum up support to build the Panama Canal in the 1880s? How did the Gold Rush affect the flow of travellers through Panama looking for a shortcut? Who was the eccentric Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps and why did he fly a hot air balloon over Paris to support the building of the Panama Canal? William and Anita are joined by Matthew Parker, author of Hell’s Gorge: The Battle To Build The Panama Canal, to discuss the nineteenth-century history of Panama and the French campaign to drill a sea canal through the isthmus. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • 274. Pirates of Panama: Francis Drake Strikes Spain's Empire (Part 2)

    274. Pirates of Panama: Francis Drake Strikes Spain's Empire (Part 2)
    Jul 21 2025
    Who was Captain Morgan, and why is a spiced rum named after him? How did a Welsh buccaneer lead an attack on the heart of Spain’s empire in Panama? How did Elizabeth I fund Francis Drake’s first slaving voyage? William and Anita are joined once again by historian and archaeologist Mark Horton to discuss pirate raids in Panama in the 1600s. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    50 mins
  • 273. Panama’s Brutish Conquistador Who Found The Pacific and Lost His Head (Part 1)

    273. Panama’s Brutish Conquistador Who Found The Pacific and Lost His Head (Part 1)
    Jul 16 2025
    Who was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean? Who was Balboa and why did he set his bloodhounds on Native people in Panama? Why do we remember Cortes over the brutish conquistador Balboa? Anita and William are joined by Mark Horton to discuss the conquistadors in Panama. Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    46 mins
  • 272. Solving The Mystery of America's Lost Colony

    272. Solving The Mystery of America's Lost Colony
    Jul 15 2025
    Have archaeologists finally solved the 400 year mystery of the lost American colonists? Who orchestrated historical hoaxes in the 1930s and did they get away with it? How has the history of the Roanoke Colony been reappropriated by the right-wing? Anita and William are joined by archaeologist Mark Horton to exclusively discuss his exciting new discovery through his work on the Roanoke dig site this year… ----------------- Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. ----------------- Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    46 mins