History As It Happens

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 Beckette 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 this 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)