BBC Radio Podcasts from How to Invent a Country
Taiwan
They look so sturdy on the map, but what is a country and when do they take shape?
China: The Life and Times of Chairman Mao
The Long March, the Civil War, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution
China: imperial collapse
The end of the Qing and the troubled birth of the republic under Dr Sun Yat-sen
China - to kowtow or not to kowtow
Find out how the world's greatest civilisation found itself dragged into two opium wars
China - the first emperor
Misha Glenny and Miles Warde head east to find out what is China and where it came from?
Turkey - Ottoman or Turk
A bonus episode with Hannah Lucinda Smith, Christopher de Bellaigue and Misha Glenny
Turkey - A Delicate Balancing Act
Ep 3 - How the republic of Turkey emerged from the ruins of World War One
Turkey - The Military and Decline
EP 2 - The Invention of Turkey and slow decline of the empire from the siege of Vienna
Turkey - The Ottomans: East or West
Ep1 - Istanbul and Mehmet the Conqueror. Misha Glenny on the birth of the Ottoman empire
Russia - the sacred song of war
Ep 4 - The Invention of Russia, presented by Misha Glenny and produced by Miles Warde
Russia - the bear moves west
Ep 3 - The Invention of Russia and Catherine the Great, presented by Misha Glenny
Russia - the Empire Strikes Back
Ep 2 - The Invention of Russia and the expansion east to Siberia, west into Ukraine
Russia - A Tale of Two Ivans
Ep 1 The Invention of Russia ... told from a time when it was still very small
Return to Spain
with Sir John Eliot, plus exciting news
Poland - Stalin on one side, Hitler to the left
Ep 3 - Poland reborn and invaded again. Misha Glenny presents, Miles Warde holds the mic.
Poland - a nation without a state
EP 2 - Misha Glenny on Poland's 123 year absence from the map, produced by Miles Warde
Poland - Obliterated from the map
Ep 1 - how Europe's largest state was sliced and diced by Russia, Prussia and Austria.
The Birth of Bangladesh
Bangladesh was born in 1971.
Scandinavia - the narcissism of small differences
Ep3 Norway and fish, followed by oil
Scandinavia - The Viking Inheritance
The Swedish Baltic Empire ... why it's not all Abba and social democracy with the Swedes
Scandinavia - The Bridge
Ep 1 "Danes talk about Swedes all the time. Swedes don't talk about Danes so much."
Ireland - escalation!
"The thing about the border - we've lived it. It doesn't feel like history to us."
Ireland - plantation and conflict
Dr Joan Redmond talks to Misha Glenny about Ireland, England and the early seeds of war
Ireland - we used the word pagan as kids!
Fintan O'Toole talks to Misha Glenny about Catholics, Protestants, and Top of the Pops
The Invention of Britain #4 - so many different little corners!
Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales - why all these borders, and what do they mean?
The Invention of Britain #3
Insecurity - from Dover to Dublin, presented by Misha Glenny and produced by Miles Warde
The Invention of Britain #2
Anglocentrism .... or why Britons Never Will Be Slaves
The Invention of Britain #1- like quicksand for the uninitiated
What is Britain? Who are the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish, the English?
Italy - Garibaldi's Grand Scheme #2
Are we Italian or not? With Leoluca Orlando, Lucy Riall, Tim Parks, Lucy Hughes-Hallett.
Italy - Garibaldi's Grand Scheme #1
Back to Italy with guerrilla numero uno
The Alps - Did the English invent skiing?
Misha Glenny on the early alpine visitors who were either very ill, or very rich.
The Alps - and why Switzerland exists
Natural borders vs mountain borders
The Alps - an icy row of teeth
How the Alps divide Europe in two
Le petit Napoleon
The Invention of France #3
The Terror, the Terror
The Invention of France #2
Joan of Arc and England's role in defining France
The Invention of France #1
The Invention of Brazil #3
Getulio Vargas, inventor of Brazil?
The Invention of Brazil #2
Independence or death!
The Invention of Brazil #1
I came by boat
The Invention of Spain #3
A sense of disaster
The Invention of Spain #2
The heroic last stand
The Invention of Spain #1
What is Catalonia? What's Castille?
The Invention of Italy #3
Big appetite, bad teeth
The Invention of Italy #2
The man in the red cape
The Invention of Italy #1
A less than sturdy boot
The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Habsburgs #3
The end of the dynasty
The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Habsburgs #2
King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor - where did it all go wrong?
The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Habsburgs #1
How did a small family from Switzerland become Europe's greatest dynasty?
The Netherlands - Why Belgium?
There is a faultline in Europe, from the North Sea to the Alps. Belgium sits halfway.
The Netherlands - The Dutch Golden Age
How Amsterdam became one of the world's leading cities in a few short decades
The Netherlands - Orange Fever
How did a few boggy provinces become one of the trading heavyweights of the world?
The USA - The Melting Pot
Misha Glenny on the people came to America, and the people who were there first
The USA - The Borderlands
To invent a country you have to define a country. Misha Glenny on the borders of the USA.
The USA - It'll Never Work!
Misha Glenny on the invention of the most powerful country in the world
Germany - Germany Unified
Bismarck, Prussia ... and just how big will Germany be? Produced by Miles Warde
Germany - The Rise of Prussia
Misha Glenny on the rise of Prussia under Frederick the Great
Germany - A Hotly Contested Piece of Real Estate
Misha Glenny with a new history of Germany before the Nazis and two world wars
Welcome to How to Invent a Country
When did countries become countries? Misha Glenny finds out.