BBC Radio Podcasts from How to Invent a Country
Two World Wars, One Failed Revolution
How Hungary grabbed the world's attention resisting the Soviets in 1956
The Butcher And The Poet
In 1848 a poet in a coffee shop set off a revolution that still reverberates today
Hungary and Mohacs 500
How does Viktor Orban blend Hungarian history and politics to stay in power?
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.