🎧 Planning for Catastrophe
Latest Podcast Episodes 🎧 • 32m
How is it possible to avoid disasters when they are inherently unpredictable? Niall Ferguson, renowned historian, senior fellow at Stanford University, senior faculty fellow at Harvard and visiting professor at Tsinghua University, has been studying historical responses to catastrophes. In this episode of Warfare, he draws upon the World Wars, Spanish Influenza and the HIV/AIDS epidemic to discuss the politics of planning for the worst. Niall and James question whether the responsibility and capability to plan for events such as the Covid-19 pandemic or global warming lie with democratic leaders or are hampered by economics and technological progress.
Up Next in Latest Podcast Episodes 🎧
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🎧 Sinking the Bismarck
In May 1941 Nazi Germany's most powerful warship and pride of the Kriegsmarine the Bismarck slipped out of harbour and made its way to hunt Allied merchant shipping in the Atlantic. Operation Rheinubung would be its first and last mission. Alerted to her presence and desperate to protect its Atla...
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🎧 Battle at the Granicus: Alexander's...
If there had been a different outcome to the Battle of Granicus, we might never have heard about Alexander the Great. Taking place in 334 BC, this was his first major victory against the Persian Empire. In this episode, Tristan is joined by Adrian Goldsworthy to discuss Alexander and his tactics ...
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🎧 The "Spectacle of Suffering": A 16t...
The German executioner Meister Frantz Schmidt kept a fascinating journal of all the executions, torture and punishments he administered between 1573 and 1618. In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Joel Harrington to talk about Schmidt - who showed himself to be an...