The Rest Is History
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714 episodes
Episode details
"The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided….”The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, left behind him a monumental legacy: an Empire which would last millennia, the foundations of the Great Wall of China, and an eerie Terracotta Army - 8000 warriors who would protect the Emperor in the afterlife. His deeply autocratic reign, and the brutal tactics he used to conquer rival states and establish the Chinese Empire, have seen him cast as the archetype of the “bad emperor”. And when compared with Qin Shi Huang, Mao boasted that “when you berate us for imitating his despotism, we are happy to agree!”. But was Chinese unification under one empire inevitable, or did it need a ruthless figure to centralise power? And to what terrifying lengths did the first Emperor go to secure immortality…?Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the fantastical First Emperor of China - one of the world’s most powerful and formidable rulers. From warring kingdoms and ruthless suppressions, to necromancy, mythical beasts, doom-ridden prophecies, and even 20th century Chinese Communism. *The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024*Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.comTwitter:@TheRestHistory@holland_tom@dcsandbrookProducer: Theo Young-SmithAssistant Producer: Tabby SyrettExecutive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
714 episodes
445. The Habsburgs: Secrets of a Dynasty
The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Habsburg dynasty's mightiest ruler, was at once King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands and Duke of Burgundy. With a lineage supposedly stretching back to Noah’s Ark, and a name bor…
444. The First Emperor of China
"The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided….”The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, left behind him a monumental legacy: an Empire which would last millennia, the foundations of the Great Wall of China, and an eerie Terra…
443. Lord Byron: Death of a Vampire (Part 4)
Rumours surrounding Lord Byron’s scandalous divorce rippled throughout the world. Finally, he had no choice but to abandon England in disgrace and flee to Italy, an exile but still the most famous man in Europe. Then, in the summer of 1816…
442. Lord Byron: Dangerous Liaisons (Part 3)
Good God I am surely in hell!Upon Lord Byron’s return to England and the publication of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, he became one of the most notorious men in Europe and the world's first celebrity. The next period of his life would be roc…
441. Lord Byron: Scandal, Sex and Celebrity (Part 2)
By 1809, Lord Byron found himself untethered and debt-ridden. Disenchanted with politics, frustrated by his literary career and haunted by his illicit homosexuality, he abandoned an oppressive England and set out upon his legendary Eastern…
440. Lord Byron: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Part 1)
Few lives from history can have contained as many strange and exciting strands as that of Lord Byron's, whose story reflects the great dramas of the Napoleonic era. A vampiric hero of devilish charisma; a martyr for liberty, a licentious l…
439. Disco: Sex and Race in Seventies America
Music for sex, dancing, and watching the straight world go by… The explosion of Disco provides an extraordinary window into the tumultuous world of the 1970s, with its themes of sex, drugs, race and sexuality. By the start of the 1970s, Am…
438. The Moonwalkers, with Tom Hanks
“We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard…”In his speech at Rice University, Texas, in September 1962, President John F. Kennedy r…
437. Luther: A World Torn Apart (Part 5)
“I think there is not a devil left in hell, they have all gone into the peasants… smite, stab and slay all”. Following on from Martin Luther’s dramatic abduction by his powerful protector, Frederick III, he had been secretly kept safe at W…
436. Luther: Showdown with the Emperor (Part 4)
"I cannot and will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.…Here I stand, I can do no other”The Diet of Worms in April 1521 was one of history’s most dramatic confrontations, a clash of the old world and …