Episodes

Gaul is a battleground & Rome is on the retreat. The Visigoths, Burgundians and Franks vie for supremacy while Gauls are trapped in between them...yet maybe 'Barbaria' isn't as bad as it seems.

The Huns march westward, pushing uncountable numbers of Germans towards Rome. The Romanized Franks have to defend Gaul while the empire crumbles. But the more successful the Franks are the more they realize Rome needs them more than they need it.

In this interview with Dr. Tom Chaffin, we discuss his new book Revolutionary Brothers: Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, and the Friendship that Helped Forge Two Nations. We talk about Lafayette and Jefferson's wor...

Christianity finally comes center-stage! During the 2nd-3rd centuries Gaul gets a host of saints and miracles and becomes an important part of the Christian world. But state persecutions and heresy threaten the faithful.

What was life like for ordinary people in 4th century Gallia? In this episode we're covering men, women, children, the family, culture, entertainment, language, medicine, the environment, food, barbarians & everything else th...

In this special episode, I interview Dr. Robin Mitchell on her new book Vénus Noire: Black Women and Colonial Fantasies in Nineteenth-Century France. We talk about three African women, Ourika, Sarah Baartmann and Jeanne Duval...

Galerius rules from the East and Constantine fears for his life. One night the young man flees to Gaul to rejoin his father in the west. When Constantius dies his son becomes emperor. In the chaos that follows the ambitious m...

The year is 285. Diocletian is the undisputed master of a Roman world in tatters. Gaul has fallen completely apart as its own people ravage the land looking for food while German hordes poor in. Diocleatian sends two emperors...

Rome is falling apart. It's being invaded along its entire northern and eastern borders. Emperors are assassinated. Usurper generals rise up every year to seize power. Plague devastates the empire. Out of this chaos a Gallic ...

Rome ascends to unprecedented glory by the time of Antoninus Pius. Then the unthinkable happens and the ancient superpower is hit with one disaster after another. Plague, civil war and invasion bring the glorious empire to it...

Dr. Cameron Zinsou talks about the tense waiting period known as 'The Phoney War.' Zinsou argues that despite no large-scale military engagements occuring a whole lot happened. French society had to reorganize for total war a...

Nearly two centuries of Gallia's history go missing. What happened to the records and what happened in Gallia?

The Haitian Revolution has often been described as an oddity that had little impact on the world. Since then, historians have challenged this narrative and argue that Haiti's victory over France had a huge impact on the Atlan...

The Year of the Four Emperors in the Roman Empire brings chaos and war. In Gallia, three people claim divinity as they revolt against the empire.

Guest host Sarah K. Miles tells the fascinating story of how radical bookseller François Maspero spread revolutionary anti-colonial ideas from the left bank of the Seine. Listen as Ms. Miles recounts how Maspero evaded govern...

Another revolt convinces Tiberius and later Claudius that the only way to civilize Gallia is to rid it of its druids. Gallia survives the madness of Caligula and then unites with Hispania to overthrow Nero.

Dr. Catherine Kudlick of San Francisco State University talks about a blind community in 19th century Paris. Furthermore, she talks about disability, disease and what those meant in French history.

Augustus decides to invade Germania and Romanize it as he did with Gallia. Family drama and an insurrection give the Germans a chance to revolt. What follows is one of Rome's greatest tragedies and a history-defining moment f...

UC Berkeley's Dr. Ethan Katz talks about how Jewish Resistance Fighters captured Algiers for the Allies in 1942. Then we discuss the history and importance of Jewish-Muslim relations in France, which has the largest populatio...

Gallia wasn't as peaceful as Augustus' propaganda would have you believe. Meanwhile, Germania's shadow stretched across the Rhine. Until the bold leader Drusus decides to march to the ends of the Earth for the glory of Rome a...

Prof. Annabelle Dolidon talks about the history of French science-fiction and how it deals with questions of transhumanism, artificial intelligence, climate change, and other potential futures.

How much of Celtic religion and culture remained during the Augustan reforms? Did the Romans wipe away the old Gaul? And how much did the Gauls influence Rome? All of these and more are answered in today's episode.

Dr. Bohling of Portland State University explains how France, a country with very limited fossil fuels, became an energy leader. Along the way he dispels myths about France falling in love with nuclear power and their positio...

Caesar launches a civil war, then Octavian and Mark Antony launch another, and finally Octavian turns on Mark Antony. All the while the Roman wars leave Gaul in relative peace as the country heals. Octavian becomes the first ...