War — History’s Ultimate Failure

About this episode

In this episode, Dan and Elizabeth discuss war as history's ultimate failure and its impact on society and culture.

Elizabeth Day grew up in Belfast and would as a child walk past the most bombed hotel in Europe. Dan Jones recalls a Croatian widow whose husband went out for bread and never returned. In this final episode of History’s Greatest Fails, Dan and Elizabeth name war as history's ultimate failure and reflect on the changes that follow societal collapse. Together, they draw on conflicts that have changed the course of world history, such as the Hundred Years' War, the World Wars, the Troubles, and the breakup of Yugoslavia. Plus, Elizabeth delves into a special area of interest: How societies choose to remember war and how that has influenced the evolution of art, literature, and architecture. So what can we learn from history’s ultimate failure? – As always, Dan’s royal favourites can chime in anytime on the royal court on Patreon at patreon.com/thisishistory. And don’t forget to listen to this season’s accompanying bonus episodes for this miniseries, where Dan and Producer Al are dissecting the biggest historical failures as submitted by the royal favourites. In this episode, they attempt to answer why invading Russia is never a good idea, and the futility of France’s Maginot line…

People in this episode

Hosts: Elizabeth Day, Dan Jones

Topics covered

• war
• history
• societal collapse
• memory of war
• art
• literature
• architecture

Keywords

• war
• history
• societal collapse
• Hundred Years' War
• World Wars
• art
• literature
• architecture

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Belfast, Europe

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