History As It Happens

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The regionwide war now engulfing the Greater Middle East has threatened to involve Turkey, after Iranian ballistic missiles headed for the country were successfully intercepted by NATO air defenses. Also, last month, former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett warned that a "new Turkish threat is emerging," accusing Ankara of plotting to encircle Israel with Islamist allies. In this episode, historian Howard Eissenstat explains Turkey's real interests in the war's outcome and why its relationship with Israel is dangerously deteriorating.
Howard Eissenstat teaches at St. Lawrence University and the Stockholm University Institute of Turkish Studies (SUITS). Eissenstat's research focuses on the intersection of nationalism, religious identity, and policy in the Turkish Republic.

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The Nazis were in many ways unique, but the Army psychiatrist who evaluated the two dozen defendants at Nuremberg in 1945 saw in Germany's war criminals the potential for authoritarianism in all societies, including America. Douglas Kelley's warnings were not well received at the time, but they resonate today, as unaccountable authoritarian figures make war in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Author Jack El-Hai is our guest.
Jack El-Hai is a magazine writer and nonfiction author who covers history, medicine, and crime. Among his many books is The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII.
Credit: Audio excerpts are from Nuremberg (2025), Sony Pictures Classics.

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In wars from Eastern Europe to the Greater Middle East, new technologies and tactics are transforming some battlefields, while in other theaters, warring states are leaning on failed ideas and magical thinking to somehow produce different and better outcomes — all while civilians shudder under the earth-shaking power of missiles and bombs. In this episode, Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reflects on the changing face of battle and the old mistakes repeated by modern statesmen.
Recommended reading:
Ukraine marks biggest evolution in military tactics since WWII by Anatol Lieven (Responsible Statecraft)

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Is the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran legal under international law? Did President Donald Trump fulfill his oath to the Constitution before hurling the country into another war in the Greater Middle East? And what about Iran's retaliation, which is sending missiles and drones into Gulf States aligned with the U.S? In this episode, Adil Haque, an expert on international law and the ethics of war, answers pressing questions about the new conflict threatening to pitch the Greater Middle East into chaos.
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Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode on Monday, March 2.
This is the third episode in an occasional series for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The idea of the frontier compelled Americans to seek new lands and independence since before the days of the American Revolution. Before the United States became a powerful global empire, ordinary Americans sought to conquer a continent, making war against Native Peoples. In this episode, historian Alan Taylor explains what drove common farmers to cross the Appalachians despite a royal proclamation forbidding such settlement.
Alan Taylor is professor emeritus of history at the University of Virginia and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner.
America250 podcast series:
Episode 1:  Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Episode 2:  Ideas of the American Revolution
Recommended reading:
American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 by Alan Taylor