History As It Happens

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The destruction of Palestinian society in Gaza is not over. More than five months after the ceasefire, Israel continues to kill Palestinians in airstrikes while restricting food and medicine to the enclave's desperate population. Yet the world's attention has moved on to other problems. Enter historian Jean-Pierre Filiu, who traveled to Gaza for 32 days to bear witness to the consequences of Israel's war of national annihilation. In this episode, Filiu shares what he experienced on the ground in Gaza, the subject of his new book, "A Historian in Gaza."
Further reading:
Why Gaza Matters by Jean-Pierre Filiu (in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations)

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, March 26.
Israel is at war in Lebanon again, displacing a million Lebanese from their homes in the southern part of the country, its latest attempt to disarm Hezbollah. This new invasion continues a long pattern stretching back decades, where Israel tries and fails to create a Lebanon it can control. In 1982, that meant picking the country's president amid a destructive civil war. It almost worked — until an assassin's bomb killed Bashir Gemayel. Our guest is historian Ahron Bregman.
Ahron Bregman is a historian at King's College London and the author of Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947.
Recommended reading:
Lebanon's Negations by Loubna El-Amine (New York Review)

Subscribe now for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Monday, March 23.
One of the world's longest ruling autocrats, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the opening blow of a war to defeat or destroy Iran. During his 37 years in power, Ali Khamenei was a mysterious figure, forged by revolution and fired by anti-Western hostility. He tormented his people and exported violence across the Greater Middle East. Who was he? And what is his legacy? Our guest is historian Roham Alvandi.
Dr Roham Alvandi is Associate Professor of International History and Director of the Iranian History Initiative at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Subscribe for early access, ad-free listening, and bonus content! HAIH Premium subscribers got this episode (with no ads!) on Thursday, March 19.
"Peace Through Strength" has long been a mantra in American foreign policy. Yet peace never seems to arrive despite all the strength. Instead, the Pentagon budget soars toward $1 trillion, and the U.S. military is being used to coerce and bomb other countries into submission once more — even after the cascading interventionist disasters of the post-9/11 period. In this episode, historian Brandan Buck charts the origins of "peace through strength" and reflects on the overlooked tradition of anti-war conservatism from the early 20th century.
Recommended reading:
When Peace Through Strength Means War is Peace by Brandan Buck and Beckett Elkins (The American Conservative)

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Nearly three weeks into launching an unprovoked attack on Iran, whose supreme leader was assassinated in an Israeli air strike, it has become clear that President Trump and his national security team badly misjudged their enemy. The regime is surviving. And, according to expert Vali Nasr, Iran is transitioning to an IRGC-led state with even more uncompromising leadership. Unintended consequences were, therefore, inevitable because key U.S. decision-makers misunderstood Iran and ignored intelligence warnings about the unlikelihood of regime collapse.

Vali Nasr teaches Middle East studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of "Iran's Grand Strategy: A Political History."