Stories of Conflict

Stories of Conflict : L'Irlande

Stories of Conflict: Irland

From the first English colonisation to the latest difficult negotiations over the British-Irish border, the story of the Northern Irish conflict

program_content

Brexit

Ireland: Colonisation to Brexit

From the first English colonisation to the latest difficult negotiations over the British-Irish border, the story of the Northern Irish conflict.

program_playNext

Forget bombardments, skirmishes, ambushes and attacks: The future of warfare is online.

Cyberwarfare

Everyone agrees that war is terrible and yet somehow conflicts continue and soldiers around the world are sent off to kill and be killed. How do governments convince their electorates that war is a necessary evil? One word: PR.

The Manufacturing of Consent

Understanding the European union and how it came to be can seem difficult. Here is an attempt to explain everything in six minutes.

European (De)Construction

The United Nations, on paper, was a great idea: bringing all the states of the world together to ban war was daring. But in practice, things are very different. Power is concentrated in just five countries, with the 188 others having little say. Is the UN fit for purpose?

Is the UN in its Death Throes?

Today, China is the second largest economic power in the world. But China's ambition doesn't seem to be global conquest: instead, it wants to ensure the submission of its neighbours.

China Takes Centre Stage

Today, China is the second largest economic power in the world. What does that mean for its neighbours?

Today every nation wants their very own nuclear programme. The Islamic Republic of Iran claimed to be developing nuclear energy for peaceful means whereas many Western nations thought otherwise. However, everything was running smoothly until a certain American president came along.

Iran's Nuclear Programme

For 35 years President Tito kept Yugoslavia’s diverse population living in peace. But after the fall of communism thinks started to fall apart.

Yugoslavia: War of the Exes

For 35 years President Tito kept Yugoslavia’s diverse population living in peace. But after the fall of communism thinks started to fall apart.  

With independence came partition, as the new nations of India and Pakistan came into being as British rule ended. But these young nations quickly came to blows and the contested region of Kashmir was stuck right in the middle.

India vs Pakistan

With independence came partition, as the news nations of India and Pakistan came into being as British rule ended. But these young nations quickly came to blows and the contested region of Kashmir was stuck right in the middle.

Turkey is often seen as a bridge between East and West. But at the moment this bridge seems unstable with war in the Middle East, a refugee crisis, and an increasingly bellicose president Erdogan. Understanding Turkey today in five minutes.

Turkey and its Neighbours

You might think that North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un is just a crazy overweight man with glasses. But there is method to Rocketman’s madness and its running rings around the United States.

Why Rocketman Builds Them

Terrorism has been around much longer than radical Islam with nation states having always struggled to define what it is and how to tackle it. This episode will try just that in five minutes.

Terrorism - Our Old Friend

Terrorism has been around much longer than radical Islam with nation states having always struggled to define what it is and how to tackle it.

Tensions between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran are nothing new. For starters, there's the religious differences, with Sunni Saudis on one side and Shiite Iranians on the other. And now, as they vie for regional influence, proxy conflicts are fought in other lands.

Saudi Arabia Versus Iran

The relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran are an ongoing source of tension in the region. Here's your five minute recap  

After 40 years of rule by Colonel Gaddafi, the military intervention by France, Britain and the USA in 2011 led to his downfall. What followed did not exactly go to plan. Or rather, there was no plan.

Libya: Sons of Anarchy

Forget about polar bears and their pristine icy wilderness. As the icecap melts with climate change the arctic is becoming a strategic region for maritime traffic, oil and gas.

An Arctic Cold War

As the icecap melts with climate change the arctic is becoming a strategic region for maritime traffic, oil and gas.

A coming together of nations in peaceful competition, respect and harmony? Or a ruthless geopolitical tussle for the top spot where doping becomes the norm? A history of the Olympic games in 5 minutes.

The Olympic Games

A coming together of nations in peaceful competition, respect and harmony? Or a ruthless geopolitical tussle for the top spot where doping becomes the norm? 

Tweeting has become a communication shortcut, disrupting traditional diplomacy. But does a free-tweeting Donald Trump represent a threat to world peace?

Trump: Let’s Tweet Again

Does a free-tweeting Donald Trump represent a threat to world peace?

Crimea has changed hands many times over the centuries. And under President Putin, it has had its last, perhaps definitive, switch. But this has huge consequences for the West and neighbouring countries. Not since World War Two have national boundaries been redrawn using force.

Russia, Ukraine and the Future of Crimea

Crimea has changed hands many times over the centuries. And under President Putin, it has had perhaps its last switch.

RC-016693

program_recommendations

An investigation into a little-known story from the Second World War. Having planned and executed their mass murders, the Nazis meticulously eliminated traces of their crimes against humanity between 1942 and 1944: The so-called Operation 1005.

How the Nazis Covered up their Crimes

The Nazis meticulously eliminated traces of their crimes against humanity between 1942 and 1944: The so-called Operation 1005.

Operation 1005

In the 1970s, Israel offered to accept Falacha Jews from Ethiopia who were facing persecution. But their government refused to let them leave. So Mossad agents set up a hotel as a cover for their underground people smuggling operation. They manage to evacuate thousands of Falacha Jews to the safety of Israel. Yola was the manager of this hotel.

Yola and Hotel Mossad

The story of how Yola ran a hotel as a cover for a people smuggling operation

Female Spies Tell All

A few days before their marriage, Ludmila's fiancé admits to her that he works for the KGB and that he's leaving to go live in Argentina under a false identity. If she wants to stay with him, she has to become a spy as well. After two years of training, she joins him in Buenos Aires, where the couple tracks down SS officials who fled to Latin America after the fall of Nazi Germany. 

Ludmila, KGB Agent

How Ludmila went from bride to Nazi hunter

program_bonus

Bonuses and Extracts

program_external

Discover more

program_categoryMostViewed

On 22 July 2016 a German high-school student David Sonboly killed nine people in a seemingly random attack in a Munich shopping-centre. Why do some young people become mass murderers? A look at radicalisation within extreme-right groups online.

Youth Violence Online

Why do some young people become mass murderers? A look at radicalisation within extreme-right groups online.

Like. Hate. Die

Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish perform at Hellfest 2022.

Nightwish

Hellfest 2022

In Europe, the last primary forests are found almost exclusively in the mountains in the east or south-east of the continent. These virgin forests have never been exploited or cut down, and have remained as they have always been. Few studies have been done on this forests, which are presumably havens of biodiversity. We go on a research trip to the Dinaric Alps in Albania.

The Green Lungs of Europe

We go on a research trip to the Dinaric Alps in Albania

Geo Reportage

The trio led by Matthew Bellamy is one of the most explosive and creative forces in rock music over the past two decades. There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Tempelhof Sounds 2022

 There is no one else quite like Muse. Be impressed by their committed performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Sounds Festival.

Muse

Anglo-French guitarist Laura Cox presents the Scorpions, probably the most successful German rock band ever, headlining at Hellfest 2022. For more than five decades the German five-piece has been producing international hits and have sold more than 100 million records.

Anglo-French guitarist Laura Cox presents the Scorpions, probably the most successful German rock band ever, headlining at Hellfest 2022. 

Scorpions

Young Korean musicians have been taking the world of classical music by storm. A new generation are winning the big prizes and pursuing successful careers in Europe and around the world. What makes these Korean classical artists so good? A documentary following the rising stars of K-Classic

The Korean Musical Mystery

Generation K-Classics

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland. Once German East Prussia, it is now home to 1 million Russian citizens. What is life like in this small territory now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began?

Kaliningrad: Putin's Enclave

The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad sits between Lithuania and Poland and is now practically cut off from its EU neighbours since the war in Ukraine began.

ARTE Reportage

Sheffield natives Bring Me The Horizon bring their heterogeneous metal sound to Hellfest 2022.

Bring Me The Horizon

As Lithuania stops Russia from transporting goods by train through its territory to Kaliningrad, a focus on the history of this singular Russian territory.

The Kaliningrad Affair

Mapping the World Essentials

Why does the European Union allow deadly pesticides banned at home to be exported to developing countries? Brazil, especially, uses large quantities of harmful pesticides imported from Europe with terrible effects on the population’s health.

Why does the European Union allow deadly pesticides banned at home to be exported to developing countries? 

Pesticides: European Hypocrisy

In an historic turnaround, Sweden and Finland want to join NATO thus ending their decades-long neutrality. The war in Ukraine has reawakened fears of the Russian neighbour.

Finland and Sweden Opt for NATO

In an historic turnaround, Sweden and Finland want to join NATO thus ending their decades-long neutrality. 

English post-punk duo Sleaford Mods tear up the Tempelhof stage with their visceral and poetic creations full of raw indignation.

Sleaford Mods

Just a few weeks before the release of their new album, The Sick and the Dying… and the Dead! Thrash metal stars Megadeth perform at Hellfest 2022.

Megadeth

According to the latest calculations by the OECD, South Korean women could live to be over 92 years old on average in 2070, and men over 89. That would be a world record. What's the secret?

South Korea: An Obsession With Health

South Koreans are on track to be the longest-lived people in the world

Mixing punk and old-school metal, Welsh band BFMV are set up to tear up Hellfest 2022.

Bullet For My Valentine

Folk, americana, country, rock - the music of The Lumineers is the sound of America. But with III, they take a darker turn as they explore the issue of addiction in three acts, and prove that they are so much more than Ho Hey.

The Lumineers, performing live in Paris, take a darker turn with their record III, which explores the issue of addiction in three acts

The Lumineers at the Zenith in Paris

The philanthropic foundation set up by US billionaire Bill Gates quietly co-finances experiments with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in several African countries. In the age of philanthropic capitalism, billionaires "save the world" and make money in the process. But who is helped the most, ordinary Africans or the food industry?

 In the age of philanthropic capitalism, billionaires "save the world" and make money in the process. An investigation into GM experiments in Africa.

Africa, GMOs and Bill Gates

Dutch band Epica returns to Hellfest to present Omega, a new album showing off their inimitable symphonic heavy metal sound.

Epica

The Days Off festival invites former Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker to revisit classic French pop songs from the 1960s, tracks immortalised in the Wes Anderson film, The French Dispatch.
Live from the Philharmonie de Paris, 2 July 2022.

Days Off 2022

Former Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker revisits classic French pop songs from the 1960s, tracks immortalised in the Wes Anderson film, The French Dispatch.
Live from the Philharmonie de Paris, 2 July 2022.

Jarvis Cocker

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed is an exception in the Muslim world: The French-Algerian imam is openly gay. For the past ten year he has led a progressive and inclusive movement promoting an Islam that respects the LGBT+ community, women’s right, and interfaith dialogue.

A Gay Imam

Ludovic-Mohamed-Zahed is an exception in the Muslim world: The French-Algerian imam is openly gay.

Ireland: Colonisation to Brexit