War — History’s Ultimate Failure

THIS IS HISTORY — A DYNASTY TO DIE FOR

Sony Music

History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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 amid the 20th-Century’s rapid technological change. – A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices –– Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day Producer - Alan Weedon Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman Researcher - Phoebe Joyce Executive Producer - Louisa Field Executive Producer - Dan Jones Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day Production Manager - Jen Mistri Production Coordinator - Eric Ryan Head of Content - Chris Skinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I did grow up in a war zone.
0:01.6	Of course she did.
0:02.3	I mean, effectively, yes.
0:03.6	How was that?
0:04.8	At the time, because as a child, you don't think to question the context of your life.
0:10.3	But now looking back on it, and actually, let me just massively pick up the name I'm about to drop with a loud clang.
0:18.0	When Jamie Dornan came on my other podcast, How to Fail, he and I went to the same
0:24.7	secondary school in Belfast and it was an incredibly healing conversation because he had a miserable
0:30.9	time at that school as well and I was able to recategorise some of the experiences that I'd had.
0:38.8	I routinely would be evacuated from shopping centres because of bomb scares.
0:42.9	You know, there were military checkpoints on the way to school.
0:45.2	I used to walk past the most bombed hotel in Europe.
0:47.6	And one day walked past and there'd been a bomb the night before and I saw the mangled
0:52.0	wreckage of cars and every August men in Batacavas would march down the streets.
0:57.1	And there was a normality to it that I think masked how much that was to ingest as a child.
1:04.5	But it's something that has made me forever more curious about history
1:10.2	and also about conflict and how we tell the stories of conflict
1:15.5	to each other, about each other, which is why I was so keen to talk about this subject today.
1:23.2	Hello, I'm Dan Jones, a medievalist, and I'm thankful I'm not actually in the Middle Ages.
1:29.5	Why? Because a restless boss didn't bode well for employees.
1:35.9	Well, I'm glad to say that finding the right hire now is safe and super convenient with Indeed.
1:42.4	But don't take my word for it. There are more than 3.3 million
	...

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