Conflicted: A History Podcast

Conflicted: A History Podcast

Untangling history’s greatest controversies. Every month, we take a hard look at the historical conflicts that raise difficult questions, stoke controversy, and send our moral compasses spinning.

Recent Episodes

40 Hours to Freedom: The Invention of the Weekend

March 3, 2023

Where does the two-day weekend come from? In this standalone episode of Conflicted, we trace the historical trajectory of that oasis of leisure and free time we call “the weekend”. From its mystical beginnings in the religi…

The Partition of India – Part 6: The Spent Bullet

Jan. 2, 2023

As a plot to assassinate Mohandas Gandhi unfolds, the Mahatma goes to existential lengths to reconcile India’s Hindu, Sikh and Muslim communities. Meanwhile, a shadow war erupts between India and Pakistan over the picturesqu…

The Partition of India – Part 5: A Crisis Made Flesh

Nov. 17, 2022

The “chief sufferers” of Partition, according to Mohandas Gandhi, were women. As the subcontinent descended into chaos, women of all religious communities become prime targets in the war for honor and land. Across the Punjab…

The Partition of India – Part 4: Unholy Rush

Oct. 26, 2022

As Partition finally becomes reality in August 1947, the new boundary sparks a mass migration in the Punjab and Bengal. Atrocity and ethnic cleansing soon follow. The Sikhs, a long-ignored but well-armed religious minority, …

The Partition of India – Part 3: A Tryst With Destiny

Sept. 15, 2022

It’s 1947. After many long years of struggle, India is about to gain its independence from the British Empire. But freedom will come at a cost. To facilitate the handover of power, the Crown sends Lord Louis Mountbatten – th…

The Partition of India – Part 2: Two Blind Eyes

Aug. 3, 2022

As the British Raj crumbles, old animosities begin to stir in the subcontinent’s communities. Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru face a formidable new adversary in the form of Muhammed Ali Jinnah, who calls for the creati…