Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 4,17 Oct 2023,28 mins

Available for over a year

Tom Bateman concludes his history of the French and British Mandates in the Middle East as he examines how events in the 1940s still reverberate today. Drawing on his years as a BBC Correspondent based in Jerusalem, Tom examines a period in the region’s history when the pressures of war and competing national claims pushed Britain to retreat from the Mandate. He reveals how, from political movements and movements of people to ideas and lines on maps, the decisions taken by France and Britain as their Mandates came to an end were foundational. Producer: Giles Edwards.

Programme Website
More episodes