The Balkans: The Birth and Death of Yugoslavia

Churchill may have said that the Balkans produce more history than it can consume, but in this episode Misha Glenny and Miles Warde head out to discover if it's true. This is a road trip through Bosnia, Belgrade and northern Greece. The aim? To explore the collapse of the Ottoman empire and see how it fed into the start of World War One. There's also a also pause for sausage in Serbia, while they find themselves in a massive street protest in Thessaloniki. This is history from the ground, and features contributions from Dubravka Stojanovic, Ivan Krastev, Maria Todorova, James Heneage and Hannah Lucinda Smith, author of Hinterlands. And at the Museum of the Macedonian Struggle they meet Dr Konstantinos Papanikolaou and Vangelis Kansizoglou. This is series eighteen of The Invention of ... on Radio 4, following on from previous visits to Taiwan, Turkey, Brazil and beyond. Misha Glenny is the author of McMafia and The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers. The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde

June 28 1914 - a young Bosnian on a street corner in Sarajevo fired a shot that triggered World War One. Why is this region so unstable, and what lessons can we learn from that event. Misha Glenny was a famous reporter during the wars of the 1990s, well-placed to find answers in a region he's travelled for years. Is the violence the fault of the people who live here, or are there bigger, outside forces at work? This is the latest from the team behind The Invention of ... series which has recently been to China, Russia, Turkey and Hungary. Much of it is recorded on location, and contributors include Vesna Goldsworthy, Maria Todorova and Tim Butcher, author of The Trigger: Hunting the Assassin Who Bought the World to War. Misha Glenny is the outgoing rector of the IWM in Vienna and presenter of In Our Time. His reporting from Yugoslavia won a Sony Gold in 1993. The producer for BBC Studios is Miles Warde. This is series eighteen and other contributors include Hannah Lucinda-Smith, Ivan Krastev, James Heneage, Lea Ypi, Faruk Sehic and Dubravka Stojanovic. Locations include Sarajevo, Belgrade and Thessaloniki in northern Greece and the team occasionally pause for lunch.

It's easy to forget how entwined Hungary has been in some of the worst events of the last 100 years – losers in the first world war, the country initially sided with the Nazis in the second, tried to change its mind, was invaded by the Germans then taken over by the Soviets, then tried to kick out the Soviets … and failed. What, asks Misha Glenny, are the consequences of this history now, and how does the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban view the Russians today. Recorded on location at the scenes of some of the fiercest fighting in 1956. "The Hungarian revolution and the Prague spring 12 years later - these were events that had a huge impact on me, and I have to say gave me a romantic infection for Hungarians and their struggles which has never entirely left me." With contributions from Adam LeBor, author of The Last Days of Budapest: Spies, Nazis, Rescuers and Resistance; plus Paul Lendvai, Tibor Fischer, Simon Winder nd Victor Sebestyen formerly of the FT and writer of Budapest: Between East and West. The producer for BBC Studios Audio in Bristol is Miles Warde

"Brussels is abusing its power," said Victor Orban, "just as Vienna once did." The date, March 15 2025 - this year - but the reference was to March 1848 when Hungary rose up against its Austrian overlords, a great moment for many Hungarians today. Misha Glenny and producer Miles Warde were in Budapest when Viktor Orban made his speech, looking for the source of that revolution, who turned out to be a poet, Sandor Petofi. So is Viktor Orban right to draw parallels between then and now, or is he using history as a political tool?

Misha Glenny and producer Miles Warde travel from Vienna to Budapest and beyond to find out how Hungarian hardman Viktor Orban stays in power. With an election coming up next year, now seemed a good time to find out how he uses history in his campaigns, beginning with a battle his country lost to the Ottomans back in 1526. "There are going to be three dates that matter in our series - 1526 and the battle of Mohacs; 1848, when the Hungarians rebelled against their Austrian overlords; and 1956, when anti Soviet protestors stood up to the Russian Bear … and were crushed. Three dates, three defeats, powerful moments in any nation’s history for politicians to exploit." This is the thirteenth in the international How to Invent a Country series that asks where countries come from, and what are the stories people tell themselves about their past. Misha Glenny is the award-winning author of McMafia and currently head of the IWM in Vienna. With contributions from Paul Lendvai. Reka Kinga Papp, Simon Winder, Kamilla Marosi, Tibor Fischer and Nick Thorpe, plus Norbert Papp on location near Mohacs. "The actual events of the battle don't matter - history is just raw material for politicians," Papp says. The producer for BBC Studios Audio is Miles Warde.