While often presented as simply long-suffering victims of historic persecution, this series investigates the historical roles such groups played in this vast and complex region spanning the Baltics to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Rhine to the Ural Mountains.

Bringing together a range of interviews with internationally recognised experts, it considers how the momentous changes that befell the region in this period impacted upon the lives of millions, such as the creation of new countries on the ruins of Europe’s former empires.

Guests include Orlando Figes (Birkbeck, University of London), Molly Greene (Princeton University), Mark Levene (University of Southampton), Cathie Carmichael (University of East Anglia), Andrii Portnov (European University, Viadrina), Matthew Frank (University of Leeds), Raul Carstocea (Maynooth University), Boerries Kuzmany (University of Vienna), John Paul Newman (Maynooth University), and Tomasz Kamusella (University of St Andrews). Each episode will be released weekly from early October and will be made available for free via a range of online platforms including the official IHR and BASEES websites.