Episodes
| Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Afghan Dawn | 20141126 | Fergal Keane on the first stirrings of Islamic fundamentalist violence in Afghanistan. How and why did this remote country earn its reputation as the crucible of global terror? With journalist Ahmed Rashid; former CIA officer, Milt Bearden; aide to Ahmad Shah Massoud, Massoud Khalili; and South Asia Correspondent of the Guardian and Observer, Jason Burke. Producer: Isobel Eaton. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Africa Erupts | 20131025 | Terrorist tactics had pushed the French from Algeria. Could they also be successfully used against South Africa's apartheid regime? Fergal Keane considers the dilemma faced by Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, an organisation founded on the principals of non-violent protest. With Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in prison alongside Nelson Mandela for his role in the ANC's struggle and Gillian Slovo, whose father, Joe Slovo was a leader of the ANC's armed wing. Her mother, the anti-apartheid campaigner, Ruth First, was killed by a letter bomb authorised by the South African police in 1982. Fergal Keane visits Liliesleaf Farm near Johannesberg, the scene of the arrest of the leadership of the ANC's military wing in 1963, as they prepared to put their plans for a wider armed struggle against apartheid into action. Producer: Isobel Eaton. Fergal Keane considers the dilemma the ANC faced over the use of terrorist tactics. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Beirut: City Of Terror | 20141201 | Beirut became a crucible of terrorism in the 1980s. Fergal Keane revisits the time of kidnap, chaos and the birth of Hezbollah. He drops into Hezbollah's Mleeta 'theme park' and discusses the period with Paul Salem of the Carnegie Institute, Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Timur Goksel of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. Producers: Alasdair Cross and Ghadi Sary. Beirut became a crucible of terrorism in the 1980s. Fergal Keane revisits the city. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Carlos: International Terrorist | 20131022 | To his friends Carlos the Jackal was a charming bon viveur, a lover of fine wine and glamorous women. To western intelligence agencies in the 1970s, he was Public Enemy Number One, an unpredictable assassin, as likely to kill for money as for the Palestinian cause he claimed to support. Fergal Keane follows the trail of Carlos from his Marxist up-bringing in Venezuela to university in Moscow and guerrilla training camps before his entry onto the international scene with a series of spectacular attacks against perceived enemies of the Palestinians. Fergal talks to the French judge who eventually tracked him down and convicted him and to Bassam Abu Sharif, the Palestinian spokesman who first spotted his capacity to grab the imagination of the media. Producer: Alasdair Cross. Fergal Keane considers the career of Carlos the Jackal. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Death Wish: Battling Suicide Bombers | 20141202 | Fergal Keane visits Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to discover how Israeli society reacted to a wave of suicide bombers. He's joined by Assaf Moghadan, a researcher at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism, former Israeli Army commander Nitzan Nuriel and by Professor Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University. Producer: Alasdair Cross. Fergal Keane visits Israel to discover how suicide bombing changed society. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory | 20131018 | For more than 40 years the Basque separatist group, ETA, fought a violent campaign to win independence from Spain. In January 2011 the group declared a permanent ceasefire. Fergal Keane travels to Spain to try to understand why ETA's struggle lasted for so long. In the Basque Country he speaks to one of the founder members of the organisation, who gave up the armed struggle in the 1980s. In Madrid he meets a young Basque politician who lost a leg to an ETA car bomb, and he meets the sister of Miguel Angel Blanco whose kidnapping and murder in 1997 brought millions onto the streets of Spain to call for ETA to end their violence. With Professor Rogelio Alonso of Madrid's King Juan Carlos University and Professor Paul Preston of the LSE. Producer: Isobel Eaton. Fergal Keane looks back on the 40-year struggle of the Basque separatists, ETA. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Empires Crumble | 20131010 | It was arguably the most devastating act of terrorism of all time. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set Europe on the road to a war that cost sixteen million lives. Fergal Keane travels to Sarajevo to examine the impact of Gavrilo Princip's crime. Even today he's a source of tension between the people of the Balkans: a freedom-loving hero to many Serbs; a murderous terrorist to many Bosnian Muslims. Joined by Margaret MacMillan, author of 'The War That Ended Peace' and Richard English of St Andrews University, Fergal explores the motivation for, and the legacy of Princip's fatal shots. Fergal visits Sarajevo to consider the legacy of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Hijack! | 20131021 | On the 6th of September 1970 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine launched one of the most spectacular acts of terror ever attempted. Three aircraft were to be hijacked on the same day and taken to Dawson's Field, an ex-RAF airfield in Jordan. The intention was two-fold; to force the release of Palestinian militants being held in prison in Germany, Switzerland and Israel and to raise the profile of the Palestinian demands for statehood. One of the hijackers was a young woman, Leila Khaled. She was charged with the toughest job, taking over an El Al aircraft flying from Amsterdam to New York. The attempt went badly wrong. Shlomo Vider, an El Al steward was seriously injured, hi-jacker, Patrick Argeullo was shot dead by an Israeli security guard and Khaled was forced to the floor as the pilot landed at Heathrow Airport. Fergal Keane talks to Khaled about the events of that day and the sudden British involvement in Palestinian affairs. PFLP sympathisers seized a British Airways jet to force Khaled's release from Ealing police station, leaving the Heath government with little apparent choice but to negotiate with hijackers. Fergal is joined by Peter Snow who was an ITN journalist at the time, Keith Goulbourn, son of the hijacked British pilot and government official, Baron Wilson of Dinton to consider an affair that turned Khaled into an icon of Palestinian resistance and set some very uncomfortable precedents. Producer: Polly Weston. Fergal explores the airline hijackings of 1970 and meets Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Killers In The Casbah | 20131016 | For Nelson Mandela's ANC and Yassar Arafat's PLO the Algerian war of independence was a shining example of how a powerful government could be defeated by a highly motivated group of activists. In 1954 Algeria was an integral part of France, with a million long-established settlers dominating the local Arab majority. The decision of a new revolutionary group, the FLN, to use violence in the struggle for Algerian independence began a period of savagery which would result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a decade of chaos in the politics of France. Fergal Keane and historian Martin Evans explore the roots of the conflict and its legacy of terrorist violence around the world. Producer: Alasdair Cross. The Arab revolt against the French in Algeria is explored by Fergal Keane. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Laying Down The Law | 20141204 | After 9/11 the United Nations demanded that all member states tighten their laws to fight terrorism. Fergal Keane asks if freedom was threatened in the rush to legislate. He's joined by former Mossad chief, Efraim Halevy, Brian Jenkins of the Rand Corporation, Conor Gearty from the London School of Economics.and the UK Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC. Producer: Alasdair Cross. Fergal Keane examines how the legal system has changed to tackle terrorism since 9/11. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Mossad: The Wrath Of God | 20141124 | Perception is power' says one former head of Mossad. If that's true, then Israel's international spy agency is very powerful indeed. When the planes struck the twin towers in 2001, it was Mossad that the world's security agencies turned to, drawing on their decades of experience in fighting terrorism. Their reputation is based upon the drama and daring of the operations they mount. From the Wrath of God campaign against the Palestinians suspected of planning the Munich Olympics massacre to the assassination plots against prominent figures in Hamas and Hezbollah, Mossad attacks have regularly made headline news. Even when their operations go disastrously wrong, killing innocent people or leading to the arrest of their agents, they still serve to strike fear in the enemies of Israel. In the first episode of ten examining the world of terrorism in the run-up to 9/11, Fergal Keane asks if the reputation of Mossad has been a help or a hindrance to peace in the Middle East. Has the agency's ruthlessness destroyed the efforts of moderate voices on both sides or stopped the worst perpetrators of violence in their tracks? Fergal is joined by the author of a new history of Mossad, Ronan Bergman, by Palestinian activist and victim of a Mossad attack, Bassam Abu Sharif and by ex-Mossad chiefs, Shabtai Shavit and Efraim Halevy. Producer: Alasdair Cross. The extraordinary history of Mossad, Israel's international security agency. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Mujahideen On Tour | 20141203 | Foreign Islamic fighters flocked to Bosnia during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Fergal Keane visits Sarajevo to ask if they helped kickstart a new wave of terrorism. He's joined by the former United Nations High Representative for Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown and by a local journalist who lived through the conflict, Sabina Niksic. Producer: Alasdair Cross. Islamic fighters joined the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Fergal Keane gauges their impact. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Napoleon And The Birth Of Terror | 20131007 | Paris, Christmas Eve 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte is caught by the blast from an enormous cart bomb as he's driven to the opera. Who is to blame? Disgruntled Royalists, his former revolutionary colleagues or a British government waging in-direct war on the Napoleonic regime? Terrorism has driven enormous political and legal change, violently impacting on the lives of millions of people around the world. But how did we get here, how did terrorism turn into such a powerful force in world affairs? In a major new series Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism, taking us from the horrors of the French Revolution through the age of the great anarchist scare to the scourge of hi-jacking and the latest developments in counter-terrorism. As one of the BBC's most experienced foreign correspondents Fergal will be drawing on decades of experience reporting on political violence in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Africa and Sri Lanka to track the development of terror as a tactic. Former terrorists, their victims and the security services that confront them will be revealing the personal experiences that give a fresh perspective on some of the most vicious conflicts in world history. Experts from the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St Andrews University add the political and historical context to help us understand and cope with the phenomenon of terrorism. Paris, 1800. Napoleon Bonaparte is caught by the blast from an enormous cart bomb. |
| No Future: The Great Anarchist Scare | 20131009 | February 1894, Greenwich Park, London. A young Frenchman, Martial Bourdin is killed by a bomb he's carrying toward the Royal Observatory. The contents of his pockets reveal his connection to the international anarchists who fled the continent for the safe haven of London. Was Britain about to endure a wave of anarchist attacks? In the third part of a new series on the roots of modern terrorism, Fergal Keane plunges into the Soho underworld of Russian nihilists, German socialists and French anarchists. Most were content to enjoy the security of their temporary British home but to the police they were a potentially dangerous menace, plotting revolution and promoting agitation. Were there lone wolves amongst them willing to kill whilst others talked? Historians Orlando Figes, Constance Bantman and Robert Hampson and conceptual artist Rod Dickinson help Fergal piece together the story of the men and women who wanted to remake society, whatever the cost. Fergal Keane meets the anarchists who petrified the genteel society of the 1890s. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Northern Ireland: The End Game | 20141128 | Fergal Keane on the peace deal that brought the long conflict with the IRA to an end. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Six Against Sixty Million | 20131024 | Throughout the 1970s a small group of young people, mostly from comfortable middle class backgrounds, waged a campaign of violence against the German state, designed to change the course of national, even international, politics. In this edition of 'Terror Through Time', Fergal Keane tells the story of the Baader Meinhof Gang, whose brand of glamorised violence earned them an enduring place in popular culture. He travels to Stuttgart, to the prison where the founder members of the gang committed suicide in 1977, after their attempt to blackmail the government into setting them free spectacularly failed. He visits their graves and discovers that their struggle still divides opinion in Germany today. He meets Jorg Schleyer, the son of their most famous victim, the industrialist Hans Martin Schleyer. With Bommi Baumann, former member of the anarchist group June 2nd Movement, and Dr. Kay Schiller of Durham University. Producer: Isobel Eaton. Fergal Keane asks what made the Baader Meinhof Gang turn to terror in 1970s Germany. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| State Of Terror | 20131023 | From the very beginnings of the Northern Ireland state, the Stormont government had special powers to combat violence. Internment without trial had been used in response to various IRA campaigns since the 1920s, but was most widely and controversially applied in the 1970s. In this programme, Fergal Keane speaks to Professor Conor Gearty of the London School of Economics about the human rights implications of such special powers legislation and to Paddy Joe McClean who took a successful case to the European Court of Human Rights in response to his experience of torture when an internee. A former RUC Special Branch officer describes the use of paramilitary informers to gather intelligence on behalf of the state and former paramilitary Billy Hutchinson explains the impact of informers upon his organisation's operations. Producer: Owen McFadden. Fergal Keane explores the British response to paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| State Sponsored Killers | 20141125 | Governments don't just fight terrorists, sometimes they use them for their own ends. Fergal Keane discusses the extent of state involvement in terrorism through the 70s and 80s. He's joined by Professor Richard English of St Andrews University, Kay Schiller of Durham University and by former CIA agent, Milt Bearden. Producer: Alasdair Cross. Fergal Keane reveals how governments have used terrorists for their own ends. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Stirring The Middle East | 20131011 | The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War created a tangle of real and potential conflicts for world leaders to unpick. In the course of the war Britain, in its desperate quest for allies, made three apparently contradictory promises. A secret deal with France divided future control of the Middle East between the two allies, the Sharif of Mecca was offered a new Arab kingdom and support for a Jewish homeland had been given to the Zionists. Fergal Keane explores how Britain tried and failed to untangle the knots, setting the scene for so much of the violence to come in the Middle East. Producer: Alasdair Cross. Fergal Keane on the British promises in WWI that provoked conflict in the Middle East. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| The British Way | 20131015 | Fergal Keane considers the counter terrorism techniques, developed by the British to defeat communist guerrillas in Malaya and the Mau Mau rebels in Kenya, in the decades after the Second World War. Long admired for pioneering a so-called 'hearts and minds' approach, recent research suggests that, in reality, Britain's success in these conflicts relied largely on the use of force. With Professor David Anderson, Professor David French and Dr. Karl Hack. Producer: Isobel Eaton. Fergal Keane considers Britain's counter terror techniques in Kenya and Malaya. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| The Fenian Dynamiters | 20131008 | November 1883. Bombs explode on the London Underground as part of the first organised, sustained terrorist bombing campaign in Britain. Fergal Keane tracks the dynamiters, discovers one of their original bombs and hears about their nemesis, Sir Vivien Dering Majendie, the pioneer of bomb disposal. In the second part of a major new series on the roots of modern terror Fergal charts the rise of Fenianism and the powerful challenge these Irish revolutionaries offered to British rule. Gathering recruits and money amongst the Irish diaspora of the United States they discovered the power of dynamite, 'the proletarian artillery'. Compact but intensely powerful this was the perfect weapon to take the fight for Irish independence to the heart of Empire. In the 1880s the Fenians attacked the London Underground and mainline railway stations before offering the ultimate challenge to the British state with a bomb in the chamber of the House of Commons itself. Historians Roy Foster and Shane Kenna chart the progress of the campaign whilst Fergal uncovers the last surviving Fenian bomb at the National Army Museum in Chelsea. Fergal Keane tells the story of the first terrorist bombing campaign in Britain. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| The Murderous Mandate | 20131014 | In April 1947 a young French woman talked her way past the guard of Dover House in Whitehall. She told him she was desperate to use the toilet. In fact Betty Knut was there to plant a bomb at the very heart of the Empire. It proved just how far some militants were willing to go in their campaign to remove the British from Palestine. In part six of Fergal Keane's exploration of the changing nature of terrorism, he's joined by historian David Cesarani and former member of the Jewish underground, Hanna Armoni, to tell the story of the dedicated groups that turned their bombs and bullets against the British occupation. Producer: Alasdair Cross. In 1947, a bomb in Whitehall brought the conflict in Palestine to British shores. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| The New Face Of Terror | 20141205 | Has the nature of terrorism and the way we respond to it changed since 1800? To complete his journey through the history of terrorism Fergal Keane is joined by Professor Margaret Macmillan from Oxford University and the academic advisor to the series, Professor Richard English of St Andrews University. Together they consider the evolution in the response of politicians and public to the bomb and the bullet and the lessons those 200 years of history should have taught us. Producer: Alasdair Cros. Has our response to terrorism changed since 1800? Fergal Keane ends his series. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| The Return Of The Gunmen | 20131017 | The Northern Ireland of the mid 1960s was a peaceful place, a sleepy provincial backwater with enviably low crime statistics. But since partition in 1921, the state had never been truly at ease with itself and sectarian conflict erupted sporadically. The combination of republican commemorations and a growing campaign for social change by the nationalist community ignited sectarian suspicion. As paramilitary armies regrouped and re-armed, a bloody conflict destined to last for decades ensued. Fergal Keane explores the circumstances that triggered Northern Ireland's Troubles talking to former combatants, campaigners and academics including Professor Richard English of St Andrews University. Producer: Owen McFadden. Fergal Keane looks at how the challenge of change ignited violence in Northern Ireland. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |
| Tiger, Tiger | 20141127 | Fergal Keane visits Sri Lanka to reassess the impact of the suicide bombers of the Tamil Tigers. In 2009, the Sri Lankan government claimed an unprecedented and highly controversial victory in the history of counter terrorism. After 26 years of conflict, it annihilated the separatist group by military force. In this edition of 'Terror Through Time', Fergal Keane returns to Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, to recall the Tamil Tigers' long struggle and the way they made one, devastating weapon of modern terror their own. With Dr. Atreyee Sen, lecturer in Contemporary Religion and Conflict at Manchester University; Dr. Miranda Alison, Associate Professor in Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick; Ananthi Sasitharan, Tamil activist; Mia Bloom, Professor of Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts- Lowell; and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's Secretary of Defence. Producer: Isobel Eaton. Fergal Keane visits Sri Lanka to reassess the suicide bombers of the Tamil Tigers. Fergal Keane uncovers the roots of modern terrorism |