We’re living in a time of upheaval. The war in the Middle East is intensifying. Russia is making gains in Ukraine. America faces an election of unparalleled importance. Climate change and AI appear on the brink of changing our world forever. How are we to make sense of the world today? Study its past, argues acclaimed historian Peter Frankopan, who returned to the Intelligence Squared stage in November 2024. 

Now that his remarkably turbulent year is almost over, attention is turning to 2025 and what lies in the months ahead for us all. Drawing on his best-selling books, The Silk Roads and The Earth Transformed, Frankopan put our current challenges and opportunities into historical perspective and sought to map out what we can expect from the world in 2025.