Dan Snow's History Hit
1,842 episodes - English - Latest episode: 26 days ago - ★★★★★ - 3.5K ratingsHistory! The most exciting and important things that have ever happened on the planet. Powerful kings, warrior queens, nomads, empires and expeditions. Historian Dan Snow and his expert guests bring all these stories to life and more in a daily dose of history. Join Dan as he digs into the past to make sense of the headlines and get up close to the biggest discoveries being made around the world today, as they happen.
If you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can email us at [email protected], we'd love to hear from you!
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Episodes
The UK’s Top Diplomat on the State of the World
May 24, 2021 04:00 - 52 minutes - 71.8 MBSir Jeremy Greenstock served as a diplomat from the 1960s to the well into the 21st century and is someone who has been in the room when some of the most momentous events of recent history have occurred. He served in British embassies all over the world, he was UK ambassador to the United Nations between 1998 and 2003 and was pivotal in the negotiations leading up to the Iraq invasion in March 2003. In the aftermath of that invasion, he was to Iraq as Special Envoy helping to coordinate and s...
Martin Luther: Scourge of the Papacy
May 23, 2021 04:00 - 29 minutes - 41 MBMartin Luther is one of the most extraordinary and consequential men of the last 500 years but was also a man keenly aware of his image and went to considerable efforts to craft how the world saw him. This affected how he was viewed both in his own life and centuries later in ours. Dan is joined by Oxford University's Regius Professor of History Lyndal Roper; she is one of the world's foremost experts on Luther and has recently published Living I Was Your Plague: Martin Luther's World and Leg...
Eurovision
May 22, 2021 04:00 - 26 minutes - 37.1 MBEurovision is an annual extravaganza of European music and culture but what is its history and what role does it play? To help explore this subject Dan is joined by two men steeped in Eurviosion; TV and podcast critic Scotty Byran and Radio 1 DJ and Eurovision commentator Scott Mills. They describe what Eurovision means to them, some of the history of the competition, how the rest of Europe treat it much more seriously than the UK, why it still stands out in the era of streaming and, most imp...
Israel and Palestine: A Jewish Perspective with Daniel Finkelstein
May 21, 2021 04:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBAs part of our season of programmes looking at the Arab-Israeli conflict Lord Daniel Finklestein joins the podcast to discuss his perspective as a member of the Jewish diaspora. Daniel is a journalist and member of the House of Lords and in this episode, he shares with Dan his family's history before, during and after the holocaust and why this dark period of history is so important in shaping the current situation in Israel. Listen to the previous episode in our series of programmes about ...
The Amelia Earhart Mystery with Amelia Rose Earhart
May 20, 2021 04:00 - 18 minutes - 25.3 MBOn the morning of May 20, 1932, 34-year-old Earhart set off from Newfoundland, Canada in her bid to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. 15 hours later she landed in terrible weather in Northern Ireland having completed this momentous feat. In this archive episode, Dan is joined by Amelia Rose Earhart to discuss the life, numerous flying achievements and mysterious disappearance of her namesake and inspiration. Amelia Rose Earhart is an American private pilot and reporter...
Anne Boleyn Special Part 1: Life and Afterlives
May 19, 2021 04:00 - 51 minutes - 70.8 MBIn the first of two special podcasts, from our sibling podcast Not Just the Tudors, to mark the 485th anniversary of Anne Boleyn's death, Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by a panel of experts to discuss the enduring fascination with Anne's life and demise. Exploring the different perceptions of Anne and her re-creation through her many afterlives are authors Claire Ridgway and Natalie Grueninger, historian Dr. Stephanie Russo and art historian Roland Hui. The second part of this Anne Boleyn sp...
Gone Medieval
May 18, 2021 04:00 - 22 minutes - 31.5 MBDan is joined by the wonderful Cat Jarman who, along with Matt Lewis, will be presenting History Hit's brand new podcast Gone Medieval. They discuss the medieval period, the new podcast, Dan and Cat's recent road trip and the exciting new Viking site that has been discovered. Plus there is a sample for the brilliant new podcast Gone Medieval.
The Western Front
May 17, 2021 05:00 - 29 minutes - 40.9 MBThe Western Front in the First World War is a story of aristocratic generals sending ordinary men over the top to their deaths in futile frontal attacks against entrenched positions. Or is it? In this episode, Dan interviews the brilliant historian Nick Lloyd, author of The Western Front who tells a much more nuanced account of the Western Front. They talk about the myths and legends of these campaigns, the great leaps forward in technology between 1914-1918; and how the men in command, and t...
Israel and Palestine: A Palestinian View with Yara Hawari
May 16, 2021 05:00 - 34 minutes - 79.5 MBHistory is essential to understanding the world around us and this couldn't be more true than in the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The recent flare-up of violence in Israel-Palestine has shown that without knowing the history stretching back thousands of years it is impossible to make sense of why these two peoples, the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs, claim this land as their own. In this first of a series of programmes exploring this struggle from both sides Dr Yara Hawari joins th...
Israel and Palestine: A Palestinian View
May 16, 2021 05:00 - 34 minutes - 79.5 MBHistory is essential to understanding the world around us and this couldn't be more true than in the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The recent flare-up of violence in Israel-Palestine has shown that without knowing the history stretching back thousands of years it is impossible to make sense of why these two peoples, the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs, claim this land as their own. In this first of a series of programmes exploring this struggle from both sides Dr Yara Hawari joins th...
Malcolm Gladwell
May 15, 2021 05:00 - 18 minutes - 25.4 MBMalcolm Gladwell has sold millions of books and more recently become a podcasting titan and he joins Dan to talk about his most recent project The Bomber Mafia. The Bomber Mafia is about a group of military officers who came up with and transformed the concept of strategic bombing during the Second World War and after. In this episode, Dan and Malcolm talk about one of the leading proponents of airpower General Curtis LeMay who implemented a devastating bombing campaign against Japan during t...
War Crimes and Innocence in Iraq
May 14, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 42.1 MBFollowing the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003 British troops in Basra were confronted with a chaotic situation as looting and rioting took hold of the city and society collapsed. As the British soldiers attempted to deal with this situation, for which they were neither trained nor equipped, a young Iraqi man drowned in one of the many canals found in southern Iraq. Joe McCleary and three other soldiers were accused of war crimes relating to the death of the young Iraqi man and ...
Ian Fleming & The Birth of Bond
May 13, 2021 05:00 - 29 minutes - 40.7 MBA suave secret agent and fictional character turned household name and multi-billion dollar franchise: we all know James Bond. But what about the man behind him? In this episode, from. our sibling podcast Warfare hear about the people and places that inspired Ian Fleming as he wrote the stories of 007. Professor Klaus Dodds researches geopolitics and security, ice studies and the international governance of the Antarctic and the Arctic at Royal Holloway, but he is also an expert on Fleming an...
Motherhood, Working and Pandemics
May 12, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 29.3 MBBeing a working mother is now an entirely normal part of life but this was certainly not always the case and was often seen as a social ill in the past. Helen McCarthy, author of Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood, joins Dan to help chart how the role of women in the workforce has changed over time and what impact the last year in lockdown has had on women, work, education and the structures of family's as a whole.
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on Hemmingway
May 11, 2021 05:00 - 33 minutes - 46.8 MBKen Burns and Lynn Novick are two of the most talented and inspiring history filmmakers on earth. Their works include the seminal The Civil War, Baseball and The Vietnam War all of which have been rightly celebrated around the world. Their latest project examines the life and work of Ernest Hemingway and gives an insight into the relationships and character of this complex and often difficult man. They discuss with Dan their film making process, what makes a good documentary series and what H...
Napoleon Bonaparte: Rise to Power
May 10, 2021 05:00 - 39 minutes - 54 MBIn this archive episode, Dan talks to Adam Zamoyski, a historian who has written a biography of Napoleon, about the early life and rise to power of one of the most remarkable men in history.
Greatest Heist in History: The Crown Jewels and Thomas Blood
May 09, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 42.1 MBOn the 9 May 1671, Thomas Blood led his co-conspirators in a daring bid to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Through a combination of trickery, guile and violence he was able to make off with Charles II's crown and some of the most important treasures in the kingdom. To help tell this astonishing tale, Sebastian Edwards, Deputy chief curator at Tower of London joins the podcast to explain how Blood nearly got away with the greatest heist of the 17th century.
Life at Bletchley Park with Betty Webb
May 08, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 41.9 MBBetty Webb was heavily involved with the work going on at Bletchley Park. While she was not part of the code-breaking team, her work was invaluable to the success of Bletchley, and Dan talks to her about her life and wartime experiences.
The Sinking of the Lusitania
May 07, 2021 05:00 - 23 minutes - 33 MBOn 7 May 1915, the ocean liner RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland with more than half the passengers and crew being killed. Some of those lost were Americans and the sinking hardened opinion in the United States against Germany and marked the beginning of the process which led to the USA entering the First World War on the side of the allies. To mark the anniversary of the sinking Stephen Payne joins the podcast. Stephen is a British naval architect and worked ...
Roman Prisoners of War
May 06, 2021 05:00 - 39 minutes - 54.8 MBWe know all about the battles of the Roman Empire: the opposing sides, their weapons and incentives. But if history is written by the winners, what happened if you lost? In this episode, Dr Jo Ball, battlefield archaeologist at the University of Liverpool, helps to fill in this gap. Jo takes us through the options of the victorious army; to release, kill or capture; and then discusses the treatment of those who fell into this last category. Listen as in this episode from our sibling podcast T...
A Scandalous Duchess
May 05, 2021 05:00 - 25 minutes - 34.7 MBElizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston was a duchess who attracted scandal, a duchess who divided opinion, a duchess who refused to give up agency or accept her place in 18th century society and she was loathed and loved in equal measure. Maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales, for over 20 years and an important figure in Hanoverian court and her exploits delighted and scandalised the press and the people. A first clandestine marriage to an Earl was followed by a second a second bigam...
Pre-historic Britain in Seven Burials with Alice Roberts
May 04, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 39.3 MBHow much can a burial really tell us about our ancient past? Professor Alice Roberts is today's guest and, as her new book Ancestors demonstrates, old bones can speak to us across the centuries. Using new ancient DNA analysis techniques archaeologists are now able to uncover an unprecedented level of detail about the lives of our ancestors. Where they came from, what they ate, how they lived, what killed them and what their burials really mean. This is the story of unlocking the past of ancie...
The Apollo Program with Kevin Fong
May 03, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 42 MBGetting to the moon was no easy feat, no matter how confident Kennedy may have sounded in his famous 1961 speech. NASA built a team from the ground up, and there were plenty of moments where it seemed as if they weren't going to make it. Fong tells stories of just how close they came, and how risky it was. After all, it was hard to feel safe when a pen could go straight through the module. Kevin Fong is incredible. As Dan fawns in the podcast, he's part of the NHS emergency response team for ...
Amend: The Fight for America
May 02, 2021 05:00 - 18 minutes - 25.6 MBTake a deep dive into the remaking of the American Constitution and the 14th amendment created in the wake of the American Civil War. The 14th amendment formed a key part of addressing citizenship rights and equal protection under the law, particularly for former slaves. Comedian, writer and actor Larry Wilmore is executive producer and one of the stars of the six-part series Amend: The Fight For America which examines why the 14th amendment mattered at the time and continues to be of vital i...
Captain Cook: The Aboriginal Perspective
April 30, 2021 05:00 - 23 minutes - 32.1 MBCaptain Cook has been celebrated, wrongly, as the first European to discover Australia but many now believe it is time to reappraise his legacy particularly in light of the devastating effect it had on the native Aboriginal people of Australia. Professor John Maynard is a Worimi man and Director of Aboriginal History at The Wollotuka Institute. He joins the podcast to explain what Cook's landing at Botany Bay meant for the Aboriginal people at the time and right through the generations to tod...
Not Just the Tudors
April 29, 2021 05:00 - 32 minutes - 44.4 MBWhen thinking about the 16th century the Tudor dynasty often comes to the fore, but the was so much more to this extraordinary period to be explored. In celebration of the launch of her new History Hit podcast, Professor Suzannah Lipscombe joins Dan to discuss all things Not Just the Tudors. This new podcast will look right across the 16th century including the Renaissance, the Aztecs, Henry VIII's wardrobe, werewolves and much, much more.
Blood and Iron: The German Empire
April 27, 2021 05:00 - 32 minutes - 44.9 MBGerman unification in 1871 immediately altered the balance of power in Europe and across the world, but what did its existence and expansion in the 19th and early 20th-century really mean? Katja Hoyer joins Dan in this follow-up episode to The Second Reich which examined the formation of Germany. This time round Katja and Dan tackle the internal politics of the Second Reich, the role of the Kaiser, German expansionism and colonialism and how the legacy of the German Empire can still be felt ...
Chernobyl: Memories of a Survivor
April 26, 2021 05:00 - 21 minutes - 29.2 MBOn April 26th 1986 reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded sending a vast plume of radioactive material into the atmosphere, but what was it like for ordinary people nearby? It was the worst nuclear accident to that point in history and the catastrophic response to that meltdown and the mishandling of the messages around the accident helped to hasten the end of the Soviet Union itself. In this episode, Dan is joined by Sophia Moskalenko who was ten at the time and living in Kyiv...
The Last Nuremberg Prosecutor
April 25, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 30.6 MBBen Ferencz at 102 years old is the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials and a direct witness to the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Ben was born in Transylvania before emigrating to the United States with his family as a child to escape antisemitic persecution. He trained at Harvard Law School graduating in 1943 and served in the US army in the campaign to liberate western Europe. In 1945 at the end of the war he was assigned to a team charged with collecting evidence of war ...
Cellini: Bad Boy of the Renaissance
April 24, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 38.4 MBBenvenuto Cellini was the bad boy of the Renaissance! His life was a story of murders, violence, war, the sack of cities, sodomy, imprisonment, religious conversion, prodigious artistic talent and writing one of the greatest artistic autobiographies of all time. Jerry Brotton, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University of London, has recently made a superb series for the BBC called The Essay, Blood and Bronze which charts the sometimes mad life of Cellini. He joins Dan to discu...
Football, Money and the European Super League
April 23, 2021 05:00 - 33 minutes - 46.6 MBThe attempt to create a new European Super League might have been short-lived with the attempt to form a breakaway competition collapsing in the face of widespread protests and denunciations from fans, but what led to this point? In this episode, Dan is joined by Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian Football Weekly and author of Inverting the Pyramid. Jonathan takes us from the origins of the sport over a hundred years ago through to the big business of the modern game. This historical perspective...
Shakespeare's Shoreditch Theatre with Heather Knight
April 22, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 33.4 MBIn this archive episode, Dan visits the site of The Theatre, the 16th-century playhouse where some of Shakespeare's works were first performed, to investigate the archaeology with Heather Knight, Senior Archaeologist from the Museum of London Archaeology.
Lessons from the Antonine Plague
April 21, 2021 05:00 - 33 minutes - 45.4 MBA plague which affects people from across society, the mass exodus from city centres and numerous opinions on how best to stay well ... all familiar to people today, but also to the people of the 2nd century AD. In this fascinating chat with Dr Nick Summerton, from our sibling podcast The Ancients, we explore the causes and effects of the Antonine Plague, the guides to healthy living from Galen, Marcus Aurelius and Aristides, and whether there are overlaps with the current situation. Nick is ...
Lady Mary and the First Inoculation
April 20, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 34.4 MBIn the 18th century, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an aristocrat, courtier, brilliant beauty, intellectual, wife to the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and a sufferer from smallpox. It was during her time in Constantinople that she witnessed a procedure that would alter the course of her life; inoculation. Having inoculated her children she brought the practice back to Britain where she inoculated the offspring of the high and mighty including the daughters of the royal family. Jo Willet, T...
Prisoners of Geography
April 19, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 28 MBFive years ago Tim Marshall wrote the international best selling book Prisoners of Geography which examined how our politics, demographics, our economies and societies are determined by geography. Tim was diplomatic editor at Sky News and has also worked for the BBC and LBC/IRN radio. He has reported from 40 countries and covered conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Israel. He used his expertise and understanding in international affairs to lo...
300 years of British Prime Ministers: Part 3
April 18, 2021 05:00 - 49 minutes - 68.2 MBIn the third episode of our series chronicling the history of British Prime Ministers we travel from one of the Most famous occupants of the office, Winston Churchill, right through to the current incumbent Boris Johnson and everyone in-between. For that Dan is joined by Iain Dale a well known broadcaster, podcaster, author and editor of the recent book The Prime Ministers. They discuss, amongst other things, the Second World War, the creation of the NHS, the, economic reforms of the 1980's, ...
Irish Independence
April 16, 2021 23:00 - 27 minutes - 38.2 MBOn 18th April 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act came into effect which saw Ireland become a republic and leave the Commonwealth. 2021 also marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Irish War of independence. To help mark these important dates Diarmaid Ferriter, one of Ireland’s best-known historians and Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin, joins Dan on the podcast. They examine the importance of these big anniversaries for Ireland not just in the past, but also ...
JFK's Darkest Hour: The Cuban Missile Crisis
April 16, 2021 05:00 - 25 minutes - 35.6 MBIn October 1962 the world came very close to annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the autumn of 1962, a U2 reconnaissance aircraft produced clear evidence that the Soviet Union and the Cuban authorities were building medium-range ballistic missile facilities on the island of Cuba and only around 100 miles from the coast of Florida. The resulting confrontation between the USA under JFK and the Soviet Union led by Nikita Khrushchev lasted just over a month and it's often conside...
Life and Death in Medieval England
April 15, 2021 05:00 - 32 minutes - 44.1 MBWe often hear about the kings and queens of medieval England, but what was life like for the ordinary person? From knights to peasants to barbers, Dan Snow joins Dr Eleanor Janega to explore the many lives - and deaths - you could expect to find in Medieval England. This episode is taken from a youtube live event from our partner channel Timeline. If you want to watch Eleanor's brilliant programme Going Medieval: Those Who Work for History Hit then click here.
British Seapower in the 1900s
April 14, 2021 05:00 - 41 minutes - 56.7 MBDuring the changes and troubles of the 20th century, officials in Britain faced a huge question: how could they maintain imperial power? Dr Louis Halewood has been researching the troubles faced by British policymakers, and the efforts to maintain dominance with their dominions and allies as Pax Britannica came to a close. In this episode from our sibling podcast Warfare he speaks to James from the University of Plymouth about the development of British naval power, and explores the role of t...
The End of Sex Disqualification?
April 13, 2021 05:00 - 20 minutes - 28 MBThe First World War saw unprecedented numbers of women enter the workplace and help pave the way for women to be given greater rights and responsibilities in their careers, or did it? The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act of 1919 was, on paper, a social revolution opening the doors to professions that previously women had been barred by law from entering. The reality was very different though and instead of being treated as equals they continued to experience discrimination and barriers to p...
Yuri Gagarin: The First Human to Leave Our Planet
April 12, 2021 05:00 - 29 minutes - 40.4 MBOn April 12th 1961 the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching the first man into space; Yuri Gagarin. Strapped to the top of a gigantic ICBM Gagarin was blasted into space as the result of a highly secretive programme. This completely surprised those on the other side of the Iron Curtain and caused considerably fear in the West. However, this momentous achievement was in fact a stab in the dark for the Soviets. Lacking the funding and technology of their American adversaries it almost ca...
300 years of British Prime Ministers: Part 2
April 11, 2021 05:00 - 57 minutes - 78.4 MBContinuing our series looking at British Prime Ministers this episode tackles the period following the Battle of Waterloo all the way up to Winston Churchill. The brilliant Robert Saunders joins us to guide us through the nineteenth century and to discuss some of the most remarkable parliamentarians in history including Peel, Gladstone and Lloyd George. Robert is a Reader in Modern British History at Queen Mary University of London. He specialises in modern British history, from the early 19...
Prince Philip
April 09, 2021 17:00 - 31 minutes - 43.7 MBAbandoned by his parents, exiled from his home, a veteran of Second World War battles, an author, the founder of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), this is the story of Prince Philip as you have never heard it before. He was the longest-serving consort to a reigning British Monarch in history and the oldest-ever male member of the British Royal Family. Born in Corfu, Greece, in 1921 his family escaped a revolution soon after his birth eventually settling in Paris. He was educated in Scot...
The Xiongnu: History's First Nomadic Empire?
April 09, 2021 05:00 - 36 minutes - 50.2 MBBetween the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD, the Xiongnu inhabited the area surrounding Mongolia. They influenced the later Hun Empire, and had connections with Ancient China and Persia, but what do we know about them? Bryan Miller has been investigating the society, hierarchy and expansion of the Xiongnu, and in this episode from our sibling podcast The Ancients he shares his findings from the archaeology and historical documents with Tristan. You can listen to the full episode here.
What Britain Did to Nigeria
April 08, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 38 MBWhen we think of the British Empire we often think of India, Pakistan, Singapore, Burma or perhaps South Africa but an often underrepresented part of the colonial picture is that of west Africa and specifically Nigeria. Now the most populous country in Africa Nigeria was created out of a diverse set of peoples and territories to suit the needs of the colonial administration. Max Siollun, author of What Britain Did to Nigeria: A Short History of Conquest and Rule, joins Dan to discuss the hist...
Catherine the Great
April 07, 2021 05:00 - 33 minutes - 46.1 MBCatherine the Great came from minor German nobility to become Empress of Russia and one of the most extraordinary women of the eighteenth century. Dan is joined today on the podcast by Hilde Hoogenboom, translator of Catherine the Great’s Memoirs https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/25280/the-memoirs-of-catherine-the-great-by-catherine-the-great/. Hilde is a literary historian who has delved deep into the archive material about Catherine, much of it written by Catherine herself, which det...
30 Years since the Kurdish Uprising
April 06, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 63.6 MBIn the aftermath of the First Gulf War, groups rose up against Saddam Hussein's regime in a bid to win independence from Baghdad with devastating results for those involved and in particular for the Kurds of Northern Iraq. The Iraqi army responded with deadly force leading to the displacement of millions and the creation of an enormous refugee crisis in Northern Iraq. By April of 1991 and led by the British government a coalition had been put together and launched Operation Haven. This involv...
Will This Be the New Roaring 20s?
April 05, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 51.7 MBOur impressions of the Roaring 20s are a time of economic growth, social change and in some cases wild debauchery, but were the Roaring 20s really a thing and what were they really like? As lockdown restriction ease are we due another similar period a hundred years later? Professor Sarah Churchwell joins Dan on the podcast with the exciting possibility that we might all be in store for another period of wild socialising, but only when it's safe to do so!
300 years of British Prime Ministers: Part 1
April 04, 2021 05:00 - 50 minutes - 69.1 MBWe're heading back to the Eighteenth century as 300 years ago Sir Robert Walpole became the first prime minister. In this first episode of our Prime Minister's season, Dan is Joined by Dr Hannah Grieg for a whirlwind tour of the eighteenth century's many Prime Ministers. From Sir Robert Walpole through William Pitt the younger through to Lord Liverpool they discuss the creation of the office, prime ministerial control of the House of Commons, conflicts with the king and how politics has chang...