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
Violence Against Women in Victorian London
April 03, 2021 05:00 - 32 minutes - 45 MBIn the 1880s and 1890s Whitechapel, in London, become notorious for its violence especially towards women but what lessons can be drawn from this period for today? In this thought-provoking episode, Dan is joined by Dr Julia Laite for a walk around Whitechapel to explore some of the locations where these terrible crimes took place and the stories of the women involved. Julia shares her thoughts on why women at the time were so vulnerable to violent crime and how things have changed since the ...
The Truth About Easter
April 02, 2021 05:00 - 27 minutes - 37.3 MBIn one of the most popular episodes from our archive, Dan is joined by Francesca Stavrakopoulou to discuss the history and myths that surround Easter. Francesca Stavrakopoulou is Professor of Hebrew Bible & Ancient Religion at Exeter University. Her research is primarily focused on ancient Israelite and Judahite religions, and portrayals of the religious past in the Hebrew Bible. She is interested in biblical traditions and religious practices most at odds with Western cultural preferences.
Hitler's Atlantic Wall
April 01, 2021 16:00 - 21 minutes - 29.3 MBThe Atlantic Wall is one of the biggest construction projects in history a line of formidable defences stretching from the Pyrenees to the Norwegian Arctic but how effective was it? Dan speaks to James Rogers, host of our sibling podcast Warfare, about his recent History Hit documentary In Defence of the Reich: Hitler's Atlantic Wall. They discuss how and why the Atlantic Wall was built, Hitler's obsession with it, how effective it was and whether it could have ever been successful against an...
Music and Humans
March 31, 2021 16:00 - 23 minutes - 32.2 MBToday we take music for granted but humans have a unique relationship with the musical form which reaches back far into our ancient past. In this episode Dan is joined by Michael Spitzer, Professor of Music at the University of Liverpool and author of The Musical Human, to discuss the history of music. From the first ancient Greek melody we have been able to recreate; to the first scraps of music notations that are yet to be deciphered and what music has meant for our evolution as a species a...
Operation Jubilee: A Pinch Raid at Dieppe?
March 30, 2021 16:00 - 32 minutes - 44.3 MBOn 19 August 1942, a six thousand strong combined Allied landing force took part in a raid on Dieppe, Northern France. Sixty-seven percent of these became casualties. The raid has gone down in history as a catastrophe conceived by Lord Mountbatten. With the help of 100,000 pages of classified British military files, however, David O’Keefe has uncovered a pinch mission undertaken at Dieppe, concealed by the raid, to steal one of the new German 4-rotor Enigma code machines. In this first of tw...
The Man Who Dropped the First Bomb on Iraq
March 29, 2021 16:00 - 24 minutes - 33.2 MB30 years ago Maj. Gen. Greg "the beast" Feest dropped a bomb from his F-117 stealth bomber destroying an Iraqi command bunker which began the air war that would lead to the allied victory in the First Gulf War. He talks to Dan about this sortie and other experiences from over 800 hours of combat flying hours and his illustrious career in the USAF which led him to be head of safety including taking charge of its nuclear arsenal. Now retired, he also airs his robust views on how military power ...
Boudica: Britain's Warrior Queen
March 28, 2021 02:00 - 33 minutes - 45.5 MBThis episode from our sibling podcast The Ancients is all about that hero of British folklore; Boudica. Her leadership of the Iceni in an uprising against the forces of the Roman Empire in around 60 AD is echoed around school classrooms. But what evidence do we have for her actions, appearance and eventual defeat? Caitlin Gillespie is the author of ‘Boudica: Warrior Woman of Roman Britain.’ In this first of two episodes, she speaks to Tristan about the sources that have helped us to find out...
Icelandic Volcanoes and Us
March 27, 2021 03:00 - 17 minutes - 24.5 MBThis explosive episode is all about the effects of Icelandic volcanoes on us all. In 1783 a massive eruption of Lakagígar volcano nearly forced the abandonment of Iceland as 15 cubic kilometres of lava was blown into the air. The greatest single amount ever recorded. The effects of this eruption caused enormous death and destruction in Iceland but also led to the failure of crops across northern Europe causing the deaths of 25,000 Britains and helping to cause the French revolution. Whilst th...
The Suez Canal
March 26, 2021 00:00 - 28 minutes - 38.6 MBThe creation of the Suez Canal was the culmination of a dream stretching back to the pharaohs of connecting the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, but why is it so important? Right now with the canal is blocked and more closely resembles a traffic jam rather than the vital trade artery connecting the trade and the Mediterranean basin with that of the Indian Ocean and Asia it is. The canal reduces the journey between the Arabian Sea and the North Atlantic by around 5000 miles saving the massive mod...
Greek War of Independence
March 25, 2021 17:00 - 24 minutes - 56 MB200 years ago the banner was raised which marked the beginning of the Greek War of Independence that would lead to their freedom from the Ottoman Empire. It was also a globally significant war as it is one of the first examples of a people fired up with nationalist sentiment rising up against a big transnational empire. It would act as an inspiration for nationalist movements across the world leading eventually to the destruction of those empires around the world. The Greek cause was champion...
Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities with Bettany Hughes
March 24, 2021 17:00 - 31 minutes - 43.4 MBIn this episode from the back catalogue, Dr Bettany Hughes joins Dan to talk about her history of Istanbul which sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Dr. Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster, who has devoted the last 25 years to the vibrant communication of the past. Her speciality is ancient and medieval history and culture. A Scholar at Oxford University she has taught at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and lectured at Cornell, Bristol, UCL, Maastric...
One Normal Family, 300 Years of History
March 23, 2021 17:00 - 23 minutes - 32.1 MBEvery family has a history and delving into the history of one ordinary French family over three centuries provides a remarkable picture of deep social and economic changes. Accounts of the lives of the rich and powerful families of history are commonplace. We have all read about the Kennedy's, the Windsors or the Habsburgs but what about an ordinary family? Dan is joined by Emma Rothschild, Professor of History at Harvard University and herself a scion of the Rothschild family, who has set o...
French Resistance Super Spy
March 22, 2021 17:00 - 20 minutes - 28.8 MBToday's podcast is about French Resistance spies! Dan is joined by the author Roland Phillips who has uncovered the story of Mathilde Carré who was codenamed agent Victoire and nicknamed La Chatte & who spied for both the French Resistance & the Nazis. In this episode, Roland takes us through a fascinating tale of love, betrayal, espionage, patriotism and cynicism during the Second World War.
Napoleon: Captive on Saint Helena
March 21, 2021 03:00 - 25 minutes - 35.8 MBSaint Helena is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. Nearly a thousand mile from the nearest piece of land, this recently created volcanic effusion is a wonder of geography and biodiversity. But it's also got a remarkable history. Napoleon was sent there after Waterloo. It was the safest place the British government could think of to imprison the most dangerous man in the world. In this episode, Dan goes to Napoleon's house, meets the remarkable man who has restored it and f...
The Census
March 20, 2021 03:00 - 21 minutes - 29.8 MBHere in the UK, it's census time! Today, I'm joined on the podcast by one of the nations favourite family historians Dr Michala Hulme who certainly knows her way around a historical census. The first census was back in 1801 so we now have over 200 years of census information. We discuss why the census was first created, how the census can give us a real insight into how people lived their lives and how the census has changed and evolved over time. Please fill out your census as it provides vi...
The War in the East: Part 1 with Bill Frankland
March 19, 2021 17:00 - 42 minutes - 59.1 MBIn this episode taken from our archive, I talk to Dr Bill Frankland (19 March 1912 – 2 April 2020), a veteran of World War Two who lived through a Japanese prisoner of war camp and who also made important contributions to our understanding of allergies. You can listen to part 2 of this podcast here.
Another History of Ideas with David Runciman
March 18, 2021 17:00 - 42 minutes - 58 MBToday, I am joined once again by Professor David Runciman to talk about the second series of his brilliant History of Ideas podcast. The series looks at some of the most important political thinkers of all time and tells us about their lives, their theories and why their thinking still matters. We discuss the series and look at the philosophies of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jeremy Bentham, Frederick Douglass, Friedrich Nietzsche and Rosa Luxemburg amongst others. It seems that these giant minds w...
St Patrick's Day
March 17, 2021 17:00 - 24 minutes - 33.3 MBWe all have a story about St Patrick's Day and our guest on the podcast today, Adrian Mulligan has a few. Adrian is an Associate Professor of Geography at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. We had a fascinating talk about the origins of St Patrick's day, Irish Nationalism, how it has become a global phenomenon, the Irish American experience and how it's celebration has been influenced by the Irish diaspora. Enjoy this wonderful episode and happy St Patrick's Day!
The My Lai Massacre
March 16, 2021 17:00 - 31 minutes - 43.5 MBOn the 16th March 1968, the My Lai Massacre occurred in South Vietnam. 350-500 men, women, children and babies were brutally killed by US troops during a counterinsurgency operation. It was the worst war crime perpetrated by US forces during the Vietnam War. To try and find out what made those men snap and commit those terrible crimes I spoke to Erik Villard a Historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Fort McNair, DC. He talks us through the events of that fateful day, why he ...
The Ides of March
March 15, 2021 17:00 - 47 minutes - 66 MBToday's podcast is an episode taken from our sibling podcast The Ancients. In 4 BC, the Ides of March took on a new significance. Previously observed as the first full moon of the new year, the 15 March is today remembered as the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar. In this episode, Dr Emma Southon talks Tristan through the events leading up to the Caesar’s assassination: was he forewarned with omens in the days preceding his death? Who was involved in the plot and why did they...
Written Constitutions with Linda Colley
March 14, 2021 03:00 - 29 minutes - 40.7 MBOn the podcast today we have the legendary Linda Colley to talk all about her new book examining the phenomenon of written constitutions. From Corsica in 1755 onwards via the United States and into the modern world constitutions represent an attempt by people to write down and codify the laws that govern a state. We discuss how these important documents are, and continue to be, a powerful symbol of statehood; how they represent the cultures and literature of the time and how their increasing ...
The Bletchley Girls
March 13, 2021 03:00 - 38 minutes - 52.5 MBDuring the Second World War, Bletchley Park was the home of a top-secret code-breaking centre. Only in the 1970s did people begin to discuss what had occurred there. In the intervening years, however, three-quarters of the workforce would rarely have been asked to describe their experiences during the war: because they were women. Dr Tessa Dunlop has spoken with fifteen of these veterans, and in this episode from our sibling podcast The World Wars, she tells James about the women of Bletchle...
Vikings in America
March 12, 2021 17:00 - 22 minutes - 31.6 MBThe Vikings were one of the great exploring peoples of the past. They travelled east along the rivers to the Silk Road, they explored west across the seas to the United Kingdom, they settled Iceland and Greenland and famously reached North America. L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada has been identified as a Viking site, but it seems that this was only a staging post for longer journey's but where they were headed beyond this point we don't know. This leaves open the tantalising possib...
History of Homelessness
March 11, 2021 17:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBThroughout history homelessness has been given many names vagrancy, vagabonding, tramping. Indeed, homeless people have been seen in different lights. Sometimes portrayed as romantic heroes maintaining their freedom to roam and refusing to accept the yoke of a capitalist, settled society but also as an existential threat to order and property. I spoke to Professor of Contemporary British History Nick Crowson in this episode of the podcast who has spent much of his career studying homelessness...
When We Nearly Nuked the Moon
March 10, 2021 17:00 - 33 minutes - 45.5 MBVince Houghton joins me on the podcast today to talk about some of the weirdest and craziest ideas put forward during the twentieth century. We're talking exploding bats, sonic cats, aircraft carriers made of icebergs and detonating a nuclear missile on the moon just to show that you could do it! This is a really fun episode and as you'll hear many of these ideas came closer to becoming reality than you might think. Vince Houghton is the historian and curator of the International Spy Museu...
Michael Palin: Erebus and Terror
March 09, 2021 17:00 - 42 minutes - 58.1 MBIn this archive episode, Dan Snow wrangles with a Python! He talks to comedy legend Michael Palin about his book, Erebus The Story of a Ship. The book tells the devastating true story of the Franklin expeditions to find the Northwest Passage, and how their history only slowly came to light.
On This Day She
March 08, 2021 13:00 - 32 minutes - 44.2 MBTo help celebrate International Women's Day I am joined on the podcast by Tania Hershman, Ailsa Holland and Jo Bell founders of On This Day She. Women have often been deliberately written out of history with their accomplishments been credited to men. On This Day She sets out to redress this imbalance and give voice to women, from all different backgrounds, that have been left out of history. It includes the good, the bad and everything in-between with both well-known women as well as those ...
Eddie the Eagle
March 07, 2021 03:00 - 21 minutes - 29.5 MBI am joined by an absolute legend on the podcast today; Eddie the Eagle. He became an overnight sensation during the 1988 Winter Olympics as the first person to represent Great Britain in ski jumping since 1928. Although he finished last in both the 70 metres and the 90 metres he became a worldwide phenomenon due to his positive attitude and the extraordinary story of how he reached the games. He is one of the most zen people I have had the pleasure of interviewing and is just as happy plaste...
The British Landscape: 12,000 years of history
March 06, 2021 03:00 - 41 minutes - 56.6 MBNicholas Crane is a geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. He has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town. The Making Of The British Landscape: From the Ice Age to the Present is out now.
The Renaissance
March 05, 2021 17:00 - 20 minutes - 28.8 MBToday on the podcast we're going to talk all about the Renaissance. We have all heard of it as a reawakening, a rebirth of European culture but what truly was it and why was it so important and are we going through our own renaissance now? I wanted to really get under the skin of the Renaissance and find out what exactly happened in Italy in the 15th and 16th century. Joining me to do just that is Mary Hollingsworth who has written a book called Princes of the Renaissance about the people who...
What's Going on in Myanmar?
March 04, 2021 17:00 - 26 minutes - 35.9 MBMyanmar is currently experiencing one of its worst-ever periods of violence and civil unrest as the population protests against the recent military coup. Many protesters have been killed and injured and Aung San Suu Kyi is once again under house arrest. To help explain what is happening in Myanmar and put the events into context I am joined on the podcast by the filmmaker Alex Bescoby, who has spent much of his adult life working and living in Myanmar. We explore this complex issue and how th...
Cheddar Man: Science and the Skeleton
March 03, 2021 17:00 - 26 minutes - 37.2 MBToday's episode is from our brilliant sibling podcast The Ancients. Cheddar Man is the oldest almost complete skeleton of a Homo sapien ever found in Britain and, for this fantastic episode, Tristan spoke to the scientist who has drilled a (very small) hole in him. Dr Selina Brace is a biologist who works with ancient and degraded DNA. At the Natural History Museum in London, where Cheddar Man currently resides, Selina and her team have been able to examine this iconic skeleton’s genetic make...
French Resistance Heroine Heading to the Oscars?
March 02, 2021 17:00 - 22 minutes - 31.1 MBJoining me on the podcast today are Alice Doyard and Anthony Giacchino to discuss their film Colette: The french resistance fighter confronting fascism which has been shortlisted for the Oscars 2021 in the Documentary Short category. The documentary tells the story of Colette Marin-Catherine who was part of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of France in the Second World War. 90-year-old Colette Marin-Catherine confronts her past by visiting for the first time the German concen...
Queens of Jerusalem
March 01, 2021 17:00 - 23 minutes - 31.8 MBIn today's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Katherine Pangonis a historian specialising in the medieval world of the Mediterranean and Middle East. She has recently written a fantastic book about the powerful women who dared to rule in the Crusader States of Outremer following the First Crusade; something that was largely absent from other states of the period. We talk about how and why the phenomenon occurred, the rule of Queen Melisende and her granddaughter Queen Sibylla, the influen...
The Gulf War: 30 Years On
February 28, 2021 03:00 - 38 minutes - 52.4 MBOn this day thirty years ago a ceasefire was declared bringing ground operations in the first Gulf War to an end. An overwhelmingly powerful coalition force had stormed across the desert driving Saddam Hussein's forces out of Kuwait and concluding the ground campaign after only 100 hours of fighting. To commemorate this anniversary I am joined on the podcast by General Sir Rupert Smith who commanded the UK 1st Armoured Division during the conflict. We talk about his role during the war, the ...
The War Widow: Women of World War Two
February 27, 2021 03:00 - 37 minutes - 51.5 MBToday's episode is from our brilliant sibling podcast, The World Wars. Author, presenter and human right advocate Tara Moss joins James to discuss the role of women during and after the Second World War associeties across the world struggled under a mass of social and political change. This disjointed period serves as the backdrop for Tara Moss’ new novel, in which her protagonist, a female war reporter turned private inquiry agent pushes against the workforce prejudices of 1946 Australia. T...
Lockdown Learning: The 19th Century Medical Revolution
February 26, 2021 17:00 - 31 minutes - 42.8 MBThe 19th century saw the world in the grip of the industrial revolution, a firepower revolution on the battlefield and a communications revolution with the telegram. But there was another revolution happening at the same time; the medical revolution. This led to giant strides forward being made in the fields of public health, surgery and pharmaceuticals. Monica Walker, Curator at Old Operating Theatre Museum in London, joins me for Lockdown Learning this week to talk me through jus what happ...
The Doolittle Raid
February 25, 2021 17:00 - 25 minutes - 35.7 MBToday, we're talking about one of the great stories of American military history; The Doolittle Raid. In 1942 after the humiliation assault on Pearl Harbour and determined to show that America still had offensive capabilities the charismatic figure of James Doolittle came to President Rosevelt with the proposal to fly army bombers off aircraft carriers and attack Tokyo the capital of the Japanese Empire. Michel Paradis, the author of Last Mission to Tokyo, joins me not only to discuss the mis...
Anti-government Violence in America
February 24, 2021 17:00 - 21 minutes - 29.1 MBLeah Sottile joins me today to talk all about domestic terrorism and anti-government groups in the USA. In particular, we talk about the armed standoff between law enforcement and a group of ranchers led by Cliven Bundy in 2014 over the issue of grazing rights on public land. We examine what happened, why this case matters, how it is directly linked to the stoming of the Capitol and what it is about the history of the USA that motivates these groups. Leah Sottile is a freelance journalist a...
Remembering the Alamo with W. F. Strong
February 23, 2021 17:00 - 46 minutes - 64.3 MBIn this episode taken from our archive, I headed out to Texas in 2016 to discuss the Battle of the Alamo and what its legacy means for modern Texas. I met with W. F. Strong, a famed historian of Texas, to wander around the city of San Antonio and get a deeper understanding of one of America's most famous battles.
John of Gaunt: THE Royal Ancestor
February 22, 2021 17:00 - 32 minutes - 45.2 MBHelen Carr joins me today to discuss John of Gaunt: son of Edward III, younger brother to the Black Prince, uncle of Richard II and father of Henry IV. Not only was he the key intersecting ancestor around which the Plantagenet family split, but his other children also give us the Tudor dynasty. He is THE royal ancestor and one that many of us can trace our family trees back to. In this fascinating episode, Helen discusses his royal aspirations, his attempted conquest of parts of Spain, his ro...
In Conversation with David Baddiel
February 21, 2021 03:00 - 49 minutes - 68.3 MBIn this episode taken from our archive, David Baddiel talks to Dan about the Second World War, Trump's Mussolini-isms, and why Jim Callaghan makes comedy difficult.
Brexit History Showdown with Robert Tombs
February 20, 2021 03:00 - 30 minutes - 41.5 MBFive years after the announcement of the Brexit referendum I am joined on the podcast by Robert Tombs, author of The Sovereign Isle: Britain In and Out of Europe, for a Brexit history showdown. In this thought-provoking conversation Robert, a fantastic historian absolutely steeped in European history sets out why he believes it was in the best interests of the UK to leave the European project.
Vikings: River Kings
February 19, 2021 17:00 - 25 minutes - 35.7 MBToday, I am joined by Cat Jarman bio-archaeologist and author of a new book all about how the Vikings spread east, often utilising the rivers of central and Eastern Europe, all the way into central Asia. These travels enabled them through trade, violence and settlement to plug themselves into that superhighway of the time, the Silk Road.
Frostquake
February 18, 2021 17:00 - 21 minutes - 30 MBIn the winter of 1962-63, the UK experienced a different kind of lockdown as freezing temperatures and ten weeks of snow kept people trapped at home in one of the coldest winters on record. Today, I'm joined by Juliet Nicolson who was eight years old at the time and has written a book all about that bitterly cold winter. She argues that the big freeze not only reflected the threat of the cold war but also beneath the frozen surface new ideas were beginning to stir which would lead to the mass...
Besieging Masada
February 17, 2021 17:00 - 39 minutes - 54.3 MBDramatically placed on a plateau with drops of 400m to the east and 90m to the west, Masada translates from Hebrew as fortress. It became just that when Herod the Great built a magnificent palace complex upon it between 37 and 31 BC, the remains of which are in fantastic shape today. But the site isn’t only notable for its connection to the bible-famed King of Judaea. Masada was also the stronghold of some of the survivors of a Jewish revolt and, in response, the locus of a Roman siege in th...
Love Lives: From Cinderella to Frozen
February 16, 2021 17:00 - 24 minutes - 33.9 MBWe cover all the big topics on the podcast including weapons of mass destruction, climate change, great power rivalry and the struggle for democracy and many others, but today's podcast is all about the biggest subject of them all. Love. Carol Dyhouse, Professor (Emeritus) of History at the University of Sussex, joins me to talk all about how portrayals of love in popular culture and in particular Disney princesses have influenced how people view love, romance and marriage and how those vie...
Hitler and Stalin
February 15, 2021 17:00 - 26 minutes - 36.1 MBI am joined by Laurence Rees, the best selling author, who has met more people that had direct contact with both Hitler and Stalin than any other historian. In this episode, we delve into the differences and similarities of these two terrifying, brutal and ruthless megalomaniacs who did more than anyone else to shape the Twentieth Century and the world we live in today.
Fallout: The Secret History of Nuclear Testing
February 14, 2021 03:00 - 32 minutes - 44.9 MBHow do you test a weapon of mass destruction? A weapon whose potential you can only estimate. Since 1945, countries with nuclear capabilities have been coming up with solutions to this problem, but they are not without pitfalls. Traces of the fallout from nuclear testing are found across the world, and testing has directly impacted a plethora of communities. From the original inhabitants of the chosen test sites, to the veterans who worked with the weapons, nuclear fallout has had a variety ...
Living Through the Dresden Firebombing with Victor Gregg
February 13, 2021 03:00 - 44 minutes - 61.5 MBVictor Gregg is a veteran of World War Two and the Dresden Bombings, and travelled with Dan to visit Dresden a couple of years ago for a documentary. In this episode, taken from our archive, Victor talks about what it was like to be in Dresden during the bombings, and the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) he suffered as a result of his wartime experiences.