Dan Snow's History Hit
Episodes
Pocahontas: The True Story
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite her being a household name, how much do we really know about Pocahontas? Where did she come from? How old was she? And what was her real relat...
Hunting Pablo Escobar
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
By the early 1990s, the Colombian city of Medellín was at the centre of the world's largest drug empire. The fearsome Medellín Cartel, led by the no...
Babylon
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The urban cultures of ancient Mesopotamia formed the foundation for so much of our modern world. Nowhere exemplifies this better than the city of Baby...
The Salem Witch Trials
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Malleus Maleficarum, or the 'Hammer of Witches', was a 15th-century book that sparked mass hysteria about the existence of witches in Europe - and...
James Beckwourth, Conquering the American Frontier
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
James Beckwourth was a pioneering frontiersman and fur-trapper who conquered the American West by embedding himself in the Native American tribes who ...
Tutankhamun: The Valley of the Kings - Signal Award Gold!
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In celebration of recently winning a gold Signal Award, we are revisiting our series from last year on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the t...
Reburying the Dead of America's Revolutionary War
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan attends the funeral of British and American soldiers, over 240 years after they died fighting one another at the Battle of Camden. He takes us thr...
The Murder of Christopher Marlowe
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates four of history’s most notorious murders and brutal crimes.In this first...
The Arab- Israeli War: Yom Kippur War 1973
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Also known as the October War and the Ramadan War, this conflict was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, as a surprise attack on Israel d...
Mary, Queen of Scots
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of the incredible rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was queen of Scotland, she was queen of France, and she could have been...
Israel, Gaza and the West Bank: A History
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In light of the complex and tragic situation unfolding in Gaza and Israel, this episode looks at the past 100 years of the history of the region of Pa...
WWII Britain's 'Missing' Sailors
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role in keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across the ...
HMS Terror: Cursed Arctic Expedition
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Was ever a ship more aptly named? In 1845, HMS Terror (and its forgettably named sister ship HMS Erebus) set off from Victorian Britain. Their quest w...
Scottish Kings' Sex Lives
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One thing royal families strive for is the common touch. Whilst some have struggled with it, King James IV and V in the 15th and 16th centuries excell...
The Hundred Years' War
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Hundred Years' War plunged England, France and their allies into over a century of conflict. This bleak period of history had rebellions, assassin...
Alexander The Great: The Siege of Tyre
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The renowned conqueror Alexander the Great was known as 'the two-horned one' by his enemies, and for good reason. His campaigns were bloody affairs ev...
Alexander The Great
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is everything you need to know about the famed conqueror Alexander the Great. Alongside Tristan Hughes, host of the hit podcast The Ancients, Dan...
England's Greatest Monarchs with David Mitchell
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
David Mitchell joins Dan in today's episode to ask the all-important question - who was England's greatest monarch? From the 'overrated' William the C...
Achilles
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains themes of a sexual natureAchilles is one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology. The son of Peleus, a Greek King, and Thetis,...
Suleyman the Magnificent
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Lion House is a riveting new book from journalist and historian Christopher De Bellaigue, written like a novel that tells the dramatic story of Su...
Roman Emperors with Mary Beard
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What did it take to become a Roman emperor? Pliny the Elder wrote that a ruler should be generous, victorious in battle and a father to his people. Bu...
Witches of St Osyth
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In March 1582, a number of women from the small Essex village of St Osyth were hanged for the crime of witchcraft. Several others, including one man, ...
The Battle of Midway
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the 4th of June 1942, the US Navy took on the might of Japan's Imperial Navy in the battle of Midway. It was America's Trafalgar! At the end of the...
The Bones of Anglo Saxon England
24 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's the 13th of December, 1642, and Parliamentarian soldiers have just stormed the city of Winchester. They burst into the city's grand cathedral on ...
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn as you've never heard it before. From their childhoods and courtship through to their union and Anne's...
President Thomas Jefferson
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, so how did it work out when he became the leader of this nation that he ...
My Great-Grandfather's War: Lt-Gen Thomas Snow & The Somme
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan explores his great-grandfather's part in the First World War. Lieutenant-General Thomas Snow was a senior officer in the British Army who commande...
The Origins of the Popes
17 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The popes of Rome emerged from the humblest of beginnings. The first was a fisherman, charged with spreading the word of God under the watchful eye of...
Wars of the Roses: Jack Cade’s Rebellion Explained
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s one of the most dramatic stories you might never have heard. Featuring a seaborne assassination, a vengeful manhunt and London Bridge in flames...
The Great Caterpillar Outbreak of 1782
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the spring of 1782, it wasn't the American Revolutionary War that had Londoners worried. The city and nearby countryside had been covered in ominou...
The Knights Templar
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Few organisations in history have names as loaded with legend as the Knights Templar. Western culture is infused with the mythology of these pious war...
The Nazi Massacre at Rumbula
10 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What would it be like to discover that your grandfather was a Nazi? For decades, generations of Germans have been grappling with the legacies of relat...
Europe's 1848 Revolutions
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1848, Europe was wracked by a series of revolutions that turned the established political order on its head. Across the continent populations erupt...
Chichén Itzá
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the new Seven Wonders of the World, Chichen Itza is home to monumental pyramids, temples, and is a treasure trove of archaeological findings. B...
Marco Polo
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You may have heard the many myths about the life and exploits of Marco Polo- was he really the one who brought ice cream and spaghetti from his travel...
The Legacy of Rome
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rome has attracted aspiring conquerors and leaders for millennia, not just as a great metropolis, but as an idea. It has long been a symbol of militar...
Rise of the Tudors
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Join Dan as he rollicks through the tumultuous life and rise to power of Henry Tudor, the man who would ultimately become King Henry VII of England. S...
Secret Origins of the SAS
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1974, a pioneer of the SAS and master of military deception, Dudley Clarke, passed away. His death went almost entirely unnoticed by the British pu...
Ivan the Terrible
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The name Ivan the Terrible is synonymous with brutality and ruthlessness. While Western scholars insist that the first crowned Tsar of all Russia did ...
Charlie Chaplin
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Golden Age of Hollywood was a place of pioneers, storytellers, ideas, westward expansion, money, politics and scandal- the story of Hollywood is t...
How Brutish were our Ancestors?
27 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Was life for our ancient ancestors brutish and short or did they exist as noble savages, free and living in harmony with nature and each other? Many o...
WWII Britain: The Home Guard's Silent Assassins
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
WWII Britain's Home Guard wasn't a bumbling dad's army but in fact included factions of highly trained silent killers and spies hiding out in secret b...
Chairman Mao
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1949 until his death in 1976, Chairman Mao reshaped the nation's course of history, founding the People's R...
Elizabeth I's War with Ireland
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Queen Elizabeth I, Gloriana, victor over the Spanish and patron of the arts ushered in a Golden Age for England. But she was also Queen of Ireland, an...
The Ancient Greek Computer: The Antikythera Mechanism
20 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the recent Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny movie, the Antikythera Mechanism is used for time travel but in reality it was actually more of a cel...
Battle of Gettysburg
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first three days of July 1863 saw the bloodiest single battle of the American Civil War. This clash between the Unionist and Confederate armies qu...
The Rise of the Taliban
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible that the Taliban of today are more fanatical than before? American and Coalition troops recently fought a bitter, 20-year war against t...
Scottish Clans
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It is believed clans started to emerge in Scotland around 1100AD and were originally the descendants of kings – if not of demigods from Irish mythol...
Archimedes and the Siege of Syracuse
12 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan tells the story of Archimedes, the ancient Greek inventor whose weapons of war protected the town of Syracuse from a Roman army. The Romans laid s...
Surviving Hitler and Stalin
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lord Daniel Finkelstein recounts stories from his parents' remarkable lives. His mother Mirjam Wiener survived the Nazi concentration camps, and his f...
Genghis Khan
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Genghis Khan roughly translates to 'Universal Ruler', a fitting name for the most famous nomadic conqueror to have ever lived. He was born as Temüjin...
Attila The Hun
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Known to the Romans as the 'Scourge of God', Attila the Hun brought chaos to the world around him. He and his armies plundered, pillaged and looted th...
The Great Train Robbery
06 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Did the "heist of the century" really happen the way the robbers say it did? In the summer of 1963, a gang of masked robbers executed a daring plan to...
Ragnar Lothbrok: Viking Legend
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The ninth-century Danish king and warrior Ragnar Lothbrok became notorious again most recently through the TV series The Vikings. But what do we know ...
History's Greatest Commanders
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In war, leadership matters. Poorly trained or outnumbered armies have often been led to victory by the sheer brilliance of their leaders. Celebrated o...
Good King Wenceslaus
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Who was the real good King Wenceslas? The Duke of Bohemia who was made famous by the Christmas carol was also a pivotal figure of European history. He...
North vs South: How Korea Was Divided
30 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The divided Korean peninsula is the last remnant of the Cold War: South Korea is a vibrant democracy, a strong market economy, and home to a world-ren...
Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have...
The Fall of Mussolini
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator met a gruesome end during the final days of World War II when he and his mistress were executed and hun...
Warrior Women: Boudicca to Ukrainian Snipers
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From Boudicca to Ukrainian snipers, battlefields have always contained a surprising number of women.Today Kate is joined Betwixt the Sheets by Sarah P...
Nazi's Most Wanted: Assassin Hannie Schaft
23 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Known among the Nazis as "the girl with the red hair," Hannie Schaft was a resistance fighter so deadly that Adolf Hitler personally ordered her captu...
Oppenheimer
19 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On a summer morning in 1945, a device known simply as 'Gadget' was detonated. An enormous explosion tore a crater into the New Mexico desert, melting ...
Black Boxes: Recording Airplanes' Final Moments
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
They can survive in lava for half an hour and accelerations of 3,400 Gs. Their beacons can be detected 20,000 feet beneath the waves. Most shocking of...
Prigozhin: The Fate of Russian ‘Favourites’
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Russian history is defined by the rise and fall of favourites. Peter the Great had Menshikov, and Nicholas II had Rasputin. It's part of the architect...
Napoleon
16 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Did Napoleon really come from nothing and conquer everything? The release of the trailer for Ridley Scott's new epic biopic film has created hot debat...
The Picts: Scourge of Rome
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Emerging around the 3rd century CE and later designated official adversaries of the Roman Empire, the Picts wreaked havoc across the northern fringes ...
Russia & USA: The 100-Year Cold War
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Cold War was defined by the antagonism between two world superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. They relied on proxy wars, espionage...
The North Pole Scandal
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the autumn of 1909, the American explorer Frederick Cook arrived in Copenhagen, claiming to have become the first person to reach the North Pole. H...
Operation Mincemeat
09 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The most audacious deception operation of WWII. On the 30th of April, 1943, the corpse of a 'Major Martin' washed up near the Spanish city of Huelva. ...
The Battle of Kursk
05 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan explains Operation Citadel. In July and August of 1943, it was the last major attempt by the Nazis to turn the tide of the war in the East. Millio...
The Creation of the NHS
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
75 years ago this week, the National Health Service was born. Launched by Aneurin Bevan on the 5th of July, 1948, it revolutionised healthcare in the ...
California Gold Rush
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From the rings on our fingers to coins in our pockets and, for a select few, the medals hanging around our necks. Gold is one of the most coveted meta...
The First Day of The Somme
02 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Explains the first day of The Somme which remains the bloodiest day in the history of the British army; a symbol of the senseless carnage of the F...
Toto Koopman: Socialite, Vogue Model and WWII Spy
28 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Toto Koopman was remarkable; she was a high society socialite who risked her life wining and dining with Italian blackshirts in order to gather inform...
Great Fire of London
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we call the Great Fire of London in 1666 “great”? Was it because of the significant challenge it posed to authorities and residents as they...
Wagner vs Putin: A History of Russian Coups
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the 24th of June, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin and his paramilitary group Wagner carried out what appeared to be an attempted coup in Russia. In a seism...
The 20th Century Arms Race
25 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 20th century heralded a revolution in how wars are fought. From military strategy and planning to the weapons and equipment used on the ground, mo...
The Windrush Generation & Scandal
21 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The journey of the Empire Windrush that docked in Essex with 1,027 passengers & at least two stowaways on 22nd June 1948 has come to define a whole ge...
The Titanic Wreck
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1912 Titanic departed on her first and last voyage from Southampton, sinking over 2 miles to the bottom of the dark North Atlantic Ocean, around 40...
George VI and Elizabeth, Queen Mother
19 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode brings the marriage of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother to life, from the uproar of King Edward VIIIs abdication to t...
The Stonewall Uprising
18 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pride month happens in June in commemoration of the Stonewall Uprising that took place in the summer of 1969 after police undertook a routine raid on ...
Origins of Scottish Independence
14 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time in 18 years, the Declaration of Arbroath - an iconic document in the story of the struggle for Scottish independence in the 14th ce...
Wreck, Scandal & Mutiny on HMS Wager
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1740, the Royal Navy ship The Wager set sail for the Pacific to take part in the War of Jenkins' Ear. The unfortunate ship was separated from the f...
Ukraine's Dam Destroyed: Water as a Weapon
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the 6th of June, 2023, an explosion tore through the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine. A torrent of water cascaded downriver, flooding towns and villages, d...
Chevalier: France's Revolutionary Maestro
11 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges is perhaps the most accomplished classical musician that you've never heard of. A composer, soldier and cha...
The British Empire
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The British Empire was one of the most influential and far-reaching empires in history. Dan and his guest journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera remem...
Hiding Anne Frank
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Warfare, host James Patton Rogers is joined by Tony Phelan and Susanna Fogel, creators of the new TV series A Small Light, which ex...
D-Day: Britain and America's 'Special Relationship'
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 6th of June, 1944 was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany and the pinnacle of the 'special relationship' between Britain and the United Stat...
The Ejector Seat
04 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
An ejector seat propels a human at speeds reaching 200 miles in less than a second. It can save a life... or snap a neck. John Nichol remembers pullin...
Love and Lust in WWII
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Though rarely spoken about, love, lust and sexuality were key to many soldiers' experiences of the Second World War. Veterans might allude to them in ...
Murder in the Roman World
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Ancient Romans are often thought of as ahead of their time. They invented concrete, sophisticated road systems and even underfloor heating.But the...
Why Empires Fall
29 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For centuries, the Roman Empire commanded unparalleled control over the world around it. It expanded its borders through trade and conquest, sucking r...
5. Story of England: Modern Warfare
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From the First World War to the Cold War, conflict in the 20th century has been crucial in shaping England as we know it. This is the final episode of...
4. Story of England: Industrial Revolution
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Modern England as we know it started in the industrial heart of Ironbridge in Shropshire- now a verdant gorge that once was black with smog, fire and ...
3. Story of England: Tudor Feuds, Explorers and Fanatics
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Tudors were the dynasty that had it all- power, family feuds, sex and scandal. Dan couldn't do a history of England without a hearty helping of ou...
2. Story of England: Medieval Invaders
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Great Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, bloodshed at the battle of Hastings, Bubonic Plague and Roland the celebrity flatulist. As dawn breaks, Dan walks the beac...
1. Story of England: Stone Age to Roman Days
21 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan begins his ultimate historical road trip at the mysterious plinths at Stonehenge in the South-West of England. Dan uncovers how the stones arrived...
Henry III vs. Simon de Montfort
17 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After speaking to Gone Medieval in April 2022 about the first volume of his magisterial biography of Henry III, David Carpenter promised Matt Lewis th...
Britain's WWII Lumberjills
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Second World War placed a tremendous strain on Britain's natural resources. One of the most important materials for fuelling the war effort was wo...
Nazi Codebreaking with Betty Webb
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Betty Webb is the last known living veteran who worked on both German and Japanese codes at Bletchley Park and Dan got an invite to her 100th birthday...