Dan Snow's History Hit
Episodes
The Haitian Revolution and King Henri Christophe
14 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of 1791, thousands of enslaved people in Saint Domingue, as Haiti was then known, cast aside their shackles and revolted against French ...
Dan Explains: The Dambusters Part 2
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the night of the 16th May, 1943, Operation Chastise commenced - 133 RAF airmen in their iconic Lancaster bombers took off from England, bound for G...
Dan Explains: The Dambusters Part 1
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the night of the 16th of May, 1943, 133 RAF airmen in their iconic Lancaster bombers took off from England, and headed for Germany. Armed with spec...
Ruling as a Renaissance Queen
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 16th century in Europe was an age of great Queens. But just because they were in charge, didn't always mean they were powerful or safe; it was tou...
Knossos
07 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The legend of the Minotaur and its labyrinth has captivated us for centuries, but is there any evidence of it really existing?In this episode, Tristan...
Tocqueville: The Search for Liberty, Equality & Democracy
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1831, the French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville left the troubled continent of Europe and set sail for America. Travelling in the shadow of the F...
Lord Byron: Incest, Adultery & Daddy Issues
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
*WARNING there are adult words and themes in this episode*How debaucherous do you have to be to be remembered as the original bad boy? How mad, bad an...
J.R.R. Tolkien and the First World War
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth is perhaps the most captivating fantasy world ever created. His mythology and folklore continues to influence the work o...
The Battle of Agincourt
30 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Battle of Agincourt looms large in the English historical and cultural imagination, this explainer wades through the mythology to help listeners r...
Mary, Queen of Scots on Film: The Historians’ Verdict
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What do you get when you bring together five top historians to debate Mary, Queen of Scots on film? History with the gloves off - our second special e...
Assassins vs Templars: The Crusades
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first episode of a special series that we made in collaboration with Ubisoft, the developers of the Assassins's Creed franchise. In Assass...
Commando Training in Scotland
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The commandos have become a byword for elite raiding and cutting-edge military operations. They were set up during the Second World War in June 1940, ...
The History of Coronations
23 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As preparations for the Coronation of King Charles III get underway, you're going to see words everywhere like 'anointing,' 'enthronement,' ...
Empire State Building
19 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it was completed in 1931, the Empire State Building became the tallest building in the world. While it has long been surpassed, it is still one o...
Britain's Maritime History
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Is it even possible to imagine what Britain would have been without seafaring? Braving the waters beyond our harbours can be traced back eight and a h...
The Mystery of the Frogman Lionel Crabb
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the night of the 19th of April, 1956, the decorated navy diver Lionel Crabb went missing. A veteran of the Second World War, Crabb had been sent on...
The Koh-i-Noor Diamond
16 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The enormous Cullinan Diamond will be on display at Charles III Coronation, but the diamond that's missing - the Koh-i-Noor - is the one that everyone...
The Spy Behind the Iron Curtain
12 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains high-speed chases, modified cars and a mission to uncover secret enemy technology. It's everything you'd find in a James Bond mo...
Vikings in Spain
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When we think of Vikings, we tend to picture them in the colder climates of Northern Europe, and not so much in the warmer regions of Spain and the Me...
The Katyn Massacre
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan explains what happened in the spring of 1940 when the Soviet secret police executed over 22,000 Polish prisoners of war at three secluded sites in...
The Assassination that Ended South African Apartheid
09 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The assassination of Chris Hani was a pivotal moment in the dismantling of South African apartheid. On the 10th of April, 1993, he was shot dead as he...
The Rise and Fall of Saddam Hussein
05 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Perhaps one of the best-known modern dictators, Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq for nearly 30 years before eventually being overthrown in 2003 by the US Coa...
Massacre on the Slave Ship Zong
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Please note, this episode contains descriptions of racial violence that some listeners may find disturbing.In November 1781, a British slave ship carr...
Operation Paperclip: America's Nazi Scientists
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the Allied Powers sent research teams into the ruins of the Third Reich to cherry-pick the best German engin...
The Rise of Zelenskyy
02 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meteoric rise to power has been packed with drama and action. His journey has taken him from a Russian-speaking, aspiring diplom...
Septimius Severus
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Given his incredible career, you'd perhaps expect the name of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus to be better known. Born in North Africa in 145AD, he ro...
The Space Shuttle
29 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Over a period of 30 years, NASA's Space Shuttle program contributed to some of space exploration's most important achievements, as well as some of its...
Scott's Last Days in the Antarctic
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Captain Robert Falcon Scott died in his tent in Antarctica in March 1912 during his failed effort to become the first person to reach the South Pole. ...
HMS Victory
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
During the Battle of Trafalgar, the men on the gun decks of HMS Victory felt the heat of fire from above and from below; they dodged enemy cannon ball...
How to Prepare for Nuclear War
26 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With Putin's war in Ukraine raging on, the threat of a nuclear conflict feels as real as ever. But since the Iron Curtain fell, our understanding of w...
Cooking for Churchill: Georgina Landemare
24 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Clear soup, Irish stew and steamed puddings - this was the war work of Georgina Landemare, the Churchills' longest-serving cook.Throughout the war yea...
The Great Storm of 1703
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A Stuart time capsule has emerged from beneath the sand after 320 years. In early December 1703, barometers across South-Eastern England plunged as a ...
Islam vs Christendom
22 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As two of humanity's great religions, Islam and Christianity have shaped much of the world's history. Empires across the globe have risen and fallen u...
A Short History of Bank Collapses
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Looking back at the past few weeks, it seems like banks are collapsing left, right and centre; but what exactly does this mean for us? Are these incon...
Soviet "Bone Music"
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While rifling through a stall at a flea market in Leningrad- now St Petersburg- composer and music producer Stephen Coates came across something unusu...
The Death of Amy Dudley
17 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On 6 September 1560, Amy Robsart Dudley died after falling down a staircase at Cumnor Place in Oxfordshire. But did she fall? Was she pushed? Or did s...
Satire & Scandal in Georgian England
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can we trace the 'British sense of humour' back to the Georgian period? It was an age of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebr...
What is a Fascist?
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is everything you ever wanted to know about fascism. Are the British government's new proposals to stop refugee boats arriving fascistic? Were th...
The Glencoe Massacre
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Glencoe in the Scottish highlands is a beautiful landscape with a dark past. While folks from all over the world travel to this beautiful valley to hi...
Samuel Adams
10 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Samuel Adams was a political force of nature. Stacy Schiff tells Don how Adams, fuelled by disconten...
The Psychiatric Hospital that Fought the Nazis
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are descriptions of suffering early in this episode that some listeners may find distressing. As hospitals and institutions across the European ...
The Women Who Organised the Battle of Britain
08 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a suburb of North-West London, among housing estates and residential streets lies a secret bunker, you may never have heard of it but it's one of t...
Uniting Europe After WWII
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Count Coudenhove-Kalergi was one of the most influential 20th Century European thinkers that you've never heard of. He was a pioneer of European integ...
The Making of 'All Quiet on the Western Front'
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
All Quiet on the Western Front is the 2022 film adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's famous anti-war novel. Told from the German perspective, it prese...
The Last Nuremberg Prosecutor
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
102 year old Ben Ferencz is the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials and a direct witness to the horrors of the Nazi death camps. Born ...
Lady Hamilton: Nelson's Mistress
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Kim Kardashian of Georgian England; she was a young housemaid who became one of the most famous socialites in the Western world and stole the hear...
The Mysterious Voynich Manuscript
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Lewis continues his Mystery Month on Gone Medieval with another tantalising enigma of the Middle Ages - possibly the most mysterious manuscript t...
Sabotage, Nazis and the Atomic Bomb: Operation Gunnerside
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In late February 1943, Norwegian commandos were given the details of their mission, Operation Gunnerside. Their job would be to sabotage the Vemork he...
Enheduanna: The World's First Author
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's hard to imagine a time when we didn't write things down- on stone, papyrus or parchment. Who was the first to actually put 'pen to paper' and wri...
Russia & Ukraine: A Year of War
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the 24th of February, 2022, the world looked on in disbelief as Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. One year on he shows no s...
History of Britain's Black Airmen
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of some of the remarkable feats of airpower throughout history, you might think of the Dambusters, or the Battle of Britain. But what a...
Rosa Parks
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the 1st of December, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. After taking her seat in the section designated for people of colour, R...
How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Humanity
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We think of our natural environment as a subset of history, like studying the history of warfare or economics. But in truth, climate is the driving fo...
Aphrodite: Goddess of Love
17 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode contains graphic references.Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology.Her origin story is one of the more colourful ...
Spies in the Sky
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Spy balloons are really blowing up right now. The US has shot down one confirmed Chinese balloon and has engaged several other unidentified flying obj...
The Tragedy of HMS Captain
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As a crew of over 500 boarded HMS Captain in the autumn of 1870, none of them knew their fate was sealed in the offices of the dockyard. The Captain w...
Nicholas Said: The Extraordinary Life of a Traveller, Soldier and Translator
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the remarkable story of Nicholas Said - born into a wealthy Muslim family in the ancient Bornu Empire, his childhood was interrupted when, age...
The Muppets Take Moscow!
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Car bombings, assassinations and a military takeover: these are just some of the things American TV producer Natasha Lance Rogoff and her team faced w...
Pre-historic Women
10 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For years we've understood that in the prehistoric hunter-gather world, the men did the hunting and the women did the gathering. Prehistoric man went ...
Dan, The Skeletons and The Battle of Waterloo
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Snow’s History Hit hits the road to Belgium and the Waterloo Battlefield to see the soldier’s bones found in an attic earlier this month. ...
Medieval Leaders and Queens: Aethelfled, Hildegard & Jadwiga.
08 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Aethelfled, a warrior queen who crushed the Vikings, Jadwiga, the first Queen Regent of Poland and Hildegard of Bingen, an 11th-century polymath abbes...
The Real Casanova
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Content Warning This episode contains adult themes and language that may not be suitable for children.On this special network crossover episode we're ...
The Murder of Charles I
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's 1660 and General Edward Whalley and his son-in-law board a ship bound for the New World. They're on the run, wanted for the murder of King Charle...
Sex
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
250 million years ago the armour-plated Placoderm fish invented the act of sex as we know it. Hubba Hubba. Dive into the historical sack as we go in s...
The End of Stalingrad
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stalingrad is one of the most titanic and totemic battles of the Second World War. Millions were killed, the city itself was utterly shattered by figh...
Normans, Romans and Victorians: History of England's New Forest
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Where can you find an Iron Age fort, Roman kilns, trees built for Nelson's navy and the hunting lodge of William the Conqueror? In the place that...
The Truth About Area 51
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Fake moon landings, aliens and secret weapons; conspiracy theories about Area 51 abound but what exactly is it, and do we know anything about it with ...
Pacification in the Vietnam War
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. It was one of the most costly conflicts that the U.S. has ever...
Anne Frank's Life After Her Arrest
27 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Anne Frank’s diary is one of the most famous accounts of the Jewish experience during the Second World War, giving us a deeply personal glimpse into...
Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Three Musketeers paints a picture of King Louis XIII of France as a rather weak monarch controlled by his powerful chief minister Cardinal Ri...
The Great British Dig
25 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We think of archaeology as an exclusionary profession, one reserved for experts in the field. But why isn't the discipline more accessible to the publ...
Battle of Waterloo Skeletons Found in Attic!
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Waterloo was one of the bloodiest battles in European history, yet until now only two bodies have ever been found on the battlefield. The remains of 1...
The First Indigenous Americans in Europe
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
1492 marked the beginning of the Colombian Exchange - the transfer of people, goods, ideas and commodities across the Atlantic between Europe and the ...
WWI Lifesavers and Body Snatchers
20 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The brutal nature of the First World War presented frontline medical personnel with an array of horrific and debilitating wounds, inflicted on a previ...
Zheng He: The Ming Dynasty Explorer
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Ming Dynasty emerged in the second half of the 14th century, having achieved a hard-won victory over the declining Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. Admira...
North America's French Indian War
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the British and French colonies in North America expanded in the middle of the 18th century, they inevitably clashed. Fighting between the two side...
Hitler and Mussolini
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Just over 100 years ago, in October 1922, Mussolini and 30,000 Blackshirts marched on Rome. It was a mass demonstration that would see his National Fa...
Churchill's Surprising Career in Scotland
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Winston Churchill is possibly the most famous politician in British history. Throughout his career, he would hold numerous positions in government, in...
The Mongol Empire
13 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Crusades are well-known but only part of the complex history of the medieval Near East. During the same era, the region was completely remade by t...
The Himalayas
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Himalayas is one of the most expansive and storied regions in the world. It's also a place that we're hugely dependent on, providing billions of p...
Modern Terrorism
11 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At the end of the 19th century, the world came to fear terrorism. In an era that simmered with political rage and social inequalities, anarchists and ...
Royal Siblings: Heirs and Spares
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Prince Harry's explosive new memoir is out today and headlines, articles and tweets all weighing in on the rift between the royals are everywhere. In ...
General Franco
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From 1939 to 1975, Generalissimo Francisco Franco ruled Spain as a nationalist dictator. For many, he was Spain incarnate, a tenacious leader and warr...
Inside the JFK White House
06 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
November 22nd marks 59 years since the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. One of the most famous assassinations in history, JFK's death se...
Warrior Queens & Revolutionaries
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first author in history, the inventor of the dishwasher and the lawyer who refused to be kicked out of the room the Oxford law school; when it com...
Harry Houdini
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Harry Houdini is perhaps the most famous entertainer to have ever lived. He wowed his audiences with sensational feats of physical endurance and illus...
Birdwatching: How Four Prisoners of War Survived Captivity
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode tells the incredible story of four Second World War British POWs who overcame the trials and tribulations of internment through a shared ...
Budapest: Between East and West
02 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Almost at the centre of Europe, Budapest, is at the crossroads of geographical regions and of civilizations, at the intersection of ancient trade rout...
Dan Snow's History Hit Quiz!
30 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fingers on buzzers for a very special History Hit end-of-year treat.Tricky expert questions, history in the headlines, historical fact or fiction? It ...
Hunting Stolen Nazi Art
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the Nazi war machine rampaged across Europe it did not just take territory and resources from its conquests but also many thousands of pieces of ar...
Richard III vs Henry VII
28 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We all think we know the story of Richard III and Henry VII, or do we? Richard III is often portrayed as a child-murdering usurper whose reign was bro...
Christmas Carols: A Musical History
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season, it is thought that carols existed to keep up people’s spi...
Christmas Feasts Through The Ages!
23 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Porpoises, beaver tails, boar's head and puffins: are just some of the exquisite dishes on medieval tables during the festive season. In this episode ...
The Real 'Good King' Wenceslas
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Click here to vote for Gone Medieval at the Signal Awards.At this time of year, many of us will find ourselves singing about a royal personage who bra...
The Battle of the Bulge
21 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lasting six brutal weeks, from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945, the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes region of Belgium was Adolf Hitler’s ...
Toilets, Underpants & Pillows: Everyday Things with Greg Jenner
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why do grandmas wear bloomers? How did romans clean themselves after using the toilet? Pillows were originally made of stone?! These are all questions...
Who Was Jesus, The Man?
19 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Followed by billions and worshipped across the planet, Jesus is the most famous person who ever lived. Jesus Christ is revered as a prophet and the Me...
Germany's Extreme Monarchists
16 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last week a celebrity chef, former police officers and serving army officers were arrested in Germany as part of an extremist coup to overthrow the go...
'My Grandfather, the Wehrmacht General in Russia'
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Angela Findlay was determined to find out if her grandfather, Karl von Graffen, was a Nazi and what he did on the Eastern front. An artist and speaker...
Tattoos
14 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There are many common misconceptions and misunderstandings about Tattoos. They can act as a window into the social economic and cultural issues of a p...