Dan Snow's History Hit

My Dad Wrote a History Hit!

13 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this special episode Dan Snow teams up with Alice Levine, Jamie Morton and James Cooper from My Dad Wrote A Porno to chat about all things sex and ...

The Origins of Kyiv

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

24th of February 2022 marked the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This episode of Gone Medieval looks at the origins of its capital city, Ky...

Preventing Nuclear War

10 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

While Ukraine fights to defend itself from Russian forces, Putin makes a nuclear threat to the west and the rest of the world. Dr Jeremy Garlick, Asso...

War, Women and the 1921 Census

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After World War One women outnumbered men by the highest margin in recorded history, even compared to after World War Two. This had wide-reaching impl...

Escape From a Nazi Concentration Camp

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In April 1945, weeks before the Nazi defeat, nine women made a last-ditch escape from the concentration camp at Ravensbruck. The group, who had all be...

Yellowstone: The World's First National Park

06 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This year is the 150th anniversary of the world's first national park of its kind, Yellowstone. Each year nearly four million people visit the park bu...

Edward VI: The Last Boy King

04 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Edward VI, son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use him to further their own ends. Edwar...

ENDURANCE22: Onto the Ice

02 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On today's episode, Dan takes the podcast out onto the Antarctic ice to find penguins, seals and the expedition scientists conducting experiments. He ...

The Real Peaky Blinders

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Who were the real Peaky Blinders? Did they really exist? Carl Chinn reveals the true story of the notorious gangs that roamed Birmingham's streets dur...

How the Mongols Changed the World

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After the death of Chinggis Khan, the founder and first Emperor of the Mongol Empire, the land became the largest contiguous empire in history.The Hor...

An Audacious Heist at the National Gallery

27 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Please note that this episode contains spoilers from the film ‘The Duke’.Kempton Bunton was a taxi driver who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke ...

Crisis in Ukraine: Putin & NATO

25 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ukraine has been invaded by Russia. But why? What is NATO’s purpose, and why does it bother Vladimir Putin so much? In this episode of Warfare, we’...

Ukraine and Russia: A Quick History

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Russia has launched an invasion of Ukraine. As European leaders gather and Ukraine makes preparations to defend itself, the world watches. In light of...

The Origins of London

23 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

London is today one of the greatest cities in the world, and the story of its origins is fittingly spectacular. Founded by the Romans as Londinium in ...

ENDURANCE22: Dan's Diary #04

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan updates us from Antarctica about whether the SS Agulhas II has managed to break free from the ice that had surrounded it.If you'd like to learn mo...

ENDURANCE22: Searching for the Shipwreck

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The search for the wreck of the sunken Endurance is well underway. Find out more about the submersibles, equipped with 4k cameras that can scan the se...

The Last Invasion of Britain

21 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Popular knowledge may claim Hastings as the site of the last invasion of mainland Britain by Norman forces in 1066. True, this was the last successful...

Section 28 and Britain's Battle for LGBT+ Education

20 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was a controversial amendment to the UK's Local Government Act 1986, enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed o...

ENDURANCE22: Dan's Diary #03

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Endurance22 crew have made it to the Weddell Sea and the point where they believe Shackleton’s ship sunk! It’s a rocky start as they begin the...

River Kings: Epic Stories of the Viking Age

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

To mark the US release of our very own Dr Cat Jarman’s incredible book River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads,...

ENDURANCE22: Arrival in Antarctica

16 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Icebergs, albatrosses and growlers- the team have crossed the Antarctic circle! In the first of our episodes recorded from Antarctica, Dan takes you o...

The Fall of Singapore: 80th Anniversary

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army took place in the South-East Asian theatre of the Pacific War, with fighting in Singapore lasting through 8...

ENDURANCE22: Dan's Diary #02

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan gives a quick update on the expedition's progress towards Antarctica from a rather wet and windy deck as the crew prepare for a storm to hit.If yo...

Dear John, The Wartime Breakup Letter

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Writing letters to a spouse or sweetheart deployed overseas was portrayed as a patriotic duty, a means to boost the morale of the fighting man. But wh...

Rival Queens: Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots

13 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots were cousins who never met - but their fates were intertwined. As their nations were engulfed in religious turmoi...

ENDURANCE22: Dan's Diary #01

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A little update from Dan on where he is and how the journey to Antarctica is going!If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentar...

ENDURANCE22: The Man Who Filmed the Expedition

10 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The extraordinary story of Shackleton's doomed Trans-Antarctic expedition has captured audiences for over 100 years. It's not just because it's a dram...

Alexander's Successors at War: The Spartan Adventurer

06 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tristan of The Ancients podcasts has published his first book, Alexander’s Successors at War: The Perdiccas Years. Focussing in on 323 – 320 ...

ENDURANCE22: Dan Sets Sail for Antarctica!

04 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The expedition has begun and Dan is here to answer your questions about all things Endurance22, the expedition to find Shackleton’s lost shipwreck!&...

Russia's Threat to Invade Ukraine

03 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amid Moscow’s increasing build-up of troops along the Ukrainian border and the preparation of infrastructure for a possible invasion, tensions betwe...

The Troubles: How It Started

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With Kenneth Branagh film, Belfast, hitting cinemas - we run down the historical background of the early years of the decades-long conflict in Norther...

The Forgotten Einstein

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

John von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived, a man who was in his day as well-known as Einstein and considered smart...

Introducing: On Jimmy's Farm

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Join celebrity farmer, ecologist and conservationist, Jimmy Doherty, on his farm as he talks to eco-experts and well-known faces about trying to live ...

The Execution of Charles I

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the 30th January, 372 years ago, Charles I, king of Great Britain and Ireland, stepped out of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, to be beheaded in ...

After Nuremberg

30 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 1950s in West Germany saw a sharp decline in Nazi war crimes investigations and trials. Instead, there were campaigns for amnesties and reductions...

Nuremberg: The Trial of Major War Criminals

28 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949, the Nuremberg trials were held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. Th...

The Boy Who Survived Auschwitz

27 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Geve was just 15 years old when he was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp on 11 April 1945. It was the third concentration camp he ha...

Munich - The Edge of War: Reappraising Chamberlain

26 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Join James from the Warfare Podcast, as he chats to the writer and cast of the new film 'Munich - the Edge of War'. Set in 1938, the movie follows Cha...

The Gilded Age

25 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Gilded Age was a time in American history when the economy grew at its fastest rate in history. This had wide-reaching cultural and social effects...

Champagne Riots

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rebecca Gibb is a Master of Wine. A ninja who can sniff out a Merlot from a Margaux at 50 paces. In this archive episode, she talks to Dan about the r...

1942: Churchill's Real Darkest Hour

23 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most people think that Britain's worst moment of the war was in 1940 when the nation stood up against the threat of German invasion. Yet, eighty years...

Roe v. Wade: America's Landmark Ruling

21 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law banning abortion, effectively legalising the procedure nationwide. The court held ...

Who Was Joan of Arc?

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Joan of Arc is a name that’s instantly recognisable to most. A controversial figure in her own day, she has remained so ever since, often being adop...

The Child Soldiers of WWI

19 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After the outbreak of the First World War, boys as young as twelve were caught up in a national wave of patriotism and, in huge numbers, volunteered t...

28 Years on Death Row

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Ray Hinton is an Alabama was held on death row after being wrongly convicted of the murders of two restaurant managers, John Davidson and Thom...

Korean War: The Veterans Of Imjin River

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Fought between the 22nd-25th of April 1951, the battle of Imjin River was part of a Chinese counter-offensive after United Nations forces had recaptur...

Eugenics with Adam Rutherford

16 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Eugenics has been used in attempts throughout history, and across continents, to gain power and assert control.In this episode, we trace Eugenics from...

Tudor True Crime

14 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The true-crime genre - stories of actual murders and other crimes that are then fictionalised - is not a new phenomenon. More than four centuries...

George Washington: The First President

13 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

George. Where did it all go wrong? George Washington could have had a comfortable career as a loyal member of His Majesty's Virginia militia and colon...

The Rule of Laws

12 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The laws now enforced throughout the world are almost all modelled on systems developed in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During t...

Digging for Britain with Professor Alice Roberts

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

2021 was a bumper year for archaeological discoveries across Britain. In this episode, we go on a whistlestop tour of some of the most notable finds —...

Was the League of Nations Doomed to Fail?

10 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

102 years ago on the 10th of January 1920, the League of Nations was formed out of the Treaty of Versailles. Its aim was to maintain peace after the F...

Obama and Merkel: The Extraordinary Partnership

09 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are two of the world’s most influential leaders, together at the centre of some of t...

1921 Census: Revealed

07 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time, the 1921 Census of England & Wales is now publicly available, only online at the family history website, Findmypast. More detailed...

Democratic Decline

06 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 6th of January marks one year since the United States Capitol attack of 2021, whereby a mob of supporters of Republican President Donald J. Trump ...

Sitting Bull: the Life and Death of a Native American Chief

05 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sitting Bull, best known for his initiative and victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn, is a greatly revered Native American Chief. But he was more t...

Treasures of Ancient Egypt

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ramesses the Great, ego in the ancient world and Tutankhamun's sacred underwear. These are all covered in today's episode with Dr Campbell Price about...

Tutankhamun: Life, Legacy and Discovery

03 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered by Howard Carter almost 100 years ago, and two years later they opened up the stone sarcophagus that held the golden...

Climate Catastrophe in the 17th century

02 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides - the calamities of the mid-seventeenth century were both unprecedented and widespread. A g...

Sex in the Middle Ages

31 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Please note that this episode contains conversation about sex that you might not want to listen to in the presence of children.What did medieval peopl...

Inside The Great Cathedrals of Europe

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A trip to Paris wouldn't be the same without taking a moment to gaze up at the great looming towers of the Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral with its watchf...

The Origins Of Scotland

29 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Medieval period saw the advancement of many countries, evolving to the provinces in Europe that we know today; Scotland is no different. In this e...

The 1914 Christmas Truce (Part 2)

28 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Part Two of our episodes on the famous Christmas Truce. On Christmas Eve 1914 many sectors of the Western Front in France and Belgium fell silent. Tro...

The 1914 Christmas Truce (Part 1)

27 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On Christmas Eve 1914 many sectors of the Western Front in France and Belgium fell silent. Troops from all sides put down their weapons and sang carol...

Storytime with the Snows: Boudica

25 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In a special episode of the podcast, Dan's children join him for a lively retelling of Boudica and the violent uprising that tore Roman Britain apart-...

Christmas Carols: A Musical History

24 Dec 2021

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...

King Herod

22 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Thanks largely to his feature in the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod ‘the Great’ of Judaea is one of the infamous figures from the whole of history....

The Parthenon Marbles

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The permanent home of the Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, has been the subject of a heated, decades-long debate. Currently housed ...

God's Changing Body Through History

20 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While many traditions regard God to be incorporeal, some three thousand years ago in the Southwest Asian lands, a group of people worshipped a complex...

The Battle of Agincourt Explained

19 Dec 2021

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...

The Unlikely Fate of the Wright Brothers

17 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. The Wright Brothers took the world...

Black Tudors: England's Other Countrymen

16 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Our image of the Tudor era remains overwhelmingly white. But the black presence in England was much greater than has previously been recognised, and T...

Uncovered: South America's Biggest Slave Uprising

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On February 27 1763, thousands of enslaved people in the Dutch colony of Berbice—in present-day Guyana—launched a huge uprising against their oppr...

Inside Downing Street with Gavin Barwell

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

British politician Gavin Barwell served as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Theresa May from June 2017 to July 2019, one of the most turbulent periods...

Hitler's American Gamble

13 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941 remains etched in public memory as the turning point of WW2. But in fact, it was Hitler’s dec...

The Secrets of WW2's Women Soldiers

12 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in 1938 it saw many thousands o...

Battle of Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory

10 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

2 December is a special date for those fascinated by Napoleon Bonaparte. Not only is this the date he crowned himself Emperor of France in 1804, but a...

Moscow 1941: Hitler's Nemesis with Jonathan Dimbleby

09 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While the allies reeled from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and Hitler's declaration of war on the United States, a ferocious battle was also ra...

Inside North Korea

08 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With closed borders, a totalitarian regime, electricity blackouts and widespread poverty, North Korea is a brutal place to survive; even looking ...

Pearl Harbor: 80th Anniversary

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise military strike upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl...

Barbados: The World's Newest Republic

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

November 30 2021, Bridgetown, fifty-five years since Barbados’ 1966 Independence, the Royal Standard flag representing the Queen was lowered and Dam...

Band of Brothers

05 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

HBO's Band of Brothers remains one of the greatest mini-series ever made. 20 years after the award-winning series debuted, Dan speaks to Rob...

The Hundred Years' War

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Over 100 years of conflict, two warring nations, five monarchs on either side and countless casualties in a dispute over claims to the throne: in this...

Discovered! Rare Celtic Coins in the New Forest

02 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In a special episode of the podcast, Dan and his team hit the road after receiving a call about the discovery of a hoard of rare Iron Age coins, at a ...

Ridley Scott on Gucci, Gladiator and the Blitz

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Please note that this episode contains the use of explicit language right from the very beginning.  Ridley Scott, a prolific director and pr...

Arnold Schwarzenegger on Churchill's Birthday

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Actor and former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger joins Dan in conversation on today's podcast about Winston Churchill, who was born on th...

Winston Churchill

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Winston Churchill was many things a writer, politician, journalist, painter but the defining aspect of his career was as a war leader. Warfare infused...

The Complicated Legacy of F W de Klerk

28 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The result of his complicated legacy, the death of South Africa's last apartheid president, F W de Klerk, on November 11 2021 generated a flood of dif...

The Rise of the Praetorian Guard

26 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From Gladiator to Rome Total War to Star Wars, today the Praetorians are one of the most distinctive military units of Imperial Rome. It was their job...

The British Spy who Saved Jews from Hitler

25 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Kendrick was at the very centre of British Intelligence operations throughout the first half of the twentieth century. He combined a public fac...

From the Punjab to the Western Front

24 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Over a million Indian soldiers served during the First World War, but many of the records of the soldiers who fought valiantly for the Allied cause ha...

The British Monarchy

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The British Monarchy is a thread that has run throughout the history of Britain but over the centuries it has been a constantly evolving institution. ...

The Assassination of JFK: Explained

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone who was alive at the time remembers the day President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas, Texas on the 22 November 1963. On this anniver...

Greg Jenner: Ask a Historian

21 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When and why did we start keeping hamsters as pets? When was sign language first used in the UK? If you were planning a bank heist, which historical f...

Searching for the Lost of World War One

19 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of the World War One, around one million citizens of the British Empire had been lost, and the whereabouts of about half of these was unkno...

The Magic Circle & Hoaxes in History

18 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hoaxes and magic were widespread in 18th century Britain. From a woman who claimed to birth rabbits, to a man who said he’d climb into a bottle in f...

When the World's Armies Came to Salisbury Plain

17 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

During World War One, Britain and its empire mobilised soldiers on a hitherto unprecedented scale. That required a huge logistical effort to feed, equ...

We Didn't Start the Fire: Dien Bien Phu

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This episode of the podcast comes from a show called ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ which is a modern history podcast inspired by the lyrics of the ...

Our Love Affair with History

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

From the great battles such as Dunkirk, historical titans such Alexander the Great and historical oddities such as Henry VIII's enemas Dan speaks to a...

Stories of War with Max Hastings

14 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As the country remembers the sacrifice made by those men and women who have given their lives and health in serving the nation Dan is joined by Sir Ma...