Short History Of...
Episodes
The Great Fire of London
10 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In September 1666, the Great Fire of London consumed hundreds of acres of houses, shops, churches, and government buildings. But what effect did polit...
Queen Elizabeth the Second, Part 2 of 2
05 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the Queen’s family life becomes more complex, the relationship between palace and press intensifies. But balancing the need for security and priv...
Queen Elizabeth the Second, Part 1 of 2
29 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Spanning seventy years, Queen Elizabeth II’s reign has seen the world change beyond recognition. And from her earliest public appearances representi...
The Terracotta Army
22 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After its initial discovery in 1974, the Terracotta Army became the unofficial eighth wonder of the world. Comprising an estimated 8,000 statue warrio...
Chernobyl
15 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1986, the Chernobyl power plant became the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Poisonous radiation caused over 100,000 casualties, and c...
Henry VIII
08 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1509, at just seventeen years old, Henry VIII was crowned King of England. Over the next four decades, he would burn through six marriages, bankrup...
Pearl Harbor, Part 3 of 3
01 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the smoke clears after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the blame game begins. President Roosevelt knows that military and intelligence heads m...
Pearl Harbor, Part 2 of 3
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Chaos reigns in the immediate aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. While the true extent of the damage to personnel and fleet is still un...
Pearl Harbor, Part 1 of 3
24 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On December 7th 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, changed the course of the Second World War. Forcing the United States into a confli...
The Russian Revolution
17 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1917, revolution changed Russia forever. Putting an end to 300 years of the Romanov dynasty, it made way for what ordinary Russians believed would ...
The Titanic
10 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Titanic was the largest moveable object in history: almost 900 feet long, and holding over two thousand passengers. But just four days into its ma...
The Vikings
03 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Viking exploration changed the course of history in the northern hemisphere. As raiders and pirates, they dominated the seas of northern Europe for ce...
The Knights Templar
27 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For almost two hundred years, the Knights Templar were one of the most fearsome military forces in the world. Despite their strict vows of individual ...
Prohibition
21 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For thirteen years from 1920, the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic drinks was banned in the USA. The age of prohibition was a rowdy ...
The Watergate Scandal
14 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When five men are caught inside a Washington DC office block in June 1972, it’s noted in police records simply as a ‘burglary’. So how does this...
The Suffragettes
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While British women had been requesting the right to vote for decades, in the early 1900s, the Suffragettes refused to take no for an answer. But desp...
The Berlin Wall
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On the border between the Western world and the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War. Starting out as a simple barbed wire fence...
The Ottoman Empire
21 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For over six hundred years the Ottoman Empire ruled swathes of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Europe. As an Islamic superpower centred on...
The Underground Railroad
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Underground Railroad helped up to 100,000 enslaved people to freedom. It was America’s first civil rights movement, operated by Black and white ...
Apollo 13
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
April 13th, 1970. 200,000 miles from Earth, three astronauts are approaching lunar orbit when they hear a noise. Deep in the spacecraft, a tiny wiring...
Bonnie and Clyde
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Forged by the Great Depression, Bonnie and Clyde became icons of lawlessness, thrilling and shocking America with their crime sprees and doomed romanc...
Ernest Shackleton
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Antarctica, October 1915. 1200 miles from civilisation, Ernest Shackleton watches from the ice as his ship finally crumples. To survive, he and his 27...
The Christmas Truce
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Christmas eve, 1914. On the Western Front, a British soldier peers out across No Man’s Land. A sound catches his attention – not artillery ...
The Roman Republic
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
March 15th, 44BC. Despite ill omens, Julius Caesar approaches the Theatre of Pompey. But the men inside have sworn an oath. To save the Republic from ...
The Pirate Queen
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s November 28th, 1809. The Imperial fleet in Tung Chung Bay is aflame. But the crew of Zheng I Sao’s ship watch on and cheer. This is the great...
Pyramids
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sakkara, Egypt, 2,630BC. A man stands atop a structure of dizzying height as the final block grinds into place. For Imhotep, it is the culmination of ...
William Wallace
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Despised by the English, mistrusted by the Scottish nobles, and revered by his countrymen: William Wallace is synonymous with the battle for Scottish ...
The Samurai
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After a bloody battle on September 22nd, 1877, Saigo Takamori and his loyal warriors pause on a hillside overlooking Kagoshima. They’ll never surren...
The Gunpowder Plot
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One night in November 1605, a man is discovered underneath England’s Houses of Parliament. And he’s got enough gunpowder with him to reduce it to ...
Rosa Parks
24 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By the time she died in 2005, Rosa Parks was known around the world as an icon of activism. Her act of defiance one ordinary Thursday afternoon in Mon...
Alcatraz
17 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cloaked in secrecy, discussed by even the most hardened criminals as a place of terror, US Penitentiary Alcatraz is the most feared institution in the...
The Maya
10 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In 1511, a Spanish lifeboat makes land on the Yucatán coast in modern-day Mexico. Thirteen days ago, the crew's caravel was wrecked on a reef. But th...
The Moon Landing
03 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After multiple coups by the Soviet Union, astronaut Alan B. Shepard has just become the first American in space. But this is only the beginning. Now, ...
The Space Race
26 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Humanity has always looked to the heavens, pondering what is really out there. But how did space travel turn from fantasy into reality? In the afterma...
The Black Death
19 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In October 1347, a ghostly fleet of trading ships docks at a port in Sicily. The crew members – dead already, or well on their way – bear bubonic ...
Tutankhamun
12 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In November 1922, in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, a young water boy called Hussein Abdul Rasoul makes a remarkable discovery. A set of stone steps lie...
Pompeii and the Vesuvius Eruption
05 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a volcano erupts just six miles from a bustling city? In 79 AD Mount Vesuvius is regarded as a source of bounty by those who live in...
The California Gold Rush
29 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On January 24th, 1848, a carpenter from Coloma plunges a hand into the American River and pulls out gold. This discovery triggers an explosion of find...
Blackbeard the Pirate
22 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the early 18th century, one man makes his name as the most notorious pirate of all time. The legend of Edward Thatch has spawned television shows, ...
The Cuban Missile Crisis, Part 2 of 2
15 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On October 16th, 1962, John F. Kennedy discovers that the Soviet Union has successfully planted ballistic missiles on Cuban soil. The United States is...
The Cuban Missile Crisis, Part 1 of 2
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In October 1962, three men – Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro – hold the fate of the planet in their hands. A dispute over Soviet missiles in Cuba ...
The Gladiators
08 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the first-ever episode of Short History Of… we take a trip back in time to Ancient Rome, to discover the bizarre and barbaric world of the gladia...
Trailer: Short History Of...
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Each week, Short History Of... gives you a front-row seat as history’s most extraordinary moments play out right before you. You’ll be up close wi...