The Rest Is History
Episodes
445. The Habsburgs: Secrets of a Dynasty
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the Habsburg dynasty's mightiest ruler, was at once King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands and ...
444. The First Emperor of China
28 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided….” The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, left behind him a monumental legacy: an Emp...
443. Lord Byron: Death of a Vampire (Part 4)
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rumours surrounding Lord Byron’s scandalous divorce rippled throughout the world. Finally, he had no choice but to abandon England in disgrace and f...
442. Lord Byron: Dangerous Liaisons (Part 3)
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Good God I am surely in hell! Upon Lord Byron’s return to England and the publication of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, he became one of the most n...
441. Lord Byron: Scandal, Sex and Celebrity (Part 2)
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By 1809, Lord Byron found himself untethered and debt-ridden. Disenchanted with politics, frustrated by his literary career and haunted by his illicit...
440. Lord Byron: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Part 1)
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Few lives from history can have contained as many strange and exciting strands as that of Lord Byron's, whose story reflects the great dramas of the N...
439. Disco: Sex and Race in Seventies America
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Music for sex, dancing, and watching the straight world go by… The explosion of Disco provides an extraordinary window into the tumultuous world o...
438. The Moonwalkers, with Tom Hanks
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are ha...
437. Luther: A World Torn Apart (Part 5)
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“I think there is not a devil left in hell, they have all gone into the peasants… smite, stab and slay all”. Following on from Martin Luther’...
436. Luther: Showdown with the Emperor (Part 4)
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"I cannot and will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.…Here I stand, I can do no other” The Diet of Worms ...
435. Luther: The Battle Against Satan (Part 3)
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Three years on from Martin Luther’s publication of the Ninety-Five Theses - a shocking attack on the corruption of the Catholic Church and the selli...
434. Luther: The Revolution Begins (Part 2)
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Martin Luther is one of the few people to have genuinely changed the world, igniting a religious revolution that tore Christendom in two, and undermin...
433. Luther: The Man Who Changed the World (Part 1)
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Reformation, launched in 1517, stands as one of the most convulsive and transformative events of all time, shattering Christendom and dividing Eur...
432. Titanic: The Survivors (Part 6)
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"Then it is I drown again, with all those dim lost faces I never understood… Include me in your lamentations.” The aftermath of the Titanic’s si...
431. Titanic: Nightmare at Midnight (Part 5)
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“A story of horror unparalleled in the annals of the Sea.” On the 14th of April 1912, Titanic, a floating palace sailing through the North Atlanti...
430. Titanic: The Iceberg Strikes (Part 4)
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It is Sunday the 14th of April 1912, and the passengers of the Titanic, from the tycoons in first class to the migrants in third class, have been enjo...
429. Titanic: Countdown to Disaster (Part 3)
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The drama and tragedy of the Titanic’s sinking has spawned all manner of myths about those who left Southampton on the 10th of April 1912, and for f...
428. Titanic: Kings of the World (Part 2)
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Titanic was a product of the furious competition of the late Gilded Age, and no expenses were spared to make her the most extraordinary and luxuri...
427. Titanic: The Tragedy Begins (Part 1)
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable and nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers." The sinking of t...
426. History's Greatest Monkeys
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work, worthy the interposition of a deity. More humble, and I believe truer, to consider him created from ...
425. The History Of Chocolate
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
‘For if a person fatigued with long and hard labour, or with a violent agitation of the mind, takes a good dish of chocolate, he shall perceive almo...
424. Carthage vs. Rome: Total War (Part 4)
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the third century BC, a clash which had been brewing for centuries finally erupted: Rome, the ruthless imperialist upstart dominating Italy, agains...
423. Carthage vs. Rome: The Wolf at the Gates (Part 3)
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Every man is the architect of his own destiny” Long before Rome reigned over the Mediterranean, there was Carthage: the supreme predator of Antiq...
422. Ancient Carthage: Rise of a Superpower (Part 2)
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“An aristocratic republic, secret and well-ordered, where individuals are subject to the harsh laws of the austere and disciplined rich…” The my...
421. Ancient Carthage: Lords of the Sea (Part 1)
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Carthago delenda est.” Carthage must be destroyed: this was the rallying cry of Cato the Elder, the senator endlessly pushing for war against Rom...
420. Britain in 1974: Thatcher Enters the Ring (Part 4)
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The horrific Guildford Pub Bombings of Saturday 5th October 1974 sent shockwaves through Britain, worsening the sense of crisis sweeping through the n...
419. Britain in 1974: Countdown to a Coup (Part 3)
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Following a tumultuous election in February 1974, Labour’s Harold Wilson has been re-elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Wilson, an unpret...
418. Britain in 1974: The Crisis Election (Part 2)
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Three days after one of the most devastating IRA attacks launched upon British soil, the Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath called an election, ...
417. Britain in 1974: State of Emergency (Part 1)
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Who governs Britain?” Britain in the early 1970’s was a state in crisis, and by 1974, things had never seemed bleaker. Held hostage by the Trad...
416. The Canterbury Tales (Part 4)
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Geoffrey Chaucer stands as a founding father of English literature, and ‘The Canterbury Tales’ is an enthralling account of his age, holding a mir...
415. The Murder of Richard II (Part 3)
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“For within the hollow crown that rounds the hollow temple of a king...” Richard II, son of the dashing Black Prince and grandson of Edward III, b...
414. The Peasants’ Revolt: London’s Burning (Part 2)
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the 13th of June 1381, the rebel army of English peasants, led by Wat Tyler, entered London and brought chaos, death and destruction upon some of t...
413. The Peasants' Revolt: England Erupts (Part 1)
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By the late 14th century, England was in decline. Already weakened by the Hundred Years’ War, both Edward III and his son, the Black Prince, had die...
412. Romans in Space: Star Wars, Dune and Beyond...
25 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Extolling his love for democracy, the Senator took on autocratic powers, during a time of emergency, to save the Republic. The Republic was then aboli...
411. The Man in the Iron Mask
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the late 17th century, during the glorious reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, France was at its apogee, with royal absolutism at its zenith. But, be...
410. The Nazis in Power: The Night of Broken Glass (Part 7)
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By November 1938 the scene in Germany was at its darkest yet, as the full scale of Hitler’s intentions for the Jewish population of the German Reich...
409. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's War on the Jews (Part 6)
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As Hitler ramps up the German war machine, he remains obsessed with one idea: uprooting Jews from the Reich. The Nazis embark on a campaign of totalit...
408. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Dream (Part 5)
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“We must have a healthy people to dominate in the world”. In July 1933, Hitler’s Nazi party passed a new law for the compulsory sterilisation of...
407. The Nazis in Power: The Conquest of Austria (Part 4)
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By 1937, Hitler’s ever-growing ambitions were driving Europe to the brink of war. Ever restless, he knew that Germany must conquer the world, or be ...
406. The Nazis in Power: Hitler’s Road to War (Part 3)
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“No one can doubt that this world will one day be the scene of dreadful struggles for existence on the part of mankind. In the end, the instinct of ...
405. The Nazis in Power: The Nuremberg Rallies (Part 2)
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“We did not lose the war because our artillery gave out, but because the weapons of our mind didn’t fire” In September 1934, the Nazis held thei...
404. The Nazis in Power: The Night of the Long Knives (Part 1)
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Hitler had entered Röhm’s bedroom alone with a whip in his hand. Behind him had stood two detectives holding pistols, with the safety catch remo...
403. The Mystery of the Pregnant Pope
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A Pope of great renown once reigned during chaotic years for the medieval Church: she was an extraordinary figure, from a time when women were forbidd...
402. Christmas: Pagan or Christian?
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“The Church was anxious to draw the attention of its members away from the old pagan feast days, and the December date did this very well, for it co...
401. Windrush: The Story of Black Britain
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On the 8th of June 1948, the HMT Windrush sailed from Kingston with almost 500 migrants on board, destined for England. The ship docked at Tilbury on ...
400. Victorian Britain's Maddest Mystery
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1854, the twenty-five year old aristocrat Roger Tichborne, heir to an impressive fortune, died in a shipwreck ....Or did he? His mother, certain o...
399. The Savage Storm: World War II and The Battle for Italy
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Battle for Italy in 1943 proved to be one of the bloodiest and most brutal episodes of the Second World War. Following hot on the heels of their r...
398. JFK: The Mystery is Solved (Part 7)
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this landmark edition of The Rest is History, Dominic and Tom reveal the astonishing solution to the mystery that has fascinated so many people fo...
397. JFK: A Conspiracy Unmasked (Part 6)
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“We can’t accept very comfortably that two nobodies, two nothings - Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby - were able to change the course of world hist...
396. JFK: The Second Assassin Strikes (Part 5)
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Jack, you son of a bitch, don’t do it!” Just hours after President Kennedy’s assassination, in the full glare of the world’s media, the Da...
395. JFK: Hunt for a Killer (Part 4)
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 12:31pm on Friday 22nd November 1963, and in Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy lies slumped against his screaming wife, half of his head...
394. JFK: Death in Dallas (Part 3)
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“It wouldn't be very difficult to kill the president of the United States, you just have to be in a high building with a high powered rifle, telesco...
393. JFK: Cuba, Camelot and the Cold War (Part 2)
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
By the late 1950s, John F. Kennedy was a rich and handsome Democratic senator with a beautiful wife and young family, heading for the White House desp...
392. JFK: The Road to the White House (Part 1)
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“There were a lot of people who wanted Kennedy dead, a lot of powerful people. There are secrets still being held and I never bought for a minute th...
391. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Last Emperor (Part 8)
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tenochtitlan, once the glittering jewel at the heart of the mighty Aztec Empire, has fallen. Hernán Cortés stands triumphant, the master of this New...
390. The Fall of the Aztecs: War to the Death (Part 7)
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Conquer or die indeed, Cortes thought… The hour of decision was at hand…" It is the spring of 1521 and the fate of Mexico hangs by a thread. Sma...
389. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Night of Tears (Part 6)
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Things have never looked bleaker for Hernán Cortés and his band of Spaniards. They are trapped, starving and terrified in the heart of the Aztec cit...
388. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Festival of Blood (Part 5)
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“The blood flowed like water…” It is 1520 and word has reached Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan that another group of Spaniards led by the feroc...
387. The Fall of the Aztecs: Prisoners of Montezuma (Part 4)
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The year is 1519. Hernán Cortés and his Spanish comrades have arrived in Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztecs, and have been welcomed by the...
386. The Fall of the Aztecs: The City of Gold (Part 3)
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Conquer or die! Conquer or die! Conquer or die!” Making a decision that will change the course of history, Hernán Cortés chooses to disobey hi...
385. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Woman Who Changed The World (Part 2)
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hernán Cortés has set sail from Cuba, eager to find the truth behind the rumours of gold on the coast of Mexico. Ahead lies a world he can barely im...
384. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1)
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The meeting of the controversial Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and the formidable Emperor Montezuma in 1519 was one of the great hinge moments ...
383. Young Napoleon: The Shadow of the Guillotine (Part 2)
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Within the turmoil of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte stands out to his military superiors, first by defeating the British at Toulon, then b...
382. Young Napoleon: Teenage Revolutionary (Part 1)
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“I would plunge the avenging dagger, up to the hilt, in the breast of the tyrant!” Born in Corsica a year after the island was given to France by ...
381. Captain Cook: To the Ends of the Earth (Part 2)
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cook has been sent by the Royal Navy to the Pacific to track the transit of Venus from Tahiti, but also with a second, secret mission: once he’s rea...
380. Captain Cook: History’s Greatest Explorer (Part 1)
22 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The greatest sea explorer of all time, James Cook was born to a humble Yorkshire family, and first stood out for his talents as a cartographer for the...
379. Baghdad: The Arabian Nights (Part 4)
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The setting for so many of the Arabian Nights, like the stories of Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, or Aladdin, Baghdad during the I...
378. Baghdad: The Golden Age (Part 3)
15 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Baghdad was a place of fabulous sophistication and teeming multitudes, where terrible things could happen, but great wonders could also be found… Du...
377. Baghdad: Crossroads of the Universe (Part 2)
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“No city in the world will ever rival it for prosperity...“ Baghdad, originally a Christian village in Iraq, was chosen by the Abbasid Caliph Al-M...
376. Baghdad: The Forging of Islam (Part 1)
08 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A story of great myth and of huge historical significance, the foundation of Baghdad is a fundamental episode in the development of Islam. The Umayyad...
375. Hitler and the Mitford Sisters
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Mitfords were the most glamorous aristocrats on the London scene in the 1920s, with at their head Diana, the most beautiful woman in London, who w...
374. The Battle of Cable Street: Fascism Defeated
01 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“You will never catch Sir Oswald admitting to anti-semitism - all he does is embody it!” Following the violent scenes at Kensington Olympia, the B...
373. Oswald Mosley: Fascist Leader
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The fascists in Britain have found a leader known across the country: the sinister yet complex Oswald Mosley. Following stints as an MP for both the T...
372. The Birth of British Fascism
24 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The cultural roots of fascism swirled around Britain at the turn of the 20th century, as medieval nostalgia, an obsession with hygiene, anti-semitism,...
371. The 1973 Chilean Coup: General Pinochet Seizes Power (Part 2)
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. have given up on ousting the socialist President Allende through democratic means, and shift to a more militaristic approach, in the form of ...
370. The 1973 Chilean Coup: Allende, Nixon and the CIA (Part 1)
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the midst of the Cold War, the 1973 coup against the socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende, led by General Pinochet with the support of Rich...
PAX: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age (Extract)
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In anticipation of the U.S. release of PAX, here’s the book’s introduction for you to enjoy, read by its author, our very own Tom Holland… Avail...
369. The Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death
17 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Are you not entertained?!” The emblem of Rome, the Colosseum was the unsettling but glamorous home of Roman violence, used for gladiatorial bou...
368. The History Behind Hogwarts: Ancient Schools and Revolting Students
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“To be a boy at one of these schools was to be alternately tyrant and slave.” More gruesome even than the Battle of Hogwarts, 18th century British...
367. The Real Harry Potter: Magic, Empire and Beastly Bullies
10 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Eclectic traditions, obscure codes and cryptic ancient languages: the world of Harry Potter has captivated the imagination of children from all backgr...
366. The Architect of Modern China
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Let us advance courageously, to change the backward condition of our country, and turn it into a modern and powerful socialist state!” Deng Xiaop...
365. Le Marquis de Sade: Sex and Violence
03 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The father of sadism and a prophet of totalitarianism, the Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and writer, an uncompromising and unashamed liberti...
364. Sixties Fashion: Swinging London (Part 2)
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a swirling world dominated by miniskirts, feather boas, posh photographers, youth culture, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles, London has been transforme...
363. Sixties Fashion: The Teenage Revolution (Part 1)
27 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Sixties is one of the only moments in history when Britain could claim to be the epicentre of world fashion, and in this episode Tom and Dominic d...
362. The Taj Mahal: Love and Death
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“The mutual affection and harmony between the two had reached a degree never seen between a husband and wife…” The Taj Mahal, built by the Mugha...
361. The Lost Library of Alexandria
20 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the greatest institutions of the ancient world, the Library of Alexandria was the embodiment of ultimate learning, and a “repository of every...
360. Fear City: New York in the 1970s
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“A cloud of black, acrid smoke hung over the area. It was a scene from a warzone, a battlefield - it was a scene from the end of the world…” New...
359: Martin Luther King's Dream
13 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” Arguably the most celebrated speech of the 20th century, Martin Luther King Jr.’s address in fr...
358: Viking Sorcery
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Warning! This one isn’t for the faint-hearted... A naked, torch-carrying man, who would walk backwards around a funeral pyre, with his fingers cover...
357: Historical Love Island: The Sequel
06 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“There’s a lot of severed heads at this villa!” The great TV sensation of the summer returns on The Rest Is History, as Tom and Dominic are once...
356: The Blood-Drinking Bride of Christ
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A woman of immense influence on medieval Christendom, Catherine of Siena was one of the first female Doctors of the Church, who married Christ in her ...
355: Roman Apocalypse: Pompeii 79 AD
30 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mount Vesuvius' eruption in the autumn of AD79 remains one of the deadliest and best-known in history. The plume of super-heated volcanic gases spewed...
354: Paris 1968: The Return of De Gaulle (Part 2)
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Charles de Gaulle was a war hero in the First World War, and, having refused to accept his government’s armistice with Nazi Germany, became the voic...
353: Paris 1968: The Students' Revolt (Part 1)
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
May 1968 saw underlying tensions reach a climax in France, resulting in a period of civil unrest coloured by rioting, general strikes, and the occupat...
352: Amsterdam: Kings, Canals, and Coffee Houses (Part 2)
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A city which played a fundamental role in the Dutch Golden Age and in the birth of the Dutch monarchy, Amsterdam has also stood in the avant-garde of ...
351: Amsterdam: Miracles, Money, and Mud (Part 1)
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A city built on water, Amsterdam has often set the tone of European modernity. It first gained prominence as a miraculous centre for pilgrimage, and t...
350: The Triumph of George Washington (Part 4)
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With the French and Spanish siding with George Washington’s revolutionaries, the game is up for the British, and it seems time for them to cut their...
349: The Birth of the United States (Part 3)
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!” The U.S. Congress votes for independence on the ...
348: The Boston Tea Party (Part 2)
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“Last night three cargos of tea were emptied into the sea. This morning a man of war sails. This is the most magnificent movement of all. There is a...
347: The American Revolution (Part 1)
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“America, late the strength, now the foe to Britain, dismembered, torn, I fear forever lost to England, whence she sprung.” The American Revolutio...