History Podcasts
The History Hit network gives you access to a growing range of podcasts presented by and featuring historians at the forefront of research and debate.
Scroll down to listen to the most recent episodes from our network.
Dan Snow’s History Hit explores the deep history behind today’s headlines – giving you the context to understand what is going on today. Everything has a history, every challenge made easier by understanding its nature, its genesis. In a world of fast opinions, we put historians into the debate, women and men who bring real knowledge built over careers spent researching.
The Ancients, hosted by historian Tristan Hughes, is dedicated to discussing our distant past. Historians and archaeologists join Tristan to discuss specific themes from antiquity, from Neolithic Britain to the Fall of Rome.
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb presents Not Just the Tudors. Together with expert interviewees, she covers the sweeping range of the early modern period: everything from the Aztecs to witches, Velázquez to Shakespeare, Mughal India to the Mayflower.
Gone Medieval is hosted by historians Matt Lewis and Eleanor Janega, who shine a light on one of the most fascinating yet misunderstood periods of history: the Middle Ages. In each episode, experts lead listeners beneath the skin of captivating stories to uncover new insights.
In Betwixt the Sheets join historian, Kate Lister as she unashamedly roots around the topics which seem to have been skipped in history class. Everything from landmark LGBTQ+ court cases, to political scandal, to downright bizarre medieval cures for impotence.
In American History Hit, join Don Wildman twice a week for your hit of American history, as he explores the past to help us understand the United States of today. We’ll hear how codebreakers uncovered secret Japanese plans for the Battle of Midway, visit Chief Powhatan as he prepares for war with the British, see Walt Disney accuse his former colleagues of being communists, and uncover the dark history that lies beneath Central Park.
After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal joined History Hit’s award-winning podcast network in October 2023, hosted by actor, writer and historian Anthony Delaney and writer, broadcaster, historian Maddy Pelling. Together, the duo unpick history’s spookiest, strangest and most sinister stories – from the disappearance of HMS Terror to the origins of Halloween.
War historian and broadcaster James Rogers hosts our Warfare podcast, which opens up fascinating new perspectives on how conflict has shaped and changed our world. James teams up with fellow historians, veterans, and experts to reveal astonishing new histories of inspirational leadership, breakthrough technologies, and era defining battles.
Patented, hosted by Dallas Campbell, dives into stories of flukey discoveries, erased individuals and murky marketing ploys with the help of experts, scientists and historians.
Click on any of the listings below to listen to the most recent episodes from our network.
All Podcasts
The Rise of Hannibal
22 August 2021He was one of the greatest enemies the Romans ever faced. An excellent general and a larger-than-life figure, he led an army across the alps and...
Listen NowThe Witches of Lorraine
21 August 2021Between 1570 and 1630, there was intense persecution and thousands of executions of suspected witches in Lorraine, a small duchy on the borders of...
Listen NowKing Arthur
21 August 2021King Arthur of Camelot, we've all heard stories about him, but who exactly was he? In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt is joined by Senior...
Listen Now80th Anniversary of the First Arctic Convoy
20 August 2021As the Soviet Union reeled from the shock of the German invasion in 1941 it asked for aid from Britain and its allies and the arctic convoys was a...
Listen NowThe Jacobite Risings
20 August 2021On 19 August 1745, the Jacobites engaged in the final of their five uprisings, stretching back to 1689. In this episode, Kelsey Ellington examines...
Listen NowBeauty Ideals in the 16th Century
19 August 2021What was the 16th century ideal of beauty for women? Fat or thin? Blonde or brunette? Pale or tanned? How did women keep clean? Did they...
Listen NowWhat Went Wrong in Afghanistan?
19 August 2021History is vital for contextualising current events but as Professor Paul Miller argues in today's episode of the podcast it cannot tell us all we...
Listen NowColchester: From Bronze Age to Boudica
19 August 2021It is the one possible case of urbanisation in Britain prior to the arrival of the Romans, and that is just the start of the story of Colchester. In...
Listen NowAfghanistan: History Repeating Itself?
18 August 2021The collapse of the Afghan army and government and takeover by the Taliban has evoked many historical comparisons, but how valid are they? To find...
Listen NowCritiquing the War in Afghanistan with Mike Martin
18 August 2021In 2014, Dr Mike Martin famously critiqued the Ministry of Defence with a book based on a series of conversations Martin had with the Afghan locals,...
Listen NowThe Rise of Oliver Cromwell
17 August 2021Oliver Cromwell is the only English commoner to become head of state and is one of the most remarkable and controversial figures in history....
Listen NowTacfarinas: The Desert Hydra
17 August 2021He was one of the greatest rebels of Rome from the 1st century AD, but his name is not one you might initially think of. Derided by Roman historians...
Listen NowÆthelred the Unready
17 August 2021His 38 years as king make him one of the longest ruling monarchs in English history, and yet he is remembered as unsuccessful, naive and overly harsh...
Listen NowBloody Mary vs. The Virgin Queen
16 August 2021Queen Mary I has had a bad press over the centuries, her five-years on the throne overshadowed by her half-sister Elizabeth's 45-year...
Listen NowBonnie Prince Charlie
16 August 2021In August 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie led a rebellion that brought the Jacobite cause closer to seizing the throne than almost any other. He had...
Listen NowWW2: Tank Hero in Battle of Arras
16 August 2021Major-General Eugene Vincent Michael Strickland, known to many as Strick - was a tankman and war hero of France, Italy, and North Africa during...
Listen NowThe Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat the Nazis
15 August 2021During the Second World War, a special commando unit was formed in Britain from Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and other parts of occupied...
Listen NowPalaces in Paradise: Centres of the Persian World
15 August 2021Persepolis is arguably the most famous ancient site associated with the Achaemenid Persian Empire, but it certainly wasn’t the only...
Listen NowThe Fall of the Aztec Empire
14 August 2021In August 1521 after a last stand on the steps of their temple buildings, the Aztec defenders of Tenochtitlan surrendered to the Spanish forces of...
Listen NowFertility & Childbirth: The Great Leveller
14 August 2021Giving birth in the middle ages was a dangerous time for women. It had no regard for class, wealth, or status. It could even have been more dangerous...
Listen NowEscaping the Berlin Wall
13 August 2021There were many attempts to escape over and under the Berlin Wall but Tunnel 29 was highly unusual for tunnelling into East Berlin rather than out to...
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