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
Cluster Bombs
15 February 2021In 1943, Grimsby was hit by a new type of weapon: butterfly bombs, also know as cluster bombs. This episode from Dan Snow's History Hit features the...
Listen NowMyths of Masada
14 February 2021In 73 AD, 967 Jewish rebels against the Romans committed mass suicide atop the Masada Fortress. Or did they? In this second part of Tristan’s...
Listen NowLiving Through the Dresden Firebombing with Victor Gregg
13 February 2021Victor Gregg is a veteran of World War Two and the Dresden Bombings, and travelled with Dan to visit Dresden a couple of years ago for a documentary....
Listen NowLockdown Learning: The Rise of USA
12 February 2021For Lockdown Learning this week I am joined by Dr Fabian Hilfrich, head of American History at Edinburgh University. He takes us through from the...
Listen NowAlderney's Sunken German Arsenal
12 February 2021Alderney, like the rest of the Channel Islands, was occupied by German forces from 1940 to 1945. On Hitler's orders it was turned into a fortress,...
Listen NowThe 18th Century Precedent for Trump's Impeachment
11 February 2021As the impeachment trial of Donald Trump got underway in the USA the 18th-century case of Warren Hastings, the former Governor-General of Bengal was...
Listen NowRome: 'The Eternal City'
11 February 2021Rome. The Eternal City. One of the most recognisable names that many associate with the Ancient Mediterranean World. To provide a detailed run...
Listen NowEmpire with Sathnam Sanghera
10 February 2021Journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera joins me on the podcast to talk about his latest book Empireland which examines how much of what we think of...
Listen NowThe Real 'Testament of Youth'
10 February 2021During the first year of the First World War, Vera Brittain went from studying English Literature at Oxford to nursing for the war effort. By the...
Listen NowHistorical Novels with Ken Follett
9 February 2021Today, I am joined by best-selling author Ken Follett to discuss his latest book The Evening and the Morning. We also talk about his love of history...
Listen NowChina 1949: Year of Revolution
8 February 2021In 1949 Mao Zedong led the Chinese Communist Party to victory in the long and bloody Chinese Civil War. The impact of this victory was felt not...
Listen NowBattle of the Somme
8 February 2021It was the first truly industrial battle, and yet veterans recall hearing skylarks singing just before the whistles blew at the Battle of the Somme....
Listen NowBesieging Masada
7 February 2021Dramatically placed on a plateau with drops of 400m to the east and 90m to the west, Masada translates from Hebrew as fortress. It became just...
Listen NowSutton Hoo
7 February 2021The release of The Dig has brought the story of the Sutton Hoo dig to the forefront of people’s minds of late. The real hero of that story...
Listen NowEmily Davison with Kate Willoughby
6 February 2021In this episode, originally released in 2018, Dan talks to actor, activist, and "part-time suffragette" Kate Willoughby about Emily Davison, the...
Listen NowLockdown Learning: Interwar Europe
5 February 2021For this episode of Lockdown Learning Professor Richard Toye joined me on the podcast to talk about the interwar period and answer the key...
Listen NowWW1: Finding The Dead
5 February 2021Dan talks to Richard van Emden about his book - Missing: the need for closure after the Great War, in this episode from the History Hit archive....
Listen NowThe History of Social Media with Kara Swisher
4 February 2021Facebook was founded on the 4th of February 2004 and began as a tool to stay in touch with friends and family, but has ended up being a place...
Listen NowBeasts of Battle: Indian War Elephants
4 February 2021The four components of the Ancient Indian battlefield: infantry, cavalry, chariots … and elephants. These magnificent creatures were dominant in...
Listen NowThe AIDS pandemic
3 February 2021In this episode of the podcast, I’m joined by Tash Walker and Adam Zmith, hosts of The Log Books podcast, to discuss the Aids pandemic of the...
Listen NowSecret History of Nuclear Testing
3 February 2021How do you test a weapon of mass destruction? A weapon whose potential you can only estimate. Since 1945, countries with nuclear capabilities have...
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