History Podcasts | History Hit

 

 

History Hit 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

43:39

Agrippa: Rome's Forgotten Hero

1 October 2020

There are few men in Roman history that can claim to have been as influential as Marcus Agrippa. The right-hand man of Octavian / Augustus, his...

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27:00

Soviet Snipers on the Eastern Front

30 September 2020

In many countries, including Britain, women were banned from taking part in active combat operations during the Second World War. In the Soviet...

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26:09

History of China with Michael Wood

30 September 2020

Michael Wood joined me on the podcast to talk about his new history of China. He takes a fresh look at Chinese history in the light of the current...

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15:55

Longships: The Dragon Of The Seas

30 September 2020

Embark on a Viking ship, travel the seas, overcome huge waves and dodge lightning! Feel the fear in an untamed ocean. If you let yourself be...

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23:56

How and Why History: Rome and the Mediterranean

29 September 2020

By the first century BC, the nuisance of piracy had become a plague in the Mediterranean. The Romans dispatched Pompey who freed the way for the...

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8:31

Chemical Weapons in WW1

29 September 2020

Although the use of chemicals as weapons can be traced much further back in history, their use became widespread after the First World War, when the...

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15:35

Vikings: The Sons Of The Great North

29 September 2020

Who are the Vikings? Share the way of life, customs and beliefs of these men of the North. Understand exactly what is going to urge them to leave...

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20:45

Joking About Stalin

28 September 2020

Jonathan Waterlow joined me on the podcast to explore how ordinary people used political jokes to cope with and make sense of their lives under...

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38:36

Invasion of Poland in WW2 with Roger Moorhouse

27 September 2020

Roger Moorhouse comprehensively discusses the Polish campaign of 1939, separating the myths from reality and outlining the abject horrors that the...

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33:04

The Polynesians: Ancient Mariners of the Pacific

27 September 2020

The ancient Polynesians remain the greatest seafarers in history. Already by the time of the legendary founding of Rome on 21 April 753 BC,...

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25:38

The Simulmatics Corporation

27 September 2020

Jill Lepore joined me on the podcast to discuss The Simulmatics Corporation. Founded in 1959, it mined data, targeted voters, accelerated news,...

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19:28

Greek Myths

26 September 2020

Natalie Haynes joined me on the podcast to retell the stories of remarkable women at the heart of Greek myths, from Medusa, Penelope, and Pandora,...

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36:48

The Great Famine

25 September 2020

Charles Read joined me on the podcast to discuss the economic and political causes of the Great Famine. We discuss the British government’s...

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28:48

The Battle of Arnhem with James Holland

25 September 2020

This episode features interviews with two leading historians of the Second World War, James Holland and Paul Reed. They tell the story of the Battle...

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22:18

The Viking History of the Lofoten Archipelago

24 September 2020

Dan Snow explores the Viking history of Lofoten, an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten is known for...

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37:07

The Battle of Salamis

24 September 2020

We've had the Battle of Thermopylae with the brilliant Paul Cartledge; we've had the Battle of Artemisium with the great Owen Rees. And I'm...

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20:38

Krystyna Skarbek

23 September 2020

Clare Mulley joined me on the podcast to talk about the extraordinary story of Krystyna Skarbek, who worked as a spy for the British Special...

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21:07

The Wola Massacre

23 September 2020

In August 1944, when the Warsaw Uprising occurred, Axis troops were ordered to raze the Wola suburb to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants,...

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36:23

How and Why History: Alfred the Great

22 September 2020

Ever since his reign in the 9th century, Alfred the Great has been celebrated as one of the most accomplished of our kings. A learned and...

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26:09

Pearl Harbour

22 September 2020

In this episode, History Hit's Rob Weinberg asks the big questions about Sunday 7 December 1941, the day Japanese aircraft attacked the United States...

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25:36

V2 with Robert Harris

21 September 2020

Robert Harris joined me on the podcast to talk about Nazi Germany and the story of the V2 rocket.

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