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

56:43

Selma Van De Perre

4 September 2020

Selma Van De Perre joined me on the pod to talk about her life as a Dutch Jewish Resistance fighter during the Second World War. She joined...

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42:46

Pax Romana

4 September 2020

Time for a delve into the History Hit ancient history archives! In this podcast Dan Snow sits down with the brilliant Adrian Goldsworthy to ask...

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38:50

The Real Great Escape with Commander Steve Foster

3 September 2020

Commander Steve Foster relates the extraordinary story of one of the most audacious escape attempts of the Second World War.

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21:40

Hitler's Titanic

3 September 2020

In this episode, Roger Moorhouse brings to light arguably the worst maritime disaster in history, the sinking of the German armed military transport...

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23:51

A People's History of Tennis

2 September 2020

David Berry joined me on the pod to discuss a people’s history of tennis. From the birth of modern tennis in Victorian Britain to the present...

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19:03

The Gunpowder Plot

1 September 2020

On 5 November 1605, a planned assassination attempt on King James I was thwarted. While a group of English Catholics planned to blow up the House...

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42:11

Arnhem: Greatest Allied Failure?

1 September 2020

After winning back France and Belgium, the Allied forces met unexpected resistance in the Netherlands in September 1944. Following nine days of...

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30:54

The Restaurant

31 August 2020

William Sitwell joined me on the pod to discuss the history of the restaurant. Tracing its earliest incarnations in the city of Pompeii, we...

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27:49

Pilots of the Caribbean

30 August 2020

On the outbreak of World War Two, young men from across the Empire volunteered to risk their lives in the fight against Nazi Germany. For this...

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23:54

The Bible

30 August 2020

John Barton joined me on the pod to discuss the history of the Bible. Tracing its dissemination, translation and interpretation in Judaism and...

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22:20

Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay

29 August 2020

Jamie L.H. Goodall joined me on the pod to discuss pirates of the Chesapeake Bay. The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land...

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46:08

Kingdom of Kush

28 August 2020

Along the banks of the River Nile, directly south of ancient Egypt and hundreds of miles away from the Mediterranean, there was a flourishing...

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39:41

The Civil Rights Movement

28 August 2020

In this episode Dan Snow is joined by Chris Wilson, Director of Experience Design at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History....

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43:42

Nationalism

28 August 2020

When studying the causes of war we can often be distracted by actions, but in many cases, including the World Wars, a study of the history of ideas...

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28:06

The Soviets at Nuremberg

27 August 2020

Francine Hirsch joined me on the pod to discuss the full story of the Nuremberg Trials, one in which the Soviet Union was a defining...

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25:03

Battle of Arnhem

27 August 2020

On the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, Dan Snow was joined by veterans and dignitaries to follow in the footprints of those who took part...

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18:45

Cecil Rhodes

26 August 2020

Duncan Clarke joined me on the pod to discuss Cecil Rhodes and the historiography of Zambesia from the San forward to the establishment of the...

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19:47

Hitler's Death

26 August 2020

He is arguably the 20th century's most notorious head of state and the results of his leadership are spread far and wide. But did Hitler shoot...

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32:31

How and Why History: The Philosophers of Ancient Greece

25 August 2020

From the 6th century BCE, philosophy was used to make sense of the world – including astronomy, mathematics, politics, ethics, metaphysics and...

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37:30

The Neanderthals

25 August 2020

Rebecca Wragg Sykes joined me on the pod to discuss our perception of the Neanderthals, which has undergone a metamorphosis since their discovery...

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34:42

Siege of Leningrad

23 August 2020

In 1941, Nazi Germany turned on its former ally, the Soviet Union. One of the strategic objectives of this operation, Barbarossa, was to conquer...

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