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
49:56
Ireland's First Witch: Medieval Murderer? (Part 2)
9 December 2024(Part 2/2) Anthony returns to his hometown of Kilkenny to conclude the tale of the first person to be executed for witchcraft in Ireland. Set 700...
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25:39
Surviving the Great War: Medics in the Trenches
9 December 2024Warning: this episode contains graphic details of injuries.
The brutal nature of the First World War presented frontline medical personnel...
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41:35
Hanukkah & the Maccabees
8 December 2024It's perhaps the best known Jewish festival of the year, but what exactly are Hanukkah's origins, and why was it first celebrated?
On...
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39:38
Anne of Cleves | Secret Lives of the Six Wives
6 December 2024Anne of Cleves gets a pretty raw deal in the history books.
She's often accused of being ugly, after Henry VIII claimed the painting he had...
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56:06
Crusades Against Heretics
6 December 2024The Albigensian Crusade was a blood-soaked military campaign, as the church desperately attempted to purge heresy across Christendom in the early...
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32:43
Fascism in America
6 December 2024The rise of fascism in America in the 1920s & 30s looked just like the rise of fascism in Germany at the same time- scapegoating, the...
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39:44
Pearl Harbor: The Man Who Spied For Japan
5 December 2024On 7th December, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy struck the United States. In an action which killed 2,403 Americans and destroyed 21 US warships...
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52:10
Origins of the Wheel
5 December 2024It is one of the most pivotal inventions in human history - the wheel.
New research suggests that the wheel was first created by prehistoric...
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32:18
William III & the Persecution of Sodomites
5 December 2024**Warning: This episode contains explicit descriptions of sexual acts and the use of historic terminology that does not align with current...
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33:49
History's Greatest Ghost Hunters: the Warrens
5 December 2024Ghost hunting couple Ed and Lorraine Warren transformed twentieth century America into an enchanted land dotted with haunted houses, cursed...
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22:33
Roman Saturnalia
4 December 2024Episode 1 in our 'Origins of Christmas' series. This Roman winter festival laid the foundations for many of our Christmas customs today- feasting,...
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46:34
Battles, Kings, and Conquests: A Journey Through Medieval England
3 December 2024Dr. Eleanor Janega invites co-host Matt Lewis to discuss his exciting new book, 'The History Hit Guide to Medieval England.' Matt reveals the...
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38:29
History of Celibacy
3 December 2024What did Queen Elizabeth I gain from being thought of as celibate? Why was property so essential to the Christian church embracing celibacy? And...
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31:15
UFOs in the US
2 December 2024Alien spacecraft, phenomena from another dimension, ghosts, demons of satan, a trick of light - whatever you might believe UFOs to be, they have a...
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48:18
Ireland's First Witch: Medieval Murderer? (Part 1)
2 December 2024(Part 1/2) 700 years ago, in 1324, the first person to be executed for witchcraft in Ireland died in Kilkenny. This is the story of a successful...
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38:39
Majestic Mughals: From Akbar to Shah Jahan
2 December 2024Beginning with the reign of Emperor Akbar and continuing through to Shah Jahan, India's Mughal Empire enjoyed fabulous wealth and stable...
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50:33
Churchill & FDR: The Origins of the 'Special Relationship'
2 December 2024Today we explore one of history's most consequential relationships - that of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, a pivotal alliance that...
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46:57
The First South Americans
1 December 2024The prehistoric archaeology of South America is fascinating and constantly developing.
Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr. Tom Dillehay to...
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39:22
How to be a Medieval Teenager
29 November 2024Matt Lewis is joined by Alice Loxton to explore the lives of 18-Year-Olds through history
From Bede surviving a devastating plague to...
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38:43
Jane Seymour | Secret Lives of the Six Wives
29 November 2024Meek and mild, or smart and scheming? Have we all been underestimating the third wife of Henry VIII?
Was Jane Seymour the meek and mild lady...
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1:04:10
The Greeks vs Persia: The War that Changed the Ancient World
29 November 2024In the 5th century BC, the ancient world's pre-eminent superpower turned its gaze towards the turbulent fringes of its empire. Under the...
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