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

41:03

Real Wives of Dictators | Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler's Wife

14 March 2025

What was life like as Adolf Hitler's other half?

Although their marriage came (very) late in their lives, Eva Braun was with Hitler from the...

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57:49

Roger Mortimer: The Usurper

14 March 2025

Roger Mortimer: The Man Who Overthrew a King.

Matt Lewis delves into the life of Roger Mortimer, a key figure in the downfall of King Edward...

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1:02:03

THE LEADERS: Mussolini

14 March 2025

Once a political heavyweight with dreams of a new Roman Empire, Mussolini's journey from a rebellious socialist youth to the fascist leader of...

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48:15

President Eisenhower: War on Soviets & Segregation

13 March 2025

Dwight D. Eisenhower is a fixture in the lists of America's favourite Presidents. How did Eisenhower change America? How did the Cold War and...

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44:38

The Birth of New York City

13 March 2025

Exactly 400 years ago, the Dutch West India Company built Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan island, a beacon of power and resilience...

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36:15

Final Days of Joan of Arc: Rise to Fame

13 March 2025

(Part 1/2) So many things make Joan of Arc iconic. The fearless, crossdressing warrior saint who dies a martyr's death. Today Maddy begins a...

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43:23

How Did Samurai And Shinobi Fight Battles In Medieval Japan?

13 March 2025

Chasing Shadows 4. Warfare

Assassin's Creed Shadows gives players the chance to experience history as two icons of medieval Japan: samurai...

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55:08

Obelisks

13 March 2025

Ancient Egyptian obelisks stand as towering symbols of power and engineering brilliance, scattered across the world. But how were they built and...

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35:36

The Origins of Jim Crow

12 March 2025

The Jim Crow era is one of the darkest periods in American history. The country was divided by laws, customs and etiquettes that demeaned African...

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1:07:27

Queen Isabella: She-Wolf of France

11 March 2025

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." When that woman is Queen Isabella; She-Wolf, the results are catastrophic.

As our series on the...

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35:38

The Dark History of London’s Drug World

11 March 2025

Travel back to post-WW1 London, when sex, drugs and music was exploding in Soho... causing a national moral panic.

The drugs of choice?...

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40:52

The Confederacy: Life In The South

10 March 2025

The Civil War consumed the Confederacy for its entire existence, draining it of supplies, food and people. In this second episode of our...

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40:31

Black Death: The Origin Story

10 March 2025

The myth goes thus: the Black Death reached Christendom at the Siege of Caffa when Mongols catapulted diseased bodies over the walls. Where did we...

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44:00

Ireland's Witchcraft Trials

10 March 2025

In 1711, a wave of terror gripped the Islandmagee peninsula in County Antrim. First there was the haunting and supernatural murder of a local...

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32:42

Lady Nene: Female Samurai?

10 March 2025

Assassin's Creed Shadows introduces us to some of Japan's mightiest historical leaders. Yet, "beside every great man is an ever greater woman"....

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49:31

The Sphinx

10 March 2025

The Great Sphinx of Giza is probably the most recognisable statue in the world but it’s also one of the most mysterious...with conflicting...

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39:49

Sodom and Gomorrah

9 March 2025

What really happened to the damned cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Tristan Hughes and Dr. Dylan Johnson delve into the infamous biblical story to...

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39:27

Real Wives of Dictators | Börte, wife of Genghis Khan

7 March 2025

What was life like to be married to Genghis Khan?

In this new limited series, Real Wives of Dictators, we're finding out all about the women...

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1:16:27

Edward II: King of Incompetence

7 March 2025

Gone Medieval begins a gripping 4 part series exploring scandal, power, and betrayal in the Plantagenet Court.

This one of England’s most...

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1:03:53

THE LEADERS: Churchill

7 March 2025

Does Churchill deserve the legacy he has? He took the reigns from a foundering Chamberlain and proved himself to be the man the country...

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43:41

The Illuminati in the US

6 March 2025

What do Thomas Jefferson and Beyonce have in common? They have both been thought to be members of the Illuminati.

But what really is this...

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