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
44:41
The Siege of Malta: Knights Hospitaller vs The Ottomans
12 February 2025This is the story of Suleiman the Magnificent's attempt to conquer Malta, the headquarters of a Catholic military order that had become a thorn in...
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59:57
Murder in Anglo-Saxon England
11 February 2025Records from Anglo-Saxon England are filled with stories of murder, witchcraft and betrayals of the worst kind, giving the impression that this...
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33:21
Valentine's Day in Ancient Rome
11 February 2025What are the origins of Valentine's Day?
Perhaps the answer lies in a pagan festival that starts with a sacrifice in a cave above Ancient...
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1:07:16
Jamestown: The British and The Powhatan
10 February 2025From suspicion, to siege, to collaboration, to all out war - in this episode we uncover the complex reality of the Jamestown colonists'...
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56:01
Nell Gwyn: Actress and Royal Mistress
10 February 2025How did a lowly orange seller become the most famous actress of her time and mistress of King Charles II?
In 1660, King Charles II ruled...
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34:51
Peasants' Revolt: Medieval Rebellion
10 February 20251381, England, the world turned upside down as the commoners rise up and dismantle the mechanisms of power. They're angry about taxes, serfdom,...
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54:02
The Reign of Terror: Not Just The Guillotine
10 February 2025Assassin’s Creed Unity puts players right into the Parisian streets where the bloody events of the Reign of Terror occurred, and gives us the...
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41:49
Iwo Jima: WWII in the Pacific
10 February 202580 years ago, on the rocky volcanic island of Iwo Jima, the vicious battle for the Pacific reached ever bloodier crescendos. As Allied forces...
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59:24
Ice Age Australia
9 February 2025Giant kangaroos. Killer wombats. Carnivorous lions. These beasts once roamed the barren landscape of Ice Age Australia - a vast supercontinent...
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1:09:44
Treasures from Anglo-Saxon Graves
7 February 2025What can grave goods tell us about the lives of people 1,500 years ago? Matt Lewis delves into the early medieval world through the lens of...
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39:12
Goat Testicle Transplants: The Bizarre History
7 February 2025Quack doctors have made some INCREDIBLE promises throughout history, but what good would a goat testicle transplant do for you?
In the early...
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30:56
Nostradamus
7 February 2025For centuries, Nostradamus has been hailed as the man who saw the future—his cryptic quatrains allegedly foretelling everything from the French...
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51:32
Frederick Douglass: Enslavement & Escape
6 February 2025Born enslaved in 1818, by the time of the Civil War Frederick Douglass was famous around the United States and Europe for his work in the...
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34:55
Final Days of the Romanovs (Part 2)
6 February 2025(2/2) We join the captive Romanovs as they are moved from The Alexander Palace to Siberia and then to Ekaterinburg, where their dreadful murder...
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36:55
Rene Descartes
6 February 2025The famous saying "I think, therefore I am" was the cornerstone of the philosophy of Rene Descartes, who died 375 years ago this month at the age...
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52:45
Hieroglyphs
6 February 2025From twisted flax to one-legged ibises, Egyptian hieroglyphs offer a window into the heart of ancient Egypt. But how did this script really...
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48:35
2. The English Civil War: Roundheads vs Cavaliers
5 February 2025Episode 2/2. In 1642, England was torn apart by a fierce struggle. Royalist armies, loyal to the defiant King Charles I, clashed with the forces...
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50:01
Why the Early Middle Ages Matter
4 February 2025What do the terms 'medieval' and 'early medieval' truly mean? When did these periods begin and end? Why is it inaccurate - even offensive - to...
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45:17
Sex Lives of Spartans
4 February 2025When you hear the word Sparta, what do you picture?
Well, put aside the images of the rippling six packs for just a moment, as there's a lot...
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30:26
Jamestown: The Journey To America
3 February 2025In May 1607, over 100 English settlers arrived at Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast of North America. Traveling 50 miles inland along the James...
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41:14
Sweating Sickness: Deadly Tudor Plague
3 February 2025It's a medical-history-mystery: the Sweating Sickness. Things get clammy as Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling ask what was this deadly disease?...
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