Dan Snow's History Hit

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Historian Dan Snow journeys across the globe to tell the stories of history's defining moments. From the Colosseum in Rome to the Great Wall of China, the battlefields of Waterloo to the Tomb of Tutankhamun, join Dan as he explores the how and why of the greatest monuments, battles, heroes, villains and events that have shaped our world.
New episodes on Mondays and Thursdays with bonus subscriber only episodes every other Friday.
You can get in touch with us at ds.hh@historyhit.com
A podcast by History Hit, the world's best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts The Ancients, Gone Medieval, and Betwixt the Sheets.
History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™
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#1848
Thursday · 51 min
The History of the Illuminati
How did a failed Bavarian order become history’s most pervasive conspiracy theory? In 1776, a Bavarian law professor founded a secret order to fight religious censorship. A decade later it was completely extinct, smashed by royal decrees and internal...
#1847
Monday · 52 min
The October Revolution
On the night of October 10th, 1917, a revolutionary disguised as a priest slipped into an apartment in Petrograd and browbeat his comrades into an armed insurrection. The revolutionary in question was Vladimir Lenin, and two weeks later, he and the...
#1845
October 8 · 48 min
John Dudley: Tudor England's Wicked Duke
Henry VIII is dead and England has replaced him with a boy king. But the one really pulling the strings of power behind the young and inexperienced Edward VI is one of Tudor England’s most formidable power players: John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland....
#1844
October 5 · 52 min
The Yakuza
They projected themselves as fearless protectors bound by a code of chivalry, yet in their wake they left trails of bloody street duels and ritualised finger-chopping. From 17th-century dispossessed samurai turned street muggers, to powerful...
#1843
October 1 · 1 hr 2 min
The Cuban Missile Crisis Explained
The nuclear close calls, rogue commanders, silent standoffs and split-second decisions that nearly resulted in nuclear armageddon… In this episode, Dan breaks down the edge-of-your-seat crisis that almost triggered Doomsday, and explains how...
#1842
September 28 · 57 min
Britain's Deadliest Arctic Expedition
In 1913, a celebrity explorer led an ambitious expedition into the frozen Arctic - and straight into disaster. From the ensuing catastrophe emerged three incredible stories: a captain's desperate 700-mile trek across treacherous sea ice; an Inuit...
#1840
September 24 · 1 hr 1 min
The 'Scandalous' Life of Marie Antoinette
They called her a treasonous nymphomaniac who bankrupted France for diamonds and cake. The revolutionaries didn't just execute Marie Antoinette - they waged a brutal smear campaign to ruin her first. But what if almost everything you’ve been told...
#1839
September 21 · 1 hr
The Rise and Fall of the Ming Dynasty
At its height, Ming China was one of the most powerful states on Earth. Its cities bustled with merchants and scholars, its goods travelled across continents, and its treasure fleets sailed as far as East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. At the heart...
#1838
September 17 · 29 min
Knights vs Ottomans: The Great Siege of Malta
The fate of the Mediterranean hung in the balance during this bloody battle between the Knights of St John and the armies of Suleyman the Magnificent in the summer of 1565. The Ottoman Empire had carved its way across three continents and now turned...
#1837
September 14 · 46 min
The KGB Double Agent Who Stopped Armageddon with Ben McIntyre
This is an extraordinary story of espionage, betrayal and an unlikely friendship between spies on opposite sides - and of a man who risked his life and shaped the course of history, for a deeply personal and unlikely reason. In 1981, Washington feared...
#1835
September 10 · 35 min
The Battle of Stamford Bridge Explained
Dan explains how England’s last great Viking invasion met its brutal end. At Stamford Bridge in September 1066, King Harold Godwinson’s army faced Harald Hardrada, the most feared warrior of his age, in a battle of extraordinary courage and bloodshed....
#1834
September 7 · 1 hr 46 min
The Battle of New York Explained
Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Hudson, the East River - today, these are the very heart and soul of New York City. But in 1776, they were the battlefield on which the American Revolution nearly died. Today Dan explains this crucial battle, fought between...
#1833
September 3 · 52 min
The Rise & Fall of Babylon
Babylon has a PR problem, and it's 2,600 years in the making. The Bible remembers it as the ultimate city of sin, the place that crushed Jerusalem and dragged the Jewish people into exile. But if you look beyond this chapter, you find history's first...
#1832
August 31 · 36 min
Templar's Tunnels, HMS Victory and Troy: History's Best Historical Sites with Dan Jones
The two great Dans of history - Dan Snow and Dan Jones - team up to explore the stories behind some of the world's best historical sites. Dan Jones explains the mysteries of the Templars' Tunnels in the Old City of Acre and Dan Snow tells the story...
#1830
August 27 · 55 min
The Brutal History of The First Warplanes
Flying aces, flaming wreckage and deadly dogfights in the skies defined the First World War’s brutal air war. From fragile reconnaissance planes to lethal fighter aircraft, aerial warfare evolved at astonishing speed. Today we hear the stories of...
#1829
August 24 · 1 hr 3 min
Medieval Krakow
In the Middle Ages, Krakow was one of Central Europe’s greatest cities: a thriving crossroads of kings, merchants and legends, crowned by a royal castle and haunted by tales of dragons. But in 1241, catastrophe arrived. Mongol armies swept in from the...
#1828
August 20 · 53 min
Was Henry VIII England's Most Evil King?
This is the turbulent reign of that infamous Tudor monarch, Henry VIII. His spectacularly complicated love life, break with Rome, political executions and ruthless pursuit of power. Today we examine his rule and the many unfortunate people who crossed...
#1827
August 17 · 1 hr 12 min
The Making of Osama bin Laden
A deep dive into the rise and fall of Osama bin Laden, from his affluent childhood in Saudi Arabia to his assassination during the biggest manhunt in modern history. For this, Dan is joined by Jason Burke, author of 'The Revolutionists: The Story of...
#1825
August 13 · 40 min
Marco Polo and The Court of the Great Kublai Khan
No throne on Earth came close to rivalling it. The court of Kublai Khan stood at the centre of an empire that threw every other power of its age into shadow. Vast and wealthy beyond comprehension, it seemed a world away from medieval Europe. Yet one...
#1824
August 10 · 41 min
The Naval Revolution: Triumph and Disaster
A deafening impact, a shattered destroyer, and a legacy that completely revolutionised warfare at sea. When HMS Tiger sank beneath the waves one dark night in 1908, over half of her crew were lost to the depths, and the nation went into mourning. But...

Showing 1–20 of 1,001 episodes