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Dan Snow’s History Hit — History
Dan Snow’s History Hit

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™

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

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Copyright: © History Hit

Latest Episodes:

What Went Wrong in Afghanistan? Aug 19, 2021

Show notes

History is vital for contextualising current events but as Professor Paul Miller argues in today's episode of the podcast it cannot tell us all we need to know about the present especially in the case of Afghanistan. Professor Miller has dedicated much of his working life to Afghanistan. He is an Afghan veteran, he worked for the CIA as an intelligence analyst and served on the National Security Committee for both President Bush and President Obama. He is currently Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He brings Dan up to speed on events in Afghanistan, why the country fell to the Taliban so quickly, why historical comparisons are not always as useful as they first seem and how a very different outcome might have been achieved.

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Afghanistan: History Repeating Itself? Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

The collapse of the Afghan army and government and takeover by the Taliban has evoked many historical comparisons, but how valid are they? To find out Dan is joined by author, historian and friend of the podcast William Dalrymple to delve into the deeper history of Afghanistan. In particular, William and Dan discuss the First Afghan War which ended in one of the great catastrophes of British imperial history. In early 1842 a British force was slaughtered or died of exposure as they attempted to retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad. This defeat for the British remains a powerful symbol in Afghanistan even today. William explains what happened that terrible winter and how the events of Afghanistan's colonial past still influence its people and politics.

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The Rise of Oliver Cromwell Aug 17, 2021

Show notes

Oliver Cromwell is the only English commoner to become head of state and is one of the most remarkable and controversial figures in history. Energised by his Puritan beliefs he came to dominate the movement to remove Charles I and would come to be Lord Protector ruling the British Isles from 1653 until his death in 1658. As a military commander, he was a natural leader but also absolutely ruthless. Without formal military training before the Civil War, became arguably the best cavalry commander of his generation. His conquest and pacification of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, in particular, was brutal and remains controversial. Professor Ronald Hutton from Bristol University is Dan's guest on today's episode of the podcast. Ronald has recently published The Making of Oliver Cromwell making him the perfect person to give us an insight into this complicated and impressive figure.

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Bonnie Prince Charlie Aug 16, 2021

Show notes

In August 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie led a rebellion that brought the Jacobite cause closer to seizing the throne than almost any other. He had landed with only a handful of his most trusted supporters but a mixture of gold, charisma and old loyalties soon brought a large number of followers to his side as they attempted to overthrow the British crown. The rebellion grew in momentum with early successes on the battlefield and marched south reaching as far as Derby before turning back north. However, the noose around the Bonny Prince Charlie and the Jacobite rebels was tightening and in April 1746 they were decisively defeated by superior British forces at the Battle of Culloden. Guiding Dan through the 1745 uprising is Professor Murray Pittock from the University of Glasgow. Murray provides a comprehensive overview of what the Jacobites wanted, the events of the revolt and the fate of its leader Bonnie Prince Charlie.

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The Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat the Nazis Aug 15, 2021

Show notes

During the Second World War, a special commando unit was formed in Britain from Jewish refugees from Germany, Austria and other parts of occupied Europe. Many of the men who joined this unit had lost their families, their homes and, as you'll hear, had relatives imprisoned in concentration camps. Trained in advanced combat and counterintelligence they fought with a special zeal often volunteering for the most dangerous assignments. The risks these men took was enormous. If they were captured by the Nazis and had their true identities been discovered then their fate would certainly have been death. Leah Garrett is a professor at Hunter College and has recently published X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos Who Helped Defeat the Nazis. She explains how this unusual unit came to be formed, the often oversized impact they had on the battlefield and some of the incredible individual stories of heroism of the men of X Troop.

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The Fall of the Aztec Empire Aug 14, 2021

Show notes

In August 1521 after a last stand on the steps of their temple buildings, the Aztec defenders of Tenochtitlan surrendered to the Spanish forces of Hernán Cortés and his Mesoamerican allies. In the aftermath of the battle, the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan was sacked. The Aztec empire was a large and sophisticated one stretching at its height from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico. To talk about the fall of the Aztec Empire Dan is joined by Matthew Restall Director of Latin American Studies at Penn State University. Matthew has written extensively about the Spanish conquest of south and Central America. In this fascinating interview, he challenges some of the commonly held views on how Cortés was able to achieve this feat, how the fall of Tenochtitlan was not the end of the war and the myth of Spanish superiority.

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Escaping the Berlin Wall Aug 13, 2021

Show notes

There were many attempts to escape over and under the Berlin Wall but Tunnel 29 was highly unusual for tunnelling into East Berlin rather than out to the West. Led by Joachim Rudolph, who had himself escaped to West Berlin in 1961, a group of students and refugees tunnelled into the eastern half of the city in an attempt to rescue friends and relatives. This was an extremely perilous mission with the risk of death ever present from the tunnel collapsing or the Stasi discovering their work. Even more bizarrely the whole endeavour was funded and documented by an American film crew as NBC bidding to win the ratings war back in the USA. To tell this heroic tale Dan is joined by broadcast journalist Helena Merriman. Helen presented and produced Tunnel 29 for the BBC and has written a book, Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall, all about this incredible escape.

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Gallipoli: What Led to Britain's WW1 Disaster? Aug 12, 2021

Show notes

What does the price of wheat and global food supplies have to do with one of the greatest disasters in the history of warfare? Why was the decision made to send thousands of Allied troops in an attempt to free up the most heavily defended waterway in the world, the Dardanelles Straits? Historian and award-winning author Nicholas A Lambert joins James from our sibling podcast Warfare to talk us through the lead-up to Britain’s worst defeat in World War One, the catastrophic Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Find out why Prime Minister Henry Asquith and his senior advisers ordered the attacks in the first place and the failed operation’s legacy. Nicholas’ book, The War Lords and The Gallipoli Disaster, is available now.

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England's Great Viking Battle Aug 11, 2021

Show notes

On 11 August 991 one of the most important anglo-Viking battles took place near Maldon in Essex. This clash was immortalised in one of the finest examples of early English poetry that tells the story of a heroic defeat in the face of the ferocious Viking invaders. To remember both the battle itself and the poem Dan is joined by Professor Levi Roach from the University of Exeter. They discuss what led to the battle, the tactics used by both sides, why the Vikings won, the consequences of the English defeat and why we should probably take the heroic tales told in the poem with a pinch of salt!

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Royal Mistresses Aug 10, 2021

Show notes

The role of the royal mistress may, on the face of it, seem a simple position but in reality, there was a lot more to being a royal mistress than it might seem. Throughout the courts of Europe, the role of the royal mistress was often a semi formalised one and gave these women extraordinary influence and power. Joining Dan to discuss the importance of the mistress is Dr Linda Kiernan Knowles Adjunct Assistant Professor in History at Trinity College Dublin. They look particularly at the courts of Charles II and Louis XIV and how their respective mistresses controlled access to power, took part in political intrigue and caused great controversy both inside and outside of court.

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