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The Battle of Trafalgar Oct 20, 2022

Show notes

On 21 October 1805, A British fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson met the combined might of the French and Spanish fleets off the coast of Spain. Outnumbered, Nelson used innovative tactics to break up the allied fleet and ensure success but at great cost to his men and of course himself. It was a truly crushing defeat for the Franco-Spanish forces though. With the majority of their ships destroyed or captured it confirmed Britain's naval supremacy for decades to come. In this dramatic telling of one of the most famous battles in naval history, Dan brings to life the men, the commanders, the ships, and the tactics that enabled the British fleet to emerge as victors.

This episode was edited by Dougal Patmore.

This episode was first broadcast on 21st October 2021.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

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FORENSICS: The Beginning Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

Death by tiger bites. Death by prodding. Death from sexual excess. Deaths from over-eating and over-drinking. The opening of graves.

These are a few of the chapter headings in a 13th-century Chinese book called ‘The Washing Away of Wrongs’. It is a compendium of grizzly, gory, bizarre murders and deaths.

Its author was Song Ci, a Confucian trained bureaucrat who, like his fellow officials all over China, was responsible for investigating murders in his jurisdiction. According to the Wikipedia page for ‘forensic science’ this book is the earliest written evidence of forensic thinking. Is that correct?

Our guest today is Daniel Asen, a historian of China at Rutgers University.

This is the first episode in a mini-series from Patented: History of Inventions we’re bringing you all about the invention of Forensics.

Produced by Freddy Chick

Edited by Pete Dennis and Anisha Deva

The actors were Lucy Davidson and Tristan Hughes

The Executive Producer is Charlotte Long

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

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Mary Seacole: Doctress of the Crimean War Oct 18, 2022

Show notes

Born Mary Jane Grant in the colony of Kingston, Jamaica, in November 1805, Mary would later become a businesswoman, traveller and healer. Posthumously, Mary is best known as a Black British nurse.

Gretchen Gerzina is an author and academic who has written mostly historically-grounded biographical studies. Grethen joins Dan to share the story of Mary Seacole— how the traditional Afro-Caribbean medicine she learned from her mother would inform much of her life, her experiences as a Jamaican woman of mixed race and how she nursed the wounded of the Crimean War.

This episode was produced by Hannah Ward and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

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Britain's Worst Prime Minister Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

Could Liz Truss be Britain's worst Prime Minister? As the political scene in the UK hurtles into further disarray, Dan gets together historians Tim Bale, Catherine Haddon and Robin Eagles to put forward who they think has been Britain's worst Prime Minister over the centuries. Anthony Eden, Edward Heath and the 3rd Earl of Bute contend for first place.

This episode was produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis Oct 16, 2022

Show notes

In October 1962 the world came very close to annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the autumn of 1962, a U2 reconnaissance aircraft produced clear evidence that the Soviet Union and the Cuban authorities were building medium-range ballistic missile facilities on the island of Cuba and only around 100 miles from the coast of Florida. The resulting confrontation between the USA under JFK and the Soviet Union led by Nikita Khrushchev lasted just over a month and it's often considered to be the closest that the Cold War came to escalating to full-scale nuclear war. Serhii Plokhy, author of Nuclear Folly: A New History of the Cuban Missile Crisis, is Dan's guest on the podcast.

This episode was first released on 16 April 2021.

The audio editor for this episode was Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

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The Long History of African and Caribbean People in Britain Oct 13, 2022

Show notes

There remains a tendency to reduce the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain to a simple story: it is one that begins in 1948 with the arrival of a single ship, the Empire Windrush. Yet, from the very beginning, from the moment humans first stood on this rainy isle, there have been African and Caribbean men and women set at Britain's heart.

Professor Hakim Adi is the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain— he has been researching and writing about the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain for decades. Hakim joins Dan to chart a course through British history with an unobscured view of the actions of African and Caribbean people, sharing the stories of the Africans in Britain during the Roman period, Black Tudors, Stuarts and Victorians, and shedding light on the Windrush Myth.

This episode was produced by Hannah Ward and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Complete the survey and you'll be entered into a prize draw to win 5 Historical Non-Fiction Books- including a signed copy of Dan Snow's 'On This Day in History'.

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Russia Falters in Ukraine: Parallels with WW1 Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

Russia's current conflict in Ukraine was supposed to be a showcase of military prowess, a quick war that solidified her status as a great power. Instead, it has laid bare issues in leadership, training, supply and morale, all of which have crippled the military's operational capabilities. Although separated by a century, this conflict and Russia's handling of it bear a striking resemblance to Russia's involvement in the First World War. Dan speaks to Alexander Watson, acclaimed historian and author of the award-winning book The Fortress: The Great Siege of Przemysl, to find out exactly what comparisons we can draw between that conflict and the current war in Ukraine.

This episode was produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Complete the survey and you'll be entered into a prize draw to win 5 Historical Non-Fiction Books- including a signed copy of Dan Snow's 'On This Day in History'.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The US and The Holocaust Oct 11, 2022

Show notes

After Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, thousands of German Jews facing systematic persecution wanted to flee the Third Reich but found few countries willing to accept them. For refugees fleeing the Nazis, America’s immigration quotas, established in the 1920s and sustained by popular and Congressional support, made it extremely difficult to enter the United States.

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick join Dan to explore America's response to one of the greatest humanitarian crises in history. They discuss the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States and race laws in the American south.

This episode was produced by Hannah Ward and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Complete the survey and you'll be entered into a prize draw to win 5 Historical Non-Fiction Books- including a signed copy of Dan Snow's 'On This Day in History'.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karnak: Egypt's Greatest Temple Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

Located on the banks of the River Nile in Luxor, Egypt, the Karnak Temple complex is one of the largest buildings ever constructed for religious purposes. Dedicated to the god Amun-Ra and covering over 200 acres - the Karnak Temple complex is bigger than some ancient cities.

Earlier this year, Tristan from The Ancients podcast, visited the Temple complex and spoke to the Director of Karnak Temples, El-Tayeb Gharieb Mahmoud. In this special, on-location episode, Tristan and Tayeb give us a tour of one of the most colossal sites left from the ancient world. Journeying around the complex, looking at the reliefs, architecture, and reflecting on the Pharaohs responsible for its construction - what can we learn from this 4,000 year old building?

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Complete the survey and you'll be entered into a prize draw to win 5 Historical Non-Fiction Books- including a signed copy of Dan Snow's 'On This Day in History'.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Romanovs Oct 09, 2022

Show notes

The Romanov family were the first imperial dynasty to rule Russia, reigning from the early seventeenth century until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Including such illustrious names as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Alexander I, they oversaw and often instigated, dramatic changes to the fabric of Russian society and culture as a whole. Through conquest and expansion, they carved out a Russian Empire and propelled their nation into great power status. The myth and memory of the Romanovs still permeate Russian identity and history today.

Dan catches up with Orlando Figes, a distinguished historian and an expert on Romanov Russia whose acclaimed books, including A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891 - 1924, help to shed light on this crucial portion of Russian history.

This episode was produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Complete the survey and you'll be entered into a prize draw to win 5 Historical Non-Fiction Books- including a signed copy of Dan Snow's 'On This Day in History'.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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