Dan Snow's History Hit

Is liberal democracy facing an existential crisis? A 2023 poll conducted by the Open Society Barometer found that faith in democracy among young people is waning. But what does this mean? Why might young people become more 'strongman-curious'? To get to the bottom of this, Dan is joined by an all-star cast of experts. We have the renowned journalist Anne Applebaum, author of the upcoming book 'Aut...

We think of history as a neat chain of predictable events; but what if the truth is far wilder than that? Today, we're talking about the pivotal forces of randomness and chance, and how tiny moments can change the course of our human story. Dan is joined by Brian Klaas, associate professor in global politics at University College London and author of 'Fluke: Chance, Chaos and Why Everything We Do...

Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide. On 1 April 1945, as the Second World War in Europe was reaching its end, one of the bloodiest battles in the whole conflict commenced on a small island south of mainland Japan. It was the Battle of Okinawa. Saul David comes on the show to provide a fascinating rundown of this truly horrific battle. Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning or...

At the height of the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan set his sights on the island of Japan. He launched two enormous invasions of that nation in 1274 and 1281 - but both of them were defeated, aided by sudden and disastrous storms that tore his fleets apart. The story of these kamikaze, or 'Divine Winds', would become legend in Japan, and inspire the name of the Japanese pilots that launched attacks on...

Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide. In 1945, after lengthy delays, the Royal Navy sent a powerful fleet into the Pacific. After the disastrous Japanese invasions in Southeast Asia, Churchill was desperate to reassert British military might in the region. Aboard the carriers of these fleets were elite British and Commonwealth pilots, tasked with combating one of Japan's most f...

Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide.  By October 1944, the Japanese were in real trouble. The Allies had made great strides in their Pacific island-hopping campaign and were advancing on the Japanese home islands. In a desperate attempt to stem the tide, Japan created the 'Special Attack Units', which included the kamikaze - young pilots tasked with launching suicidal mis...

Warning: This episode contains some upsetting descriptions of human suffering. The Rwandan Genocide is a dark and pivotal moment in modern history; the catastrophic consequence of ethnic division and global inaction. Over 100 days in 1994, it's estimated around 800,000 predominantly Tutsi people were killed by the Hutu government and civilian militiamen. The groundwork for the atrocities had been...

Pontius Pilate was the Roman Prefect of Judea during the reign of Emperor Tiberius and is most famous for condemning Jesus of Nazareth to death by crucifixion in the Four Gospels. But who really was he? And how much do we know about him? In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan speaks to Prof. Helen Bond to delve deeper into the life of Pontius Pilate and discover what else we know about this famo...

The English won a decisive battlefield victory over the French in the first decade of the Hundred Years' War. At the Battle of Crécy, an outnumbered English army went up against thousands of French mounted knights, the finest cavalry in Western Europe at that time. Relying on their famed longbowmen, The English under Edward III weathered French cavalry charges until the forces of King Philip VI we...

On the 1st of April, 2024, a presumed Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing 13 people. Amongst them was a Brigadier General of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Reza Zahedi. In retaliation, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israeli soil, firing some 300 missiles and drones at targets within Israel. As of the 19th of April, an Israe...

As a foreign correspondent for ITN in the 70s, Peter Snow remembers handing tins of film to strangers on airport runways, hoping they would take it back to Britain to hand over to his colleagues on the other side. It was a tough and thrilling job as a travelling reporter before the internet, and Dan remembers hearing his dad's travel stories as a child - witnessing the Fall of the Berlin Wall, mee...

Fought in the second half of 1942, the Battles of El Alamein were a series of climactic confrontations in Egypt between British Imperial and Commonwealth forces and a combined German and Italian army. Intended as a last-ditch attempt by the British to halt Axis gains in North Africa, they resulted in a clear victory for the British and represented a key turning point in the Second World War. Winst...

In the mid-17th century, King Charles I of England was put on trial for treason against the sovereign state. Such a process involved a singular determination by Parliament to find a way, through due legal process, to try the one they saw as a man of blood, to ensure that he paid the price for his faults and failings, but not through extrajudicial summary justice. To understand how such a thing cam...

Dan delves into the complex history of Zionism, exploring its multifaceted origins and the various ideological strands that have shaped it over the years. From its early beginnings in the 19th century to its pivotal role in the establishment of the State of Israel. With expert insight and analysis from Peter Bergamin, lecturer at the University of Oxford and a visiting Scholar of the Oxford Centre...

From a plague in Athens during the Peloponnesian War in 430 BCE, to another in 540 that wiped out half the population of the Roman empire, down through the Black Death in the Middle Ages and on through the 1918 flu epidemic (which killed between 50 and 100 million people) and this century's deadly SARS outbreak, plagues have been a much more relentless fact of life than many realise. Brian Michael...

Frederick Rutland was one of Britain's finest naval pilots and a celebrated hero of the First World War. And yet in the interwar period, he would become a turncoat, feeding information to Japanese intelligence whilst living undercover in the glitz and glamour of 1930s Hollywood. Joining Dan to discuss Rutland's life is Ronald Drabkin, author of 'Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Hel...

Join Dan as he narrates the harrowing story of the HMS Wager and its crew's descent into mutiny and survival against all odds. Set against the backdrop of the War of Jenkins' Ear, the Wager, a British warship, was part of a secret squadron sent to attack Spanish holdings in the Pacific but, tragedy struck as the ship was wrecked off the desolate coast of Patagonia during a storm in 1741. With expe...

This is the untold story of how Nazi experiments with psychedelics influenced CIA research and the War on Drugs. From covert mind control programs to experiments with 'truth serums', we trace the connection between the Third Reich's sinister scientific experiments and later US drug policy. To explain this wild post-war history, Dan is joined by the bestselling historian Norman Ohler, author of 'Tr...

In 1872 the ghost ship Mary Celeste is found sailing across the Atlantic without a single crew member left onboard. Theories over what happened on the Mary Celeste range from insurance fraud to a violent mutiny... this week, Maddy and Anthony discuss what they think happened to the ship's crew. Edited by Tom Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Enjoy unlimited acce...

Kensington Palace was the centre of court life in 18th-century Britain. It was the principal London residence for the Royals, as well as a lavish venue for hosting monarchs and world leaders. But behind this very public world existed an entirely obscured one, made up of a small army of people who kept the royal show on the road. Dan is joined by Dr. Mishka Sinha, Curator for Inclusive History at H...

As Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, George Washington was a central feature of the American Revolutionary War. He was also the first President of the nascent United States, and his ethics permeated the nation's constitution. Dan is joined by Craig Bruce Smith, Associate Professor of History at the National Defense University specialising in the American Revolutionary era. Craig tells us...

What happened to the pioneering pilot, Amelia Earhart? In 1937, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe by aircraft, Earhart and her navigator went missing. Some 87 years later, new evidence has emerged - a grainy image of what looks like a plane, thousands of feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. To talk about Earhart and this discovery, Dan is joined by the aptly named Amelia Rose Ea...

This is the story of the British Empire in India. Over two episodes, we'll chart India's history from the birth of the Mughal Empire until the Partition of India. Joining us is Shrabani Basu, a journalist, historian and author of books including Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant . In this second episode, Dan and Shrabani discuss how East India Company officials abus...

This is the story of the British Empire in India. Over two episodes, we'll chart India's history from the birth of the Mughal Empire until the Partition of India. Joining us is Shrabani Basu, a journalist, historian and author of books including Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant . In this first episode, Dan and Shrabani look at the origins of the British Empire in I...

On 23 June 1972, a man boarded American Airlines Flight 119 in St Louis. He sat most of the way to Tulsa before donning a wig and a pair of gloves in the restroom, taking out a gun and handing a member of the cabin crew a note. 'Don't panic. This is a ransom hijacking.' To find out more about this man, what he hoped to gain from his crimes, and how he and others were inspired by D.B. Cooper, Don s...