Dan Snow's History Hit

If King Arthur never existed, why does he loom so large in England's history? Dan traces the real-life figures who could have been the legendary King Arthur- the medieval king who pulled the sword from the stone and led the English against the Anglo-Saxons who arrived in England in the 5th century with peace on their tongues and conquest in their hearts. He explores the origins of the Arthur myth...

As Houthi missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea continue, we turn to the past to answer the all-important questions - who are the Houthis, and what do they want? Dan is joined by Baraa Shiban, a Yemeni human rights activist and Associate Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute in London. Following the Houthis' coup in September 2014, he participated in rounds of negotiations with the...

This is the story of a city that laid the foundations for our modern world. Sitting at the intersection of East and West, Alexandria has been home to many of humanity's greatest architectural and cultural achievements, like the famous Lighthouse and the storied Great Library. Some of history's most illustrious figures have left their mark there, from Alexander the Great and Aristotle to Julius Cae...

By the summer of 1943, there were Allied boots on Axis soil. Sicily had been taken, and fascism's grip on Italy was beginning to loosen. But Allied command was faced with a tough decision - what to do next? Dan is joined by historian, author and broadcaster, James Holland, to explain why they decided to invade Italy proper and tell us how the invasion played out. Produced by James Hickmann and edi...

On 17 January 1920, the 18th Amendment came into effect in the United States. It made the manufacture, sale and transportation of 'intoxicating liquor' illegal. Sarah Churchwell is BACK to explore the realities of the roaring twenties with Don. Why was alcohol banned? How did prohibition become federal law? And why would the US government have poisoned its citizens? Produced by Freddy Chick and So...

People have always looked to the wonders of the ancient world for awe and inspiration. In the Ancient era, people embarked on dangerous pilgrimages to visit storied sites like the Pyramids of Giza, or the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. While only one of them remains, they still excite us thousands of years later. Bettany Hughes, author of 'The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World', joins Dan to talk abo...

In small wooden canoes and with just the stars for navigation, how did the first Polynesians conquer the largest ocean on earth? For centuries this has perplexed scholars and anthropologists. The Polynesian Triangle is drawn by connecting the points of Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island and encompasses countries like Samoa, Tonga and Tahiti with each island connected to the others by common tr...

Screenwriter John Orloff joins Dan to talk about the new WWII mini-series 'Masters of the Air'. It tells the true story of the 'Bloody Hundredth', an American bomb group stationed in England that fought in the skies over Nazi-occupied Europe. A decade in the making, John explains how the show works to faithfully recreate the story of these airmen and the trials that they faced. Produced by James H...

Known for bringing about the fall of the Western Roman Empire - the Vandals have a reputation for violence, destruction, and conquering. Moving from Eastern Europe across Gaul, and eventually taking Carthage, their actions have been immortalised in Christian texts and Western Language. But what do we actually know about the Vandals, and how did their behaviour bring one of the most powerful empire...

Nicholas Winton masterminded an effort that saved the lives of 669 Jewish Children from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War Two. There's a new movie out called 'One Life' telling the incredible story of Nicholas - 'Nicky' - a man people called the 'British Schindler' and stars Anthony Hopkins, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Flynn. In 1938 Nicky was planning to go on a skiing Vacation in Switze...

The Taj Mahal is one of the most iconic and romanticised buildings on earth. Commissioned by a Mughal ruler to mark the passing of his beloved wife, it is thought that this monumental marble mausoleum was built by some 20,000 stone carvers, masons and artists. Perhaps 1,000 elephants were used in its construction, and materials were brought from as far away as Sri Lanka, Tibet and China. Joining D...

Vladimir Lenin died just over 100 years ago, on the 21st of February, 1924. The Russian revolutionary leader fought in no battles, spent much of his time in libraries and was in his 40s before he held high public office. Yet he managed to take over one of the world's largest empires and set the wheels of Communism in motion, a turning point that continues to shape our world today. Dan is joined by...

How prepared was Britain for a Nazi invasion? The common perception is of a country woefully unprepared for war; hastily assembled defences manned by characters from 'Dad's Army', and a government unfit for the task at hand. But in reality, a top-secret training programme was underway to turn civilian volunteers into ruthless resistance fighters, saboteurs and assassins. Dan is joined by historian...

In this episode, we remember Mike Sadler the last of the original SAS men who recently died at the age of 103. Major Sadler was the navigator for the regiment’s founder David Stirling, guiding raiding columns for hundreds of miles behind enemy lines in North Africa. Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit....

The Warring States period brought Japan to its knees. It was a time of turbulence and treachery, with rival warlords fighting bitterly for control of the land. But by the dawn of the 17th century, one of Japan's 'Great Unifiers' had emerged victorious - Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ruler of the Tokugawa Shogunate. On this episode Dan is joined by Christopher Harding, a cultural historian of India an...

In 430 BC, in the midst of the Peloponnesian War, the powerful city-state of Athens was struck down by a disastrous plague. Athenians fell sick with a dizzying array of symptoms, from fevers and vomiting to painful pustules that broke out all over people's bodies. In total it killed roughly a third of the city's population and caused a total breakdown in Athenian society. Dan is joined by Alastair...

2/3. Thomas Cochrane and his crew of the HMS Imperieuse embark on their greatest and most audacious scheme yet; Cochrane leads a flotilla of burning vessels and exploding bomb ships piled high with gunpowder into a fleet of Napoleon's forces off the coast of Biscay. The Battle of Basque Roads made Cochrane a national treasure but only for a while... when the truth about what happened that night re...

What made a working class woman from Edinburgh become such a threat to British intelligence services during the Second World War, that they tried her as a witch? In today's episode, we're telling you the story of Helen Duncan, aka Hellish Brown, a medium who lays claim to being the last woman in England to be tried as a witch, culminating in her trial in 1944 under the 1735 Witchcraft Act. Joining...

3/3. After a meteoric rise to fame, Cochrane finds himself in front of a court and stripped of his titles for fraud on the London Stock Exchange. Known for his ingenuity and schemes, Cochrane breaks out of prison before embarking on the adventure of a lifetime in South America. He's put in charge of the Chilean and then Brazilian navies, helping these mighty countries break free from Spain and est...

Dan tells a story as dramatic, unlikely and exciting as any ever penned by an author about one of Britain's greatest sailors. Thomas Lord Cochrane was a naval commander with an illustrious career in the Napoleonic Wars who once strapped himself to a floating bomb, in a rising storm, in the dead of a moonless night to take out a French fleet. Another time, he convinced an enemy force to surrender t...

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 dramatic changes to the fabric of Russian society and culture. Through conquest and expansion, they carved out a Russian Empire and propelled their...

The Aztec Empire was a large and sophisticated one, stretching at its height from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico. But 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. To talk about the fall of the Aztec Empire, Dan is joined by Matthew Restall, Dire...

If you’re enjoying a glass of port during the festive period, you have the world’s oldest treaty to thank. Winston Churchill once described the Anglo-Portuguese alliance as ‘without parallel in world history.’ Forged in the backdrop of the Hundred Years War 650 years ago, the alliance is the oldest in the world. In this episode Dan explores the medieval roots of this diplomatic friendship, which h...

In August, 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie led a rebellion that brought the Jacobite cause closer to seizing the throne than 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 success...

What comes to your mind when you think of Pythagoras, the ancient Greek polymath? Some might think of the Pythagorean theorem, a foundational principle of mathematics. But he was also the enigmatic founder of Pythagoreanism, a mysterious secret society that strove to create a utopia on earth. Today Dan is joined by Kristen Ghodsee, an ethnographer and author of Everyday Utopia . Kristen delves int...