Dan Snow's History Hit

24th of February 2022 marked the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This episode of Gone Medieval looks at the origins of its capital city, Kyiv, and how today it has become central to this ongoing conflict. Host Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Olenka Pevny from the University of Cambridge. Together, they discuss the emergence of the Rus people, the consequences of the Mongols' arrival into th...

While Ukraine fights to defend itself from Russian forces, Putin makes a nuclear threat to the west and the rest of the world. Dr Jeremy Garlick, Associate Professor of International Relations and China Studies at the University of Economics, Prague, explains the strategies currently being used by Russia and the West, ‘game theory’ and nuclear deterrence between these two opposing forces through r...

After World War One women outnumbered men by the highest margin in recorded history, even compared to after World War Two. This had wide-reaching implications for the social, demographic and economic fabric of post-war society. Today Dan is joined by Mary McKee and Paul Nixon from Findmypast to explore: What does the 1921 Census reveal about the impact of the First World War for Britain? Are you i...

In April 1945, weeks before the Nazi defeat, nine women made a last-ditch escape from the concentration camp at Ravensbruck. The group, who had all been imprisoned for resistance activity, then undertook a perilously 10-day journey across Nazi frontlines.  In today's episode, Dan speaks to Gwen Strauss, whose great-aunt was among the nine, about how she uncovered the details of this incredibl...

This year is the 150th anniversary of the world's first national park of its kind, Yellowstone. Each year nearly four million people visit the park but many are unaware of how it was founded. Its founding act as a snapshot of key forces in post Civil War America; reconstruction and the Republican parties national project; industrialisation and the coming of the railways, and; and the resistance of...

Edward VI, son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use him to further their own ends. Edward was the only Tudor monarch who was groomed to reign, and it was assumed he would become as commanding a figure as his father had been. In this edition of Not Just the Tudors , Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Stephen Alford, to discov...

On today's episode, Dan takes the podcast out onto the Antarctic ice to find penguins, seals and the expedition scientists conducting experiments. He joins Dr Stefanie Arndt of the Alfred Wegener Institute as she researches climate change in the Weddell Sea's ice. Dan catches her just as she discovers some tiny and very rare snow crystals and her enthusiasm is infectious. He also takes a trip back...

Who were the real Peaky Blinders? Did they really exist? Carl Chinn reveals the true story of the notorious gangs that roamed Birmingham's streets during the city's industrial heyday. If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hoste...

After the death of Chinggis Khan, the founder and first Emperor of the Mongol Empire, the land became the largest contiguous empire in history. The Horde, the western portion of the Mongol empire, was the central node in the Eurasian commercial boom of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was a conduit for exchanges across thousands of miles. A force in global development as important as Ro...

Please note that this episode contains spoilers from the film ‘The Duke’. Kempton Bunton was a taxi driver who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first and remains the only, theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton proceeded to send ransom notes declaring that he would only return the painting on the condition that the government invest m...

Ukraine has been invaded by Russia. But why? What is NATO’s purpose, and why does it bother Vladimir Putin so much? In this episode of Warfare, we’re joined by Jamie Shea, the Former Deputy Assistant Secretary-General at NATO, who’s sat across the table from the Russian President himself. Jamie and James explore the birth of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the questions surrounding its mem...

Russia has launched an invasion of Ukraine. As European leaders gather and Ukraine makes preparations to defend itself, the world watches. In light of this escalating situation host of the Gone Medieval podcast, Matt Lewis steps in for Dan and runs through a brief but complex history of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine. He provides some context to the way in which the two states view ea...

London is today one of the greatest cities in the world, and the story of its origins is fittingly spectacular. Founded by the Romans as Londinium in around 47-50 AD, the metropolis served as a major commercial hub and indeed military target until its abandonment in the 5th century. It wouldn’t be until the turn of the following millennium that London regained its eminence under the Anglo-Saxons....

Dan updates us from Antarctica about whether the SS Agulhas II has managed to break free from the ice that had surrounded it. If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The search for the wreck of the sunken Endurance is well underway. Find out more about the submersibles, equipped with 4k cameras that can scan the seafloor hundreds of metres into the darkness and hear from the stellar crew and ice pilots who are responsible for keeping everyone on board safe in the Weddell Sea ice. But, as you've heard throughout this series, Antarctica is a harsh and volatile e...

Popular knowledge may claim Hastings as the site of the last invasion of mainland Britain by Norman forces in 1066. True, this was the last successful invasion however in 1797 there was a much less successful one. In fact, the last time any invaders foot ever stood upon the soil of mainland Britain was February 1797 when 1,400 members of the French Légion Noire landed on just outside Fishguard in...

Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was a controversial amendment to the UK's Local Government Act 1986, enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of the UK by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003. The amendment stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intenti...

The Endurance22 crew have made it to the Weddell Sea and the point where they believe Shackleton’s ship sunk! It’s a rocky start as they begin the search using the AUV drones that scan the seafloor If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Appl...

To mark the US release of our very own Dr Cat Jarman’s incredible book River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads , sit back and relax as she takes us a whistle-stop tour of her captivating Sunday Times bestseller. From Sweden to Ukraine and from London to Constantinople, the Vikings certainly got about! But how much of a link was there between the western and eas...

Icebergs, albatrosses and growlers- the team have crossed the Antarctic circle! In the first of our episodes recorded from Antarctica, Dan takes you on a tour of the ship and brings you updates with expedition lead John Shears and marine archaeologist Mensun Bound. Hear how the crew are passing the time and the rumours floating around the ship about Dan... Dan Snow's History Hit podcast is the pla...

The Fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army took place in the South-East Asian theatre of the Pacific War, with fighting in Singapore lasting through 8 to 15 February 1942. Nicknamed the “Gibraltar of the East,” Singapore was the foremost British military base and economic port in South-East Asia and was important to British interwar defence planning for the region. The British stronghold was captu...

Dan gives a quick update on the expedition's progress towards Antarctica from a rather wet and windy deck as the crew prepare for a storm to hit. If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...

Writing letters to a spouse or sweetheart deployed overseas was portrayed as a patriotic duty, a means to boost the morale of the fighting man. But what of the letter that broke off an engagement, or announced the intention to file for divorce? During World War II, such letters became known as “Dear Johns,” and the women who sent them were denounced as traitors. Susan L. Carruthers, Professor in U...

Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots were cousins who never met - but their fates were intertwined. As their nations were engulfed in religious turmoil and civil wars raged on the continent, these two powerful women struggled for control of the British Isles. In this edition of Not Just the Tudors , Professor Suzannah Lipscomb goes to the British Library in London to meet curator Andrea Clarke and...

A little update from Dan on where he is and how the journey to Antarctica is going! If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.