History Happy Hour

This Week on History Happy Hour : This week's guest, historian Halik Kochanski, author of Resistance: The Underground War Against Hitler, 1939-1945 , was ill, and unable to make the program. She will be rebooked for later in the year,  Chris and Rick spend the hour in an open forum answering questions from the audience.  

This Week on History Happy Hour : The gripping true story of a group of American paratroopers who were dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day, only to disappear without a trace. Chris and Rick welcome Stephen Rabe, author of The Lost Paratroopers of Normand y. His book brings to life the harrowing struggles and ultimate fate of these forgotten heroes – one of whom was his father. A story that i...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Three years ago Chris and Rick welcomed Dutch historian (and our friend) Sebastiaan Vonk to HHH to talk about a project of remembrance undertaken at the American Netherlands Cemetery in Margraten. Now that project has led to a remarkable book, Faces of Margraten , just published in English. Sebastiaan and his co-authors, Jori Videc, and Ari-Jan Van Hees, will join...

This Week on History Happy Hour : How close a shave was World War One? Could Germany have pulled it out? Historian Holger Afflerbach argues that the outcome was actually in the balance until relatively late in the war. He suggests that Germany had to make a series of critical mistakes to lose it. Chris and Rick will talk with him about his new book, On A Knife Edge: How Germany Lost World War One....

This Week on History Happy Hour : Admiral Chester Nimitz won WWII in the Pacific – commanding the Pacific Fleet from a few days after Pearl Harbor until the end of the war. A quiet man capable of being both a measured diplomat and a riverboat gambler, he planned the great victories of the Pacific and transformed the devastated and dispirited U.S. Fleet into the most powerful naval force in h...

This Week on History Happy Hour : In 1918, Sergeant York was credited with singlehandedly capturing 132 Germans in one of the most famous actions of WWI. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and his story was featured in an Academy Award winning film starring Gary Cooper. But what about the other 16 men in his squad? Did the myth that grew up around Sgt. York deny them the recognition...

This Week on History Happy Hour: The story of German tycoons who made billions off the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II – and were never brought to justice because of political expediency. Many of the dynasties they started continue to control swaths of the world economy today, owning iconic brands such as Porsche, Volkswagen, and BMW. In an encore episode, Chris and Rick welcome...

This Week on History Happy Hour: Hooray! We‘re celebrating History Happy Hour’s third anniversary with a gala special. Chris and Rick bring you excerpts from just a few of our most memorable guests such as Andrew Roberts, Susan Eisenhower, Charles Person, and others. Plus – we’ll reveal our top five most-watched shows, and share reflections both serious and silly on our 156...

This Week on History Happy Hour: The remarkable patriotism of Japanese American soldiers during WWII. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans had to navigate the complexity of their country being attacked by their ancestral home, virulent racism, and the horror of internment. Despite unimaginable injustice, however, many young Japanese American men still volunteered to fight for the...

This Week on History Happy Hour: She was a real-life Indiana Jones– an intrepid archeologist who outwitted the Gestapo in WWII, and went on to lead an extraordinary effort to save ancient Egyptian temples from the floodwaters of the Aswan Dam. “You don’t get anywhere without a fight, you know,” said Christiane Desroches Noblecort.” If I became a brawler, it was out of...

This Week on History Happy Hour: Five centuries of German military history in one hour! Our guest is Peter Wilson, author of Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500. (A Daily Telegraph 2022 Book of the Year.) The military impact of Germany has been enormous, but is the belief in a special German gift for warfare true or a fallacy? We’ll explore the milita...

This Week on History Happy Hour: Humor helped the British soldier survive the terrible ordeal they faced in the trenches during WWI. They may have been up to their knees in mud and blood, but many were still determined to see the ‘funny side’, rather than surrender to utter misery. Chris and Rick welcome Peter Hart (third time!) and Gary Bain, From Pete and Gary’s Military Podcas...

This Week on History Happy Hour: In the dark days after WWI, a new movement swept over Italy. Fascism promised to build a 'New Roman Empire' and make Italy great again. Soon came violence, black shirts, and Benito Mussolini. Chris and Rick welcome John Foot, author of Blood and Power: The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism, the disturbing story of Italian fascism from 1915 to 1945 –...

This Week on History Happy Hour: When it comes to WWII, a huge amount of attention is (rightly) focused on D-Day. But the following days and weeks, as Allied troops try to break-out of the Normandy Beachhead against fierce German resistance, is often given short shrift. In April, Chris and Rick will be two of the four historians conducting the Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours 2023 Masterclass , wh...

This Week on History Happy Hour: Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was the highest-paid female performer in Europe, renowned for her singing and dancing, her beauty and sexuality. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she vowed to stay and fight. Overnight, she went from performer to Resistance spy. Chis and Rick welcome renowned historian Damien Lewis about his new book Agent Joseph...

This Week on History Happy Hour: A bold new look at World War II from one of Great Britain’s most respected and honored historians. Chris and Rick welcome Richard Overy, author of the monumental new book Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931-1945. He argues that we need to seek a different and broader perspective to truly understand the origins and aftermath of the costliest war in hu...

This Week on History Happy Hour: A year after the Civil War, a band of Union and Confederate veterans dusted off their guns. Not to fight each other, but side by side to undertake one of the most fantastical missions in military history: to seize the British province of Canada and to hold it hostage until the independence of Ireland was secured. This motley crew of revolutionaries, including a one...

This Week on History Happy Hour: Few outlaws in the Old West achieved such lasting and far-reaching fame as Billy the Kid. But how do you separate the man from the myth? Our guest this week has left no stone unturned in his twenty-year quest to tell the complete the flesh-and-blood human being named Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonney. Chris and Rick welcome James B. Mills, the author of Billy...

This Week on History Happy Hour: The remarkable story of WWII combat infantryman Phil Larimore, who fought at Anzio and later in France and Germany, as reconstructed by his son, Walt Larimore, co-author of At First Light: A True World War II Story of a Hero, His Bravery, and an Amazing Horse A lieutenant in the Third Division, Phil Larimore saw intense fighting in the most difficult conditions in...

This Week on History Happy Hour: During America’s War for Independence, nearly 30,000 German soldiers came to the Colonies to fight for Britain. Collectively known as Hessians, they served everywhere from Canada to Cuba and shared in every significant British triumph and defeat. What were their experiences and how did the war look to them? Chris and Rick welcome historian Friederike Baer, wh...

This Week on History Happy Hour: In 1954, a Vietnamese Army shocked the world by defeating the French in an epic battle at Dien Bien Phu. How did Ho Chi Minh turn a ragtag guerrilla army into a modern seven-division fighting force capable of bringing down the formidable French Army, setting the scene for a showdown with the United States? Chris and Rick welcome Christopher Goscha, author of The Ro...

This Week on History Happy Hour: On D-Day, the second Ranger Battalion under Colonel James Rudder took the German Battery at Pointe Du Hoc. Following that, they took part in the bloody assault on Brest with the 29th Division. Then, in December 1944, came their biggest test: Hill 400 in the Hurtgen Forest. We'll take up that story with Bob Drury, co-author of The Last Hill: The Epic Story of a...

This Week on History Happy Hour: Meet an extraordinary heroine of the French Resistance: Marie-Madeline Fourcade. In 1941, this thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman and mother of two became leader of a vast Resistance organization. No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence to the Allies, and Fourcade herself would face a personal reckoning with the Gestapo. In...

This Week on History Happy Hour: In spite of Allied promises to hunt Nazi war criminals to the ends of the earth, many high-ranking Nazis, including SS officers, ended up working for the US and its allies as spies, arms traffickers and covert operators. They were shielded from war-crimes trials or worse in return for their co-operation, and played a crucial role in the clandestine struggle between...

This Week on History Happy Hour: A bold new look at World War II from one of Great Britain’s most respected and honored historians. Chris and Rick welcome Richard Overy, author of the monumental new book Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931-1945. He argues that we need to seek a different and broader perspective to truly understand the origins and aftermath of the costliest war in hu...