Dan Snow's History Hit

He clawed his way to the zenith of power with a relentless determination that few could fathom... he conquered empires, destroyed armies and out of the smouldering rubble of the revolution made himself the Emperor of the French; his name was Napoleon Bonaparte.Was Napoleon destined for greatness, or was just in the right place at the right time? Well, Biographer Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon the Great says its both. In the first episode of this four-part series, Andrew and Dan pick through Napoleon's years growing up on the island of Corsica to his military education in France that instilled in him the discipline, skills and spirit that made him a solitary and cerebral individual but a charismatic leader of men. They explore the impact of childhood bullying, his sexual awakening in the French Revolution and his early belief that he was destined to change the world.Produced by Mariana Des Forges, Freddy Chick and edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free p

One of Early Modern Europe’s most powerful families, the Habsburgs shared a physical trait so distinctive that it came to be regarded as a badge of honour - the large, jutting jaw that was a result of family inbreeding. But that was only part of their physiological challenges.In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks about genetics, inbreeding and the sad fate of the Habsburgs with Dr. Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes.This episode was produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW - sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout?code=dansnow&plan=monthly.We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our list

It wasn't just London that was devastated by German bombing raids in WWII, but Belfast in Northern Ireland too. The most intense bombing took place over four consecutive nights, from April 7 to April 10, 1941, as the Luftwaffe targeted strategic locations, industrial sites, and residential areas in Belfast. Over 1000 residents in the city and surrounding counties were killed in the raids. Hundreds more were wounded and many deceased were left unidentified after the rubble was cleared.The Belfast Blitz was part of the wider strategic bombing campaign by the Germans, aiming to weaken the resolve of the British population and disrupt industrial production. Dr Jim O'Neill joins Dan to tell the city's story of war, of how people, including his own family experienced the raids, learning to survive in a state of constant fear and danger and the heroic bravery that emerged. He also tells Dan about his own work to ensure those who were killed are properly memorialised.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Ella Blax

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the most accomplished military commanders in world history. He rose to become Emperor of the French after a series of spectacular battlefield victories and continued this success until the very end of his rule.On this episode, Dan is joined by the famed filmmaker Ridley Scott to discuss his recent blockbuster, Napoleon, and go through some of the film's epic battlefield scenes. What were the conqueror's greatest battles? How did Joaquin Phoenix capture the essence of the man? And how do blockbuster epics balance historical fact with historical fiction? Tune in to find out.Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW - sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout?code=dansnow&plan=monthl

John Watts never knew his father. He was conceived days before his father, Wing Commander Joseph Watts, was killed on a bombing mission over occupied Europe. He left behind a daughter, and also an unborn son. But, recently John discovered that at the RAF Museum at Cosford, they have one of the very few surviving Hampdens which is being restored. The plane is from the very squadron his father flew in. Dan accompanied John to the museum for the emotional visit which he hoped would bring closure after 80 years of pain.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW - sign up now for your 14-day free trial http://access.historyhit.com/checkout?code=dansnow&plan=monthly.We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our listener survey here.

In this special 4-part series, we look back at the life of Adolf Hitler. With the help of Frank McDonough, a leading historian of the Third Reich, we follow Hitler from childhood to adulthood and learn how an awkward, aspiring artist became one of history's most infamous dictators.In this third episode, we pick up Hitler's story with the sweeping German military victories of 1939. Emboldened by these successes, Nazi Germany goes head-to-head with the Soviet Union. But the tide begins to turn as Hitler makes a series of strategic mistakes. His health deteriorates as the world closes in on the Third Reich. Finally, beneath the rubble of the German capital and surrounded by his enemies, Hitler's story comes to an end.Produced by James Hickmann, Mariana Des Forges and Freddy Chick. Edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off

In this special 4-part series, we look back at the life of Adolf Hitler. With the help of Frank McDonough, a leading historian of the Third Reich, we follow Hitler from childhood to adulthood and learn how an awkward, aspiring artist became one of history's most infamous dictators.In this second episode, we pick up the story just after his failed coup. Hitler exploited the chaos of 1920s Germany to build his own popularity. He manipulates the levers of government to gain power and builds around himself a team of loyal sycophants to prepare Germany for war. Behind the scenes, the wheels of the Holocaust are already put into motion.Produced by James Hickmann, Mariana Des Forges and Freddy Chick. Edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and ad-free podcasts presented by world-renowned historians from History Hit. Watch them on your smart TV or on the go with your mobile device. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW - sign up now for your 14-day free trial http:/

In this special 4-part series, we look back at the life of Adolf Hitler. With the help of Frank McDonough, a leading historian of the Third Reich, we follow Hitler from childhood to adulthood and learn how this awkward, aspiring artist became one of history's most infamous dictators.In this first episode, we trace Hitler's childhood and upbringing to learn what we can about his personality and desires. We hear how the First World War gave him a sense of purpose, and how the upheaval of Weimar Germany shaped his politics. Finally, we end with his disastrous first attempt to seize power - the Beer Hall Putsch.Produced by James Hickmann, Mariana des Forges and Freddy Chick. Edited by Dougal Patmore.Don’t miss out on the best offer in history! Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 for 3 months with code BLACKFRIDAY sign up now for your 14-day free trial https://historyhit/subscription/.Discover the past on History Hi

Despite her being a household name, how much do we really know about Pocahontas? Where did she come from? How old was she? And what was her real relationship with the colonists?Don is joined for this episode by Camilla Townsend, a Historian of Early Native American and Latin American History at Rutgers University. Camilla is the author of 'Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma' and, most recently, 'Indigenous Life After the Conquest: The De la Cruz Family Papers of Colonial Mexico'.Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Siobhan Dale. The senior Producer was Charlotte Long.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.Don’t miss out on the best offer in history! Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE p

By the early 1990s, the Colombian city of Medellín was at the centre of the world's largest drug empire. The fearsome Medellín Cartel, led by the notorious drug lord and narcoterrorist Pablo Escobar, brought murder and mayhem to the city and the world for nearly two decades.In this episode, Dan is joined by the men portrayed in the critically acclaimed series Narcos, ex-DEA agents Javier Peña and Steve Murphy. They tell us the true story behind the rise and fall of the infamous Pablo Escobar.Produced by Freddy Chick and James Hickmann, and edited by Dougal Patmore.Don’t miss out on the best offer in history! Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 for 3 months with code BLACKFRIDAY sign up now for your 14-day free trial https://historyhit/subscription/We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our listener survey here.

The urban cultures of ancient Mesopotamia formed the foundation for so much of our modern world. Nowhere exemplifies this better than the city of Babylon, which was the cultural seedbed for the Greek and Roman civilisations that in turn left such lasting legacies.On this episode, Dan is joined by Amanda Podany, professor emeritus of history at the California State Polytechnic University. Amanda draws on an astonishing breadth of original documents and objects to explain just how foundational this civilisation was, and how people learnt to live side by side with one another.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.Don’t miss out on the best offer in history! Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Get a subscription for £1 for 3 months with code BLACKFRIDAY sign up now for your 14-day free trial https://historyhit/subscription/We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take

The Malleus Maleficarum, or the 'Hammer of Witches', was a 15th-century book that sparked mass hysteria about the existence of witches in Europe - and it wasn't long before North America had fallen for the same obsession.In a special Halloween episode, Dan is joined by the co-host of the Gone Medieval podcast, Eleanor Janega, to take us through the most famous example of a witch-hunt in action. Eleanor explains how old grudges and grievances boiled up as the citizens of Salem, Massachusetts turned on one another. Hundreds of people were accused of witchcraft and just shy of two dozen were executed for it. So what happened in Salem? Why were almost all of the accused women? And what was a witch anyway? Tune in to find out.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off you

James Beckwourth was a pioneering frontiersman and fur-trapper who conquered the American West by embedding himself in the Native American tribes who called it home. Although Beckwourth wasn’t a runaway slave, he'd been born into slavery in the Deep South at the turn of the 19th century. As a young man, he was enticed by the freedom of the wilderness, after being emancipated by his owner and own father- a white Virginian planter. Beckwourth made his way west to the gold-dappled state of California and in doing so traversed the formidable Sierra Nevada mountains, carving a route for future gold-rush prospectors, thanks to the knowledge and understanding of the landscape he learnt from running with a band of Crow Nation American Indians. He hunted wild animals, searched for gold, got embroiled in inter-tribe warfare and travelled through many of America's states looking for adventure, telling great tales about the things he experienced.Dan is joined by historian Ann Manheimer who, like Beckwourth himself, weave

In celebration of recently winning a gold Signal Award, we are revisiting our series from last year on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.1. On the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor lie the burial chambers of some of Ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs - Ramses II, Seti I and Tutankhamun. From Luxor, Dan delves into the history of the Valley of the Kings with Alia Ismail whose current project is 3D mapping the tombs. He ventures deep into the earth inside the most magnificent of all the valley tombs- Seti I - as he and celebrated Egyptologist Salima Ikram tell the story of Giovanni Belzoni and the many explorers and archaeologists who set the stage for Howard Carter's discovery of the century.Listen to the rest of the series via the link below.2. Tutankhamun: The Discovery of a Lifetime - https://shows.acast.com/dansnowshistoryhit/episodes/2-tutankhamun-the-discovery-of-a-lifetime3. Tutankhamun: The Life of a Boy Pharaoh - https://shows.acast.com/dansnowshistoryhit/episodes/3-tutankh

Dan attends the funeral of British and American soldiers, over 240 years after they died fighting one another at the Battle of Camden. He takes us through the battle step by step, walking the fields of South Carolina and speaking with archaeologists, locals and soldiers to bring this British victory back to life.Dan ends at a funeral procession that commemorates the lives of the men who died, and reminds us that the cost of war transcends the centuries.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our listener survey here.

This month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates four of history’s most notorious murders and brutal crimes.In this first episode, she’s joined by Charles Nicholl to dig deeper into the mystery of the 1593 murder of the brilliant and controversial playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was stabbed to death in a house in Deptford. The official account stated it was a violent quarrel over the bill.But as Charles Nicholl explains, critical evidence about that fatal day points to Marlowe's shadowy political and intelligence dealings.This episode was edited and produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our lis

Also known as the October War and the Ramadan War, this conflict was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, as a surprise attack on Israel during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur and the Muslim month of Ramadan. It was motivated by a desire among Arab states to regain territory taken by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, particularly the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. The initial stages of the war caught Israel off guard, but they were able to regroup and mount a strong defence. The war ended with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and the Soviet Union. Israel returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and in exchange Egypt recognised Israel as a legitimate state - the first Arab country to do so.It had a profound impact on the region and the seismic waves were felt across the world. Against the backdrop of the Cold War, it's been described as a proxy war between the US and the Soviet Union with Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries imposing an embar

This is the story of the incredible rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was queen of Scotland, she was queen of France, and she could have been queen of England. She led armies, lived as a fugitive, became embroiled in love affairs and spent nearly two decades in jail.Dan is joined by the great Kate Williams, a presenter, historian and professor at Reading University, to take us through the twists and turns of Mary's tumultuous life.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our listener survey here.

During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role in keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across the treacherous Atlantic - and many paid with their lives. What's less well known is that many of those sailors were Chinese - volunteers who came to Britain to help the war effort and settled predominantly in the port city of Liverpool. But after the war, many of those Chinese sailors who returned home suddenly disappeared without a trace. For years families believed they'd decided to abandon them, but the reality was far worse.Dr Lucienne Loh, from the University of Liverpool, has been uncovering what happened to those sailors who endured war for Britain and how Britain turned its back on them. In previously secret Government documents, she discovered a shocking truth...Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians

Was ever a ship more aptly named? In 1845, HMS Terror (and its forgettably named sister ship HMS Erebus) set off from Victorian Britain. Their quest was to discover the fabled Northwest passage through the Arctic ice. The crew were heroes in waiting. Yet by the end, the rules that govern life on board Royal Navy vessels collapsed into chaos and cannibalism.Maddy tells Anthony this story about life in the Royal Navy, Arctic winters, badly written poetry, and the thin line that separates us from horror.Written by Maddy Pelling. Mixed by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more.Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.If you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can email us at ds.hh@historyhit.com, we'd love to hear from you!You can take pa