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40 episodes

Dan Snow's History Hit

by History Hit · English

Historian Dan Snow journeys across the globe to tell the stories of history's defining moments. From the Colosseum in Rome to the Great Wall of China, the battlefields of Waterloo to the Tomb of Tutankhamun, join Dan as he explores the how and why of the greatest monuments, battles, heroes, villains and events that have shaped our world. New episodes on Mondays and Thursdays with bonus subscriber only episodes every other Friday. You can get in touch with us at [email protected] A podcast by History Hit, the world's best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts The Ancients, Gone Medieval, and Betwixt the Sheets. History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™ Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Latest episodes

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How Rasputin Destroyed the Romanovs with Anthony Beevor

How Grigory Rasputin’s rise and influence undermined Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna, helped demoralize the Romanov regime during World War I, and accelerated the collapse that culminated…

12 Nov 2026 · 45m · 9 chapters

A Deep Dive on Submarines

A history “deep dive” on submarines, from early experiments (1620 Drebbel) through the Royal Navy’s 125th anniversary, World War I and II campaigns (U-boats, HMS Upholder, X-Craft), and Cold…

9 Nov 2026 · 51m · 26 chapters

WWI's Stalingrad: The Siege of Przemyśl

The Siege of Przemyśl (1914–1915), a major Austro-Hungarian fortress city in Galicia during WWI, and how it became a symbol of suffering and the shift toward modern “total war.”

5 Nov 2026 · 58m · 17 chapters

The Rise of Peter The Great

Peter the Great’s rise and reign, framed through his traumatic succession crisis, his Grand Embassy to Western Europe, his forced “Europeanisation” of Russia’s elite, and the Great Northern War that…

2 Nov 2026 · 47m · 16 chapters

Medieval Ghost Stories

Medieval ghost stories as moral/social warnings about proper burial, unresolved obligations, and religious ideas like purgatory; how ghost beliefs shift from ancient to medieval to Reformation and…

29 Oct 2026 · 28m · 17 chapters

Charles de Gaulle: The Man Who Rebuilt France

France’s collapse in June 1940 and Charles de Gaulle’s rise from obscure, junior officer to leader of Free France, focusing on his BBC “Appeal of 18 June,” his political-military philosophy, and his…

26 Oct 2026 · 1h 16m · 26 chapters

The Myths vs Reality of Mummification

The episode explains the myths vs reality of ancient Egyptian mummification, correcting Western misconceptions.

22 Oct 2026 · 44m · 15 chapters

The Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot's Reign of Terror

The fall of Phnom Penh (April 17, 1975) and Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge “Year Zero,” explaining how the regime rose, how it carried out mass evacuation, forced labor, abolition of money and religion, and…

19 Oct 2026 · 1h 1m · 18 chapters

The Real History Behind the Illuminati

The episode traces the real 18th-century origins of the Illuminati (Order of the Illuminati) and explains how it became a durable modern conspiracy theory, especially after the French Revolution.

15 Oct 2026 · 45m · 12 chapters

The October Revolution

The October Revolution of 1917—how Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd, why Russia was in turmoil after World War I, and how the coup led to repression, civil war, and long-term…

12 Oct 2026 · 48m · 14 chapters

John Dudley: Tudor England's Wicked Duke

John Dudley, “the Wicked Duke,” rises to near-kingly power during Edward VI’s minority, drives extreme Protestant reforms, crushes rebellions, attempts to secure the throne for Lady Jane Grey, then…

8 Oct 2026 · 43m · 11 chapters

The Yakuza

The history of the Yakuza, from early-1600s samurai outlaws to organized crime syndicates, including their roles in labor exploitation, political violence, and international fascist-style alliances.

5 Oct 2026 · 49m · 14 chapters

The Cuban Missile Crisis Explained

The Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct 1962), arguing the standard “JFK vs Khrushchev master plan” story is false.

1 Oct 2026 · 58m · 22 chapters

Britain's Deadliest Arctic Expedition

The 1913–1918 Canadian Arctic Expedition led by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, focusing on the Karluk disaster, the survival of Captain Robert Bartlett and Inuit guide Kartaktovik, and the later Wrangel…

28 Sep 2026 · 50m · 21 chapters

The 'Scandalous' Life of Marie Antoinette

The episode re-examines Marie Antoinette’s reputation—separating myth from history—and traces how Austrian-born politics, French fiscal crisis, court culture, and revolutionary propaganda turned her…

24 Sep 2026 · 54m · 17 chapters

The Rise and Fall of the Ming Dynasty

The rise and fall of China’s Ming dynasty, from the collapse of Mongol Yuan rule to the Ming’s peak under emperors like Hongwu and Yongle, and finally to Ming decline amid court intrigue,…

21 Sep 2026 · 56m · 25 chapters

Knights vs Ottomans: The Great Siege of Malta

The 1565 Great Siege of Malta, focusing on Ottoman attacks led by Suleiman the Magnificent against the Knights of St.

17 Sep 2026 · 29m · 16 chapters

The KGB Double Agent Who Stopped Armageddon with Ben McIntyre

In 1981 Tehran during the Cold War, a KGB “illegal” officer, Vladimir Kozichkin (Agent Redwood), walks into MI6 offering to betray Soviet intelligence.

14 Sep 2026 · 41m · 14 chapters

The Battle of Stamford Bridge Explained

The Battle of Stamford Bridge (Sept 1066), framed within the wider succession crisis after Edward the Confessor’s death, and the later archaeological/metal-detecting search for the battlefield.

10 Sep 2026 · 32m · 6 chapters

The Battle of New York Explained

The Battle of New York (1776) is framed as Britain’s attempt to crush the American Revolution by capturing New York City and splitting the colonies, culminating in the British amphibious landing on…

7 Sep 2026 · 1h 42m · 30 chapters

The Rise & Fall of Babylon

Babylon’s rise from a latecomer city in Mesopotamia to a “first true megacity,” its governance and culture under Hammurabi and the Neo-Babylonian kings, and its later decline and biblical afterlife.

3 Sep 2026 · 49m · 17 chapters

Templar's Tunnels, HMS Victory and Troy: History's Best Historical Sites with Dan Jones

A summer chat between Dan Snow and Dan Jones about memorable historical sites and how geography/technology shape history, moving from Magna Carta’s Runnymede to the Solent, then to the Crusades, HMS…

31 Aug 2026 · 33m · 12 chapters

The Brutal History of The First Warplanes

The rapid development of WWI aviation and how the Great War turned the sky into a battlefield—moving from fragile reconnaissance aircraft to specialized fighters, bombers, and air-to-air tactics,…

27 Aug 2026 · 51m · 15 chapters

Medieval Krakow

Medieval Krakow’s rise as a Central European trade hub, the Mongol/Tatar invasion of 1241 that burned the lower town, and the city’s rebuilding under Duke/Prince Bolesław (Borislav) the Chaste,…

24 Aug 2026 · 1h 3m · 29 chapters