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PODCAST

Dan Snow"s History Hit

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 ds.hh@historyhit.comA podcast by History

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All Episodes

31:18

Boudicca: Myths vs Reality

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/07/10

Boudicca, the warrior queen of the Iceni tribe, has become a symbol of resistance and British defiance. But what do we really know about her, and her bloody revolt against Roman rule? Dr Shushma Malik from the University of Cambridge joins us to untangle this mystery and explore the lasting legacy of this enigmatic ruler.Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Tim Arstall.Join Dan and the team for the first-ever LIVE recording of Dan Snow's History Hit on Friday 12th September 2025!To celebrate

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42:14

Why Do Empires Fall?

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/07/08

For centuries, the Roman Empire commanded unparalleled control over the world around it. It expanded its borders through trade and conquest, sucking resources from the periphery into its thriving centre - Rome. And then, suddenly, everything changed. The Empire entered a state of crisis and rapidly disintegrated. The West has experienced a similarly dramatic rise and fall over the last 3 centuries, moving from an era of global dominance to one of economic stagnation and political division. But is

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38:48

Pirates: Piracy in the South China Seas

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/07/06

Zheng Yi Sao was a pirate leader so formidable that she made Blackbeard and Captain Morgan look like amateurs. From humble beginnings as a sex worker in Canton, she rose to command a vast pirate fleet that wrought havoc in the South China Sea. She took on the Qing Dynasty, the Portuguese and the East India Company and still managed to walk away free.In the second episode of our 'Pirates' mini-series, Dan is joined by Andrew Choong, Curator of Historic Photographs & Ship Plans at the National

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46:16

The Rise & Fall of Sparta

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/07/03

Today, we trace the rise and fall of ancient Greece’s most formidable warrior society - Sparta. This society's militaristic culture and battlefield feats are the stuff of legend - but how much of its story is based on cold, hard fact?Joining us is Dr Andrew Bayliss, a professor of Greek History at the University of Birmingham. He separates the fact from the fiction, explaining how a brutal education system and unyielding discipline forged an elite military state, and eventually led to its

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1:04:48

The Seven Years War

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/07/01

The Seven Years' War in the 18th century is often called the first world war - it was fought across Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. It redrew the world map, setting the stage for the rise of the British Empire and the eventual American and French revolutions.Dan guest-presents this special episode of the Echoes of History podcast that we're sharing on this feed. He is joined by Dr Emma Hart to discuss this clash between the Old World and the New.Echoes of History is a Ubisoft

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38:01

Pirates: Myths vs Reality

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/29

When it comes to our perception of pirates, Treasure Island has a lot to answer for. They didn't make their enemies walk the plank, they didn't keep parrots as pets, and they didn't bury their treasure. But that doesn't mean the golden age of piracy wasn't an era of swashbuckling rogues and sword fights on the high seas...In the first episode of our 'Pirates' mini-series, Dan explores the facts behind the fiction behind the likes of Blackbeard and Captain Kidd with Sophie Nibbs, the curator of the

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35:17

Richard the Lionheart

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/26

Crusading hero, battlefield legend...absentee ruler? Dan explores the myth and reality behind England’s Warrior King. From storming Sicily to conquering Cyprus and striking fear into the heart of Saladin on crusade, Richard’s legend has loomed large for centuries, fuelled by Victorian storytellers and patriotic lore. But how much of it is true?Medieval historian Richard Huscroft joins Dan to separate fact from fiction. Was Richard I a noble warrior, a king who abandoned his realm, or is it more

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1:36

Pirates! NEW SERIES

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/25

Swashbuckling rogues with a disregard for authority surging across the oceans, the smell of salt and gunpowder in their nostrils... looking for treasure on desert islands. Just like Dan, we're sure you've also grown up reading pirate stories and watching adventure films.But, what if we told you that most of what you know about pirates isn't quite true?This July, Dan is teaming up with the National Maritime Museum Greenwich to unravel the fact from the fiction and tell you the extraordinary stories

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36:44

The Crystal Palace

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/24

The Great Exhibition of 1851 was something to behold for the 6 million Victorian patrons who travelled to London's Hyde Park to see it. It was a triumphant showcase of the most extraordinary achievements of the Victorian age from industry, culture and engineering - gathered from all four corners of the globe. As visitors walked the 8 miles of exhibitions, they would have seen everything from the sublime to the absurd: the world’s largest diamond, a contraption to predict the weather using leeches,

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43:53

Civil War in the Holy Roman Empire

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/22

In this episode, we hear about one of Europe’s most devastating conflicts - the Thirty Years’ War. From 1618 to 1648, the continent was torn apart by religious strife, shifting alliances, and ruthless ambition. What began as a Bohemian rebellion exploded into a brutal struggle that reshaped borders, broke empires, and left millions dead.We're joined by Peter Wilson, a professor of history at the University of Oxford and author of ‘The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy’. He takes us from the war’s

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41:27

The Mysteries of Easter Island

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/19

In the heart of the Pacific Ocean, over 2,000 miles from the nearest continent, lies one of the world’s most iconic archaeological treasure troves - Rapa Nui, known to the outside world as Easter Island. Famed for the towering stone faces of the moai, the island has undergone extraordinary transformations since it was first settled.Joining us to explain the island's fascinating history is James Grant-Peterkin, a cultural historian and someone who has lived and worked on the island for over 20

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53:19

The Battle of Waterloo

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/17

Dan is joined by his dad, veteran broadcaster Peter Snow, to tell the incredible story of the clash between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington on June 18, 1815. This showdown shattered Napoleon’s dreams of empire and redrew the map of Europe. Packed with heroic last stands, strategic genius, and catastrophic missteps, Waterloo was a battle that changed everything in just one day.This episode marks exactly 10 years of Dan Snow's History Hit, and in it, Dan and Peter reflect on the very

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36:19

Iran & Israel: Allies to Enemies

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/15

Tensions between Iran and Israel have escalated with a recent Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and retaliation from Iran. The two countries openly carried out attacks on each other for the first time last year, in April and October, after a years long shadow war. But have Iran and Israel always been at odds? Dan is revisiting this episode from April 2024 with Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist and filmmaker who founded the news website IranWire; Bahari explains how these two

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39:05

How Did Humans Take Over the World?

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/12

Humans are everywhere. How did we get from the savannahs of Africa across to the most northern reaches of Alaska and Greenland, to the outbacks of Australia and the islands of the Pacific millennia ago? How did we master fire, figure out how to craft tools and survive the Ice Ages?In this episode Dan is joined by Professor Chris Stringer, Research Leader in Human Evolution at London's Natural History Museum, to talk about how Homo Sapiens managed to outlive other human cousins like Neanderthals and

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38:07

The Race to Decipher the World's First Writing

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/10

For thousands of years, ancient cuneiform - the script of the ancient Mesopotamians was lost to time, until being dramatically rediscovered in the 19th century by an adventurous group of unlikely Victorians. A dashing archaeologist, an officer turned diplomat and a reclusive clergyman raced to decipher it and unlock the secrets of long-lost empires. Joining us is Joshua Hammer, a former war correspondent and author of 'The Mesopotamian Riddle'. Produced by Mariana Des Forges and James Hickmann, and

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46:26

How the Nazis Escaped Germany

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/08

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 some of its most egregious war criminals sought to escape justice by fleeing Europe, most famously to South America. The escape routes they used, established by Nazi sympathisers, came to be known as 'ratlines'. The escaping Nazis had helped from an unexpected source; senior figures within the Catholic Church.The story of SS officer Walter Rauff exemplifies how these networks operated and the subsequent lives of the escapees. Rauff was responsible for the

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56:39

Julius Caesar

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/05

The Romans built an empire that reshaped the world through brutal wars, brilliant strategy, and even the power of the pen. From the blood-soaked battlefields to the marble halls of Rome, a few towering figures stand out: Pompey, Scipio, Augustus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius... but who truly deserves the title of the Greatest Roman of All Time?Many would say Julius Caesar — the bold general who crossed the Rubicon and shattered the Republic. To find out if he truly deserves the title, Dan is joined by

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46:25

Disasters in the Age of Discovery

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/03

The dawn of the age of European exploration in the 16th century was absurdly dangerous. Crews on the ships of Christopher Columbus, Vasco De Gama and Ferdinand Magellan often sailed blind into uncharted waters, battling hurricanes and deadly reefs. With crude navigation tools, rotting food, and disease-ridden ships, survival was never guaranteed. Crews were pushed to their limits—physically, mentally, and morally. Some were deceived into the journey, and others driven by blind hope.In this episode,

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48:44

The Rise and Fall of the Assyrian Empire

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/06/01

Was this the world’s first empire? To uncover the story of ancient history's most formidable powers, Dan is joined by Yale University’s Professor Eckhart Fromm to explore Assyria’s military machine, its sophisticated communication networks and the monumental architecture that defined its dominance. But what caused this ancient superpower to fall—and why so suddenly?Produced and edited by Dougal PatmoreSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every

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45:23

Why do India and Pakistan fight over Kashmir?

Dan Snow"s History Hit ·

2025/05/29

A dive into the history behind today's tensions. In this episode, Dan is joined by historian and journalist Andrew Whitehead to explain the historical context behind the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region, stemming from the partition of India in 1947 to the present day. They examine the political and cultural complexities of this contested and heavily militarised region.Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal PatmoreSign up to History Hit for hundreds of

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