History is full of the extraordinary.
Each week, we'll transport you back in time to witness history's most incredible moments and remarkable people.
New episodes Mondays, or a week early for Noiser+ subscribers.
With Noiser+ you'll also get ad-free listening and exclusive content on shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started or head to noiser.com/subscriptions
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more.
For advertising enquiries, email info@adelicious.fm
No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Charlemagne remains one of the towering figures of European history. He created for himself a vast territory that covered most of modern-day France and Germany, encompassing the Low Countries, areas in northern Spain, and parts of Italy. His imperial coronation on Christmas Day 800AD was the culmination of his life’s work. But alongside his sometimes brutal military campaigning, Charlemagne was a devout and cultured leader. He sponsored educational reforms, brought leading scholars from across E...
This episode delves into the Golden Age of Railways, tracing their evolution from experimental machines to the backbone of modern life. It details how steam power and iron rails transformed societies by standardizing time, reshaping cities, enabling mass tourism, and impacting global economies and warfare. The podcast also examines the human cost of railway construction during imperial expansion and the enduring legacy of rail transport despite the rise of new rivals.
The first and only successful uprising of enslaved people to establish a nation-state, the Haitian Revolution began in the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1791. Inspired, in part, by the ideals of liberty and equality of the French Revolution, what began as scattered uprisings among the plantations quickly grew into a full-scale insurrection. But how did the Haitian Revolution begin? Who were the brave men and women who risked everything for freedom? And why has the world never stopped punish...
In the early years of the twentieth century, long before James Bond stepped onto the page, one man was at work as a new kind of spy. He crossed borders as easily as he changed names, slipped between governments and criminal networks, and dealt in secrets that could mobilise armies and shake empires. To some, he was a genius. To others, a liability waiting to be exposed. That man’s name, or so we’re told, was Sidney Reilly. He is often described as the real James Bond – the man whose nerve, charm...
Explore the complex history of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), a conflict that laid bare Europe's ideological divisions and served as a testing ground for WWII tactics. The episode details Franco's rise, the fierce resistance from Republican forces and international volunteers, and the devastating impact of foreign intervention. It also examines the war's lasting legacy on Spain, culminating in the recent exhumation of Franco's remains and ongoing efforts to confront its painful past.
Sir Francis Drake is most famous for his role in defeating the Armada of 1588 and saving England from a Spanish invasion. By that point in his life, he was already a wealthy and famous seafarer: the first Englishman to sail around the world, knighted by Queen Elizabeth I in recognition of this astounding feat. But though he is remembered in England as a naval hero, Drake spent most of his maritime career as a pirate, feared by the Spanish whose colonies and ships he terrorised. To them, he was ‘...
The American singer-songwriter and musician Bob Dylan is one of the most important recording artists on the planet. A cultural icon, his work has had a profound influence on popular music since the 1960s. First gaining fame as a folk singer with songs that addressed the subjects of the Cold War and the civil rights movement, he later revolutionised rock music. But Dylan is an artist of contradictions. A magnetic performer who remains fiercely private. One of the wealthiest musicians of his gener...
In the decades since the United States declared their independence from Britain, the question of slavery had become increasingly divisive. As the nation expanded, fragile political agreements over the issue failed, and the frontier became a battleground. When Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, seven Southern states chose secession from the Union over accepting limits on slavery. War followed. Eventually, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and transformed the war from a fight to prese...
Delving into the origins of the American Civil War, this episode traces the escalating tensions over slavery, from early constitutional compromises and westward expansion conflicts like "Bleeding Kansas" to the pivotal Dred Scott decision and John Brown's radical acts. It covers Lincoln's election, the secession of Southern states forming the Confederacy, and the dramatic start of the war at Fort Sumter. The narrative highlights the challenges of early mobilization, the strategic dilemma of "contraband" enslaved people, and the shift in Union war aims following the brutal Battle of Antietam, culminating in the transformative Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1914, Europe was dominated by four great empires — the British, the French, the Russian, and the vast, uneasy realm of Austria-Hungary, stretching from the Alps to the Balkans. While international treaties bound the continent together under a veneer of peace, beneath the surface, the balance was increasingly fragile. As this tension bubbled, the visit of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his beloved wife Sophie to Sarajevo was meant to assert imperial authority. But waiting in the shadows, a group...
One of the most famous writers of the 20th century, C. S. Lewis was a scholar of medieval literature, an influential Christian thinker and a supremely gifted storyteller. A professor at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Lewis is perhaps best known for his Chronicles of Narnia – stories which captured the imagination of millions with their blend of spiritual depth and swashbuckling adventure. But how were the seeds of the magical world of Narnia first planted? How did Lewis’ unconventiona...
Real Vikings delves into the true history of the Viking Age, beginning with a shocking murder on an English beach in 789 AD that reveals the complex nature of these Norsemen. The episode explores the popular image of Vikings versus their reality as skilled navigators, traders, and warriors, and examines the political, social, and economic drivers of their expansion, including their advanced shipbuilding. It culminates with the infamous 793 AD Lindisfarne raid, an event that sent shockwaves across Europe and definitively ushered in the terrifying Viking Age.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, a writer emerged who learned his craft not in a classroom, but in battlefields, bullrings, and bars. To some, Ernest Hemingway was the greatest writer of his generation. A Nobel laureate whose sparse, muscular prose changed literature forever. But to others, he was a swaggering egotist, a man addicted to danger and performance, obsessed with his own legend. His own life fuelled his work, just as his work in turn fed his own myth. But behind the mask he forge...
Although the Middle Ages were an undeniably turbulent period in the history of Europe, characterised in part by endemic violence, hardship and inequality, the latter half of the era was also a time of great change and discovery. What historians call the High and Late Middle Ages saw a proliferation of philosophical and scientific enquiry, and economic advancement. This was a time of intense literary and artistic production, religious dynamism, and global trade and travel. An age of contradiction...
The period known as the Middle Ages was defined by more than knights and warfare. It began centuries before the First Crusade was called, in the confusion that followed the end of Roman rule in western Europe. And it persisted for a thousand years, until the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the discovery of the so-called New World ushered in the beginnings of modernity. But just how important was the fall of Rome for people across the continent? What political and religious instituti...
This episode explores the history of the Silk Roads, a vast network of routes connecting East and West for over a thousand years. It delves into how these paths facilitated not only the trade of valuable goods like silk and horses, but also the exchange of cultures, religions, technologies, and ideas that reshaped entire civilizations. From early Han Dynasty diplomacy to the Mongol Empire's unification and the eventual shift to maritime trade, the podcast highlights the enduring significance of these ancient connections and their modern-day resurgence.
The sinking of the General Belgrano on May 2nd 1982 by a British submarine was one of the most controversial events of the Falklands War. The strike resulted in the deaths of 323 Argentine sailors, nearly half of Argentina’s total casualties during the conflict. But though the escalation over the preceding months was swift, in some ways, the Falklands War had been simmering for centuries. Argentina, the closest mainland nation to the islands, saw them as a part of its territory and national iden...
For hundreds of years, Rwanda’s Hutu and Tutsi groups had lived in relative harmony. But the arrival of European colonists enforced and exaggerated the differences between them, until, from the mid-twentieth century, resentment began to boil over. By 1994, the two groups were sworn enemies. Over 100 days, violence engulfed the country, as members of the Hutu majority worked systematically to exterminate the Tutsi. Spurred on by government and military officials, neighbour turned against neighbou...
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Russia was a nation on the brink. Strikes, protests, and brutal uprisings were shaking the empire. Public faith in the monarchy was hanging by a thread. It was into this fragile world that Grigori Rasputin stepped. Whether ...
The Māori have had a presence in New Zealand for at least 800 years. For much of that time, they lived in imperfect harmony with the natural environment, developing a social and cultural system distinctly their own. But the age of European exploration from the 17th century changed all that. Over the centuries, their traditional claims to lands were eroded, and their population became dwarfed by that of the settlers, until the voices of activists grew loud enough to challenge the new status quo. ...
This episode explores the fascinating life of Nikola Tesla, a visionary inventor who shaped the modern world with alternating current electricity, induction motors, and remote control. It delves into his early life, struggles with rivals like Thomas Edison in the "War of the Currents," personal tragedies, and ambitious, sometimes misunderstood, quest for wireless global power. Despite financial setbacks and eccentricity, Tesla's enduring legacy as a pioneering genius is celebrated.
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more. During a career spanning half a century, David Bowie constantly reinvented his image and sound, creating the diverse body of work that made him a titan in the history of modern music. From the androgynous alien energy of Ziggy Stardust to the suave, enigmatic Thi...
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the purchase of 820,000 square miles of land from Napoleon, including the modern states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Colorado, among many others. At the stroke of a pen, the nation almost doubled in size. Bu...
Short History Of... is taking a short break over the Christmas period. New episodes will continue from the 29th of December. Until then, we hope you enjoy this repeat episode! Happy Christmas from the Short History Of... team. Standing over 29,000ft above sea level, the peak of Everest is the highest point on the planet. To the sherpa people of the Himalayas it is sacred, and to foreign adventurers, it is the holy grail of climbing. But what did it take to reach the summit? Was it expertise and ...
Short History Of... is taking a short break over the Christmas period. New episodes will continue from the 5th of January. Until then, we hope you enjoy this repeat episode! Happy Christmas from the Short History Of... team. The British Crown Jewels is a priceless collection of items gathered over eight turbulent centuries. Consisting of 100 objects decorated with 23,000 gemstones, it’s held at the Tower of London, protected by guards and high-tech security. But why did one thief put the crown j...
This episode delves into the fascinating history of Venice, beginning with the daring heist of St. Mark's relic that shaped its identity. It chronicles Venice's rise from a marshy refuge to a formidable maritime empire and a center of trade and culture, highlighting its unique governance and its pivotal role in events like the Crusades. The narrative also covers its eventual decline and the contemporary challenges of mass tourism and climate change that threaten the Floating City's future.
This is a preview of a brand-new audiobook from the Noiser Podcast Network. Join Sir David Suchet as he reads a selection of Charles Dickens’s most chilling short works, brought to life with sound design and original music. We’ll encounter dark premonitions of disaster experienced by a lonely railway signalman… A Victorian murder trial cast into chaos when the dead man’s ghost interrupts proceedings… And a sinister haunted hotel, where twelve identical spirits stalk the corridors… But first, a v...
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more. As the Second World War ended and those who survived the horrors of Hitler’s violence struggled to process what had occurred, a unique response was demanded from the international community. Its form, the victors concluded, should be the criminal prosecution of ...
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more. The Ashes, the enduring contest between England and Australia, has survived world wars, diplomatic rifts, scandal, and the fall of empire. As it nears its 150th anniversary, it has produced some of cricket’s most iconic moments. How did a passing joke in a Lond...
A Short History of Ancient Rome - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit noiser.com/books to learn more. Charlotte, Anne and Emily Brontë were among the most famous authors of the nineteenth century. Though they wrote at a time when women were systematically discouraged from doing so at all, they managed to produce some of the most beloved, powerful and often chal...
