The Rest Is History - podcast cover

The Rest Is History

Take a deep dive into History’s biggest moments with Tom Holland & Dominic Sandbrook. Explore the stories of History’s most brutal rulers, deadly battles, and world-changing events. From the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the Nazi conquest of Europe, and Hitler’s evil master plan for world domination, to the French Revolution, the sinking of the Titanic, or the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, Tom and Dominic bring the past to life with gripping storytelling and expert analysis, as they unpack the high-drama moments that shaped our world. The Rest Is History Club: Become a member for exclusive bonus episodes, early access to full series and live show tickets, ad-free listening, our exclusive weekly newsletter, discount book prices on titles mentioned on the show, and our members’ chatroom on Discord.  Just head to therestishistory.com to sign up, or start a free trial today on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/therestishistory. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Episodes

562. Peter the Great: The Rise of Russia (Part 1)

This episode explores the early life of Peter the Great, from his tumultuous childhood marked by violence and political intrigue to his ascension as Tsar of Russia. It details the key events, rivalries, and influences that shaped his character and set the stage for his transformative reign. The discussion also covers Russia's geopolitical landscape and cultural dynamics during the late 17th century, highlighting the challenges and opportunities Peter faced as he sought to modernize and assert Russia's power on the world stage.

May 04, 20251 hr 6 minEp. 562

561. The Golden Age of Japan: Secrets of the Imperial Court (Part 2)

In the vibrant but vicious golden age of Imperial Japan, how did women use writing as a way to secure their status, and express their deepest desires? Who was Sei Shōnagon, the witty courtier whose account of life around the Japanese Empress during the iconic Heian period, provides a scintillating insight into this colourful world? And, behind the sophisticated melee of the Imperial court, with its elegance and decorum, what risks and hazards haunted every aspiring courtier…? Join Tom and Domini...

Apr 30, 20251 hr 9 minEp. 561

560. The Golden Age of Japan: Lady Murasaki and the Shining Prince (Part 1)

Explore the world of Imperial Japan through the lens of 'The Tale of Genji', a literary masterpiece written by Murasaki Shikibu. This episode delves into the novel's historical context, the intricacies of court life, and the unique role of women in shaping Japanese literature and culture. Discover how this ancient novel offers profound insights into universal themes of love, loss, and the passage of time, while also reflecting the complex relationship between Japan and China.

Apr 27, 202556 minEp. 560

559. The Rolling Stones: Satanic Majesties of Sixties Rebellion (Part 2)

"We're not worried about petty morals." What happened to the Rolling Stones in 1967 to see them on the brink of imprisonment and mass censure, while at the height of their success, with fame, fortune, mansions, world tours, and best selling albums to their names? Was Brian Jones, the band's founder, murdered, after being found floating in his swimming pool? Under what pressures and against the backdrop of what other controversies, did they produce some of the best rock albums of all time? And, w...

Apr 23, 20251 hr 11 minEp. 559

558. The Rolling Stones: Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll (Part 1)

What are the origins of Britain’s original bad boys, The Rolling Stones? Where did they all come from and how did they meet? What was it about the 1960s, with its air of sexual liberation, newly elected Labour government, and rising youth culture that allowed them to burst onto the musical scene? Who was Brian Jones, the band's troubled founder? And, what made the Rolling Stones, even from the earliest stages, so much more controversial than The Beatles? Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the ...

Apr 20, 20251 hr 10 minEp. 558

557. 1066: The Norman Conquest (Part 4)

This episode explores the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings, detailing William the Conqueror's efforts to consolidate power. It covers the subjugation of the English aristocracy, the creation of the Doomsday Book, and the cultural and religious shifts brought about by the Norman Conquest. The discussion also delves into the complex legacy of William's reign, balancing brutality with the establishment of a new order.

Apr 16, 20251 hr 6 minEp. 557

556. 1066: The Battle of Hastings (Part 3)

Following King Harold Godwinson’s climactic victory at the Battle of Stanford Bridge, and the death of Harald Hardrada, what did he do when news reached him that William of Normandy’s army had landed further south? How did the two armies finally come together for one of the most totemic clashes of all time, on the morning of the 14th of October 1066? What exactly unfolded during the infamous Battle of Hastings? And, how did Harold truly meet his grisly end? Join Tom and Dominic as they unfold, i...

Apr 13, 202559 minEp. 556

555. 1066: Slaughter at Stamford Bridge (Part 2)

In the tumultuous climax of 1066, why was Harold’s very own brother Tostig the first of the mighty foes he had to face? How did Harald Hardrada then launch his invasion of England, and how much resistance did he initially receive? And, what unfolded at the bloody battle of Stamford Bridge, in which Harold Godwinson and Harald Hardrada, two terrible kings, faced off at long last? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the last great clash between vikings and Anglo Sax...

Apr 09, 20251 hr 10 minEp. 555

554. 1066: The Shadows of War (Part 1)

Why is 1066 the most important year in English history? Who were the three main candidates vying for the English throne on the eve of Edward the Confessor’s death? And how did the coronation of one of them on the 14th of October 1066 trigger one of the most famous invasions of all time? Join Tom and Dominic as they launch into the dramatic series of events, at the dawn of 1066, that sparked the build up to the Battle of Hastings… _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Produce...

Apr 06, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 554

553. The Last Viking: Warrior of the New Rome (Part 2)

Harald Hardrada; exiled prince of Norway and mercenary, has landed in the greatest city on Earth: Constantinople. There he joins one of the most prestigious military organisations in the world, the Varangian Guard, charged with protecting the Emperor. Almost the next ten years of Harald’s young life are spent at war protecting the city from enslaving raiders. But then, he becomes embroiled in the dark and complex political intrigues and plots of the Byzantine court. Zoe, the formidable wife of t...

Apr 02, 20251 hr 6 minEp. 553

552. The Last Viking: The Saga of Harald Hardrada (Part 1)

“I swear I will not flee from this fight. I will triumph, or I will die!” In the 1066 game of thrones for the crown of England, the most extraordinary of the three contenders is arguably Harald Hardrada: viking warrior, daring explorer, emperor’s bodyguard, serpent slayer, alleged lover to an empress, King of Norway, and legend of Norse mythology. How did this titan of a man come to cross the North Sea with his army, and take on Harold Godwinson, in the titanic showdown of Stamford Bridge? His s...

Mar 30, 20251 hr 3 minEp. 552

551. The Road to 1066: Countdown to Conquest (Part 4)

In the triumvirate of 1066, William of Normandy, Harald Hardrada, and Harold Godwinson, the latter has above all endured as one of the great heroes of English history. But how did he become the short-lived King during that tumultuous year? The answer lies in his formidable family, the Godwins. Often symbolised as the last of the Anglo-Saxons, their stratospheric rise to power was engineered by Godwin, an obscure Thaine from Sussex, in a striking case of social mobility. Making himself integral t...

Mar 27, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 551

550. The Road to 1066: Rise of the Normans (Part 3)

Born into a world of treachery, violence and death, William of Normandy defied all expectations, forging a legacy that lasts to this day. Born out of wedlock and dismissed as an upstart, he was originally known as William the Bastard. Inheriting the Duchy of Normandy at just eight years old, William was faced with betrayal, bloodshed, and anarchy. From the restless Normans, who expanded across Europe as mercenaries and horsemen, to the growing threat of Anjou, the early years of his reign were b...

Mar 24, 20251 hrEp. 550

549. The Road to 1066: Revenge of the Vikings (Part 2)

Following the bloody St Brice’s Day Massacre, of the 13th of November 1002, which saw King Æthelred brutally exterminating the Danes from England, the Vikings were hungry for revenge. None more so than the terrifying Scandinavian King, Sweyn Forkbeard. Having capitalised on his famous father, Harold Bluetooth’s unification of Norway and Denmark, through his aggressive christianisation of the formerly pagan peoples there, Sweyn had built up a formidable force. It was this power that Æthelred had ...

Mar 20, 20251 hr 6 minEp. 549

548. The Road to 1066: Anglo-Saxon Apocalypse (Part 1)

Tom and Dominic delve into the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of 1066, focusing on the reign of Æthelred the Unready and the complex political landscape of Anglo-Saxon England. They explore England's exceptional wealth and centralized government, which made it a tempting target for Viking raids, and the efforts to manage the Viking threat through payments and alliances. The episode concludes with the infamous St. Bryce's Day massacre and sets the stage for Svein Forkbeard's revenge.

Mar 17, 20251 hrEp. 548

547. The French Revolution: The Execution of the King (Part 4)

The second revolution that engulfed France over the course of 1792 reached its climax in December, with an astonishing, world-changing spectacle, which held all the eyes of Europe spellbound: Louis Capet, formerly King Louis XVI of France, was on trial for his very life. A guilty verdict would undermine millennia of thought and tradition, ripping apart the longheld inviolability of the king, still held sacred in some quarters of France, and setting a dangerous precedent for the other monarchs of...

Mar 13, 20251 hr 4 minEp. 547

546. The French Revolution: The Monarchy Falls (Part 3)

“From this place and from this day forth commences a new era in the world’s history, and you can all say you were present at its birth!” By September 1792, the Prussians, under the leadership of the formidable Duke of Brunswick, were closing in on revolutionary Paris. There, the streets roiled with the clanging of church bells, thousands of volunteers, patriotic songs and slogans, and of course; the dead bodies of all those killed during the September Massacres. It was against this feverish back...

Mar 10, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 546

545. The French Revolution: The First Feminist (Part 2)

In the summer and Autumn of 1792 - with the Prussians bearing down on Paris, the streets thronged with the stirring swell of the Marseillaise, but also the rotting bodies of those brutally killed during the September Massacres - the French Revolution bore a new symbol of optimism and hope: Liberty. Embodied by a female figure, later known as Marianne, and famously enshrined in Eugène Delacroix’s iconic painting, she was an important reminder that the revolution was about more than just violence,...

Mar 06, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 545

544. The French Revolution: The September Massacres (Part 1)

Dominic and Tom delve into the horrific September Massacres of the French Revolution, detailing the political chaos, paranoia, and brutal slaughter of prisoners in Paris. They explore the motivations behind the violence, the roles of key figures like Danton and Robespierre, and the chilling atmosphere of fear that gripped the city. They also address the controversial historical interpretations of these events, highlighting the complex and often contradictory perspectives on this dark chapter of history.

Mar 03, 20251 hr 2 minEp. 544

543. Death in the Amazon: Aguirre, the Wrath of God

“Anyone who even thinks of abandoning this mission will be cut up into a thousand pieces…I am the wrath of God!” At the height of the age of exploration, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, one story in particular gripped the imagination of European colonialists: El Dorado, a legendary city of gold, hidden in the very heart of the South American Rainforests. But no kingdom sought this prize more furiously than the mighty Spanish Empire. Determined to restore their fortunes with El Dora...

Feb 27, 20251 hr 10 minEp. 543

542. Elizabeth I’s Sorcerer: Angels and Demons in Renaissance Europe

In Tudor England, during the reign of Elizabeth I, there lived in the very heart of her court a magician, alchemist and polymath, bent upon conversing with the angels of heaven and other supernatural beings. His name was John Dee, and he would prove to.be one of the most remarkable men of his age, living long enough to witness both the dying days of the reign of Henry VIII, and the succession of Elizabeth’s heir. Throughout it all, he existed near the very epicentre of English royal power and re...

Feb 24, 20251 hr 5 minEp. 542

541. Heart of Darkness: Fear and Loathing in the Congo

“The horror! The horror!” Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ - the inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's ‘Apocalypse Now’ - is one of the most celebrated literary works of all time, though now increasingly contentious. Based on Conrad’s own terrible journey into the Congo in 1890, and the horrors he beheld there while it was under the sway of King Leopold of Belgium’s monstrous regime, the novella, published in 1899, delves into man’s capacity for evil - the primal beast lurking beneath the su...

Feb 20, 20251 hr 17 minEp. 541

540. Horror in the Congo: A Conspiracy Unmasked (Part 3)

Exposing the dark pit of human suffering, cruelty and corruption that had long been secretly festering in King Leopold’s Congo, would reveal one of the greatest abuses of human rights in all history, and instigate a human rights campaign that would change the world. Having established it as what was essentially his own private colonial fiefdom in 1885, Leopold had grown rich off the vast quantities of rubber and ivory that his congolese labourers reaped and transported in unimaginably brutal con...

Feb 17, 20251 hr 6 minEp. 540

539. Horror in the Congo: The Crimes of Empire (Part 2)

“A secret society of murderers with a king for a ringleader”. In 1885 King Leopold of Belgium; an awkward, ruthless, selfish man, was recognised as the sovereign of the Congo. Long determined to carve out his very own private colonial domain, he had alighted upon the Congo - Africa’s vast and unplundered interior. With the help of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who had found a way to circumnavigate the Congo’s formerly insurmountable rapids, he concocted a cunning scheme to legally make it h...

Feb 13, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 539

538. Horror in the Congo: The Nightmare Begins (Part 1)

The story of King Leopold of Belgium’s brutal regime in the Congo Free State, during the late 19th century, is one of the darkest and most important in global history. It is a story of horror - the murky depths of the human soul pushed to its primal limits, European colonialism and the first Scramble for Africa, royalty and politics, celebrity, and modernity. From that pit of depravity, in which the Congolese people endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of their dehumanising western driver...

Feb 10, 20251 hr 5 minEp. 538

537. Emperors of Rome: Claudius, Paranoia and Poison (Part 4)

Following the bloody assassination of the twenty-eight year old Emperor Caligula, Rome found herself without a leader. Who then should fill the enormous power vacuum left by the death of an emperor? Should Rome return to a Republic? Then, one overlooked candidate - a scion of the hallowed family of Augustus long lurking in the wings of imperial power - unexpectedly rose to the fore: Claudius, Caligula’s uncle. Famed as a drooling idiot all his life, Claudius’ apparent shortcomings had kept him s...

Feb 06, 20251 hr 8 minEp. 537

536. Emperors of Rome: Caligula, Incest and Insanity (Part 3)

"Enough of the Princeps, what remains to be described, is the monster..." The Roman emperor Caligula endures as one of the most notorious figures in not only Roman history, but the history of the world. Famed as a byword for sexual degeneracy, cruelty and corruption, the account of his life written by the Roman historian Suetonius has, above all, enshrined him as such for posterity. Throughout the biography there is a whiff of dark comedy, as Caligula is cast as the ultimate demented caesar, cor...

Feb 03, 20251 hr 8 minEp. 536

535. Emperors of Rome: Tiberius, Slaughter and Scandal (Part 2)

The Roman historian Suetonius’ biography of the controversial Emperor Tiberius is one of his most shocking and salacious, condemning Tiberius to infamy. But was Tiberius really the perverted monster Suetonius would have us believe? Born of Rome’s most illustrious family and a sacred bloodline - the Claudians - Tiberius’ mother Livia was unceremoniously taken from his father while she carried him, to marry the great Emperor Augustus. So it was that Tiberius grew up in the very heart of imperial p...

Jan 30, 20251 hr 1 minEp. 535

534. Emperors of Rome: Sex Secrets of the Caesars (Part 1)

The Roman historian Suetonius’ The Lives of the Caesars, written during the early imperial period of the Roman Empire, is a seminal biography covering the biographies of the early emperors of Rome, during two spectacular centuries of Roman history. Delving deep into the personal lives of the caesars and sparing no detail, no matter how prurient, pungent, explicit or salacious, it vividly captures Rome at the peak of her power, and those colourful individuals at the heart of everything. It is an ...

Jan 27, 202556 minEp. 534

Russian Spies, Pigeons, and The Rest Is Classified…

How did a Russian spy manage to infiltrate the upper echelons of London and New York society? Was Anna Chapman really an old fashioned Russian honeytrap or was she underestimated by the world's press? What was life like for wealthy Russians in "Londongrad" in the early 21st century? The year is 2001 and the 18-year-old daughter of a Russian oligarch is partying in London. She meets a handsome young man at a warehouse rave and her passport to a new life in Western Europe glistens before her very ...

Jan 24, 202515 min
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