Episode 2/2. This week, we have a two-part series on the catastrophic English Civil War in the 17th century. We trace the twists and turns of this tumultuous period from the perspective of Bulstrode Whitelocke and Edward Hyde, two close friends who reluctantly found themselves on opposing sides of the conflict that split England in two. For this, Dan is joined by Minoo Dinshaw, author of 'Friends in Youth: Choosing Sides in the English Civil War'. In this second episode, we hear about some of th...
Feb 05, 2025•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 1/2. This week, we have a two-part series on the catastrophic English Civil War in the 17th century. We trace the twists and turns of this tumultuous period from the perspective of Bulstrode Whitelocke and Edward Hyde, two close friends who reluctantly found themselves on opposing sides of the conflict that split England in two. For this, Dan is joined by Minoo Dinshaw, author of 'Friends in Youth: Choosing Sides in the English Civil War'. In this first episode, we learn how subtle relig...
Feb 03, 2025•50 min•Ep 1582•Transcript available on Metacast Every day Rudolf Höss oversaw the killing of thousands of people at the death camp and then went home and acted like a doting father to his family. Höss was brought in by top Nazis to pioneer the industrialisation of the mass murder of Europe's Jews and others. He lived in a house that shared a wall with Auschwitz, metres from the crematorium, where he and his family enjoyed a happy domestic life - his wife once described their life at the house as 'paradise'. The house was home to a Polish fami...
Jan 31, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. ...
Jan 29, 2025•30 min•Ep 1579•Transcript available on Metacast On January 27th 1945, the Red Army liberated the concentration camp at Auschwitz unveiling its almost unspeakable horrors to the world. The concentration camp system began almost immediately after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. It was an integral part of the Nazi regime's rapid dismantling of German democracy. Within weeks, the first concentration camp, Dachau, was opened to imprison political opponents, marking the start of a vast and brutal system of camps across Germ...
Jan 27, 2025•59 min•Ep 1578•Transcript available on Metacast What is the history of the Panama Canal and why does Trump think he can 'take it back'? Dan is joined by Professor Julie Greene to delve into the long backstory of this 50-mile waterway that changed the world. Its journey from concept to completion was fraught as many nations sought to build it over several centuries, with the US eventually taking up the costly task in the 1900s. During the decade-long construction, many workers, mostly from the Caribbean, suffered awful working conditions and w...
Jan 24, 2025•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth is perhaps the most captivating fantasy world ever created. His mythology and folklore continue to influence the work of writers, filmmakers, musicians and artists to this day. He first conceived of the idea during the First World War and built his world to examine the fear and courage, despair and hope that he witnessed. So how exactly did this brutal, bloody war help to shape Middle-earth? Dan is joined by John Garth, an award-winning Tolkien biographer and author...
Jan 22, 2025•32 min•Ep 1578•Transcript available on Metacast Dan tells the epic story of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, whose daring voyages at the turn of the 16th century laid the foundations for the Portuguese Empire. From navigating treacherous waters to forging vital trade routes with India, da Gama's exploits reshaped the world’s economic and political landscape. Dan explores the ambition, challenges, savage conquests and exploits of the Portuguese across Asia and Africa that marked the beginning of Europe & Christianity's domination of the glob...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 20 min•Ep 1570•Transcript available on Metacast Charlemagne was king of the Franks and Emperor of the mighty Carolingian Empire. His unusually long reign saw him conquer vast swathes of Europe, and shape them into an empire that would inspire rulers for centuries to come. His efforts earned him the title of the "Father of Europe", and the consequences of his reign would be felt long after he was gone. Dan is joined by Matthew Innes, a Professor of History and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Birkbeck, University of London. Matt takes us on a tour de...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep 1575•Transcript available on Metacast Napoleon Bonaparte is a household name; a rare example of someone who is as well remembered by his supporters as by his enemies. His life is rich with dramatic irony. He was a key figure in the creation of the First French Republic, yet became a self-appointed Emperor. Surrounded by enemies, he secured peace in France through war abroad and was hated by the monarchies of Europe, who feared he would bring democracy to their lands. Dan was recently a guest on the Echoes of History podcast, h...
Jan 17, 2025•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast It sounds outlandish that President-Elect Donald Trump has said he wants to buy Greenland but this isn't the first or even second time the United States has tried to acquire this arctic territory. Dan is joined by Professor Robert Rix from the University of Copenhagen to trace the long history of settlement in Greenland - from the Indigenous Inuit to the Norse colonisers and the American soldiers stationed there in the Second World War. Trump might want to buy Greenland, but it isn't necessarily...
Jan 15, 2025•34 min•Ep 1572•Transcript available on Metacast Roald Amundsen was surely one of history's greatest explorers. He beat Scott to the South Pole, and was the first person to reach the North Pole and to traverse the perilous Northwest Passage. His adaptability, meticulous precision and fearlessness propelled him to international fame in life and beyond. Today we're joined by Stephen R. Bown, author of 'The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen'. Stephen tells us all about this fascinating man, who died as mysteriously as he lived. Produced by ...
Jan 12, 2025•48 min•Ep 1571•Transcript available on Metacast What would it have been like to go on a medieval crusade? What dangers would you have faced on the gruelling journey to the Holy Land, and what would it have been like once you arrived? Dan and Matt Lewis, host of the 'Gone Medieval' podcast, discuss the logistical nightmares, deadly battles and harsh conditions faced by crusaders, and the brutal realities of these Church-sanctioned religious expeditions. Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Max Carrey. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of...
Jan 07, 2025•37 min•Ep 1569•Transcript available on Metacast In 9 AD, the rebel chieftain Arminius and his confederation of Germanic tribes ambushed three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest. For days the Romans were relentlessly stalked through the woods and pounced on by their pursuers. All told, up to 20,000 Romans were killed in the chaos, and only a handful were able to escape. The battle proved to be one of Rome's most devastating defeats, and left a scar in the Roman psyche for generations to come. In this Explainer episode, Dan explores the hist...
Jan 05, 2025•58 min•Ep 1568•Transcript available on Metacast In the dead of winter, 1944, the frozen forest of Ardennes erupted in chaos. In a desperate, last-ditch attempt to turn the tide of the war, Hitler threw his armoured divisions at the thinly spread Allied frontline. The battle that followed was the bloodiest fought by the Americans in the war, and their determined defence helped to seal the fate of Nazi Germany. For the latest instalment in our 'D-Day to Berlin' series, Dan is joined by Professor John C. McManus, author of 'Alamo in the Ardennes...
Jan 03, 2025•54 min•Ep 1566•Transcript available on Metacast In the early hours of September 2, 1666, a small fire broke out on the ground floor of a baker's house in Pudding Lane. In five days that small fire would devastate the third largest city in the Western world. Adrian Tinniswood is a historian, teacher and writer, as well as a consultant to the National Trust. Adrian joins Dan to explore the cataclysm and consequences of the Great Fire of London. Together, they piece together the story of the Fire and its aftermath - the panic, the search for sca...
Jan 01, 2025•29 min•Ep 1565•Transcript available on Metacast May 1453 saw the siege that would lead to the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire. It was the culmination of an age-long struggle between Christianity and Islam for control of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Ottoman leader Mehmed II had dreamed of possessing the city since he was a boy, and now the shining light of Christian civilization, which had lasted 1100 years, fell into the hands of Ottomans. In this episode of Gone Medieval , Matt Lewis is joined by Prof. Marc David Baer to delve ...
Dec 30, 2024•37 min•Ep 1564•Transcript available on Metacast Today we dig into the history of Istanbul, the city at the crossroads of East and West. Across thousands of years, the city has survived the rise and fall of empires, weathered sieges and Crusades, and remained a centre of world religion, trade and politics. With us is Jonathan Harris, Professor of the History of Byzantium at Royal Holloway and author of 'Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium'. He tells us all about the key moments that transformed the Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople into...
Dec 27, 2024•44 min•Ep 1563•Transcript available on Metacast Just as Scrooge wanders London's streets on a cold Christmas night, Dan Snow follows the ghosts of Charles Dickens' past to discover the city that inspired his greatest works. With London-born tour guide David Charnick, they slip down hidden alleyways to find the old debtor's prison that the Dickens family once called home; a place that haunted a young Charles for the rest of his life. They find the old counting houses and graveyards that inspired the creation of Ebenezer Scrooge and the locatio...
Dec 25, 2024•47 min•Ep 1562•Transcript available on Metacast Folktales around the fire, gooding & mumping and the terrifying Hooden Horse are just some of England's winter folk traditions from history. In this episode, Dan explores the unlikely and often dark origins of some of our Christmas traditions that can be traced back thousands of years. He's joined by folklore historian Vikki Bramshaw, to discover what midwinter legends were brought over with the Anglo-Saxon invasion, the origins of the Yule log and some of the unusual ways people passed the long...
Dec 23, 2024•30 min•Ep 1561•Transcript available on Metacast After the death of Chinggis Khan, the founder and first Emperor of the Mongol Empire, the land became the largest contiguous empire in history. The Horde, the western portion of the Mongol empire, was the central node in the Eurasian commercial boom of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was a conduit for exchanges across thousands of miles. A force in global development as important as Rome, the Horde left behind a profound legacy in Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, pa...
Dec 20, 2024•19 min•Ep 1559•Transcript available on Metacast Pantomimes, pleasure gardens, bare-knuckle boxing and political upheaval. Christmas in the 18th and early 19th centuries was a very different affair from the peaceful family celebration of the Victorian Age. Georgian Christmas was raucous and rowdy, and it was time for a bit of fun before heading back to work. In this seasonal episode, Dan delves into the festivities of London's working classes with Footprints of London tour guide Rob Smith. From an 18th-century showman who would put two joints ...
Dec 18, 2024•38 min•Ep 1558•Transcript available on Metacast In the long and lamentable history of human conflicts, the Cod Wars have to be among the most bizarre. And what was the catalyst for them? You guessed it - fish. These 20th-century confrontations pitted hardy British fishermen and ships of the Royal Navy against the unwavering Icelandic Coast Guard. They involved medieval inventions and tactics like ships ramming each other, and even live fire. The conflict would shake the very foundations of NATO, and threaten to upend the balance of power in t...
Dec 16, 2024•40 min•Ep 1557•Transcript available on Metacast Dan is joined by the Defence Editor for The Economist, Shashank Joshi, to explore the origins of the brutal Syrian civil war that has left the country in ruin and with an uncertain future. They unravel the complex political and cultural history of the region to explain why we're seeing turmoil today and what sense it could give us about what might happen now that the Assad regime has fallen. Written by Dan Snow, produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Max Carrey Sign up to History Hit for h...
Dec 13, 2024•34 min•Ep 1556•Transcript available on Metacast Tudor Christmas was a time for revelry and fun. Henry VIII and his court celebrated the full 12 days of Christmas in excess, with tables ladened with roast swan, suckling pig and venison pasties, among other delights. It's believed one Christmas, the King spent the equivalent of £13 million on the celebrations. He loved to dress up and tease his wives as well as take part in festive games. Dan travels to what was once the heart of Henry's court, Hampton Court Palace, to meet with Historic Royal ...
Dec 11, 2024•33 min•Ep 1555•Transcript available on Metacast Warning: this episode contains graphic details of injuries. The brutal nature of the First World War presented frontline medical personnel with an array of horrific and debilitating wounds, inflicted on a previously unimaginable scale. From gas attacks and bayonet wounds to rifle fire and artillery barrages, day-to-day life on the frontlines posed a serious risk to life and limb. The doctors and nurses responsible for medical care rose to the challenge, and the First World War saw a dramatic tra...
Dec 09, 2024•26 min•Ep 1554•Transcript available on Metacast The rise of fascism in America in the 1920s & 30s looked just like the rise of fascism in Germany at the same time- scapegoating, the dissemination of false information, the attempted erosion of democracy… Dan is joined by Rachel Maddow, host of the chart-topping Ultra podcast and The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC to explore how Nazism infiltrated the highest political offices in the US government, but also the unsung American heroes who risked everything to stop it. Rachel's latest book is Preque...
Dec 06, 2024•33 min•Ep 1552•Transcript available on Metacast Episode 1 in our 'Origins of Christmas' series. This Roman winter festival laid the foundations for many of our Christmas customs today- feasting, gift-giving and revelry. During Saturnalia, Emperors held elaborate games at the Colosseum while others gave gag gifts. Meanwhile, in the home, the societal hierarchy was flipped - slaves were served by their masters at the dinner table and out in the streets it was a carnival of music, dancing and debauchery. Dan is joined by Dr Frances Macintosh, Th...
Dec 04, 2024•23 min•Ep 1551•Transcript available on Metacast Today we explore one of history's most consequential relationships - that of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, a pivotal alliance that shaped the world we live in today. Alongside Lindsay Graham from the chart-topping American History Tellers podcast, Dan digs into the story of Britain and America's alliance in the Second World War and the diplomatic and personal relationship of these two world leaders, their famous meeting at the White House in December 1941 and the impact it had on ...
Dec 02, 2024•51 min•Ep 1550•Transcript available on Metacast In the 5th century BC, the ancient world's pre-eminent superpower turned its gaze towards the turbulent fringes of its empire. Under the illustrious Persian conquerors Darius and Xerxes the Great, the Achaemenids would send enormous armies west to contest an alliance of rebel Greek city states. The conflicts that followed brought the Persian and Greek worlds closer together and set the stage for a drastic reshaping of the ancient world. Joining us is Patrick Wyman, host of the Tides of History a...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep 1549•Transcript available on Metacast 
