Dan Snow's History Hit

We trace the extraordinary rise and fall of the House of Boleyn. From humble Norfolk tenant farmers, the Boleyns used everything from wool trading to the diplomatic service to climb to the heights of ...

Dan explains the Battle of Brunanburh, an epic clash that decided the fate of the British Isles. On one side, the Anglo-Saxon forces of King Æthelstan, fighting for his vision for a unified England; o...

Venice was the impossible city that rose from mudflats to become a medieval superpower. Venice dominated Mediterranean trade through its vast navy, revolutionary shipyards, and strategic position betw...

Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Envy, Wrath! You might be surprised to learn the true history of the Seven Deadly Sins doesn't start in the bible. Rather, they were first thought up by a Greek mo...

An underground Nazi weapons factory and stash of 77-year-old Denazification files. What is it really like to discover that your grandfather was a member of the SS? In 2023, journalist Lorenz Hemicker ...

In the 19th century, Japan's samurai era ended, and the country transformed from a secluded feudal society into a modern industrial superpower. From sweeping political reforms to rapid industrialisati...

WARNING: This episode includes discussion of sexual abuse and explicit language. He appalled and titillated Regency polite society in equal measure. Lord Byron was a poet, a lover, a rebel, a romanti...

In 1553, Mary Tudor became the first woman to sit on the English throne - a reign of just five years, that history has remembered almost exclusively through the lens of her enemies. But today, we revi...

He was one of medieval England’s most formidable warriors. Today we hear how Edward of Woodstock - the Black Prince - earned that reputation, tracing his rise during the Hundred Years’ War and explori...

This is the true story of the plot to kill Stalin's greatest enemy. It involves ice axe, a bloody study in Mexico City, and a betrayal years in the making. At its centre is Ramón Mercader, a Soviet-tr...