History Hit Podcasts

The Dark Side of the Vikings

How dark really were the Vikings? How much of a part did human sacrifice play in their world? And what was their relationship with...

Medieval Europe's Encounter with Islam

What if the Renaissance was powered by Arabic science?

Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Dr. Elizabeth Drayson to uncover how figures like...

The Truth About Mythical Women

Myths are incredibly powerful, especially when it comes to creating nations.

Why are mythical women so central to how we think about our...

What Was the American Ice Age?

For thousands of years, North America was a frozen frontier buried beneath miles-deep ice... How did the first people reach the Americas live...

Dark Side of the Quakers

**Contains story of a young male suicide**

Out of the devastation of the English Civil Wars, a radical new religious movement was born. The...

How to Survive the Age of Sail

What was life really like aboard the great wooden ships of the Age of Sail? Dan joins After Dark hosts Anthony and Maddy to step aboard these...

The Only Prime Minister Ever Assassinated

Was this moment the closest Britain came to revolution? When Prime Minister Spencer Perceval lay dying on the floor of the Parliament, many feared...

Life as a Greek Philosopher: Socrates, Hippocrates & Herodotus

One of the most profoundly influential periods in history is the 5th century BCE, when when a collection of great minds in Ancient Greece formed...

The Khmer Empire: Angkor Wat

How did Indian culture shape the wonders of Southeast Asia?

Tristan Hughes is joined by William Dalrymple to explore the fascinating first...

Origins of Aphrodite: The Sex-Positive Goddess

Who was Aphrodite? She's often thought of as a goddess of sexuality, but there's so much more to this woman.

Which ancient civilisation was...

When the Vikings met the Slavs

Journey east with Matt Lewis and Martyn Whittock to uncover how the Vikings came face to face with the Slavs. Using clues like the Ingvar Rune...

Thanksgiving

In the fall of 1621, a year after the pilgrim ship the Mayflower landed on the coast of New England, the settlers of the Plymouth Colony...

The World's Oldest Letters

What do the world’s first letters reveal about life in the Bronze Age?

Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Amanda Podany to uncover the...

Who Was Medieval Europe's Most Evil Monarch?

Who was the very worst of all the Medieval monarchs? No spoilers but we've got monarchs driven psychopathic by love, terrible sadists, and egos...

The Assassination of JFK

Anyone alive at the time remembers the day President John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas, Texas, on November 22 1963. In this episode, Dan...

Mother of All Tudors: Margaret Beaufort

Step into the turbulent heart of the Wars of the Roses and meet one of history’s most formidable survivors: Lady Margaret...

The Truth About the Mitford Sisters

The Mitfords could rank as the strangest family of the 20th century.

Unity and Diana were passionate fascists who became obsessed with Adolf...

Trial of Joan of Arc

How did a teenage girl stand up to armies, theologians, and kings?

Dr. Eleanor Janega is joined by Professor Anne Curry to trace Joan of...

Crime of the Century: Who Kidnapped Charles Lindbergh Jr?

The Lindbergh Kidnapping is one of the most influential crimes in American history; it plunged a national hero into an investigation which changed...

Origins of Free Speech

Free speech is today more contested than ever before. In many places, differing views about politics, sex, and religion are suppressed and...

John F. Kennedy: Myths vs Reality

John F. Kennedy was a man of charm, power, and contradictions. Behind the public image of the heroic president lay a figure plagued by pain,...