History Hit Podcasts

The Rise and Fall of Carthage

In this episode, we tackle the Punic Wars - three epic clashes between Rome and Carthage for control of the Mediterranean. From naval battles to...

American Traitors: The Rosenbergs

This week we’re stepping heart of Cold War America with the story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Accused of espionage and executed at the height...

Tudor True Crime: Europe's Most Murderous Dynasty

The rich and powerful Guise family was one of the most treacherous and bloodthirsty in sixteenth-century France. They whipped up religious...

Jack the Ripper: Invention of a Monster

Jack the Ripper as we think of him, is an invention of the Victorian media. They took the complete absence of hard facts about the killer, and...

The Sea Peoples

Tristan Hughes sits down with Professor Eric Cline to explore the enigmatic Sea Peoples, often blamed for the catastrophic Bronze Age collapse...

The Tower of London

Dan takes listeners through 1000 years of Britain's history at the Tower of London, from its formidable kings to its most notorious prisoners. Dan...

Origins of Virginity

From luring in unicorns to protecting the Roman Empire, myths have surrounded virginity for centuries. But is virginity itself a myth?

In...

Women of the Crusades

The image we usually associate with a Crusader - of a dashing nobleman on a mighty steed heading out for Holy War - often obscures all of the...

How To Survive the Revolutionary War

'If I turn from beholding mutilated bodies, mangled limbs, and bleeding, incurable wounds, a spectacle no less revolting is presented, of...

The Dark Side of Medieval England

This episode contains descriptions of execution and torture.

To be Hanged, Drawn & Quartered. Put on the Rack. Impaled on a spike. This list...

Tudor True Crime: Murder in the Stuart Court

The public fascination with true crime is nothing new.  Four centuries ago, the sensational story of the death in the Tower of London of...

Life in the Roman Army

Anno 117: Pax Romana is set in the year when the Roman Empire expanded to its greatest extent in all its history; and saw the death of Trajan, who...

Knossos

You probably know the Ancient Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, who lives in a labyrinth under Knossos on the island of Crete - was there...

Origins of Homo Sapiens

Where do we come from? The origins of modern humans stretch back hundreds of thousands of years, and new discoveries are reshaping how we...

How Hot Was Henry VIII?

With SIX wives, Henry VIII must have had something going for him, right? Was he handsome? Charming? Intelligent? Just plain powerful?

In...

The Battle of Bosworth

A King clinging to his right to rule. A young Tudor ready to snatch the crown and begin a new dynasty.

With immersive sound design and...

Emperor Nero

Emperor Nero has gone down in history as the archetypal bad ruler - cruel, decadent, and perhaps even responsible for setting Rome ablaze. But how...

American Traitors: Axis Sally

Is contributing to enemy propaganda treason? In this second episode on American Traitors, we are meeting 'Axis Sally', real name Mildred...

Ashurbanipal: The Last Great King of Assyria

Known as the 'King of the World' and the last great king of Assyria, Ashurbanipal bestrode the ancient Mesopotamian world as a warrior but also a...

The Darkest Scandal in Victorian Britain

Today we step into the shadowy world of W.T. Stead—a Victorian journalist whose life was as controversial as it was...

Tudor True Crime: Murder of Amy Dudley

**WARNING: This episode contains descriptions of suicide**

On 6 September 1560, Amy Robsart Dudley died after falling down a staircase at...