Dan Snow's History Hit History Hit

Dan Snow’s History Hit hits the road to Belgium and the Waterloo Battlefield to see the soldier’s bones found in an attic earlier this month. 
The Battle of Waterloo is often remembered for its great leaders; Napoleon, Wellington and Blücher. Or, for its sweeping strategic importance but what did the ordinary fighting men endure? We went to the Waterloo Battlefield to learn about the almost apocalyptic reality of the battle with thick quagmires of mud and the bodies of both soldiers and horses strewn about. French Historian Antoin Charpagne shares stories of the men on the ground, what they ate (or didn't), their relationships and how they suffered. The History Hit team then head to Universite de Liege Medical Institute to the morgue to see what bones from Prussian soldiers can tell us about the battle before finally heading on to the Brussels Museum of Natural Sciences where Dan helps Dr Caroline Laforest unpack the British bones that have just arrived.
With great thanks to Mathilde Daumas, Dr Bernard Wilkin and Waterloo Uncovered.
Produced by Mariana Des forges and mixed by Joseph Knight.
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It's International Women's Day so what better way to celebrate than with the warrior queen who crushed the Vikings, the first Queen Regent of Poland and an 11th century polymath abbess who became a 20th century feminist icon and saint.
Art and cultural historian Dr Janina Ramirez joins Dan on today's episode to tell the stories of three incredible medieval women: Aethelfled, Jadwiga and Hildegard of Bingen, all who ruled, influenced and changed history but are often left out of the narrative of the Middle Ages.
Janina's new best-selling book 'Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It' is out now.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and mixed by Dougal Patmore
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Content Warning This episode contains adult themes and language that may not be suitable for children.
On this special network crossover episode we're calling 'History Hit in the Sheets', host of our chart-storming 'Betwixt the Sheets' podcast Kate Lister joins Dan to unravel the stories, adventures and troubled legacy of Casanova.
Sex - lots of sex. That's what we think of when we think of Giacomo Casanova, Italy's most prolific lover and adventurer. But, there was much more to this Venetian womaniser than just romancing - he was a scam artist, outlaw, alchemist, spy and church cleric. He wrote satires, fought duels, and escaped from prison more than once. He even set up the French national lottery. We know so much about Casanova thanks to his mammoth three thousand page autobiography. It spoke of his incredible life in Europe, but is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century. He's often been painted as a rascal but today many question the darker side of his sex life; within his 'tally' of sexual partners, many seem forced and some were children, including his own.
Produced by Freddy Chick, Charlotte Long and Mariana Des Forges. Mixed by Dougal Patmore.
If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!
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It's 1660 and General Edward Whalley and his son-in-law board a ship bound for the New World. They're on the run, wanted for the murder of King Charles I. His execution, the culmination of the English Civil War, sees control taken from the royalists by Oliver Cromwell and his parliamentarians for ten years. But, when the royalists return to power, an epic manhunt ensues for the fugitives hiding out in America.
This is the plot of celebrated author Robert Harris' new historical novel Oblivions which takes a reader on a journey into the wilds of seventeenth-century New England. Robert joins Dan to talk about writing historical fiction, the history behind it and the unlikely way this story came to him.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!
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250 million years ago the armour-plated Placoderm fish invented the act of sex as we know it. Hubba Hubba. Dive into the historical sack as we go in search of the origins of nature’s greatest-ever invention.
Dallas’s guest on this episode is Australian palaeontologist John Long, author of The Dawn of the Deed.
Produced by Freddy Chick. The senior producer is Charlotte Long.
If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!
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Stalingrad is one of the most titanic and totemic battles of the Second World War. Millions were killed, the city itself was utterly shattered by fighting and the seemingly unbeatable Wehrmacht suffered a catastrophic rout like never before. But what made the Soviet victory possible; what happened to the men from both sides who fought in the rubble and snow of Stalin's city; and what were the consequences, both on the Eastern Front and around the world, of this savage clash of arms?
To find out Dan is joined by Jochen Hellbeck professor of history at Rutgers University and author of Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich to discuss how the battle of Stalingrad ended and what came next.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!
Download the History Hit app from the Google Play store.
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.