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1,238 episodes
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Dan Snow's History Hit History Hit
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- History
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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History! The most exciting and important things that have ever happened on the planet. Powerful kings, warrior queens, nomads, empires and expeditions. Historian Dan Snow and his expert guests bring all these stories to life and more in a daily dose of history. Join Dan as he digs into the past to make sense of the headlines and get up close to the biggest discoveries being made around the world today, as they happen.
If you want to get in touch with the podcast, you can email us at ds.hh@historyhit.com, we'd love to hear from you!
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The Kamikaze Pilots
Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide.
By October 1944, the Japanese were in real trouble. The Allies had made great strides in their Pacific island-hopping campaign and were advancing on the Japanese home islands. In a desperate attempt to stem the tide, Japan created the 'Divine Wind Special Attack Units' - young pilots tasked with launching suicidal missions against Allied forces.
For the first episode in our three-part series on the kamikaze, Dan is joined by Christopher Harding, a cultural historian of India and Japan and author of The Light of Asia. Chris explains the ideological and tactical messages of the kamikaze units, and raises an important question - how many of these pilots were enthusiastic volunteers in the first place?
Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore. -
Rivalling Ancient Egypt: The Kingdom of Kush
The Kingdom of Kush was an ancient civilisation that lay along the Nile River, in what is now Sudan. For centuries, this sophisticated kingdom vied with and even ruled over its powerful neighbour, ancient Egypt.
To discuss the often overlooked Kushites, Dan is joined by Geoff Emberling, an archaeologist and lecturer in Mesopotamian and Nubian Archaeology at the University of Michigan.
Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Anisha Deva. -
Rwandan Genocide Explained
Warning: This episode contains some upsetting descriptions of human suffering.
The Rwandan Genocide is a dark and pivotal moment in modern history; the catastrophic consequence of ethnic division and global inaction. Over 100 days in 1994, it's estimated around 800,000 predominantly Tutsi people were killed by the Hutu government and civilian militiamen. The groundwork for the atrocities had been laid decades earlier by the colonial Belgian powers that controlled Rwanda and sowed the seeds of division into the fabric of the country.
Dan is joined by Dr Scott Straus, a professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley who unpacks the events and years that led up to the genocide as well as the inaction from the international community during it. Dan also hears from survivor Beatha Uwazaninka who was just a teenager when her entire family were killed and describes how neighbours turned on neighbours as she struggled to evade capture herself. Together they explain how and why the genocide happened and what lessons we should learn from it.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
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We'd love to hear from you- what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.
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