Dan Snow's History Hit

Alexander the Great’s untimely death at Babylon in 323 BC triggered an unprecedented crisis across his continent-spanning empire.Within a couple of days, the very chamber in which he died witnessed a gore-soaked showdown between his previously united commanders and soldiers. Within a fortnight, Babylon saw the first siege of the post-Alexander age.In this special explainer episode to mark the anniversary of Alexander’s death, Tristan brings to life the imperial implosion that was the immediate aftermath of the Macedonian king's death - a subject he knows one or two things about, seeing as he’s written a book on it!Tristan’s book The Perdiccas Years, 323-320 BC (Alexander's Successors at War) is available on Amazon here.This episode was produced by Elena Guthrie and mixed by Aidan Lonergan. It contains translations of contemporary speeches by JC Yardsley & music from Epidemic Sound.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.Further Reading - Primary Sources Arrian Events After Alexander 1.1–1.9A.Curtius 10.5–10.10.Diodorus Siculus 18.1–18.6.Justin 13.1–13.4.Plutarch Life of Eumenes 3.Secondary Sources Anson, E. (1992), ‘Craterus and the Prostasia’, Classical Philology 87 (1), 38–43.Anson, E. (2015), Eumenes of Cardia, Leiden, 58–77.Bosworth, A. B. (2002), The Legacy of Alexander: Politics, Warfare, and Propaganda under the Successors, New York, 29–63.Errington, R. M. (1970), ‘From Babylon to Triparadeisos: 323–320 bc’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 90, 49–59.Meeus, A. (2008), ‘The Power Struggle of the Diadochoi in Babylon, 323bc’, Ancient Society 38, 39–82.Meeus, A. (2009), ‘Some Institutional Problems concerning the Succession to Alexander the Great: “Prostasia” and Chiliarchy’, Historia 58 (3), 287–310.Mitchell, L. (2007), ‘Born to Rule? Succession in the Argead Royal House’, in W. Heckel., L. Tritle and P. Wheatley (eds.), Alexander’s Empire: Formulation to Decay, California, 61–74.Worthington, I. (2016), Ptolemy I: King and Pharaoh of Egypt, New York, 71–86 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In April 1944 nineteen-year-old Rudolf Vrba and fellow inmate, Fred Wetzler broke out of Auschwitz. Under electrified fences and past armed watchtowers, evading thousands of SS men and slavering dogs, they trekked across marshlands, mountains and rivers to freedom. Vrba's mission: to reveal to the world the truth of the Holocaust.Celebrated journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Freedland joins Dan on the podcast to tell this astonishing story which can be found in his new book 'The Escape Artist'.This episode does contain descriptions that some listeners may find distressing.Produced by Mariana Des ForgesMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Europe in 1914 was a tinderbox of imperial tensions and the spark that would light the conflagration would be the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. But there is much more to this story than simply the murder of two royals on the street of Sarajevo. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was an often misunderstood figure seemingly hard and old-fashioned. But in private he was a dedicated family man and husband who had married for love against the wishes of the Emporer and he and Sophie had endured snubs and humiliation at court because of it. He had travelled the world and hoped to reform the Austrian-Hungarian empire he was supposed to one day rule. Sue Woolmans, historian and author of The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Murder that Changed the World, joins the podcast to discuss the real Franz Ferdinand. She guides Dan through the life of Franz Ferdinand and the incompetence, bad luck and chance on the day that would lead to the death of the Archduke and begin a century of conflict.Mixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cleopatra VII was part of a dynasty of Macedonian rulers founded by Ptolemy, who served as general under Alexander the Great during his conquest of Egypt in 332 B.C. Cleopatra served as the dominant ruler in all three of her co-regencies and was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world.Stacy Schiff is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra: A Life. Stacy joins Dan on the podcast to reconstruct Cleopatra’s life. From ascension to the throne, her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, to her eventual death, Stacy and Dan chart the life of a ruler who controlled the largest territory of any woman.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The roots of the word ‘Nomad’ dates back to an extremely early Indo-European word, ‘nomos’. After towns and cities are built and more people settle, ‘Nomad’ comes to describe people who live without walls and beyond boundaries. Now, the word is used by settled people - for some with a sense of romantic nostalgia, and for others, it carries an implicit judgement that such people are wanderers of no fixed abode. Yet, often overlooked, Nomads have fostered and refreshed civilisation throughout our history.Anthony Sattin is a journalist, broadcaster and author. Anthony joins Dan to trace the transformative and often bloody relationship between settled and mobile societies, from the Neolithic revolution to the 21st century via the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and the great nomadic empires of the Arabs and Mongols.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in January 1899, Alphonse Gabriel Capone would go on to become perhaps the most infamous gangster in American history. During the Roaring Twenties, Al Capone ruled an empire of crime in the Windy City of Chicago: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, bribery, narcotics, robbery, and many brutal acts of violence.Jonathan Eig is a journalist, author and biographer dubbed by Ken Burns as a “master storyteller.” Jonathan joins Dan on the podcast to discuss Capone’s transition from young entrepreneur to notorious criminal, how the escalating Mob violence in Chicago culminated with the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the events which led to the end of his ​​crime boss reign.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Royal Marines are the UK's Commando Force and the Royal Navy's own amphibious troops. The Commandos have become a byword for elite raiding skills and cutting-edge military operations. They are globally renowned, yet shrouded in mystery.Former Royal Marine Monty Halls joins Dan to shed light on the modern vanguard of a legendary unit, the descendants of the misfits and eccentrics who were so effective and feared in WW2 that Hitler famously ordered them to be shot on sight. They reveal the history behind the green beret, the real stories of extraordinary individuals and what it means to patrol the high seas and police coastlines around the globe.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Seyi AdaobiIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, three reactors would go into nuclear meltdown, and the surrounding area would be swamped in radioactive water. It is now considered one of the costliest nuclear disasters ever. But Fukushima was not the first, and it was not the worst.Acclaimed historian Serhii Plokhy returns to the podcast. Serhii joins Dan to tell the tale of some of the nuclear disasters that shook the world. From the 1957 fire at the Windscale facility in Cumbria which burned for three days and released radioactive fallout, to the 1986 crisis at Chernobyl, Serhii shows how the same story of nuclear ambition, often clouded by political and economic motives, is tragically repeated time and again.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An extraordinary discovery has been unearthed by archaeologists working alongside the HS2 rail project. The find, made at an undisclosed location near Wendover in the Chilterns, consists of a 5th-6th century burial site that has been described as one of the most important post-Roman, early medieval discoveries of our lifetime.It offers the chance to see more clearly a part of British history that has been hidden from us until now. If there was a real, historical King Arthur, this is the part of history he's hiding within.In this special episode, join our very own Dan Snow and Gone Medieval host Matt Lewis as they chat to the team behind the dig about some of their revelatory finds, and begin to see the people behind them, and the way they may have lived their lives.A special thanks to HS2, INFRA and Fusion for giving History Hit special access behind the scenes!The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. The Producer was Rob Weinberg. It was edited and mixed by Aidan Lonergan.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On June 17, 1940, the British ocean liner, RMS Lancastria, was sunk during Operation Aerial.RMS Lancastria had sailed to the French port of St. Nazaire to aid in the evacuation of British and French soldiers, civil servants and British civilians after the fall of Dunkirk. The ship was loaded well in excess of its capacity— the consequences of which were felt when a German fighter plane flew overhead and catastrophically attacked the Lancastria.Janet Dempsey is a former maritime record specialist who worked at The National Archives for fifteen years. Janet joins Dan to discuss why the Lancastria was requisitioned as a troopship, the horrific sinking and loss of life, and how the subsequent media blackout at the time has informed ​​this largely forgotten chapter in British history.Produced by Hannah WardMixed and Mastered by Dougal PatmoreIf you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.