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History Hit


From Napoleonic battles to Cold War confrontations, the Normandy landings to 9/11, this podcast opens up fascinating new perspectives on how wars have shaped and changed our modern world. Each week, twice a week, war historian, writer, and broadcaster, James Rogers, teams up with fellow historians, veterans, and experts to reveal astonishing new histories of inspirational leadership, breakthrough technologies, and era defining battles. Together they highlight the stark realities and consequences of global warfare. Join us on the front line of military history.


Follow on Twitter @HistoryHitWW2.


Vote for Warfare in the Listeners Choice Category at the British Podcast Awards 2023!


Warfare

In this History Hit live on Timeline Dan Snow was joined by Margaret MacMillan, professor at St Antony's College, Oxford University and author of 'Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War'. They discussed the effects World War One had on the world, and how Europe began to rebuild in the years that followed.

Aftermath of World War One

In one of the strangest twists in political history, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party rose from a small provincial agitator into the largest political party in the German Reichstag - before completely dissolving the Weimar Republic and taking Germany and the rest of the world on an escalator to catastrope. Professor Frank McDonough spoke to Dan Snow about Hitler's remarkable rise.

Adolf Hitler's Rise To Power

On 6 August 1945 a B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped a uranium bomb, nicknamed the 'Little Boy' onto the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It was the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare - and also one of history's most controversial acts. While it almost certainly hastened the surrender of Japan to the USA and ended World War Two, it came at an incredible human cost - with 150,000 being killed in the blast and nuclear aftermath. In this podcast, first broadcast on Dan Snow's History Hit, survivor Hirata-San talks to Dan about his experiences, and his work on keeping global peace.

Hiroshima

The First World War is most commonly portrayed using records of young white Europeans, silencing the stories of the 4 million non-white non-Europeans who fought in and laboured for it. For this History Hit podcast, Dan spoke with John Akomfra about the untold experiences of African soldiers, carriers and labourers during the First World War. John is an artist and filmmaker whose work investigates, amongst other things, memory, post-colonialism and the experiences of migrant diasporas. When this podcast was recorded in 2018, John was running an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum to commemorate those Africans who fought, served and died during the war.

African Experiences in WW1

The First World War is one of the great turning points of the last couple of centuries. Debates surrounding its origins, however, remain endless. In this podcast Margaret MacMillan, Professor of International History at Oxford, discusses the circumstances which led to the declarations of war in 1914 with Dan Snow. They consider our enduring fascination with this moment in history, in which so many of the modern world's problems have their roots.

The Origins of WW1

In considerations of the First World War, the roles of female scientists in supporting the war effort have been shockingly under acknowledged. Dan was joined in this podcast by Patricia Fara, a historian of science at the University of Cambridge, to talk about the women who worked as scientific researchers during the First World War.

Women Scientists in WW1

In the spring of 1945, the Allies liberated territory from Axis occupation. Whilst the British advanced into most of Denmark, Stalin’s Soviet forces occupied the small island of Bornholm. They remained there for 11 months, but then withdrew with little fanfare. Caroline Kennedy-Pipe is a professor of International Relations and International Security at Loughborough University. She spoke to James about her research into the Soviet occupation of Bornholm and its mysterious end.

1945 Soviet Occupation of Bornholm

In 1941, Nazi Germany turned on its former ally, the Soviet Union. One of the strategic objectives of this operation, Barbarossa, was to conquer Leningrad. To discuss the German turn on the Soviet Union and perhaps the most brutal siege of the Second World War, James Rogers is joined by Chris Bellamy, author of Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War. Chris is Professor Emeritus of Maritime Security at the University of Greenwich and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Maritime Crime and Security.

Siege of Leningrad

He is arguably the 20th century's most notorious head of state and the results of his leadership are spread far and wide. But did Hitler shoot himself in the Führerbunker, or did he slip past the Soviets and escape to South America? In this podcast with Dan Snow, Luke Daly Groves takes on the conspiracy theorists using recently declassified MI5 files, previously unpublished sketches of Hitler's bunker and eyewitness accounts of intelligence officers.

Hitler's Death

On the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, Dan Snow was joined by veterans and dignitaries to follow in the footprints of those who took part in the bold attempt to outflank the Germans in 1944. As Dan prepares to jump out of an aircraft to relive the events of the 1944 landings, we hear from the UK and US ambassadors to the Netherlands, from the Mayor of Arnhem, and from veterans who lived through the battle.

Battle of Arnhem

During the Second World War, Bletchley Park was the home of a top-secret code breaking centre. Only in the 1970s did people begin to discuss what had occurred there. In the intervening years, however, three quarters of the workforce would rarely have been asked to describe their experiences during the war: because they were women. Dr Tessa Dunlop has spoken with fifteen of these veterans, and in this episode she tells James about the women of Bletchley Park: their backgrounds, work, and memory of their important duty.

Book 'An Afternoon in Conversation with the Bletchley Girls' with Tessa at https://www.fane.co.uk/bletchley-girls

© National Archives

The Bletchley Girls

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