Luke Tomes returns to the Royal Armouries in Leeds to fire some of the most iconic weapons of the Second World War belonging to the German Wehrmacht.

As always he is joined by Keeper of Firearms & Artillery, Jonathan Ferguson who talks him through the history of all the pistols, rifles and machi...

In this special History Hit film to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Dan Snow meets celebrated military historian Saul David at the National Archives to dig into the top secret documents that tell the story of the incredible planning that went into D-Day.

Hidden in the archives for decades, t...

The Italian campaign in September 1943, spearheaded by the US 5th and British 8th Armies, is one of the most dramatic campaigns of the entire Second World War - it was here that Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ would finally be pierced. The first, tentative steps to total Allied victory. But lacking th...

In this first episode of 'The Room Where It Happened', History Hit invites three experts to deconstruct the thoughts and feelings of the key players at the heart of this crucial historic moment - each taking the perspective of one of the main protagonists: Khrushchev, Kennedy and Castro.

October...

This documentary sees military historian Alex Churchill travelling through Germany and the Belgian battlefields, retracing the opening weeks of the First World War - a blood battle that took place before the trenches, barbed wire and gas we typically think of when we think "First World War" - ins...

During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across the treacherous Atlantic - and many paid with their lives. What's less well known is that many of those sailors were Chinese - volunteers who came to Brit...

Dan Snow flies on a mission to explore one of the most daring and dangerous aerial attacks of World War 2

On 11th November 1940, 21 antiquated Swordfish aircraft took off from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. They were embarking on one of the most extraordinary raids of the Second World Wa...

In 2011, US-troops killed the leader of Al-Qaeda and recovered documents and hard drives. This material is now available and offers a new perspective on Osama Bin Laden. This documentary analyses Osama Bin Laden's private correspondence and uses "graphic novel"-elements to recount how he spent th...

Coronations - pomp and pageantry or a vital link with the timeless traditions of taking the throne?

In our second coronation special, History Hit’s Matt Lewis digs deep into the past to investigate how centuries old aspects of Anglo-Saxon and Medieval coronations will be mirrored in Charles III...

In the early 1960s, 14,000 Cuban children paid the price of freedom the hard way: through Operation Peter Pan. This top-secret mission was part of a U.S. plan to destabilize the Communist country. Its main protagonists were the CIA, the media and the Catholic Church, which claimed that the new Ca...

From 1945 to 1989, after the capitulation of Nazi Germany, two rival ideologies, communism and capitalism, faced each other in a merciless battle.

On one side of the Iron Curtain and on the other, throughout the Cold War, the USSR and the United States sought to shape children’s imaginations thr...

At noon on 10 April 1912, crowds gathered at Southampton to watch the maiden voyage of the World's largest ship RMS Titanic. A sleek, modern luxurious liner that was offering a safe and fast crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. Titanic was said to be invincible. She cruised down Southampton waters on ...

Buffalo Bill was America’s first celebrity… and the most famous man in the world at the turn of the 20th century.

He was a former scout, soldier, Buffalo hunter…but what he’s most known for of course, is his showmanship. He vied with PT Barnum for the title of greatest showman on earth.

At the ...

A special film exploring the life and legacy of Alan Turing - genius pioneer of modern computing. With Alan's nephew Sir Dermot Turing and exclusive access to unseen family records, we investigate lesser known aspects of his incredible work. This story is rooted in the City of Manchester, home t...

By the late 1950s the superpowers of USA and Soviet had moved beyond attempting to dominate land, sea and air and now set their sights firmly on space. After the USSR succeeded in launching an unmanned satellite and sending a man into orbit first, the USA announced a massive spending programme in...

The KGB has influenced world events on numerous occasions before. Assassinations, coup d’états, theft of nuclear secrets and sexpionage are just standard trademarks for an organisation that still sends shivers down the spines of politicians and military figures the world over. It may have changed...

The KGB has influenced world events on numerous occasions before. Assassinations, coup d’états, theft of nuclear secrets and sexpionage are just standard trademarks for an organisation that still sends shivers down the spines of politicians and military figures the world over. It may have changed...

The KGB has influenced world events on numerous occasions before. Assassinations, coup d’états, theft of nuclear secrets and sexpionage are just standard trademarks for an organisation that still sends shivers down the spines of politicians and military figures the world over. It may have changed...

Between 1919 and 1921, Ireland played host to a long and bloody guerrilla conflict between British state forces and Irish republican guerrillas, in the form of Irish Volunteers or the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The conflict would completely transform the political landscape in Ireland.

In this...

It was one of the last great lost shipwrecks of history - Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance. But now, incredibly, it has been rediscovered - over a century after it sank beneath the ice in freezing Antarctic waters.

Organised by the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust, the expedition to locate the...

This documentary takes a rare look at Emmeline Pankhurst’s personal story.
Emmeline Pankhurst led an army of women onto the streets of Britain – the likes of which has never been seen before or since. Fearsome, fearless and ready to fight to the death for her political beliefs she is remembered a...

In the wake of the Second World War, Britain moved to cement itself as one of the world's main nuclear powers. The erection of a series of nuclear bunkers followed across the UK, tasked with protecting a fortunate few against any devastating nuclear attack. Sarah Agha explores Britain's secret nu...

The Greatest Air Race is the story of how Sir Ross Smith and his three-man crew became the first aviators to cross the planet. It’s a feat that remains largely overlooked in the history of flight.
The Greatest Air Race is presented and narrated by astronaut Andy Thomas as he embarks on a trans-co...