Revolutions

Revolutions

From the expeditions of Captain Cook to the famous battles of the Napoleonic Wars, enjoy our large range of documentaries, interviews with historians such as David Olusoga and podcasts on this fascinating period in history. The period between the 18th and mid-19th Century saw a complete transformation of Western Culture. The Age of Revolution saw long-established monarchies, religious institutions, social systems and hierarchies challenged from below and a philosophical search for human improvement. Ideas of equality, liberty and religious tolerance traversed Europe, creating social upheaval, revolution and change. It was also a period of intense domestic and global conflict. Born out of increased globalisation was a brutal, transatlantic slave trade and the rise of imperialism.

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Revolutions
  • The Battle for North America

    On 13 September 1759, on the Plains of Abraham near the city of Quebec, an outnumbered British army fought a battle that would change the history of the world: the Battle of Quebec. For the past three years, Britain and France were locked in a bitter struggle for dominance in the Seven Years War:...

  • George Washington: The First Battle

    Dan Snow goes to Pittsburgh to explore the extraordinary story of how an over-ambitious young George Washington fought for the British and helped to fire the shots that started the Seven Years War, the world’s first global conflict.

  • Britain's Outlaws

    1 season

    Historian and presenter Dr. Sam Willis explores the world of the British Outlaw - the original anti-heroes in an age of swashbuckle, daring and style.
    Few figures in history captured the popular imagination as much as the rogues of yesteryear. The audacious highwayman, the swashbuckling pirate an...

  • Turner on Tour

    Joseph Mallord William Turner is one of Britain's greatest artists. He was the ‘master of light’ who pioneered radical techniques to interpret the changing world around him.

    In this documentary, Alice Loxton heads to the National Gallery to examine some of Turner’s most remarkable works, includ...

  • The Making of Wellington

    1 season

    Mike Loades explores Wellington's surprising ascension during the Napoleonic Wars - by tracing his impact in Portugal and immersing himself in the locations that still bear the evidence of efforts to repel Naopleon's invasion.

  • Quicksilver: The Magnificent Mail Coach

    Mike Loades climbs aboard a high-speed transport revolution. 250 years ago the Mail Coach was a sensation, the fastest vehicle on the road - carrying with it the promise of news from afar.

    It was the symbol of a modern, more connected world - at the vanguard of a social revolution.

    For the fi...

  • Powerhouse: Industrial Revolution in the North

    1 season

  • Waterloo Uncovered: The Bones of the Battlefield

    A major breaking story filmed by History Hit.

    Incredibly rare bones of men and horses have been discovered in July 2022 at the Waterloo Battlefield - and History Hit has been there to record the excavations as they unfold.

    The veterans support charity 'Waterloo Uncovered' returned to the Water...

  • Ham House: Women of the Civil War

    Our Great British Houses series continues with another gem of The National Trust’s collection. About 10 miles from the centre of London is one of the most magnificent houses of Stuart England, Ham House. This lavish mansion is a treasure trove of 17th century art and architecture, a dazzling red-...

  • Africa: Written out of History

    Historian Luke Pepera looks at how and why the history of Africa was written out of world history. He also explores how and why, as a consequence of this, the history of Africans in Britain was written out of British history.

  • Total Victory: The Battle of Trafalgar

    Victory was total. An enemy fleet obliterated. The course of a great war determined. A hero struck down and a legend born. In October 1805 the British Royal Navy defeated the combined battle fleets of the French and Spanish empires 20 miles northwest of a promontory of rock and sand in southern S...

  • Broadway Tower: A Folly of Delight and Daring

    High on the peak of the Cotswolds stands one of the most remarkable buildings in Britain. Built as a folly in the final days of the 18th century, Broadway Tower sprung up during the height of the French Revolutionary Wars under the distracted watch of the architect James Wyatt. In the following y...

  • Drake's Island: Plymouth's Island Fortress

    For generations, Drake's Island, situated just outside of Plymouth harbour, had been owned by the Ministry of Defence. Recently, however, this island bastion has gone into private ownership. In this documentary Bob King, the gatekeeper of Drake's Island, gives Dan an exclusive tour of this extrem...

  • Waterloo's Warriors

    1 season

    The army that defeated Napoleon at Waterloo is often remembered as an iconic English redcoat force. A little known fact is that most of the men under the Duke of Wellington's command weren't English at all. Using unpublished accounts, the story of the battle is told from the perspective of those ...

  • The Most Daring Escapes From The Tower of London

    For more than 900 years, the Tower of London has occupied its place at the heart of English life. At various times a royal citadel, palace, menagerie, observatory, public records office, mint, arsenal and, even to this day, the home of the crown jewels of England, since 1100 it has famously serve...

  • The History of Westminster Abbey

    Sir David Cannadine shows Dan around the iconic Westminster Abbey, in the heart of London. With an unrivalled arrange of monuments - ranging from grand royal tombs to the grave of The Unknown Warrior - and spectacular architecture spanning nearly 1,000 years, join the two historians as they explo...

  • Stourhead: The Grand Tour

    Kicking off our new series, Great British Houses, we join Alice Loxton and Dan Snow on a journey through one of the gems of the National Trust’s collection, the magnificent Stourhead.

    In this documentary, Alice and Dan set off on a whirlwind tour of the social and cultural movements which influe...

  • A History of Unbelief

    Religious belief looks more precarious in the modern world than ever before. But is that the truth? Dan Snow explores the role of unbelievers throughout history, to discover if we're uniquely unbelieving now, or whether there have always been those who wouldn't believe. This project was made poss...

  • Edinburgh New Town: From Squalor to Splendour

    Alice Loxton uncovers the thrilling transformation of Edinburgh, a city which was once the most overcrowded, dangerous and pungent cities in the whole of Europe, where tottering medieval tenement blocks were surrounded by a bubbling cesspit of raw sewage. With the city bursting at its seams - and...

  • Pandemics: Science and History

    I was thrilled to be joined by the legendary Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History at Oxford University and bestselling author of 'The Silk Roads: A New History of the World'. In this podcast we discussed the current crisis in a wider historical context, and Peter gave some fascinating ins...

  • Mudlarking

    Dan joins author and mudlark expert Lara Maiklem for a spot of mudlarking.

  • Inside Blenheim Palace

    One of the grandest private houses in the world, the site of Blenheim Palace has been host to the murder of a royal mistress, the downfall of a quarrelling Duchess and the birth of Sir Winston Churchill. Dan Snow takes a tour of one of Britain's most famous attractions.

  • Ink: A History of Tattooing

    Matt Lodder is the world's leading expert on the history of tattoos. He has found evidence of people using ink or charcoal on their bodies stretching back thousands of years. He explodes myths at every turn. Tattoos were common long before Captain Cook allegedly imported them back from the Pacifi...

  • Race Science with Angela Saini

    Dan sat down with Angela Saini to talk about the history behind race and the history of interactions between civilisations.