On 28 March 1942, in the darkest months of World War Two, Churchill approved what seemed to many like a suicide mission. Under orders to attack the St Nazaire U-boat base on the Atlantic seaboard, British commandos undertook “the greatest raid of all”, turning an old destroyer into a live bomb an...

Towering above the Wiltshire countryside, Stonehenge is perhaps the world's most awe-inspiring ancient stone circle. Shrouded in layers of speculation and folklore, this iconic British monument has spurred myths and legends that persist today. Dan is joined by Neil Wilkin, curator of a special ex...

Shocked by the fall of France in 1940, panicked U.S. leaders rushed to back the Vichy government despite their Nazi sympathies. This policy caused instability at home whilst also driving a wedge between the allied nations.

In this episode, Dan is joined by war historian Michael S. Neiberg to dis...

The Confederacy was more than an army. It was a national project. A whole state, albeit an internationally unrecognised one, formed between 1861-1865 complete with its own capital city, constitution and even a postmaster general.

In this episode, Dan is joined by Stephanie McCurry to dig into wh...

From the summer of 1940, approximately 30,000 so-called ‘enemy aliens’ were indefinitely sent to internment camps across Britain.

Gripped by spy fever and the panic over the fall of France, the British government adopted an aggressive internment policy targeting a broad cross-section of Austrian...

To mark the end of a truly epic journey, Dan wanted to hear from you -the listeners- those that have dedicatedly followed the story of Endurance22. Find out the answers to your questions as Dan responds candidly to the things that you all wanted to know.

In the concluding episode of the Enduranc...

The use of the word ‘Oligarch’ has been increasingly rampant across international news outlets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine just weeks ago. But what does it actually mean?

Jeffrey A. Winters, an American political scientist at Northwestern University who specialises in the study of oligarc...

The KGB was the main security agency for the Soviet Union. Tasked with surveillance and rooting out dissidents, religious practitioners and anti-government organisations, the KGB were feared for their intimidation tactics and brutality. They operated across the soviet countries with a particularl...

In this special episode Dan Snow teams up with Alice Levine, Jamie Morton and James Cooper from My Dad Wrote A Porno to talk about to chat all things sex and history. Expect slow thrusting, Henry The Eighth sexual slander and more filth than you can shake a bread dildo at.

You have the power to ...

While Ukraine fights to defend itself from Russian forces, Putin makes a nuclear threat to the west and the rest of the world. Dr Jeremy Garlick, Associate Professor of International Relations and China Studies at the University of Economics, Prague, explains the strategies currently being used b...

Ernest Shackleton's famous shipwreck the Endurance has been found! This is the exclusive behind the scenes story of how the international crew of the Endurance22 expedition made the discovery of a lifetime.

Having not been seen since it was crushed by the Antarctic pack ice in 1915, the Enduranc...

After World War One women outnumbered men by the highest margin in recorded history, even compared to after World War Two. This had wide-reaching implications for the social, demographic and economic fabric of post-war society.

Today Dan is joined by Mary McKee and Paul Nixon from Findmypast to ...

In April 1945, weeks before the Nazi defeat, nine women made a last-ditch escape from the concentration camp at Ravensbruck. The group, who had all been imprisoned for resistance activity, then undertook a perilously 10-day journey across Nazi frontlines.

In today's episode, Dan speaks to Gwen S...

This year is the 150th anniversary of the world's first national park of its kind, Yellowstone. Each year nearly four million people visit the park but many are unaware of how it was founded.

Its founding act as a snapshot of key forces in post Civil War America; reconstruction and the Republica...

On today's episode, Dan takes the podcast out onto the Antarctic ice to find penguins, seals and the expedition scientists conducting experiments. He joins Dr Stefanie Arndt of the Alfred Wegener Institute as she researches climate change in the Weddell Sea's ice. Dan catches her just as she disc...

After the death of Chinggis Khan, the founder and first Emperor of the Mongol Empire, the land became the largest contiguous empire in history.

The Horde, the western portion of the Mongol empire, was the central node in the Eurasian commercial boom of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and...

Please note that this episode contains spoilers from the film ‘The Duke’.

Kempton Bunton was a taxi driver who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first and remains the only, theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton proceeded to send ran...

Russia has launched an invasion of Ukraine. As European leaders gather and Ukraine makes preparations to defend itself, the world watches. In light of this escalating situation host of the Gone Medieval podcast, Matt Lewis steps in for Dan and runs through a brief but complex history of the relat...

Dan updates us from Antarctica about whether the SS Agulhas II has managed to break free from the ice that had surrounded it.

The search for the wreck of the sunken Endurance is well underway. Find out more about the submersibles, equipped with 4k cameras that can scan the seafloor hundreds of metres into the darkness and hear from the stellar crew and ice pilots who are responsible for keeping everyone on board safe in...

The Endurance22 crew have made it to the Weddell Sea and the point where they believe Shackleton’s ship sunk! It’s a rocky start as they begin the search using the AUV drones that scan the seafloor

Popular knowledge may claim Hastings as the site of the last invasion of mainland Britain by Norman forces in 1066. True, this was the last successful invasion however in 1797 there was a much less successful one.

In fact, the last time any invaders foot ever stood upon the soil of mainland Brit...

Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 was a controversial amendment to the UK's Local Government Act 1986, enacted on 24 May 1988 and repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of the UK by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003. The amendment stated tha...

Icebergs, albatrosses and growlers- the team have crossed the Antarctic circle! In the first of our episodes recorded from Antarctica, Dan takes you on a tour of the ship and brings you updates with expedition lead John Shears and marine archeologist Mensun Bound. Hear how the crew are passing th...