During World War II, in the town of Cowra in central New South Wales, thousands of Japanese prisoners of war were held in a POW camp. On the icy night of August 5th they staged one of the largest prison breakouts in history, launching the only land battle of World War II to be fought on Australia...

Dan Snow and Anita discuss her family's heartrending experience living through Indian Partition. The Partition of India was the partition of the Presidencies and provinces of British India that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan (it later split into Pakistan a...

Outside Medieval London’s city walls, Southwark was a land without rules. It was the place where people went to indulge their love of theatre, watch bear baiting and visit brothels. It was also under the control of the Bishop of Winchester.

In this edition of Gone Medieval - originally released ...

The discovery of the Prittlewell Prince has been lauded as the "UK's answer to Tutankhamun'. The remarkably complete discovery of an Anglo-Saxon prince's burial chamber has given us far more information about the period after the Romans left Britain. Dan chats to two of the archaeologists and res...

There are many mysteries surrounding the deaths of the Romanovs: could King George V have saved them? Could there have been a constitutional monarchy? Did any of them survive? In her new book, packed with original research, Helen Rappaport definitively answers these and other questions.

The Ratline was the route senior Nazis used to escape from Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War, and Philippe Sands has just made a new podcast about it. It's an incredible story, based on original research, and here he tells us all about how he went about making it.

Commander Steve Foster relates the extraordinary story of one of the most audacious escape attempts of the Second World War.

Dan talks with Professor Micheal Tarver, Executive Secretary – Southeast World History Association (SEWHA), who gives is a snapshot of Venezuela's history right up to the present day.

Despite being one of the first civilisations in human history, Sumer is not as well-known as other Bronze Age societies such as Babylonia and, of course, Ancient Egypt.

Recent research indicates that the first ever writing system emerged in the Sumerian heartland of southern Mesopotamia around 3...

Dan talks to Professor Jon T Coleman to discuss Hugh Glass and the real story that formed the basis for the 2015 film, 'The Revenant.'Jon T. Coleman is a professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. His books and teaching span colonial and contemporary America and integrate social, cultu...

Trees have been universally important to humanity throughout history - not only as the source of fruits and nuts, but also wood for tools, weapons and buildings, and fuel for transport. So integral were trees to early Medieval society that their names were used for places throughout England - suc...

From the notorious thief Mary Frith in the seventeenth century to industrialist and LGBT trailblazer Anne Lister in the nineteenth, these heroines redefined what a woman could be and what she could do in pre-twentieth-century Britain.

Holly Kyte, author and literary critic, joins Dan to shine a ...

Professor Frank McDonough @FXMC1957 is an internationally renowned expert on the Third Reich. He was born in Liverpool, studied history at Balliol College, Oxford and gained a PhD from Lancaster University.

The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began on December 25, 1941, after the then Governor, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the British Crown colony to the Empire of Japan. The occupation lasted until Japan surrendered at the end of World War Two.

Joining Dan on the podcast today is Barbara S...

Dr. Jones is a Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. His research interests revolve around questions of state-society relations, governance, political economy, sovereignty and intervention. His area of expertise is the Asia-Pacific, especially Southeast Asia. Lee is author of ASEAN,...

Stephen Clews is the Curator at the Roman Baths at Bath. The complex is a site of historical interest in the English city of Bath. The house is a well-preserved Roman site for public bathing. The Roman Baths themselves are below the modern street level.

The House of Romanov was the second dynasty, after the Rurik dynasty, to rule over Russia, which reigned from 1613 until the abdication of Czar Nicholas II on March 15, 1917, as a result of the February Revolution. British historian Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore joins Dan to chat about this Rus...

Parish churches were at the heart of English social life in the Middle Ages. But how did they come into existence? Who staffed them? And how were the buildings used?

In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis talks to Professor Nicholas Orme, whose new book Going to Church in Medieval England...

Julian Thompson RMC served in the Royal Marines for 34 years, during which time he commanded operations at all levels from platoon to brigade. His period of command included the Falklands War of 1982, in which he commanded the 3rd Commando Brigade of three Royal Marines Commandos and the two batt...

Dan talks to Clara Alfsdotter about the 5th century remains found at a ring fort in Sweden, and what they tell us about the massacre that happened there.

How has warfare shaped the way humans live in the Atlantic World? Well, a lot. Military campaigns from the late Middle Ages to the Age of Revolution drove the development of technologies like ships, port facilities, fortresses, and roads. Crossing the ocean was made possible, connecting previousl...

Dan talks to Damien Lewis about the SAS's very own 'Italian Job' during World War Two.

Dan hears the incredible story of the SAS's involvement in the Falklands from the men who were actually there: Sir Cedric Delves and Danny West. Image Credit: Michael Clarke Stuff / Commons.

Famed across the ages and around the world - everyone knows the name Cleopatra. But how did she become one of the most infamous women in history?
Born in 69BCE, a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty in hellenistic Egypt, Cleopatra VII lived a tumultuous life. Within two turbulent decades of taking th...