War historian, writer, and broadcaster, James Rogers, presents this History Hit show about the most catastrophic wars in modern history. From the Seven Years War and the World Wars, to the Cold War and the War on Terror, this podcast opens up fascinating new perspectives on how conflict has shaped and changed our world. Each week, twice a week, James teams up with fellow historians, veterans, and experts to reveal astonishing new histories of ferocious global warfare, bloody revolutions, and violent ideological battles. Join us on the front line of military history.
Follow on Twitter @HistoryHitWW2.
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 professo...
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 Bel...
When studying the outbreak of war it is common to be distracted by actions, but in many cases, including the World Wars, a study of the history of ideas is just as enlightening. In this episode, James spoke to inter-disciplinary scholar Dr. Pablo de Orellana about ethnonationalism and its role in...
In this episode, Dr. Shama Ams places the Black Lives Matter movement and the killing of George Floyd into the historical context of the treatment of African American soldiers during and after WW2. In conversation with James, he also explores links with the Civil Rights movement. Shama Ams comple...
In amongst the ranks of the heroic female wartime nurses Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell is a lesserknown Danish woman, Valborg Hjorth. When Dr Jakob Seerup - author, researcher and curator of Modern History - discovered a photograph of an elderly woman adorned with medals in the archive at...
Born in Budapest in July 1944, Agnes Grunwald-Spier resided in the Ghetto with her mother from November 1944 to January 1945. Having gained degrees in History & Politics and Holocaust Studies, Agnes spoke to James about her family's experiences during the Holocaust. This personal history includes...
In August 1944, when the Warsaw Uprising occurred, Axis troops were ordered to raze the Wola suburb to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants, regardless of whether they were fighting. James was joined for this episode by Alina Nowobilska, who gives an in depth account of the massacre, drawin...
Walking around Second World War fortifications, Patrick Bury is able to draw on his time in the infantry to tell the stories of the battles that occured over them. During his time working on Nazi Megastructures, Paddy accessed the lived history of the important structures built to protect and str...
An Avro Lancaster Bomber was one of the most dangerous places to be during the Second World War. The planes had a 46% combat attrition rate, and yet all of those who flew them were volunteers. Among them was John Henry Meller, who left a reserve occupation to sign up aged 18. In this episode, Joh...
The traditional view of the Second World War focusses on mainland Europe between 1939 and 1945. Germany is the aggressor drawing its closest neighbours into war and prompting a chain of reactions which ends in worldwide turmoil. Thomas Bottelier is an historian of twentieth century international ...
In this podcast, Deirdre Henderson gives us a unique insight into the mind of President John F. Kennedy. Deirdre was hired by JFK in 1954 as his Research Assistant in his run for President. Her assignments mainly related to defense and foreign policy. In 1959, Senator Kennedy gave Deirdre his pos...
Why is it that nobody has used the absolute weapon, the nuclear bomb, since 1945? Was it ever likely that the American arsenal would be used against the Soviet Union? Or was it created solely to prevent nuclear war? If the latter is true, how does a country create the false impression that it is ...
On 15 August 1944, the Allies landed in Southern France. The operation was a success, nearly cutting off an entire German Army group, which perhaps explains why it doesn't hold the same position in our history as the invasions of Normandy and Italy. Operation Dragoon was, however, the main French...
Professor Audrey Cronin is the world's leading expert in Terrorism and Technology. She has released a new book, Power to the People, and spoke with James about the development of materials used in terrorism. Audrey explains how the technological boom which occured before the First World War creat...
It's election time and for this episode James is joined by one of the most famous Historians in the world, Niall Ferguson. Niall delves into United States election history to explore how this 'year of catastrophe' might impact the results, and how these results might, in turn, increase the possib...
Ash Alexander-Cooper OBE is a former specialist military unit colonel in the British Armed Forces, world-championship athlete and award-winning international musician. Now a member of the Army Reserve, he works tirelessly with organisations geared towards supporting and remembering those who have...
On 10 November 1944, the Icelandic steam merchant ship SS Godafoss was hit by a German U-boat torpedo. She sank in 7 minutes, killing everybody on board. For this episode, James was joined by legendary Icelandic director, producer and presenter, Jón Ársæll. Jón made a documentary about the ship, ...
It's the common recollection of French efforts to repel German invasion. But with 100,000 troops lost in the Battle of France, how true is the depiction of the French surrendering without a fight? How else might their contribution to, and experience of, the Second World War be remembered? Were th...
Maximization of damage. That’s the purpose of the cluster bomb. These weapons, which can be traced back to the First World War, when the Kaiser would not give permission for their use, are still being dropped today. Not only that, but duds, unexploded during their deployment during the Second Wor...
Espionage. The word brings to mind the Cold War - Stasi informants and surveillance bugging in East Berlin. Or today’s media promoted anxieties about Chinese infiltration. But for this episode, Calder Walton came onto the World Wars podcasts to talk about spying during the Second World War. Calde...
On 23 August 1939, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signed a pact in Moscow. This pact was perplexing to many at the time, and remains the subject of much discussion, mainly for the fact that it consolidated a partnership between the co...
Harsh living and working conditions, poisonous chemicals and explosions. For 10,000 navvies, hundreds of chemists and engineers from across the empire, and 12,000 women, this was the reality of mixing the 'Devil's Porridge', cordite, in munitions factories on the Home Front. In 1915, an extreme s...
Their name carries an aura of prestige and mystery - the British Army’s most renowned special forces unit - the best of the best. For this incredible episode, James spoke to author and filmmaker, Damien Lewis, about the story of the Special Air Service. They explore the birth of the unit, the sel...
In 2018, the British city of Salisbury crashed into newspaper headlines worldwide when former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned with nerve agents there. This was the first time that many people had heard of these deadly, yet invisible and odourless wea...
