20th Century

20th Century

Defined by a rise of nationalism, two world wars, clashing super powers, nuclear weapons and space exploration, the 20th Century is certainly not void of fascinating history. Enjoy our enormous library of documentaries on key events such as D-Day or the sinkng of the Titanic, interviews with leading experts such as Tom Holland, David Cannadine and fascinating podcasts on the history of warfare.

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20th Century
  • 🎧 Al Murray on Arnhem, Satire, Bartending and Drums

    Dan catches Al Murray for a wide ranging discussion.

  • 🎧 America's Contested Election

    Gary Gerstle joined me on the podcast to discuss two hundred years of U.S. history. He argues that the roots of the current crisis lie in two contrasting theories of power that the Framers inscribed in the Constitution.

  • 🎧 America's Entry into the First World War with Michael Neiberg

    Dan talks to Michael Neiburg, a leading historian of the transnational effects of war, who reveals everything you need to know about America's entry into World War One.

  • 🎧 An American on the Western Front with Patrick Gregory

    Patrick Gregory wrote and edited An American on the Western Front: The First World War Letters of Arthur Clifford Kimber, together with Elizabeth Nurser, who is Arthur Clifford Kimber’s niece. As programme producer for the BBC, he covered world events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and reali...

  • 🎧 Anglo-American Rivalry in the Middle East with James Barr

    Dan Snow talks to James Barr about a rivalry in the Middle East, but it's not the one you might expect...

  • Sissinghurst: A Garden of Love

    In this second episode of our Great British Houses series:
    In the heart of Kent is one of Britain’s most intriguing houses: Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Originally a grand Elizabethan manor, by the 20th century Sissinghurst had fallen into a ruinous state. Yet it was this wildness and disrepair wh...

  • 🎧 Anita Anand on the Man Who Set out to Avenge the Amritsar Massacre

    Udham Singh, legendary in India but barely known in the western world, was present when the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar was perpetrated. Legend has it he picked a clump of bloody soil and swore to avenge the massacre. Twenty-one years later, he walked into Caxton Hall in order to shoot ...

  • 🎧 Anne Glenconner: Princess Margaret's Confidante

    Anne Glenconner has been at the centre of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Anne spoke to me from the resplendent saloon at Holkham Hall to discuss her truly remarkable life - a story of drama, tragedy...

  • 🎧 Antony Beevor on Arnhem

    Dan talks to Antony Beevor about Arnhem and Operation Market Garden.

  • 🎧 Apollo 13

    I was joined by Kevin Fong, who took me through one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of exploration. Apollo 13 was the seventh crewed mission on the Apollo space programme, and their third attempt to land on the moon. But after an oxygen tank in the command module ignited early on...

  • 🎧 Appeasing Hitler with Tim Bouverie

    Tim Bouverie has a look at the old questions about appeasement. Was it right to appease Hitler in order to buy time to re-arm? Why did Chamberlain and Halifax not take action when the Rhineland was re-occupied, or during the Anschluss of 1938, or during the occupation of the Sudetenland? Producer...

  • 🎧 Argentina's Missing Black Communities with Celestina Olulode

    Celestina Olulode is a BBC reporter, who has spent a long time in Argentina researching why Argentina has a low black population compared to counterparts in South America such as Brazil. One reason is down to aggressive racial policies in the 19th century, but Celestina also discusses the things ...

  • Eastland: The Shipwreck That Shook America

    On 24 July 1915 the SS Eastland rolled onto its side and sank in the Chicago River, killing 844 passengers that were onboard. This is the story of this tragic event, 'the Blue Collar Titanic', one of the worst maritime disasters in US history.

  • 🎧 Army Wives: From Crimea to Afghanistan with Midge Gilies

    In this fascinating interview, Midge Gillies, author of acclaimed The Barbed-Wire University, discusses the role of the army wife over the centuries, and remarks on the extraordinary women who were pillars of support and strength in times of great hardship.

  • 🎧 Arnhem 75: The Veteran's View

    This podcast sees Dan jump out of an aircraft to relive the events of the landing back in 1944, while on the way we hear the testimonies of veterans who lived through the Battle of Arnhem. Dan also chats to the UK and US ambassadors to the Netherlands, as well as the Mayor of Arnhem. Producer: Pe...

  • 🎧 Assassination and Coverups in The Cold War Congo

    I was joined by an award-winning investigative journalist, Ravi Somaiya, to discuss the mysterious death in 1961 of UN Secretary-General Dag HammarskjΓΆld. Although Dag HammarskjΓΆld was called β€˜the greatest statesman of our century’ by John F. Kennedy, his plane was shot down as he flew over The C...

  • 🎧 Assassination in Sarajevo: Archduke Franz Ferdinand

    Dan visits Sarajevo on the trail of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, his assassin, Gavrilo Princip, and the fatal encounter that led to the outbreak of WWI.

  • 🎧 Assassination, Fascism and The Abdication Crisis

    Alex Larman has struck gold. He discovered one of the rarest and most precious things in the history world: an unknown source which shines a bright new light on its subject. He uncovered brand new documents relating to an assassination attempt on Edward VIII in July 1936, by George McMahon. Alex ...

  • Simon Sebag Montefiore on Stalin

    How did a young boy from Georgia become a merciless politician who shaped the Soviet Empire in his own brutal image? Historian and bestselling author, Simon Sebag Montifiore talks to Dan about the rise of Joseph Stalin, a man who caused the death and suffering of tens of millions under his regime...

  • RRS Discovery: Aboard the World's First Polar Research Vessel

    Dan Snow steps aboard the RRS Discovery in Dundee, the first purpose built scientific research vessel for the Antarctic. Guided around the ship by Ali Gellatly, he learns what life and adventure was like aboard this unique vessel.

    The legendary polar explorer Captain Scott commanded Discovery's...

  • 🎧 Australia, Anzac and History

    I was thrilled to have Mat McLachlan on the pod, one of Australia's foremost history presenters and writers. Using his encyclopaedic knowledge of Australian battlefields, Mat and I chatted about Australia's complex relationship with its past, and how this history is perceived and commemorated today.

  • 🎧 Authoritarianism & Unfreedom with Professor Tim Snyder

    Professor Tim Snyder is an expert in authoritarian regimes and how they develop. He talks to Dan about Russia, the USA, Europe and what the lessons of the past tell us about what's going on today.

  • 🎧 Babita Sharma on Corner Shops

    Babita Sharma is esteemed British broadcaster, and a presenter on BBC News and the BBC World News. In this episode, she takes us through a history of corner shops. Corner shops have been ever important in British society, as hubs of their communities, and places where people from all walks of lif...

  • 🎧 Battle of Britain 'What Ifs'

    Dr. Jamie Wood and Professor Niall Mackay at the University of York are mathematicians who love history. Sensible dudes. They released a paper which sent the rest of the history world into a meltdown when they tried to use the statistics of airframe losses from the Battle of Britain to test just ...