Channel History Hit

Tristan of The Ancients podcasts has published his first book, Alexander’s Successors at War: The Perdiccas Years. Focussing in on 323 – 320 BC, the book tells the story of the tumultuous events that seized Alexander the Great’s empire immediately after this titanic figure breathed his last in June 323 BC. Today, we’re giving you a taster of what you can expect. Sit back and relax as Tristan reads out an abridged chapter from the book (including a swift introduction). He tells the story of a Spartan mercenary captain called Thibron, who set forth from Crete with c.6,000 battle-hardened mercenaries intend on forging his own Greco-Libyan empire in North Africa. Filled with several twists and turns the story is a symbol for the many fascinating events, and the larger than life cast, that dominates the immediate aftermath of Alexander’s death.

Order Tristan’s book today here.

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The expedition has begun and Dan is here to answer your questions about all things Endurance22, the expedition to find Shackleton’s lost shipwreck! For the first time, Dan is the subject of his own podcast as he’s interviewed by History Hit’s producer Mariana Des Forges about all things Endurance. They talk about how he’s feeling about the perilous journey across the southern ocean, what listeners can expect over the coming weeks and he answers your questions. 

He also speaks to Mensun Bound of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust who is the lead marine archaeologist on the expedition about his greatest discoveries and what they’re expecting to find when they make it to Antarctica.

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Amid Moscow’s increasing build-up of troops along the Ukrainian border and the preparation of infrastructure for a possible invasion, tensions between Ukraine and Russia continue to mount. Dating back centuries, the history of the relationship between the two countries is one of complexity - but one that is important to understand to make sense of the current crisis.

A. D. Miller is a former Moscow correspondent for the Economist, and the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of ‘Independence Square,’ a novel set in Kyiv during the Orange Revolution. In a conversation about the historical dispute behind Russia’s current threat to invade Ukraine, A. D. Miller and Dan discuss the key events in the twentieth century, including the turning point - the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the relevance of NATO. They also detail the consequences of the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the most recent of tensions.

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With Kenneth Branagh film, Belfast, hitting cinemas - we run down the historical background of the early years of the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland.

Dan is joined by Tim McInerney, co-host of The Irish Passport podcast, for this deep dive into the pivotal events of 1969 to the early 1970s.

This episode will establish the century-long roots of sectarian tensions, paint a picture of the political atmosphere in Northern Ireland as the decade came to a close, and track the series of escalating conflicts that climaxed in the deployment of British Troops.

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John von Neumann is one of the most influential scientists to have ever lived, a man who was in his day as well-known as Einstein and considered smarter. Von Neumann was instrumental in the Manhattan Project and helped formulate the bedrock of Cold War geopolitics and modern economic theory. He created the first-ever programmable digital computer, prophesied the potential of nanotechnology and, from his deathbed, expounded on the limits of brains and computers - and how they might be overcome.

Ananyo Bhattacharya, science writer and former medical researcher, joins Dan on the podcast. They discuss the story of the 20th century’s foremost forgotten intellectual - who von Neumann was and his remarkable contributions to mathematics that continue to impact our lives today.

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Join celebrity farmer, ecologist and conservationist, Jimmy Doherty, on his farm as he talks to eco-experts and well-known faces about trying to live a greener life.

From bug burgers and sustainable football clubs, to viagra honey and foraging fungi, Jimmy’s new weekly podcast will cover all things ecology.

Hear Jimmy chat to guests like his old friend Jamie Oliver, ecopreneur Eshita Kabra-Davies, the Eden Project's Sir Tim Smit, BOSH!, Dale Vince, Bez from the Happy Mondays... and many more.

A new episode will drop every Thursday.

Subscribe to On Jimmy's Farm from History Hit - https://podfollow.com/1606172296

 

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On the 30th January, 372 years ago, Charles I, king of Great Britain and Ireland, stepped out of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, to be beheaded in front of a huge London crowd. It was a deeply shocking moment not just in the lives of those people who witnessed it, but also in the longer span of British history. But the regicide didn’t just happen out of the blue, it was part of a truly revolutionary period - one that experienced civil war, regime change, religious upheaval and, for the only time in British history, a period of republican government.

Rebecca Warren, an early modern historian who specialises in the history of the church during the British civil wars and interregnum between 1640-1660, joins Dan on the podcast. They discuss the reason king and parliament went to war, the Battle of Preston in August 1648 as a turning point, the day-by-day details of the trial, and how the image of Charles as a martyr became immediately fostered as a result.

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The 1950s in West Germany saw a sharp decline in Nazi war crimes investigations and trials. Instead, there were campaigns for amnesties and reductions of earlier sentences, many led by former high-level Nazis and supported tacitly by conservative politicians. Prosecutions lacked any serious or systematic effort, and in both German states, the emphasis was more on integration and rehabilitation, with the aim of stabilising their war-torn societies, rather than the rigorous investigation of Nazi crimes. This began to change in West Germany following scandals about former Nazis in prominent positions. As the 50s wore on, several new trials spotlighted the horrors and scale of Nazi atrocities.

Rainer Schulze, Professor of Modern European History at University of Essex and Editor of The Holocaust in History and Memory, joins Dan on the podcast for a conversation about the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in post-war Germany. They discuss the turning point of the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, how the 1963-1965 Auschwitz Trials in Frankfurt brought the Holocaust back into broad public consciousness and the legacy of Nuremberg in the present day with the case of the 100-year-old man who stood trial in Germany in 2021, charged with assisting in the of the murder of 3,518 people as a former SS guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

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Carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949, the Nuremberg trials were held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. The most widely-known of those trials was the Trial of Major War Criminals, held from November 20, 1945, to October 1, 1946. Judges from the Allied powers of Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States, presided over the hearing of 22 defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity.

Sir John Tusa, broadcaster and writer, joins Dan on the podcast. They discuss what led to the Nuremberg trials, the intricate details of the Trial of Major War Criminals, outcomes for subsequently convicted war criminals such as Hermann Göring, and the lasting impact of these trials.

This episode is dedicated to the late Ann Tusa, who co-authored with husband John, 'The Nuremberg Trial'.

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Thomas Geve was just 15 years old when he was liberated from Buchenwald concentration camp on 11 April 1945. It was the third concentration camp he had survived. During the 22 months he was imprisoned, he was forced to observe first-hand the inhumane world of Nazi concentration camps. On his eventual release, Thomas felt compelled to capture daily life in the death camps in more than eighty profoundly moving drawings. He detailed this dark period of history with remarkable accuracy.

Despite the unspeakable events he experienced, Thomas decided to become an active witness and tell the truth about life in the camps. He has spoken to audiences from around the world and joins Dan on the podcast for Holocaust Memorial Day. They discuss Thomas’ rare living testimony, how as a child he had the unique ability to document the details around him, and his book ‘The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz: A Powerful True Story of Hope and Survival’.

Thomas’ daughter Yifat, also kindly shares with Dan the lasting impact of her father’s experiences.

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