The Rest Is History

By Goalhanger Podcasts

History

What's The Rest Is History about?

Historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook are interrogating the past, and attempting to de-tangle the present.

They question the nature of Greatness, why the West no longer has civil wars and whether Richard Nixon was more like Caligula or Claudius.

They're distilling the entirety of human history, or, as much as they can fit into about fifty minutes.

Join The Rest Is History Club (www.restishistorypod.com) for ad-free listening to the full archive, weekly bonus episodes, live streamed shows and access to an exclusive chatroom community.

Here are some of our favourite episodes to get you started:

WATERGATE/NIXON apple.co/3JrVl5h

ALEXANDER THE GREAT apple.co/3Q4FaNk

HARDCORE HISTORY'S DAN CARLIN apple.co/3vqkGa3

PUTIN & RUSSIA apple.co/3zMtLfX

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393. JFK: Cuba, Camelot and...

11.28.2023

By the late 1950s, John F. Kennedy was a rich and handsome Democratic senator with a beautiful wife and young family, heading for the White House despite his Catholicism, his affairs and his secret illnesses. In January 1961 he became ...

The Rest Is History episodes:

11.28.2023 393. JFK: Cuba, Camelot and the Cold War (Part 2) By the late 1950s, John F. Kennedy was a rich and handsome Democratic senator with a beautiful wife and young family, heading for the White House despite his Catholicism, his affairs and his secret illnesses. In January 1961 he became ...
11.27.2023 392. JFK: The Road to the White House (Part 1) “There were a lot of people who wanted Kennedy dead, a lot of powerful people. There are secrets still being held and I never bought for a minute that Oswald operated alone.” The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in ...
11.24.2023 Introducing.... Legacy Everyone leaves a legacy. In their new podcast series, produced by Goalhanger & Wondery, Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan tell the wild stories of some of the most extraordinary men and women ever to have lived – and ask whether ...
11.23.2023 391. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Last Emperor (Part 8) Tenochtitlan, once the glittering jewel at the heart of the mighty Aztec Empire, has fallen. Hernán Cortés stands triumphant, the master of this New Spain. Or so it seems. For the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtemoc, is still alive and well. ...
11.20.2023 390. The Fall of the Aztecs: War to the Death (Part 7) "Conquer or die indeed, Cortes thought… The hour of decision was at hand…" It is the spring of 1521 and the fate of Mexico hangs by a thread. Smallpox has ripped through the local population, while the ruthless Spanish commander, ...
11.16.2023 389. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Night of Tears (Part 6) Things have never looked bleaker for Hernán Cortés and his band of Spaniards. They are trapped, starving and terrified in the heart of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, surrounded by an enraged people bent on revenge. And with their imperial ...
11.14.2023 388. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Festival of Blood (Part 5) “The blood flowed like water…” It is 1520 and word has reached Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan that another group of Spaniards led by the ferocious Pánfilo de Narváez, have landed on the coast to hunt him down. Taking drastic action, ...
11.13.2023 387. The Fall of the Aztecs: Prisoners of Montezuma (Part 4) The year is 1519. Hernán Cortés and his Spanish comrades have arrived in Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztecs, and have been welcomed by their Emperor Montezuma. But what is Montezuma planning? Are the Spaniards his guests - or ...
11.09.2023 386. The Fall of the Aztecs: The City of Gold (Part 3) “Conquer or die! Conquer or die! Conquer or die!” Making a decision that will change the course of history, Hernán Cortés chooses to disobey his orders and head inland in search of the gold-rich empire of the mysterious Montezuma. Ahead ...
11.07.2023 385. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Woman Who Changed The World (Part 2) Hernán Cortés has set sail from Cuba, eager to find the truth behind the rumours of gold on the coast of Mexico. Ahead lies a world he can barely imagine - a land of pyramid temples, terrifying gods and unknown ...
11.06.2023 384. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1) The meeting of the controversial Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and the formidable Emperor Montezuma in 1519 was one of the great hinge moments of world history, and the beginning of the end for the mightiest of the New World empires: ...
11.02.2023 383. Young Napoleon: The Shadow of the Guillotine Within the turmoil of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte stands out to his military superiors, first by defeating the English at Toulon, then by putting down a royalist mob in Paris when outnumbered four to one, with a “whiff of ...
10.30.2023 382. Young Napoleon: Teenage Revolutionary “I would plunge the avenging dagger, up to the hilt, in the breast of the tyrant!” Born in Corsica a year after the island was given to France by the Genoese, Napoleon Bonaparte grew up in a world of political ...
10.25.2023 381. Captain Cook: To the Ends of the Earth Cook has been sent by the Royal Navy to the Pacific to track the transit of Venus from Tahiti, but also with a second, secret mission: once he’s reached Tahiti, he will go on to search for the great southern ...
10.22.2023 380. Captain Cook: History’s Greatest Explorer The greatest sea explorer of all time, James Cook was born to a humble Yorkshire family, and first stood out for his talents as a cartographer for the Royal Navy in Newfoundland. He would go on to lead three epic ...
10.18.2023 379. Baghdad: The Arabian Nights The setting for so many of the Arabian Nights, like the stories of Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, or Aladdin, Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age had a shimmering image, a dimension of mystery and wonder… ...
10.15.2023 378. Baghdad: The Golden Age Baghdad was a place of fabulous sophistication and teeming multitudes, where terrible things could happen, but great wonders could also be found… During the Islamic Golden Age, it was the most global city the world had ever seen, a truly ...
10.11.2023 377. Baghdad: Crossroads of the Universe “No city in the world will ever rival it for prosperity...“ Baghdad, originally a Christian village in Iraq, was chosen by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur as the site for the new capital of his empire, and it would become a ...
10.08.2023 376. Baghdad: The Forging of Islam A story of great myth and of huge historical significance, the foundation of Baghdad is a fundamental episode in the development of Islam. The Umayyad Caliphate, the first great Islamic empire, stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of ...
10.04.2023 375. Hitler and the Mitford Sisters The Mitfords were the most glamorous aristocrats on the London scene in the 1920s, with at their head Diana, the most beautiful woman in London, who would eventually marry Oswald Mosley. However, her younger sister Unity would strike up a ...
10.01.2023 374. The Battle of Cable Street: Fascism Defeated “You will never catch Sir Oswald admitting to anti-semitism - all he does is embody it!” Following the violent scenes at Kensington Olympia, the British fascist movement is in decline. Britain is swirling with unemployment, having just come out of ...
09.27.2023 373. Oswald Mosley: Fascist Leader The fascists in Britain have found a leader known across the country: the sinister yet complex Oswald Mosley. Following stints as an MP for both the Tories and Labour, Mosley, a veteran of the First World War, forms the British ...
09.24.2023 372. The Birth of British Fascism The cultural roots of fascism swirled around Britain at the turn of the 20th century, as medieval nostalgia, an obsession with hygiene, anti-semitism, and concern for the environment grew in the wake of modern development. In the 1920s, Britain faced ...
09.21.2023 371. The 1973 Chilean Coup: General Pinochet Seizes Power The U.S. have given up on ousting the socialist President Allende through democratic means, and shift to a more militaristic approach, in the form of General Pinochet. Once known as the ‘dull dog’, a man who had a reputation for ...
09.20.2023 370. The 1973 Chilean Coup: Allende, Nixon and the CIA In the midst of the Cold War, the 1973 coup against the socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende, led by General Pinochet with the support of Richard Nixon, remains a seismic episode in Latin American history. A story imbued in American ...
09.18.2023 PAX: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age (Extract) In anticipation of the U.S. release of PAX, here’s the book’s introduction for you to enjoy, read by its author, our very own Tom Holland… Available in the United States and Canada from 26th September; PAX is already in bookstores ...
09.17.2023 369. The Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death “Are you not entertained?!” The emblem of Rome, the Colosseum was the unsettling but glamorous home of Roman violence, used for gladiatorial bouts, naval reenactments, and by the emperors to re-stage popular myths. Built by the Flavian dynasty in the ...
09.13.2023 368. The History Behind Hogwarts: Ancient Schools and Revolting Students “To be a boy at one of these schools was to be alternately tyrant and slave.” More gruesome even than the Battle of Hogwarts, 18th century British Public schools were hotbeds for violence and uproar, despite their deeply Christian origins. ...
09.10.2023 367. The Real Harry Potter: Magic, Empire and Beastly Bullies Eclectic traditions, obscure codes and cryptic ancient languages: the world of Harry Potter has captivated the imagination of children from all backgrounds for decades. A fantasy series inspired by a long lineage of stories, from Tolkien to Narnia, all committed ...
09.06.2023 366. The Architect of Modern China “Let us advance courageously, to change the backward condition of our country, and turn it into a modern and powerful socialist state!” Deng Xiaoping, a man purged by Mao and his followers twice before becoming leader of China, paved the ...
09.03.2023 365. Le Marquis de Sade: Sex and Violence The father of sadism and a prophet of totalitarianism, the Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and writer, an uncompromising and unashamed libertine with the eerie ability to corrupt those around him. Arrested first by the French monarchy and ...
08.31.2023 Introducing... The Rest Is Money Does money really make the world go round? Economics, business and finance have long been subjects we leave to the stockbrokers, hedge fund managers and business school professors who spend their lives obsessing over them - but there’s no reason ...
08.30.2023 364. Sixties Fashion: Swinging London In a swirling world dominated by miniskirts, feather boas, posh photographers, youth culture, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles, London has been transformed, and avant-garde “boutiques” have taken over areas left empty in the wake of the demise of local manufacturing. ...
08.27.2023 363. Sixties Fashion: The Teenage Revolution The Sixties is one of the only moments in history when Britain could claim to be the epicentre of world fashion, and in this episode Tom and Dominic delve into this cultural boom, from the boxy, militaristic styles of the ...
08.23.2023 362. The Taj Mahal: Love and Death “The mutual affection and harmony between the two had reached a degree never seen between a husband and wife…” The Taj Mahal, built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, tells the story ...
08.20.2023 361. The Lost Library of Alexandria One of the greatest institutions of the ancient world, the Library of Alexandria was the embodiment of ultimate learning, and a “repository of everything”. Built within the same complex as the tomb of Alexander the Great, it stood as a ...
08.16.2023 360. Fear City: New York in the 1970s “A cloud of black, acrid smoke hung over the area. It was a scene from a warzone, a battlefield - it was a scene from the end of the world…” New York in the 1970s was a city decimated by ...
08.13.2023 359: Martin Luther King's Dream "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” Arguably the most celebrated speech of the 20th century, Martin Luther King Jr.’s address in front of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 was a defining moment in the American ...
08.09.2023 358: Viking Sorcery Warning! This one isn’t for the faint-hearted... A naked, torch-carrying man, who would walk backwards around a funeral pyre, with his fingers covering his anus. The armed woman who worked a loom made from human body parts. 6-legged reindeers. Slaves ...
08.08.2023 NEW PODCAST: THE REST IS FOOTBALL Join Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards for a new podcast bringing strong opinions on all the latest stories from the world of football. Hosted by three men who’ve been there and done it at the highest level of ...
08.06.2023 357: Historical Love Island: The Sequel “There’s a lot of severed heads at this villa!” The great TV sensation of the summer returns on The Rest Is History, as Tom and Dominic are once again joined by Tom’s daughter Katy, to navigate an incredibly competitive field ...
08.02.2023 356: The Blood-Drinking Bride of Christ A woman of immense influence on medieval Christendom, Catherine of Siena was one of the first female Doctors of the Church, who married Christ in her own bedroom. Living through a time of great anxiety due to the onset of ...
07.30.2023 355: Roman Apocalypse: Pompeii 79 AD Mount Vesuvius' eruption in the autumn of AD79 remains one of the deadliest and best-known in history. The plume of super-heated volcanic gases spewed skyward formed a cloud 21 miles high, with the volcano ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal ...
07.27.2023 354: Paris 1968: The Return of De Gaulle Charles de Gaulle was a war hero in the First World War, and, having refused to accept his government’s armistice with Nazi Germany, became the voice of the French Resistance during the Second World War. But how did France’s largest ...
07.24.2023 353: Paris 1968: The Students' Revolt May 1968 saw underlying tensions reach a climax in France, resulting in a period of civil unrest coloured by rioting, general strikes, and the occupation of universities and factories. Join Tom and Dominic in the first part of our tour ...
07.20.2023 352: Amsterdam: Kings, Canals, and Coffee Houses A city which played a fundamental role in the Dutch Golden Age and in the birth of the Dutch monarchy, Amsterdam has also stood in the avant-garde of European liberalism since the Second World War. Join Tom and Dominic on ...
07.17.2023 351: Amsterdam: Miracles, Money, and Mud A city built on water, Amsterdam has often set the tone of European modernity. It first gained prominence as a miraculous centre for pilgrimage, and then stood out for its relationship with the Reformation, and for its role in the ...
07.13.2023 350: The Triumph of George Washington (Part 4) With the French and Spanish siding with George Washington’s revolutionaries, the game is up for the British, and it seems time for them to cut their losses. Following the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, the war is effectively over, ...
07.10.2023 349: The Birth of the United States (Part 3) “O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!” The U.S. Congress votes for independence on the 2nd of July 1776, and George Washington reads the Declaration of Independence to his ...
07.06.2023 348: The Boston Tea Party (Part 2) “Last night three cargos of tea were emptied into the sea. This morning a man of war sails. This is the most magnificent movement of all. There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the ...

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