Latest Episodes
Most Recent
Upgrade your favourite History Extra podcasts
Listen to all HistoryExtra podcasts ad-free and access episodes early.
More Episodes
In the 1840s, famine hit Ireland with devastating consequences. But what were the circumstances that turned a potato blight into a catastrophe that shattered societal structures and caused around a mi...
· 42 min 57 sec
In 1861, the kingdom of Italy was proclaimed, unifying the various Italian states under one national banner. But what did it mean to be 'Italian' in the mid-19th century? How did the pope react to the...
· 44 min 11 sec
What's the difference between private and public life – and where should we draw the line between the two? Over the centuries, these boundaries have often been blurred, as Tiffany Jenkins explores in...
· 41 min 5 sec
Was Elizabeth I holding England back from establishing itself upon the global stage? Speaking to James Osborne, Professor Anna Whitelock explores how the accession of the new king James VI & I, an...
· 36 min 5 sec
In the latest episode of our monthly podcast series, regular panellists Hannah Skoda and Rana Mitter are joined by Frank Trentmann to discuss the historical parallels behind recent developments in the...
· 45 min 14 sec
Historian Kara Schlichting leads travel writer and history buff Paul Bloomfield through the diverse stories of the city which we now know as the ‘Five Boroughs’ – New York City. Together, they introdu...
· 46 min 59 sec
In the 19th century, a magic new drug took the medical community by storm, riding a wave of scientific endeavour. But, as this Long Read written by historian Douglas Small reveals, it wasn’t long befo...
· 20 min 15 sec
How did the English take Manhattan from the Dutch in the 17th century without firing a single shot? Speaking to Elinor Evans, historian Russell Shorto explains a many-layered colonial history, includi...
· 44 min 5 sec
Composing songs of courtly love and war in the High Middle Ages, the troubadours were the poet-musicians of western and southern Europe – especially southern France. But were they really the lovesick...
· 39 min 2 sec
Historians have counted lots of things in the Bayeux Tapestry – animals, ships, hands and plants. But nobody had counted the number of penises it contained until Oxford historian Professor George Garn...
· 33 min 2 sec
In the summer of 1565, the might of the Ottoman empire faced off against a few hundred Knights Hospitaller and their allies on the island of Malta. The outcome might have seemed inevitable but the eve...
· 35 min 56 sec
Richard the Lionheart is well-known for his travels to distant lands, time on crusade, and wrangling with international politics… But, less well known is the fact that his sister, Joanna Plantagenet (...
· 51 min 45 sec
Michael Pye roams the streets of the Belgian city dominated by a medieval fortress and graced by Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance monumentsRenowned for its busy port and leading role in the diamond tra...
· 37 min 12 sec
Battered by the Vikings, outshone by King Alfred, Mercia has long been painted as the also-ran of the Anglo-Saxon world. Yet, as this Long Read written by Max Adams considers, this mighty Midlands kin...
· 22 min 53 sec
Henry VIII lorded it over England. Francis I dominated France. Charles V was the main man in central Europe. Yet arguably none was as powerful as Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent – a true heavy...
· 35 min 35 sec
Lasting from the ninth century BC right up until Roman conquest in the first century BC, the Etruscans were a powerful ancient civilisation who inhabited Etruria in ancient Italy, and rubbed shoulders...
· 52 min 48 sec
On 19 April 1775, American militia and British regulars clashed at Lexington and Concord in what would become the first battles of the Revolutionary War. But, as historian George Goodwin reveals, the...
· 41 min 8 sec
Cut off from the outside world and with food and other essentials dwindling, it's estimated that upwards of one million people died. Yet throughout this ordeal, a group of indomitable scientists riske...
· 36 min 16 sec
Barcelona may be well known for the bustling La Rambla, Gaudi's soaring Sagrada Família and, of course, its lively bars and restaurants, but that’s not all there is to there is to the historic Spanish...
· 42 min 6 sec
From Snow White to Sleeping Beauty, the Brothers Grimm are best known for collecting and curating fairy tales. But, as Ann Schmiesing reveals, recording these stories for posterity was only one of the...
· 35 min 16 sec