Dan Snow's History Hit

In a special episode from our sister podcast Warfare, Dan is joined by host James Rogers fresh off the Waterloo battlefield in Belgium where last week an astonishing discovery was made. The project Waterloo Uncovered unearthed bones that could hold extraordinary insights into the experiences of Waterloo soldiers, their diets, health, life and death.

This episode was edited and sound designed by Aidan Lonergan.

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Catherine Belton joins Dan on the podcast to discuss the remarkable story of Vladimir Putin's rise to power. After working from 2007-2013 as the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, Catherine's career has offered an exclusive insight into the workings of Putin's Kremlin. Her book 'Putin's People' is packed with interviews with the key inside players, uncovering fascinating details about how Putin subverted Russia’s economy and legal system and extended the Kremlin's reach into the United States and Europe. It's a story of billions of dollars being siphoned out of state enterprises, murky networks of operatives and the suppression of independent voices.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Argentina surrendered to British forces in Port Stanley on the 14th of June 1982. The Falklands conflict was over. In the months after the fighting ended troops and their equipment shipped out, graves were dug and memorials were put up across the islands for those killed in battle. British military personnel were identified, most buried at sea or repatriated to the UK. But for 237 deceased Argentine soldiers, their hastily buried bodies remained unidentified for decades and their families were left unable to claim their loved ones who’d died fighting in the islands. Their memorials read simply: “Argentine Soldier Known Only By God”

Then in 2012, a team embarked on a project to change that. The International Committee of the Red Cross began a mission to collect DNA samples from each of the unknown graves in the hope that they could give the Argentine soldiers back their names and provide answers to relatives. Reporter Beth Timmins went to the Falkland Islands for the 40th-anniversary commemorations earlier this year and tells this moving story on this final podcast of our Falklands40 series.

If you want to find more episodes on the Falklands War, you can go back through the Dan Snow History Hit feed and look for episodes that begin with 'Falklands40'. This special season goes through all the key moments of the Falklands War, the tactics, the equipment, the challenges and of course the human stories of those tested by the extremes of war on a rocky island in the middle of the freezing Southern Atlantic. Find explainers and analyses from eminent historians and powerful testimonials from serving officers on both sides.

Presented by Dan Snow and Beth Timmins

Produced by Beth Timmins and Mariana Des Forges

Mixed and Mastered by Dougal Patmore

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.

Russia has launched an invasion of Ukraine. As European leaders gather and Ukraine makes preparations to defend itself, the world watches. In light of this escalating situation host of the Gone Medieval podcast, Matt Lewis steps in for Dan and runs through a brief but complex history of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine. He provides some context to the way in which the two states view each other and why Russia asserts that Ukraine is a possession of Moscow despite Ukraine's fierce independence. In doing so, Matt covers a millennium of history that includes Vikings, Mongols, horrifying famine, nuclear disaster and the fall of the USSR.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.