The Rest Is History
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728 episodes
728 episodes
487. Hundred Years' War: Henry V’s Invasion of France (Part 1)
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Once more, we'll close the wall up with our English dead […] And upon this charge, cry God for Harry, England and St. George!”Such was Henry V’s call to arms at the siege of Harfleur, as written by…
486. Henry IV: Warrior Princes and Fat Knights (Part 2)
The year is 1403, and the Usurper King, Henry IV, faces a seemingly insurmountable challenge to his rule. He has been brought the news that his old friend, Harry “Hotspur” Percy, has betrayed him, and plans to lead his army against the Kin…
485. Henry IV: The Usurper King (Part 1)
"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown…”Henry IV has been portrayed as both a shadowy, obscure figure, and a strong king who was loved by his people. Prior to ascending the throne, Henry, the son of John of Gaunt, was admired for his gla…
484. The Food that Changed the World
The unexpected evolution of Italian food can serve as a tantalising doorway into some of the greatest moments of Italian history: from medieval monarchs, murdered popes, and the Renaissance, to secret societies, and Mussolini’s fascist pro…
483. The Mysterious Case of the Ape Man
In Sussex, in 1912, men quarrying in a gravel pit near Piltdown village turned up a human skull. According to Charles Dawson, a lawyer and amateur archeologist with a remarkable track record for finding ancient treasures, it belonged to a …
482. The French Revolution: The Royal Family Escapes (Part 8)
Twelve months after the dramatic Women’s March on Versailles, the Revolution proper was well into its stride, and while Paris overflowed with a sense of unbridled political freedom, the King and Queen were little more than prisoners in the…
481. The French Revolution: The Women's March on Versailles (Part 7)
By the summer of 1789 the different sections of the Revolution were at loggerheads, and the recently created National Assembly riven in two. Both factions, the radicals on the left and the more moderate revolutionaries on the right, upheld…
480. The French Revolution: The Rights of Man (Part 6)
“Liberté, égalité, fraternité!”Alongside violence, the French Revolution is a story of principles and values. It is the ultimate intersection of brutality and Enlightenment idealism, as epitomised by the Fall of the Bastille. So too the cr…
479. The French Revolution: The Storming of the Bastille (Part 5)
“It was violence that made the revolution revolutionary”.The storming of the Bastille is viewed by many across the world as a moment of celebration, when the French people were liberated from the shackles of tyranny and royal despotism. Ye…
478. The French Revolution: Showdown in Versailles (Part 4)
In the summer of 1788, a monstrous storm swept across France, wiping out the crucial wheat harvest. With the nation already in the throes of political and financial calamity, this meteorological disaster - followed by an apocalyptic drough…