Best HistoryPod Podcasts (2026)

1
14th January 1943: Roosevelt and Churchill meet at the Casablanca Conference in Morocco

Play Pause

1h ago

—

The Casablanca Conference saw the Combined Chiefs of Staff join American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss the future strategy for fighting the Second World ...By Scott Allsop

1
13th January 1935: The Territory of the Saar Basin voted in a plebiscite to reunite with Germany

3h ago

—

Voter turnout in the plebiscite was 98% of all eligible voters in the Saar, and 90.8% of them chose to re-join the German ...By Scott Allsop

1
12th January 1913: The name “Stalin” meaning “man of steel” first used in print by Joseph Dzhugashvili

38m ago

—

Like many underground revolutionaries, Joseph Dzhugashvili made frequent use of pseudonyms to evade police surveillance, and first used the alias “K. Stalin” as the signature to a letter in the Social ...By Scott Allsop

1
11th January 1923: French and Belgian troops marched into Germany and occupied the industrial Ruhr area

2h ago

—

The occupation of the Ruhr was met with passive resistance by the German workers. Their strike was only called off on 26 September as rampant hyperinflation crippled the German ...By Scott Allsop

1
10th January 49 BCE: Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon River on his march to Rome

2h ago

—

Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with the 13th Legion during his march on Rome that led to the Roman Civil ...By Scott Allsop

1
9th January 1806: State funeral of Admiral Horatio Nelson takes place in London, following his death at the Battle of Trafalgar

1h ago

—

Nelson’s coffin was placed on a grand funeral car designed to resemble HMS Victory for its final journey to St Paul’s Cathedral and subsequently interred in the crypt, joining a small number of national figures accorded this ...By Scott Allsop

1
8th January 1918: United States President Woodrow Wilson outlines his principles for world peace, known as the Fourteen Points

2h ago

—

Keen to distance the United States from nationalistic disputes that fuelled European rivalries, Wilson's 14 Points sought a lasting peace by securing terms that avoided selfish ambitions of the ...By Scott Allsop

1
7th January 1979: Pol Pot of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia) overthrown when Vietnamese forces capture the capital city Phnom Penh

3h ago

—

After the Vietnamese forces captured Phnom Penh on 7 January 1979, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge forces fled into the ...By Scott Allsop

1
6th January 1941: President Franklin D. Roosevelt sets out the “Four Freedoms” in his State of the Union address

3h ago

—

Roosevelt identified freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear that, together, provided a moral framework for US engagement in the ...By Scott Allsop

1
5th January 1968: The Prague Spring begins with Alexander Dubček becoming the new leader of Czechoslovakia

1d ago

—

Dubček replaced Novotný as the leader of Czechoslovakia on 5 January 1968 and quickly began to introduce a series of political and economic reforms known as ‘socialism with a human ...By Scott Allsop

1
4th January 1642: Charles I of England attempts to arrest the Five Members of Parliament, prompting the English Civil War

2d ago

—

Charles I himself entered the House of Commons chamber – an act that was a huge violation of Parliamentary privilege – and sat in the Speaker’s chair to demand the Five Members be handed over to ...By Scott Allsop

1
3rd January 1868: Meiji Restoration begins in Japan when loyalists seize control of the Kyoto Imperial Palace

3d ago

—

Supporters of imperial restoration occupied key positions in Kyoto on 3 January 1868 and announced the abolition of the Tokugawa ...By Scott Allsop

1
2nd January 1980: Jimmy Carter instigates the end of détente after the USSR invades Afghanistan

4d ago

—

In response to Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan, Jimmy Carter brought the period of détente to an ...By Scott Allsop

1
1st January 1942: Declaration by the United Nations agreed and signed by the four major Allied nations during the Second World War

5d ago

—

The original signatories – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the USSR’s Ambassador to the US Maxim Litvinov, and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs T. V. Soong – were joined the next day by a further 24 ...By Scott Allsop

1
31st December 1853: New Year’s Eve dinner takes place inside a model of an Iguanodon at the Crystal Palace Park in south London

9d ago

—

The dinner was widely reported and helped generate public interest in the Crystal Palace Park's life-sized models of extinct animals, which opened to visitors the following ...By Scott Allsop

1
30th December 1922: Foundation of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

7d ago

—

In 1922 the USSR consisted of just four Soviet republics – the Russian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Transcaucasian ...By Scott Allsop

1
29th December 1890: Lakota Sioux massacred at Wounded Knee

8d ago

—

More than 150 Native Americans from the Lakota tribe were killed by U.S. soldiers in the Wounded Knee ...By Scott Allsop

1
28th December 1537: Francis I of France establishes the first legal deposit for books under the Ordonnance de Montpellier

9d ago

—

The Ordonnance de Montpellier required printers and booksellers to deposit a copy of every book published in the kingdom with the royal ...By Scott Allsop

1
27th December 1929: Stalin calls for the ‘liquidation of the kulaks as a class’

10d ago

—

The Soviet dekulakisation campaign began when Joseph Stalin announced the ‘liquidation of the kulaks as a ...By Scott Allsop

1
26th December 1991: Soviet Union dissolved in the final meeting of the Supreme Soviet

19d ago

—

As it became obvious that the USSR was falling apart, on 25 December Gorbachev resigned as President and the Soviet Union was formally dissolved the next ...By Scott Allsop

1
25th December 800: Charlemagne crowned emperor by Pope Leo III during Christmas Mass at St Peter’s Basilica

17d ago

—

The coronation of Charlemagne established the precedent for what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire and reinforced the idea of a Christian emperor as protector of the ...By Scott Allsop

1
24th December 1955: Colorado Springs Continental Air Defense Command first gives children the location Santa as he delivers presents

13d ago

—

CONAD was replaced by NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) in 1958, and NORAD Tracks Santa has reported Santa’s location ever ...By Scott Allsop

1
23rd December 1750: Ben Franklin accidentally shocks himself while trying to electrocute a turkey

14d ago

—

Benjamin Franklin, the American polymath, accidentally electrocuted himself while attempting to kill a ...By Scott Allsop

1
22nd December 1964: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird strategic reconnaissance aircraft makes its first flight

15d ago

—

The SR-71 was used to conduct reconnaissance missions over hostile territory, providing high-quality photographic and electronic intelligence until its retirement in ...By Scott Allsop

1
21st December 1913: First modern crossword puzzle printed in the New York World newspaper, created by Arthur Wynne

17d ago

—

Wynne’s first ‘word-cross puzzle’ was shaped as a symmetrical diamond with a hollow centre, and was developed by Wynne for the 21 December issue of the New York World’s ‘Fun’ ...By Scott Allsop

1
20th December 1917: Establishment of the Cheka, the Russian Bolshevik secret police

25d ago

—

Established following a decree by Lenin on 19 December, the Cheka’s focus was on defending the revolution by removing internal threats to the communist ...By Scott Allsop

1
19th December 1777: George Washington leads the Continental Army into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

19d ago

—

By the time the Continental Army left Valley Forge in June 1778 it was smaller in number but stronger in organisation and confidence, establishing the foundations of its eventual success against British ...By Scott Allsop

1
18th December 1892: Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker receives its première performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg

27d ago

—

Composed in the Romantic style, the score received good reviews although responses to the ballet itself were mostly negative. The fortunes of the ballet only turned around with a new staging in New York in ...By Scott Allsop

1
17th December 497 BCE: The first Saturnalia festival celebrated in ancient Rome

21d ago

—

The Saturnalia festival was dedicated to Roman god, ...By Scott Allsop

1
16th December 1431: Henry VI became the only English monarch to be crowned King of France

22d ago

—

Henry was crowned by the Bishop of Paris, as the Archbishop of Reims was aligned with the French crown. Attendance was limited, and the event failed to generate significant support among the French ...By Scott Allsop

1
15th December 1851: The Forest Creek Monster Meeting of Australian gold miners protests taxes

27d ago

—

Over 14,000 Australian gold miners gathered at Forest Creek in Victoria for a protest known as the Monster ...By Scott Allsop

1
14th December 1911: Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen becomes the first to reach the South Pole

28d ago

—

Amundsen’s team arrived five weeks ahead of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova ...By Scott Allsop

1
13th December 1577: Francis Drake departs Plymouth on his circumnavigation of the globe

29d ago

—

Drake’s fleet consisted of five ships, with the flagship Pelican later renamed Golden Hind, and it departed Plymouth on 13 ...By Scott Allsop

1
12th December 1935: The Lebensborn registered association established in Nazi Germany by the SS

1M ago

—

Literally translated as ‘Fount of Life’, Lebensborn was designed to harness apparent racial purity through the birth of children conceived between Aryan women and members of the SS, often as a result of extramarital ...By Scott Allsop

1
11th December 1936: King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom announces his abdication in a worldwide radio broadcast

1M ago

—

King Edward VIII Edward abdicated in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, and became known as the Duke of ...By Scott Allsop

1
10th December 1948: Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris

1M ago

—

Drafted in the aftermath of the Second World War and the revelations of mass atrocities committed by totalitarian regimes, the declaration aimed to provide a shared framework for human dignity applicable to all ...By Scott Allsop

1
9th December 1921: Lead identified as a fuel additive to reduce engine knocking in automobiles

1M ago

—

Thomas Midgeley Jr. discovered that adding tetraethyl lead to gasoline reduced knocking in automobile ...By Scott Allsop

1
8th December 1980: John Lennon murdered outside his New York apartment block by Mark David Chapman

1M ago

—

As Lennon walked from his limousine to the Dakota building’s front entrance, Mark David Chapman fired five rounds at his back, of which four hit ...By Scott Allsop

1
7th December 1995: NASA’s Galileo spacecraft becomes the first to enter orbit around Jupiter

1M ago

—

Galileo’s arrival at Jupiter on 7 December 1995 demonstrated the feasibility of long-duration operations in the outer Solar System and produced findings that shaped subsequent missions, including Juno and the planned Europa ...By Scott Allsop

1
6th December 1956: The ‘Blood in the Water’ Olympic water polo match between the USSR and Hungary

1M ago

—

The match was a semi-final at the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympic Games and became famous as a result of the violence that ran throughout the ...By Scott Allsop

1
5th December 1934: The Walwal Incident lays the foundations for the Abyssinia Crisis

1M ago

—

Over 150 soldiers from both sides died in a two-day skirmish that began on 5 December, and whose origins continue to be ...By Scott Allsop

1
4th December 1676: Battle of Lund fought between Denmark–Norway and Sweden, one of the bloodiest battles in Scandinavia

1M ago

—

Casualty estimates indicate that nearly half of all soldiers engaged were killed or wounded, making the Battle of Lund one of the bloodiest engagements ever fought on Scandinavian ...By Scott Allsop

1
3rd December 1910: The world’s first neon light was turned on for the public at the Paris Motor Show

1M ago

—

Frenchman Georges Claude’s neon lighting at the Paris Motor Show was used to light the front of the large exhibition space at the Grand Palais with red ...By Scott Allsop

1
2nd December 1804: Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself Emperor of the French at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

1M ago

—

Napoleon’s coronation as Emperor of the French was a lavish affair that referenced various elements of Carolingian tradition, the ancien régime, and the French ...By Scott Allsop

1
1st December 1934: Assassination of Sergei Kirov, one of the most prominent figures in the Soviet Communist Party

1M ago

—

The authorities claimed that the murder was part of a broader conspiracy involving former oppositionists,, and used it as a catalyst for the purges that began in 1935 and escalated into mass arrests, show trials, and ...By Scott Allsop

1
30th November 1982: Michael Jackson releases Thriller, the best-selling album of all time

1M ago

—

Thriller was released just three weeks after mixing was finished and proved so popular that it was selling a million copies a week at its ...By Scott Allsop

1
29th November 1850: The Declaration of Olmütz signed by Prussia and Austria

2M ago

—

The Declaration of Olmütz was signed between Prussia and Austria, in which Prussia submitted to Austrian ...By Scott Allsop

1
28th November 1660: The Royal Society founded at Gresham College in London by a group of notable natural philosophers

2M ago

—

By providing an organised setting for experiment, publication, and debate, the Royal Society helped anchor the emerging scientific method and created a model that continues to influence scientific culture in Britain and ...By Scott Allsop

1
27th November 1809: The Berners Street hoax causes chaos in central London

2M ago

—

Englishman Theodore Hook orchestrated a practical joke known as the Berners Street hoax in the heart of ...By Scott Allsop

1
26th November 1922: Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon enter the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings

2M ago

—

Although Tutankhamun was one of the minor Pharaohs, the discovery of his tomb is significant for it being the most complete example of a royal tomb ever ...By Scott Allsop