The Rest Is History
The Rest Is History

The Rest Is History

The world’s most popular history podcast, with Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook.

Join The Rest Is History Club (www.therestishistory.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
510. America in '68: The Killing of Robert Kennedy (Part 3)
04 November 2024
510. America in '68: The Killing of Robert Kennedy (Part 3)
“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another”

As Attorney General during JFK’s presidency, Bobby had often played second fiddle to his older brother. But by 1968, Robert F. Kennedy had become a distinct political leader dedicated to social justice. In March he declared he would run in the primaries to become the Democratic presidential candidate. He galvanised support amongst marginalised communities, young people, and anti-war voters, and in the immediate aftermath of Martin Luther King’s assassination, he gave an emotional impromptu speech to a predominantly Black crowd, mentioning his own brother’s assassination for the first time in public. On the evening of June 4th, it was announced that Bobby had won the California primary. With bleeding palms from shaking so many hands along the campaign trail, he gave a victory speech to a crowded room of supporters in the Ambassador Hotel. But the joy was to come crashing down as tragedy struck the Kennedy family once more…

Listen as Dominic and Tom discuss another of 1968’s American assassinations, and the build up to the moment when Bobby Kennedy died in the arms of a seventeen-year-old kitchen busboy.

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*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
_______

Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
509.  America in '68: The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Part 2)
31 October 2024
509. America in '68: The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Part 2)
The peaceful figurehead of the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960s, Dr Martin Luther King had inspired hundreds of thousands to demand equal rights for African Americans. But by 1968, the once uniting leader seemed to be losing popularity, both amongst activists and in the press. As he grappled with being hunted and threatened by the FBI, he was also contending with a new generation of more militant activists who felt that his nonviolent approach was not working. Downtrodden but not defeated, King plans a new Poor People’s Campaign to combat poverty in America. As part of this new focus, he visits Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. The day before his final moments at the Lorraine Motel, he preaches to a crowd, ‘I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.’

Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the tragic assassination of Martin Luther King, including the public outcry that ensued, and his more recent legacy as a secular saint in the USA with a dedicated national holiday.

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*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
_______

Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
508. America in '68: Nightmare in Vietnam (Part 1)
28 October 2024
508. America in '68: Nightmare in Vietnam (Part 1)
"Tonight I want to speak to you of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.”
On the night of Sunday, 31st of March 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson, after announcing an end to the bombing of North Vietnam, stunned the world by revealing he would not seek the democratic nomination for that year’s presidential election. The seemingly never-ending Vietnam War had already made LBJ hugely unpopular with his progressive base. But now, facing challenges from Eugene McCarthy, the ambiguously anti-war senator from Minnesota, and Robert “Bobby” Kennedy, heir to the Kennedy throne, Johnson had decided to bow out. And so, as the war slowed for a moment, the Democrats would have to decide on the best candidate to take on a certain Richard M. Nixon… 

Join Tom and Dominic in the first episode of our six part series on America in 1968, as they look at the stories of Lyndon B. Johnson, Eugene McCarthy, and how the Vietnam War would come to define them both.

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LIVE SHOWS
*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.
Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
_______
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
506. The French Revolution: Massacre at the Palace (Part 4)
23 October 2024
506. The French Revolution: Massacre at the Palace (Part 4)
The war between revolutionary France and the allied powers of Prussia and Austria has reached fever pitch, and in early August 1792, the latter party threaten a terrible vengeance on Paris should harm be done to the French royal family. But far from calming tensions, this threat puts the King, Marie Antoinette and their children in terrible danger. They’ve been kept in the Tuileries Palace since their failed escape, and on the 10th of August, a frenzied crowd, led by National Guards and “fédérés” from Marseille, storm the palace, massacring the Swiss guards defending the Royal family, as they tear through the halls, in search of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette…

Join Tom and Dominic in the fourth instalment of season two of the Fetch Revolution, as they dive into the chaos and carnage of the storming of the Tuileries.

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Looking for all of our episodes on the French Revolution? Check out The Rest Is History’s French Revolution playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX6W9e1zgsgaG
_______
LIVE SHOWS
*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.
Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
_______
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
505. The French Revolution: The Shadow of the Guillotine (Part 3)
20 October 2024
505. The French Revolution: The Shadow of the Guillotine (Part 3)
During the "Ancien Regime", royal executioners held an unholy status, and would strike up fear in the crowds as they walked the streets of Paris. But with the Revolution, the role of executioners in society was reformed, and whilst they lost some of their privileges, they were ushered into to a new, universalist France. And as the Revolution brought forward more and more enemies of the state, executioners were faced with more victims than the axe could handle. This, combined with an ever growing debate around the humanity and dignity of executions, would lead to the invention of a killing machine still used by the French state more than 150 years later…

Join Tom and Dominic in the third part of our second season of the French Revolution, as they look at gruesome methods of execution under the French monarchy, the changing role of executioners, how the Guillotine came to loom so large over the fate of so many…

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Looking for all of our episodes on the French Revolution? Check out The Rest Is History’s French Revolution playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX6W9e1zgsgaG
_______
LIVE SHOWS
*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.
*The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
_______
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis + Becki Hills
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
504. The French Revolution: War to the Death (Part 2)
16 October 2024
504. The French Revolution: War to the Death (Part 2)
“You have shaken off the yoke of your despots, but surely this was not to bend the knee before a foreign tyrant…”
It’s January 1792, and one of the largest factions in revolutionary France, the Gironde, is calling for war against Austria. The French people’s hatred of Marie Antoinette has always fuelled suspicion of the Austrians, and at the same time, there has been constant, treacherous correspondence between the French royal family and their European cousins. And so, when one of the prominent members of the Gironde calls to arms in early 1792, little does he realise that the war he wants will haunt Europe for the next 25 years, totally redrawing its map, and costing millions of lives…

Join Tom and Dominic in part two of our second season of the French Revolution, as they dive into the first of many wars to come between Revolutionary France and its European rivals.

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Looking for all of our episodes on the French Revolution? Check out The Rest Is History’s French Revolution playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX6W9e1zgsgaG
_______

LIVE SHOWS
*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*

If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

*The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*

Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com

_______

Twitter:

@TheRestHistory

@holland_tom

@dcsandbrook

Producer: Theo Young-Smith

Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis

Editor: Ross Buchanan

Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
503. The French Revolution: Bloodbath in Paris (Part 1)
13 October 2024
503. The French Revolution: Bloodbath in Paris (Part 1)
Welcome to Season 2 of The French Revolution!

Revolutionary fervour threatens to engulf the streets of Paris, as demonstrators have gathered on the Champ de Mars to sign a petition demanding the removal of the King. Two days prior, the National Assembly had decreed that Louis XVI would remain King under a constitutional monarchy, even after his failed escape to Varennes, an inexcusable betrayal of the French people. The crowd has begun to swell on the Champ de Mars, and two men have already been lynched by the mob. The National Guard, with Lafayette at its head, has been sent to disperse the demonstrators, and a bloody, violent face-off erupts…

Join Tom and Dominic in the first part of our second Season of the French Revolution, as they break down the events of the Champs de Mars Massacre.
_______
Looking for all of our episodes on the French Revolution? Check out The Rest Is History’s French Revolution playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX6W9e1zgsgaG
_______
LIVE SHOWS
*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.
*The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com
_______
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis + Aaliyah Akude
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
502. The Roman Conquest of Britain: To the Ends of the Earth (Part 4)
09 October 2024
502. The Roman Conquest of Britain: To the Ends of the Earth (Part 4)
In the aftermath of Boudicca’s uprising, the Romans felt they could not withdraw from the British Isles. They sent their most competent fighters and leaders to suppress the indigenous Britons in the south. As the Druids of Wales were defeated, and the resistant Caledonians were massacred, the process of Romanisation in Britain began. London became the urbanised imperial capital, and the Roman love of hot springs saw the development of Bath. And, forty years after their arrival, they finally reached the Highlands, conquering lands as north as Orkney.

Listen as Tom and Dominic discuss how the Romans circumnavigated the British Isles, colonised its lands and returned to Rome as heroes.

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LIVE SHOWS


*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*

If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.

*The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*

Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com

_______

Twitter:

@TheRestHistory

@holland_tom

@dcsandbrook

Producer: Theo Young-Smith

Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis

Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
501. The Roman Conquest of Britain: Boudicca’s Reign of Blood (Part 3)
06 October 2024
501. The Roman Conquest of Britain: Boudicca’s Reign of Blood (Part 3)
“Two cities were sacked, eighty thousand of the Romans and of their allies perished, and the island was lost to Rome. Moreover, all this ruin was brought upon by a woman...”
Few figures have statues dedicated to them in the towns they incinerated. But Boudicca was no ordinary figure. With a name that means “she who brings victory”, Boudicca was Rome’s supervillain. She was a freedom fighter who stood up to the greatest imperial power in the world. In 60 AD, Boudicca led her Iceni army to attack Colchester and London, cities left bare and vulnerable without fortifications. But the Romans would not accept such defeats without taking revenge…

Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the life of the first vivid personality in British history, a fierce tale of a warrior queen.

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LIVE SHOWS

*The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.*
If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York.
*The Rest Is History LIVE at the Royal Albert Hall*
Tom and Dominic, accompanied by a live orchestra, take a deep dive into the lives and times of two of history’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com

_______

Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices