Viewed as an idiot by those around him, Claudius felt the need to prove himself. In the century since Caesar had invaded Britain, the mythology surrounding the island had taken hold in Roman imaginations. Stories of sea monsters, terrifying Druids, and human sacrifice by barbarians, instilled fear into the imperial legions. But Claudius was determined, and launched a two-pronged attack on the southeastern coast to immortalise his name as a victor. Accompanied by German mercenaries, Roman soldiers forced their way across the Medway in Kent and headed up the Thames to London. British elites had two options: resist or collaborate…
Join Tom and Dominic as they piece together, coin by Roman coin, how Claudius conquered Britain in 43 AD. ________________________________________________
LIVE SHOWS
*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.
*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
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00:13 How The Roman Republic Turned Into The Roman Empire 03:12 Why Claudius wanted to conquer Britain 06:14 The Disaster of The Battle of Teutenberg Forest 07:34 The Romans thought Britain was the home of magic 10:42 Who were the Druids? 15:53 What was pre-Roman Britain like? 26:50 Countdown to the Roman invasion 31:12 The invasion 37:56 Military tactics and how the armies compared 38:57 Claudius’ triumph and how Roman Emperors spun victories 40:22 How the Romans rewarded their client kings 41:20 How the Romans dealt with resistance 49:20 The conquest of Wales, capital of the druids 55:35 Boudecia enters the fray
Viewed as an idiot by those around him, Claudius felt the need to prove himself. In the century since Caesar had invaded Britain, the mythology surrounding the island had taken hold in Roman imaginations. Stories of sea monsters, terrifying Druids, and human sacrifice by barbarians, instilled fear into the imperial legions. But Claudius was determined, and launched a two-pronged attack on the southeastern coast to immortalise his name as a victor. Accompanied by German mercenaries, Roman soldiers forced their way across the Medway in Kent and headed up the Thames to London. British elites had two options: resist or collaborate…
Join Tom and Dominic as they piece together, coin by Roman coin, how Claudius conquered Britain in 43 AD. ________________________________________________
LIVE SHOWS
*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.
*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
________________________________________________
00:13 How The Roman Republic Turned Into The Roman Empire 03:12 Why Claudius wanted to conquer Britain 06:14 The Disaster of The Battle of Teutenberg Forest 07:34 The Romans thought Britain was the home of magic 10:42 Who were the Druids? 15:53 What was pre-Roman Britain like? 26:50 Countdown to the Roman invasion 31:12 The invasion 37:56 Military tactics and how the armies compared 38:57 Claudius’ triumph and how Roman Emperors spun victories 40:22 How the Romans rewarded their client kings 41:20 How the Romans dealt with resistance 49:20 The conquest of Wales, capital of the druids 55:35 Boudecia enters the fray
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorHow The French Revolution Ignited A War That Consumed Europe (The French Revolution S02E02)The Rest Is History2024-10-18 | Join this channel to get access to perks: youtube.com/channel/UCUYK0BJZF3yNb2fw1EdAXUQ/join
“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.
00:00 The situation in 1791 06:00 The factionalism of the new assembly 08:10 The mess France was in 10:30 Louis’s refusal of a constitutional monarchy 11:50 Jacques Pierre Brissot 17:38 The threat of emigre populations 27:50 Brissot gains the upper hand 28:10 The French state was built for war 28:58 The French Revolution was meant to be exported 31:58 The French Revolution takes Avignon 33:53 How the Austrians saw the revolution 35:55 The Austrian Emporor and King of Prussia meet 37:25 France’s fear of the Hapsburgs 39:50 France’s justification for war 41:55 Robespierre argues against war 45:45 France’s political disintegration 47:30 Robespierre’s political personality 48:32 France went to war to bring it together 49:52 Louis XVI supports war 52:47 The Austrian emperor debates whether to go to war 53:27 Marie Antoinette betrays France 53:42 A dramatic development in France 55:38 The war begins _______
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.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Video Editor: Josh Smith Social Producer: Harry Balden Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorHow the French Revolution Descended Into Bloodshed (The French Revolution S02E01)The Rest Is History2024-10-14 | Become a YouTube friend of the show here: youtube.com/channel/UCUYK0BJZF3yNb2fw1EdAXUQ/join
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.
00:00 Introduction 00:18 Opening quote 01:18 French Revolution recap 01:51 2nd anniversary of the Fall of the Bastille 03:26 Did people respect the king personally? 04:00 The story of the French Revolution up to this point 06:14 The situation in the summer of 1791 07:40 The king’s position in captivity 11:13 Was the revolution fun? 12:34 The emergence of republicanism 14:45 The end of the National Assembly 16:55 Uprising in Haiti 18:55 Introduction to Antoine Barnave 22:30 The alliance between Barnave and Marie Antoinette 25:50 Why Louis XVI wasn’t punished after the Flight to Varennes 33:10 Lafayette 35:10 The Champs De Mars massacre 51:30 The choice between Barnave and Robespierre 52:31 The emergence of Robespierre 59:20 The new constitution 1:01:30 The Constituent Assembly _______ 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorWhy Rome Couldnt Conquer Scotland | The Roman Conquest Of Britain (Part 4)The Rest Is History2024-10-10 | Watch Part 3 here: youtu.be/leZ8XtKUNX0
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. _______ 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 _______
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorBoudicas Reign Of Blood: The Roman Conquest Of Britain (Part 3)The Rest Is History2024-10-07 | Watch Part Two Here: youtu.be/qGX9P80Ok1A
“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 Boudica was no ordinary figure. With a name that means “she who brings victory”, Boudica 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.
00:00 Introduction to Boudica 04:56 State of Roman Britain 08:42 The beginnings of Boudica’s rebellion 22:52 The crimes of the Romans 26:03 Foretellings of the rebellion 27:06 The revolt begins 30:50 The sack of Camulodunum (Colchester) 36:31 The Romans race to evacuate London 41:00 The burning of London 41:50 Boudica turns to St Albans 44:20 The Romans prepare for battle 44:25 The Battle of Watling Street 53:30 What happened to Boudica
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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
Video Editor: Jack Meek Social Producer: Harry Balden Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorProgressive imperialism at its bestThe Rest Is History2024-10-02 | ...The Roman Conquest of Britain | Julius Caesar’s Invasion | Part 1The Rest Is History2024-09-30 | Julius Caesar saw the Britons as brutal savages. Yet the Romans romanticised their lack of civilisation, deeming them as untainted by Mediterranean luxury. In 55 BC, after sending scouts along the Kentish coast, Caesar launched an invasion of the island as part of his Gallic Wars campaign. After a disastrous first attempt marred by storms, the “menacing horde of barbarians” of the English Home Counties asked Caesar for help and he returned with a bigger, stronger army to support their prince. Will this campaign succeed?
Join Tom and Dominic as they explore Caesar’s invasion of Britain and how it entered the orbit of the great imperial power.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorHundred Years War | The Road To Agincourt | Part 2The Rest Is History2024-09-26 | Watch Part 1 here: youtu.be/iSBpXcgos9Y
On the 11th of August 1415, King Henry V of England - an austere, pious, thoughtful and terrifying warlord in only his late-twenties - set sail for France. He embarked in the largest ship ever built on English soil at the head of some 15,000 ships, his nobles, brothers and hordes of Welsh longbow-men in tow. Two days later, they made land, and their target: the Port of Harfleur, a nest of state-sponsored pirates. Henry’s intention was to use it as a spring-board to a wider campaign in France, capitalising on the chaos that raged there, before eventually annexing Normandy. The assault on Harfleur that followed was bloody and brutal. The first Norman town to be pulverised by artillery, the English canons created a hellish scene of smoke and fire. However, the siege went on longer than Henry had hoped, inflicting terrible devastation upon the city and his forces. Furthermore, large numbers of his men were falling sick and their supplies growing thin. Finally, after four long weeks of terrible siege warfare, the city fell. However, a massive French force was now assembling to recapture the fallen city, potentially undermining all the money and men that Henry had already spent on the campaign. With the clock ticking for the English towards the end of 1415, what would Henry’s next move be? First, in a daring move of legendary chivalry, he challenged the portly French Dauphin to a duel, to no avail. So it was that he decided to march right across France and take Calais; a bold public proclamation of his right to the whole of France. Would Henry’s plan prove overly ambitious, or would he get the decisive battle he craved…?
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Henry V’s first bloody forays into France, enacting his claim to the French crown that he truly believed was his by divine ordination, and thereby reigniting the tumultuous Hundred Years’ War….
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorKing Henry Vs approach to invading FranceThe Rest Is History2024-09-26 | ...Hundred Years War | Henry Vs Invasion of France | Part 1The Rest Is History2024-09-24 | “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 Shakespeare. The son of the Usurper King, Henry V has decided to take up the English claim to the French throne, thereby putting an end to the truce that had marked a pause in the Hundred Years’ War. And so, in the late summer of 1415, Henry has decided to lay siege to the massive port of Harfleur, in Normandy, a renowned nest of state-sponsored pirates. The English king has waited a long time for this moment, and the odds may never again be so favourable to him: a civil war looms in France, as the formidable Burgundians, led by John the Fearless, jostle for power with their sworn enemies, the Armagnacs. The powerless French king, Charles VI, and his son, the Dauphin, can do nothing but watch the infighting unfold…
Join Tom and Dominic in the first part of their return to the story of the Hundred Year’s War, as Henry V takes up a decades-old claim to the French throne…
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorCharles VI - The Real Mad KingThe Rest Is History2024-09-24 | ...Henry IV | The Return of The King? | Part 2The Rest Is History2024-09-22 | Henry IV | The Usurper King | Part 1 youtu.be/uHGleBLLP9Q
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 King. Meanwhile, to the West, the revolt in Wales continues, at its head the formidable welsh king Owain Glyndŵr. And even in Scotland, where Henry IV thought he’d settled things down by silencing the terrifying Earl of Douglas, there is more trouble: a kitchen boy is claiming to be Richard II. And having made it halfway up to Scotland with his army to quell the newfound unrest, Henry IV must turn around, and march his men towards Wales, to face Hotspur at Shrewsbury...
Join Tom and Dominic as they dive into the biggest revolt against Henry IV’s rule, the making of his son and heir, Prince Hal, and the fate of the real Sir John Falstaff, abandoned by his dear friend Hal.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorHenry IV | The Usurper King | Part 1The Rest Is History2024-09-20 | Henry IV | Warrior Princes and Fat Knights | Part 2 youtu.be/Jqvzm28iP5M
“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 glamour, clemency, courage and strong faith, but these sympathies quickly turned to suspicion when he became a ruling regicide. Indeed, after a failed rebellion in 1388 against Richard II, Henry led a second coup against the king, and successfully usurped the throne in 1399. Once king, keen to gain legitimacy, he delivered his claim to the throne in English, and vowed to respect the will of the people. But he had inherited a divided country, which was surrounded by enemies in France, Scotland and Wales. And, despite being elected to the throne by his peers, and, as some sources claimed, prophesied by Merlin and selected by a greyhound, Henry quickly lost popularity, and himself faced violent rebellions. When the brewing uprising in Northern Wales finally erupted in the autumn of 1400, with the Scots following suit not long thereafter, Henry would need all his allies to stand firmly by his side…
Join Tom and Dominic as they explore the life and reign of Henry IV, an epic tale of plunder, rivalry and jealousy.
Artist: http://audionautix.comPiltdown Man | The Biggest Archaeological MysteryThe Rest Is History2024-09-17 | 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 palaeolithic man, possibly millions of years old, and was therefore the earliest trace of mankind ever found in England. Greater still, Piltdown man as he came to be known, seemed to be the ‘missing link’ between apes and men. The discovery inflamed and delighted British society, confirming and buttressing dearly held beliefs about the evolution of modern Europeans, and radically transforming understandings of the origins of humanity. In the wake of the find and the widespread corroboration of its authenticity by some of the best academics of the age, further digs were conducted in the area, which unearthed even more wondrous discoveries - a jawbone, primitive tools, and strangest of all, a cricket bat; perhaps the first hint that all was not as it seemed…was the greatest discovery of all time nothing more than an audacious and extraordinarily skilful hoax? And if so, who was the culprit in this grand mystery?
Join Tom and Dominic, as they describe the most mystifying archaeological discovery in English history, and one of the most unscrupulous tricks of all time, revealing as they do the truth behind the history of mankind.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorSt George | The Man Behind The MythThe Rest Is History2024-09-15 | The image of Saint George astride his horse, sword and spear in hand, slaying a dragon, is one of the most iconic iconographical spectacles of all time. But what was the historical truth of this deeply mythologised figure? The conventional take on his story is well known: once, long ago, there lived a pagan king who refused to honour the one God. As punishment, a terrible dragon was sent to ravage his lands, and his daughter sent to supplicate the beast. Until, the saintly George rode up to save the girl and the king’s soul…herein lies an important feature of the historical George: his piety, with the earliest sources casting him as a Christian martyr from Cappadocia, gruesomely tortured and killed in the 3rd century BC. Over time the legend has changed and evolved; from the courts of English monarchs such as Edward I and Henry VIII, who celebrated his chivalry to buttress their regimes, to his many religious and ideological detractors. Throughout it all, though, George stands apart from the ranks of Christian saints. But why?
Join Tom and Dominic as they trace the historical Saint George and his famous slaying of the dragon. From the earliest accounts of him in the Near East, to the cults of the medieval era, the reformation, Tudor pageantry, and the introduction of the St George’s flag. Fearsome 17th century dragons, mythical beasts, and miraculous resurrections all feature…
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorLee Miller: Exposing the Horrors of World War TwoThe Rest Is History2024-09-13 | It’s August 1944: the Liberation of Paris is underway, and France appears to slowly be extricating herself from Nazi control. But, on the French western shores, in Saint-Malo, the deafening sounds of artillery fire continue to punctuate daily life, with the Germans making a last-ditch attempt to hold the coastal town. And when the U.S. Army arrive to lay siege to the German positions, the last person expected to be among the Allied forces is a photographer, let alone a female one… Until the publication of The Lives of Lee Miller in 1985 by her son, Antony Penrose, very little was known of the woman who forced her way into occupied Europe, and documented the true horrors of the Nazi campaign. Her photographs capturing Nazi evil went around the world, exposing the atrocities of the Holocaust and the harrowing aftermath of the death of Hitler.
Now, her incredible story is being told in a new film, LEE, with Kate Winslet taking on the role of the formidable title character. From a marriage to a man famed for dying himself blue, to a staged photoshoot in Hitler’s bathtub, Join Tom and Dominic as they explore the extraordinary story of Lee Miller.
Joining Winslet is Andy Samberg playing Life Magazine photographer David E. Scherman; Alexander Skarsgård playing English Surrealist painter, photographer, poet and biographer Roland Penrose; Marion Cotillard playing Solange D’Ayen, the fashion director of French Vogue and close friend of Miller’s: Josh O’Connor playing Tony, a young journalist and Andrea Riseborough playing British Vogue Editor Audrey Withers.
Only in cinemas from Friday 13th September, book tickets now - leefilm.co.uk
As always we appreciate your feedback on The Rest Is History to help make the podcast better: https://forms.gle/qVqdcCMyraQ9megAA
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe Empress of the Apocalypse: From Byzantium to the Latin WestThe Rest Is History2024-09-06 | In 972AD a princess of the Byzantine Empire was sent by her uncle, the Roman emperor in Constantinople, to marry the son of Otto the Great - Emperor of the Latin West. A tantalising and formidable figure, Theophanu became a major player in one of the most tumultuous and mysterious periods of history. At the end of the 10th century, the world was still reeling from the cataclysmic implosion of the Roman Empire. Into the vacuum it left, three great powers reared their heads: the Empire of Islam, the Byzantines, and a Latin West in which barbarian kingdoms tussled to build themselves up over the rubble of Rome. It was also a time in which women had never wielded greater power, from behind the throne and even, before it. Following the death of her father-in-law, therefore, Theophanu - as the anointed wife of an emperor - became an Imperatrix Augusta, and in this capacity carved out a mighty new role for herself. As Rome’s heir’s battled for supremacy, Theophanu, with her competence and sophistication, would fight to see her son named the final, and much mythologised Emperor of Rome. Would she succeed? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Theophanu: empress of the apocalypse. From clashing empires, warring queens, and lascivious Popes, to court politics and the invention of the fork; all in a time of armageddon.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorHelen of Troy | The Queen of Greek MythsThe Rest Is History2024-09-01 | Join the Friends of the Show Membership Community for Exclusive Content! Unlock bonus episodes, full series, and more. Click here to join today:
We combined the two parts into one mega episode for YouTube, enjoy!
The story of Helen of Troy, her remarkable birth and her infamous love affair with Paris, the Trojan prince, resounds across the centuries. A figure of condemnation, pity and tragedy, her beauty set in motion the most legendary literary conflict of all time: the Trojan Wars. Yet, Helen’s story reaches far beyond Homer and the Iliad. From her godly parentage and the egg from which she hatched, to her marriage to the king of Sparta and her abduction to Troy, Helen crossed paths with the greatest figures of Greek mythology. But in a story told almost entirely by men, what then is the truth of Helen? Was her fabled life one of abuse and oppression, or was she the mistress of her own fate? And could it be that she did in fact really exist?
Join Tom and Dominic as they journey through the life of Helen of Troy, into worlds of myth and legend, and explore the significance of this most iconic of women - both for the world of the Ancient Greeks, and our world today.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorCusters Last Stand | FINAL PART | Wounded Knee MassacreThe Rest Is History2024-08-29 | 🚨WATCH PART 1 HERE: youtu.be/c8xX4MY0jxU 🚨
With Native American culture in free fall in the years following their triumph at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the rise of the Ghost Dance - a form of spiritual expression that promised liberty from the oppression of 19th century American politics, modernisation and mass entertainment - brought a new hope to the Sioux. Even so, the once great war chieftain Sitting Bull, unable to see visions int the dance, and having allowed himself to be seduced by Buffalo Bill and the mass entertainment industry, found his authority in the Reservation waning. Meanwhile, a plan was being concocted to do away for him once and for all…his fate would set in motion a tragic chain of events that would culminate in a terrible, barbaric massacre at Wounded Knee Creek, where, amidst the bathetic winter snows, it seems that the Lakota had finally met their end. Join Dominic and Tom for the epic conclusion to their mighty saga on the Lakota Sioux and the American Indian Wars, as they discuss the fate of Sitting Bull, the Ghost Dancers, and their last stand at the terrible Wounded Knee massacre.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorCusters Last Stand | Part 10 | The Ghost DanceThe Rest Is History2024-08-26 | 🚨WATCH PART 1 HERE: youtu.be/c8xX4MY0jxU 🚨
Following the tragic death of Crazy Horse and the ruthless cessation of the Sioux way of life, the last of the great Native American leaders were gradually picked off or repressed by the U.S. Government. Few though had so pitiful a fate as the once mighty Lakota War Chieftain, Sitting Bull. Having fled to Canada in search of peace from the relentless harrowing of his people, Sitting Bull finally returned and arrived at the Standing Rock Reservation in 1883. He was unprepared, however, for the changes wrought upon his people. With the explosion of railroads and the decimation of the already flailing buffalo populations, the Great Plains had been transformed into a desolate, barbed wasteland. While, the Native Americans within the reservations were increasingly coerced into Christianity by missionaries, or controlled by Federal agents. Then, news reached Sitting Bull and his people of a messianic figure from beyond the Rocky Mountains, who would come to liberate them from their plight. With him he brought the answer to their troubles: the Ghost Dance. Would it see the drums of war sound once more? Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the life of Sitting Bull in the years following his victory at the Little Bighorn: the destruction of the Plains, his time with the infamous Buffalo Bill, and the birth of the mystical, incendiary Ghost Dance.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | FINAL PART | The Royal Family EscapesThe Rest Is History2024-08-21 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/sm5yrVIGJfg?feature=shared 🚨
Twelve months after the dramatic Women’s March on Versailles, the Revolution 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 their echoing palace. For the past year Louis XVI had feigned cooperation with the National Assembly, all the while torn by his profound Catholicism and frozen by indecision about how to overcome his predicament. Then at last, following a traumatic experience over the easter of 1791, something changed and the contingency plan formulated several months earlier, was put into action. With the help of a disguised Axen Von Fersen, the royal couple and their children would flee to Belgium in an enormously ostentatious carriage. The date for their escape was set for the 20th of June, but before leaving Louis poured his hatred of the revolution into a letter, which if found would surely spell his political doom…that night the royal family, replete with accomplices, deceptions and disguises, set their audacious plan into action. What ensued was a heart-racing cat-and-mouse thriller of near misses, foolhardy naivety and extraordinary encounters, with appalling consequences…
Join Dominic and Tom for the thrilling conclusion to their astounding series on the early years of the French Revolution. With the King and Queen of France on the run from the nightmare their lives have become, will they make it across the border to freedom? Or, will they get caught and devoured by the ravenous hoards of the Revolution? _______
*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 _______
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | Part 7 | The Womens March on VersaillesThe Rest Is History2024-08-19 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/sm5yrVIGJfg?feature=shared 🚨
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 different interpretations of how the new system of governance, so firmly rooted in the idea of ‘la nation’, should be organised, particularly as concerned the authority of the King and the power of his veto. Tensions mounted, with many opposed to the idea of even a constitutional monarchy, and disgusted by the National Assembly’s willingness to treat with Louis XVI. None more so than the citizens of Paris, who progressively came to embody an amorphous but growing sense of ‘the people’. By July, there was a widespread feeling that some sort of violence would inevitably break out in the city against the royal family, thanks in part to the rising bread prices. The form it took in October of that year would prove more dramatic than any could have foreseen. After a lavish banquet in Versailles, an outcry began building in the marketplaces of Paris, with a swelling contingent of peasant women decrying the hunger of their children, and blaming it upon the Queen and the vampires of the court. Then, in a move that would change the fate of France and particularly Marie Antoinette forever, the army of women marched on and entered the palace…
Join Tom and Dominic as they describe one of the most terrifying and savage events of the entire French Revolution: the Women’s March on Versailles, which saw the queen - barefoot and sobbing - hostage to a head-hacking mob that clamoured for her entrails. _______
*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 _______
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | Part 6 | The Rights of ManThe Rest Is History2024-08-16 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/sm5yrVIGJfg?feature=shared 🚨
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 creation and implementation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man - a totemic manifesto for the French state, which seemingly embodied a shockingly overt rupture from the past. Not only one of the decisive moments of the French Revolution, the declaration would prove transformative for all world history, and galvanised France as the cradle of of modern nationalism. So, just as the walls of the Bastille were abolished, the words of the document tore down something just as old and once impenetrable: the taint of absolutism, handing sovereignty from the king to the nation. By the 4th of August 1789 this amorphous beast was gripped by a great hysterical, almost paranoid passion, and it was amidst this turmoil that the French Assemblée Constituante voted unanimously to abolish feudalism, in one fell swoop eliminating everything that had come before. What would this consciously manufactured new beginning hold in store for Revolutionary France, or was it merely a bombastic continuation of the past?
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the groundbreaking ideas behind the French Revolution, along with the deep history of the ideals its enshrined. So too the stories behind some of its most famous iconography, and the long-term repercussions of this transformative upheaval for the modern world. _______
*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 _______
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | Part 5 | The Storming of the BastilleThe Rest Is History2024-08-14 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/sm5yrVIGJfg?feature=shared 🚨
“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. Yet, it was also a moment of horrific violence and chaos, culminating in countless acts of blunt, bloody murder. With a widespread sense of social unrest throughout France at the beginning of July 1789, things finally reached a peak following the King’s dismissal of his finance minister, Necker, a great favourite of the people. The arrival of 20,000 troops into Paris to maintain order triggered even greater panic in the streets, with the already febrile atmosphere being whipped into a frenzy by firebrand orators. Finally, with fighting breaking out between the soldiers and the mob in the Vendome, and then spilling over into the Tuileries Gardens, the Royal Commander of Paris gave the order to evacuate the city entirely, leaving it in the hands of the rioters. It was then that the mob, in a final desperate effort to procure gunpowder for its plundered weapons, turned its sites on the Bastille, the ultimate monument to repression …
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the apocalyptic Storming of the Bastille fortress, and the truth behind the prison's famously grotesque reputation. Given the gory events that unfolded on that momentous day, was violence innate to the French Revolution from the very beginning - its driving force - and its bloody denouement therefor inevitable? _______
*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 _______
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | Part 4 | Showdown in VersaillesThe Rest Is History2024-08-11 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/sm5yrVIGJfg?feature=shared 🚨
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 drought, and latterly the cruellest winter France had ever known - exacerbated the growing sense of catastrophe. With bankruptcy declared that August and unemployment record high, all eyes turned to Jacques Necker, the newly appointed finance minister. However, the amalgamation of political and financial crisis, the cultural atmosphere of virtue and passion, and the rising social unrest had already contrived to destabilise the situation permanently. By March there was food rioting, law and order had broken down in the countryside, and in April the bloodiest day of the revolution so far erupted in Paris. At last, in June, the Estates General met for the first time since 1614-15, and the mounting pressure to replace the traditional Three Estates with a single assembly resolved itself into the formation of the National Assembly; a body determined to take the fate of the nation into its own hands. With the elements gathering against them, what will Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette do?
Join Dominic and Tom as they recount the dramatic series of calamities that unravelled the nation and spiralled into the infamous Tennis Court Oath of June 1789, and the Revolution itself. From natural disasters and bread riots, and financial ruin, to political instability, Dr Guillotin, and disreputable republican firebrands…. _______
*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.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | Part 3 | The Violence BeginsThe Rest Is History2024-08-07 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/sm5yrVIGJfg?feature=shared 🚨
With seismic antecedents such as the Glorious Revolution in England and the American War of Independence, what was it about the French Revolution that saw it become arguably the most important episode in all early modern political history? And what unique combination of factors converged to unleash this colossal, world-shaking event; the paradigmatic example of a people trying to reshape their society? By the start of the 18th century, France was the largest kingdom in continental Europe, and a powerhouse of agriculture, trade, and military might. But it was also a multilayered and very complex machine, still heavily founded in its ancient hierarchies and the dominion of the ancien régime. The King, Louis XVI, though in no way despotic and in some ways an enlightened man, did not have the strength to fix the creaking system he had inherited. And while the 18th century was an age of enormous dynamism, energy and modernity into which a new discourse of the self had been born, it was also a time of terrible violence in France, long before the revolution. The nation had also been running up stratospheric debts ever since the 1720s, and the poverty of the monarchy - the plight of every 18th century monarch - was exacerbated by its efforts to fund the American War against the British. Finally, the unravelling situation came to a head when, in 1786, Louis XVI was confronted with the news that the looming financial abyss had finally engulfed France, triggering a series of events that, from 1787, would unleash the doom-spiral of the revolution, and lead to his eventual overthrow…
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the causes behind the French Revolution. From the innovative, enlightened culture of 18th century France, set beside its enduringly hierarchical and deeply violent society, the amiable but feeble Louis XVI with his clueless finance ministers, to the American Revolution, financial cataclysms, and angry mobs.
The French Revolution | Part 2 | The Diamond Necklace Scandal - youtu.be/B6d9DIzW9xs
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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.
*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 _______
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | Part 2 | The Diamond Necklace ScandalThe Rest Is History2024-08-04 | 🚨 PART THREE OUT: youtu.be/jhZjzA1w5dk?feature=shared 🚨
In August 1785 a shocking affair came to light which would prove so detrimental to the reputation and standing of the French King Louis XVI, and more especially his already unpopular wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, that it would become a decisive moment in the rising tide of the French Revolution. It concerned a gaudy but incalculably expensive diamond necklace commissioned by Louis XV for his mistress, Madame du Barry. Embroiled in the affair was a young prostitute by the name of Nicole Le Guay d’Oiva with an uncanny resemblance to the Queen, a naive Cardinal named Louis-René de Rohan, desperate to return to Marie Antoinette’s good graces, an aristocratic confidence trickster, Jeanne de la Motte, and a Freemason occultist, Alessandro Cagliostro. The web of lies and deceptions that they wove - in many ways capitalising upon the simmering tensions of court life at Versailles - and the scandal that subsequently erupted, would inflame the entire nation.
Join Tom and Dominic as they divulge, gem by glittering, salacious gem, the twists and turns of the famous Affair of the Diamond Necklace. An intrigue of such devilish guile and duplicity, with so colourful a cast of characters, that it near bellies belief. But also, with repercussions for the French monarchy that would destabilise it forever….
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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.
*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 _______
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe French Revolution | Part 1 | Marie AntoinetteThe Rest Is History2024-08-01 | 🚨PART TWO OUT NOW: youtu.be/B6d9DIzW9xs?feature=shared 🚨
The French Revolution is one of the great seismic events of global history. A devouring conflagration of bloodshed, violence and utopianism, it changed France and then latterly the whole of Europe forever. Yet, amidst the panoply of colossal, colourful names that defined this cataclysmic event, few have endured as iconically as that of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, who has in many ways come to embody the revolution in the popular imagination. Yet, from the moment of her arrival from Austria at the tender age of fifteen, Marie Antoinette was a contentious figure in France, with rumours circulating throughout her life of her insatiable sexual appetite and frivolity, her sapphic proclivities, and even her vampirism. But who was the real Marie Antoinette - voraciously decadent 'it' girl and snob or a well-meaning but naive scapegoat? Under what circumstances did she come to marry the Dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and to what extent did she truly spark the French Revolution, with her calls to “let them eat cake!”?
Join Tom and Dominic for the first instalment of their magnificent sweep through the outbreak and first years of the French Revolution, as they discuss the early life and character of one of its most celebrated and lambasted figures - an icon of style, a beacon of whimsical, bucolic giddiness, a rapacious monster - Marie Antoinette.
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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.
*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 _______
Though the Battle of the Little Bighorn seemed for the triumphant Lakota and their allies - the largest gathering of Plains Indians ever assembled - a miraculous victory, it was for them the beginning of the end. A great council was held near the battlefield in which they made the fateful decision to split up. Meanwhile, in Washington, Custer’s death and the military defeat of the army was being politicised, and the public rallied against the Lakota. Red Cloud, their political leader through so many of their struggles, was replaced with a puppet interloper. Then, during the winter of 1877, a contingent of ruthless and fiercely effective U.S. officers, including General Crook and General Miles, chased and harried the retreating Sioux contingents through the snows, leaving them starving, beleaguered and desperate. At last, in March 1877 the once formidable war chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull found themselves cornered, and their people left with little choice but to admit defeat. What then would be their fate?
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the annihilation of the Plains Indians and the dissolution of their extraordinary culture and nomadic way of life, along with the tragic death and downfall of one of the most mesmerising and mysterious characters of the entire story: Crazy Horse.
What happened between the moment that George A. Custer dispatched a trumpeter with his famous final plea for back-up, and the gruesome discovery of his forces at the Little Bighorn? Certainly, the morning of the 26th of June 1876 found the overwhelmed Major Reno and what remained of his men, along with Captain Benteen, gathered atop a hill, bloody, dehydrated, surrounding by putrefying corpses, and mystified as to the whereabouts of Custer. And the nightmarish ordeal of Reno's clash with the Lakota and their allies was not yet over. Gunfire, carbines and the whiz of arrows echoed in the distance, while below them fearsome Lakota warriors were unnervingly draped in the bloodied jackets and hats of Custer’s 7th Cavalry. Finally, at 3pm, the vast encampment of Lakota began moving off, and at dawn the next day they glimpsed a dust cloud in the distance: reinforcements at last. What they saw upon finally descending the hill, was a scene of such horror, that it would resound through the ages…
Join Dominic and Tom as they describe, moment by moment, the events of George Custer’s electrifying last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and its aftermath. What really happened, and what became of Custer, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull? Above all, who was to blame for the events of that shocking day?
Intro 0:00 Recap 0:09 Did Benteen make a mistake? 01:39 How long did
Custer live for? 7:27 Where is Custer? 10:57 The Arrival of
General Terry 17:31 Finding Custer 20:54 What Happened to Custer 22:36 The Topography
of The Battle 28:07 Custer's Strategy 29:27 What Was Crazy Horse Doing? 35:19 Are There Any Survivors? 43:29 How Everyone Found Out About The Battle 45:26 Who's To Blame? 47:47
“You and I are going home today, and by a trail that is strange to us both…” The Battle of The Little Bighorn is one of the totemic moments of American frontier history. However, it is also mysterious, with the exact events of that blood-soaked day difficult to trace. On the 22nd of June, George Custer marched out with vague orders to drive the vast gathering of the Lakota and their allies, under the leadership of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, towards General Terry’s force, advancing from the South. Custer, keen as ever for a charge, was hoping to score a considerable defeat over the Native Americans in time for the 4th of July centenary. Then, on the evening of the 24th of June, Crow scouts reported that the Lakota’s trail had been found, and Custer launched into action. Marching his men through the night, they arrived at the encampment the following morning, shocked to discover a camp of thousands. At 3pm, the first force attacked, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, in all its horror and gore, had begun…
Join Dominic and Tom they explore one of America’s most mythologised battles, separating fact from fiction, as they build up to George Custer’s last stand.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe History of Dragons ExplainedThe Rest Is History2024-06-18 | "When dragons flew to war… everything burned. I do not wish to rule over a kingdom of ash and bone."
Dragons - the most compelling of mythical beasts - are one of the most vivid creations of all human imagination, and their enduring resonance is captivatingly displayed by their role in George R.R. Martin’s House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones. But how did the legend of the dragon, prominent across the world, evolve into the modern incarnation embodied by Rhaenyra Targaryen’s golden Syrax? And what is the difference between dragons, wyverns and wyrms, the traces of which persist in Damon’s reptilian Caraxes?
Canonical dragons are the realisation of four main traditions: the serpents of the Greco-Roman World, the fortune-bringers of the Chinese emperors, the demonic beasts of the Bible, and the greedy gold-hoarders of Norse mythology, as seen in the tale of Beowulf.
The most famous heir of this tradition is J.R.R. Tolkien’s avaricious Smaug, but as in Tolkien’s Middle Earth, the dragons in Martin’s Westeros represent the dangers of uncontrolled power and humans’ capacity to abuse it. Perhaps, then, they have long served as avatars for humanity’s deepest fears about the world, with their manifestation in every age and culture tellingly symbolic….
Join Tom and Dominic as they interweave the many myths and traditions surrounding that most spectacular of beasts: the dragon, and trace its fascinating progression from the wingless creatures of early antiquity, to the mighty, complex creatures who fight for mastery of Westeros alongside their Targaryen riders, in George R.R. Martin's House of the Dragon.
Watch House of the Dragon season 2 on Sky. Go to sky.com to find out more.
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The U.S. was cast into a spiralling panic following the economic depression of 1873, and waves of paramilitary violence swept through the south as the debates surrounding Reconstruction swirled on. Amidst this uncertainty, the government, under the leadership of Ulysses S. Grant and his chief advisors, began drawing up a cold blooded plan to strike into the heart of Montana and settle the issue of the Plains Indians once and for all. Meanwhile, the drumbeats of war were sounding amongst the newly united Lakota and Cheyenne themselves, spearheaded by their war chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, as the pressures of white settlers and the railroads increased. Their numbers swelled in the wake of a failed winter campaign lead by General Crook, as swarms of refugees accumulated into Sitting Bull's village - the largest assembly of Lakota ever seen on the Plains. The stage seemed set for a mighty reckoning in the summer of 1876, as the Federal government geared up for another assault. Much to his delight George Custer, spared from the brink of disaster by his reckless impetuosity, was recruited to the 7th Cavalry marching on one of the armies closing in on the Lakota encampment near the Little Bighorn River…the Battle of the Rosebud that followed would see a six hour struggle of monumental violence.
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the events and battles that lead up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn; Grant’s eccentric generals, and Custer’s impulsive escapades in the build up to the final evening of his life…
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
In the wake of the barbaric Washita River massacre, George Custer found himself drifting; addicted to gambling, at odds with his wife, and failing in his efforts to take advantage of the American gold rush in New York. Finally, Custer was sent to Kentucky to suppress the terrible post war fighting there, but again found himself alienated from many of his companions by his controversial views on Reconstruction. Restless and dissatisfied, the chance for danger and action finally came Custer’s way, thanks to the ambitions of the Northern Pacific Railway. With plans to build it right across Lakota territory, the venture was intended to and would fatally threaten their way of life, by spelling the death of the bison. With this threat on the horizon, the mighty Lakota war leaders, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse lead violent raids against the survey party sent to prospect the land, hampering and halting their efforts. So it was that in 1873 another expedition was sent, and with it went George Custer, bringing him into contact for the first time with the two mighty warriors who would shape his destiny. A fearful, bloody game of cat and mouse would ensue, culminating in an epic confrontation…
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the evolution of Custer’s career leading up to his first legendary encounter with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, the incremental creep of the Northern Pacific Railway, and the U.S. Government’s secret plan to defeat the Lakota Sioux, once and for all.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorWhat Is Scalping And Can You Survive It? | ClipThe Rest Is History2024-05-17 | This is a clip from Part 3 of our series, you can watch the full episode here: youtube.com/watch?v=biSDeRAUjhQ
Join Dominic and Tom as they plunge into the world of the Lakota Sioux, looking at the history of their people in the American plains, their rich, complex culture and often gory rituals, and the fascinating characters who would challenge George Custer and the U.S. Government.
Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorCuster vs. Crazy Horse | Part 4 | The Rise of Sitting BullThe Rest Is History2024-05-16 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/cYSyvPZuu-Y 🚨
"What would you do if your home was attacked? You would stand up like a brave man and defend it. That is our story."
Following the bloody Fetterman Fight, which saw the Lakota warlord Crazy Horse and his warriors ambush and massacre American troops, the American public was left stunned, its government and civilian population hungry for revenge. In the wake of this a new treaty was signed, further restricting the Lakota Sioux’s freedoms, but nevertheless signed by their political leader, Red Cloud. Still, many would not be constrained to reservations, and instead sought war. Chief amongst them was Sitting Bull, a legendary, mythologised figure of the Great American Plains and the Wild West - the embodiment of a vanished age. Born into the Lakota Sioux, and a world of shifting allegiances, violent initiation rituals, and intransigent spiritualities, as a young man Sitting Bull’s herculean destiny was sung to him by an eagle. The career that followed in his war against the U.S. government would exceed even the greatest of epics. By 1860 he was paramount leader of the Sioux Nation, when news reached him of the imminent arrival of a survey party, lead by none other than George Armstrong Custer…
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss Sitting Bull’s rise, his extraordinary upbringing, and his stand against the increasing encroachment of railroads into his homelands.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorCuster vs. Crazy Horse | Part 3 | Horse-Lords of the PlainsThe Rest Is History2024-05-13 | 🚨 PART ONE FOR NEW VIEWERS: youtu.be/cYSyvPZuu-Y 🚨
Of all the great characters entangled in the story of George A. Custer and the American Indian Wars, few are as captivating as Crazy Horse. A mighty warrior of the Lakota Sioux, and a tremendous military tactician, he was a charismatic but enigmatic figure. The Sioux, of which the Lakota are a subculture, are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains. Their way of life was transformed by the introduction of horses to North America, but their nomadic lifestyle and dependence upon buffalo hunting was severely threatened by the imposition of telegraph lines, forts and then railroads upon their lands. So it was that, reluctant to be confined to the reservations outlined for them by the U.S. Government, they decided to fight back, under the joint leadership of the politically savvy Red Cloud, and the fated, fearless, tactically brilliant, Crazy Horse… Join Dominic and Tom as they plunge into the world of the Lakota Sioux, looking at the history of their people in the American plains, their rich, complex culture and often gory rituals, and the fascinating characters who would challenge George Custer and the U.S. Government.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorCuster vs. Crazy Horse | Part 2 | The Winning of the WestThe Rest Is History2024-05-10 | 🚨 PART THREE: youtu.be/biSDeRAUjhQ 🚨 PART ONE: youtu.be/cYSyvPZuu-Y
With the American Civil War coming to a close in April 1865, George Custer, cavalry commander in the Union army, and a man of dubious political leanings for a unionist officer, was sent to Texas. Reckless, daring and bloodthirsty, the conclusion of the war came as a disappointment to him. Then, having allied himself with the new, anti-Reconstruction American president, Andrew Johnson, Custer alienated himself from one of the most important men in the country: Ulysses S. Grant. As such he found himself exiled to the murderous but dull post of Kansas. There, he and the 7th Cavalry were charged with handling the looming conflict with the Cheyenne; an indigenous people of the Great Plains, whose lives and culture had been radically jeopardised by modernisation, and the encroachment of the railroads into their lands. While some Cheyenne were inclined to negotiate with Washington, their more zealous warriors, the ‘Dog Soldiers’, were determined to fight and destroy the settlers, sending bloodthirsty raids into federal forts. The campaigns that followed saw acts of terrific violence, culminating in a terrible, brutal massacre…
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Custer’s first forays into the gruesome and tragic American Indian Wars: his political missteps, southern adventures, romantic rollercoasters, and battles with the remarkable horse-riding, buffalo hunting Cheyenne.
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorCuster vs. Crazy Horse | Part 1 | Civil WarThe Rest Is History2024-05-08 | 🚨 PART TWO: youtu.be/Os2hVXiNneY 🚨
“Come on, you Wolverines!”
The story of the American Indian Wars of 1862-68 is an enthralling tale of hubris, politics, recklessness, and the merciless assault of industrialisation and modernity on an old world, nearly extinguished. An immense tragedy, it is also a story of great adventure, with formidable heroes and villains on both sides. No two figures encapsulate this better than the enigmatic, strategically brilliant Lakota war leader, Crazy Horse, and his foil on the side of the United States government, cavalry commander George A. Custer, whose daring, panache and egotism has immortalised him in the annals of American history. From the bloody battles of the American Civil War and the snake-pit of Reconstruction politics, to his ruthless campaigns against the Native American and First Nation peoples of the Great Plains, and his ensuing, mysterious demise, Custer’s life is a thrilling mix of heroics, brutality, madness and gore.
Join Dominic and Tom as they delve into the thrilling American Indian Wars, and the life of George A. Custer. From his flamboyant and salacious youth, to his daredevil performance fighting for the Union army, and his entry into the fascinating world of nineteenth-century American politics.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorWhere China gets its name and the link between Augustus and Chinas first EmperorThe Rest Is History2024-04-30 | ...Explained: The First Emperor of China | PodcastThe Rest Is History2024-04-29 | "The First Emperor will die and his land will be divided….” The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, left behind him a monumental legacy: an Empire which would last millennia, the foundations of the Great Wall of China, and an eerie Terracotta Army - 8000 warriors who would protect the Emperor in the afterlife. His deeply autocratic reign, and the brutal tactics he used to conquer rival states and establish the Chinese Empire, have seen him cast as the archetype of the “bad emperor”. And when compared with Qin Shi Huang, Mao boasted that “when you berate us for imitating his despotism, we are happy to agree!”. But was Chinese unification under one empire inevitable, or did it need a ruthless figure to centralise power? And to what terrifying lengths did the first Emperor go to secure immortality…?
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the fantastical First Emperor of China - one of the world’s most powerful and formidable rulers. From warring kingdoms and ruthless suppressions, to necromancy, mythical beasts, doom-ridden prophecies, and even 20th century Chinese Communism.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett
Image in the thumbnail is from the 18th century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. British Library en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang#/media/File:Qin_shihuangdi_c01s06i06.jpgLord Byron: Death of a Vampire | Part 4The Rest Is History2024-04-25 | Rumours surrounding Lord Byron’s scandalous divorce rippled throughout the world. Finally, he had no choice but to abandon England in disgrace and flee to Italy, an exile but still the most famous man in Europe. Then, in the summer of 1816 in Geneva, he met a young poet named Percy Bysshe Shelley, and one of the most iconic literary friendships of all time was sparked. A handsome republican with an enthusiasm for free-love, Shelley immediately attracted Byron’s admiration. With him, however, was his sister-in-law Claire, a former lover of Byron’s, pregnant with his child whom he detested. Also, Shelley’s wife, Mary. So it was that on a stormy night of ghost stories, another great masterpiece was born…However, as time passed and in the wake of a series of tragedies, the aging Byron grew increasingly isolated and restive, his thoughts turning once more to Greece, that ancient land of myth and legend. Approached by the London Greek Committee to help support the cause of Greek independence, Byron set off once more for Kefalonia. Was it doom or destiny that beckoned?
Join Tom and Dominic for the grand finale of their gripping journey through the life of one of history’s most darkly intriguing figures, Lord Byron. From his English exile, Italian sojourn and final love affair, to the greatest adventure of them all...
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorThe Dangerous Liaisons of Lord Byron | Part 3The Rest Is History2024-04-22 | Good God I am surely in hell!
Upon Lord Byron’s return to England and the publication of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, he became one of the most notorious men in Europe and the world's first celebrity. The next period of his life would be rocked by shocking scandal, moral depravity and sexual outrage. Pale and sickly but devastatingly romantic, he attracted a dedicated fan base, the likes of which had never been seen. Chief amongst these was the eccentric and androgynous Lady Caroline Lamb, whose affair with Byron would inflame London society and push both to the brink of insanity. So extreme was Caroline’s obsession that upon the advice of her mother-in-law, the cunning and cruel Lady Melbourne known as "the Spider", Byron set out to find himself a wife. The woman he chose was an unlikely candidate: a mathematician, Annabella Milbanke, who Byron hoped would redeem his devilish disposition. Their marriage would be blighted by cruelty, immorality and a particularly pernicious breed of infidelity. For, one other woman now played a central role in Byron’s life: Augusta Leigh, his lover, and sister…
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Lord Byron’s tumultuous romantic love affairs and marriage; culminating in a scandal so shocking and sexually licentious that it would drive him from England.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorLord Byron: Scandals, Debt & Politics | Part 2The Rest Is History2024-04-18 | By 1809, Lord Byron found himself untethered and debt-ridden. Disenchanted with politics, frustrated by his literary career and haunted by his illicit homosexuality, he abandoned an oppressive England and set out upon his legendary Eastern adventure. First plunging into a Europe torn asunder by the exploits of his hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, Byron decried the imperialist militarism of the raging Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, he delighted in the danger and excitement of his travels, absorbing and subsuming the cultures he encountered, and exploring a predilection for transvestism. From Portugal and the Peninsula War, Byron travelled to Albania where he fascinated the infamous Ali Pasha, and then later charmed the Sultan of Constantinople. In Greece, he found a land of exotic romanticism where his growing sense of destiny took root in the Greek’s fight for liberty. At last, in 1811 Byron returned to England and published his poem, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Almost overnight he became the most famous man in London. Byromania had engulfed the nation…
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Lord Byron’s remarkable travels abroad - his encounters with some of the most famous men of the age, his confrontations with danger and destiny, and his untethered eroticism…
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorLord Byron: Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know | Part 1The Rest Is History2024-04-16 | Few lives from history can have contained as many strange and exciting strands as that of Lord Byron's, whose story reflects the great dramas of the Napoleonic era. A vampiric hero of devilish charisma; a martyr for liberty, a licentious lothario; Byron’s cultural and literary impact cannot be underestimated. The remarkable course of his life, and his mercurial nature can in part be explained by the dark events of his childhood, and the outlandish history of his own family. Born with a club foot - his “satanic mark” - to “Mad Jack” Byron, a former gigolo dogged by incest and financial ruin, and an unpredictable mother, a strange curse seemed to lie over the family. Impoverished before the inheritance of his title and a romantic ruin in Nottinghamshire, the plump and provincial boy would finally find solace at school and university, where he transformed into the glamorous rake he would become. There too would he discover the dubious sexual passions that would haunt his life…
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the diabolic history of the Byron family, and the young Byron’s birth, troubled upbringing, and controversial adolescence.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London!
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorExplained: The History of Disco| PodcastThe Rest Is History2024-04-15 | Music for sex, dancing, and watching the straight world go by…
The explosion of Disco provides an extraordinary window into the tumultuous world of the 1970s, with its themes of sex, drugs, race and sexuality. By the start of the 1970s, America was a nation of dystopian gloom. The radical dream of the 1960’s had dissipated, with economic decline, Vietnam and Watergate polarising and disenchanting the public. Then, at a party in New York held by the DJ David Mancuso, something new was born: Disco. An intoxicating kaleidoscope of dancing and colour with an orgasmic new sound, it united disparate groups under the banner of music. An escape from the concerns of the day, it captivated the mainstream imagination with its idealism, open drug use, self-consciously flamboyant clothes, and acceptance of race and homosexuality at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was raging and gay rights still contentious. But, with its rising orthodoxy, Disco was also attracting a dedicated base of critics and detractors. They decried its hedonism, its debasement of traditional masculinity, and, with the Aids crisis swirling, its immorality.
Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the rise and fall of Disco, culminating in the shocking night of Disco Demolition at a White Sox game on the 12th of July 1979. Could it survive this ultimate reckoning?
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London! Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorMartin Luther: A World Torn Apart | PODCAST | Part 5The Rest Is History2024-04-12 | “I think there is not a devil left in hell, they have all gone into the peasants… smite, stab and slay all”.
Following on from Martin Luther’s dramatic abduction by his powerful protector, Frederick III, he had been secretly kept safe at Wartburg. There, he abandoned his priestly garments for good, and violently wrestled against the devil, in unorthodox ways…Meanwhile, the religious revolution that he had ignited was sweeping through Europe, and setting everything aflame. A sense of apocalyptic flux saw waves of destructive violence unleashed upon all the old customs and idols, as rebellions erupted throughout Christendom. Luther’s reformation had taken on a terrifying new form of zealotry, which saw him transformed from radical to reactionary. His determination to destroy the new reformers enraged and infuriated many of his old followers. None more so than Andreas Karlstadt - the former chancellor of Wittenberg university against whom Luther unleashed a savage smear campaign - and Thomas Müntzer; an apocalyptic prophet who sought to discredit Luther’s reputation. Then, in May 1524, there exploded an uprising in Germany that would change everything, as militant evangelical peasants came up against their Catholic overlords. A religious war had broken out at last…
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the radical turn of Luther’s religious revolution and his efforts to quash it, the groundbreaking Peasants’ War, his unexpected marriage, and the colossal legacy of Luther's ideas, and the Reformation.
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London! Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com
Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony PastorMartin Luther Vs The Holy Roman Emperor | PODCAST | PART 4The Rest Is History2024-04-10 | "I cannot and will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.…Here I stand, I can do no other” The Diet of Worms in April 1521 was one of history’s most dramatic confrontations, a clash of the old world and the new. It saw the celebrity professor Martin Luther summoned to the imperial free city of Worms by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, to defend his radical beliefs. And though his life was guaranteed by the Emperor, Luther had never been in greater danger. He arrived in the city to huge, ecstatic crowds, like Jesus returning to Jerusalem from the desert. But would his rhetorical brilliance and passionate defence save him and the future of protestantism, or would he doom himself to a fiery fate?
Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss one of the most groundbreaking moments of western history: Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521, and the extraordinary twist of fate which saw the most famous man in Europe inexplicably vanish from the face of the earth. Defenestrated dogs, malevolent poltergeists and scatological furores abound...
*The Rest Is History LIVE in 2024* Tom and Dominic are back onstage this summer, at Hampton Court Palace in London! Buy your tickets here: therestishistory.com