By November 1938 the scene in Germany was at its darkest yet, as the full scale of Hitler’s intentions for the Jewish population of the German Reich was becoming evermore apparent. As the threat of another world war increased, so the Nazi anti-semitism machine went up a gear. Synagogues were destroyed, Jewish businessmen, bureaucrats, lawyers and doctors disbarred, plans were made for a mass expulsion of Jews from Europe. But the worst was yet to come, as the assassination of a German official in Paris in late 1938 instigated the most savage wave of Jewish persecution in Germany so far… Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the build up to Krystallnacht - the Night of Broken Glass - and the diabolical destruction, brutality and violence that ensued. By the end of 1938, Hitler’s two dearest ambitions, an apocalyptic victory over the Jewish people and the conquest of Europe itself, seemed terrifyingly within reach. *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 Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As Hitler ramps up the German war machine, he remains obsessed with one idea: uprooting Jews from the Reich. The Nazis embark on a campaign of totalitarian oppression against them, persecuting Jewish people in every aspect of life. They are excluded from most professions, forbidden from intermarrying, Jewish children are bullied and excluded from schools, all Jews have a “J” stamped in their passport, to name but a few measures. Worst of all, the brainwashing of the German people has become apparent, and many are willing participants in the various forms of persecution; plenty of German towns have put up signs by this point saying “Jews not wanted here”. Hitler may tone down the oppression to whitewash the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but this does not last. One terrifying truth is clear: he is fully set on the destruction of European Jewry. Join Tom and Dominic in the fifth part of our series on the Nazis in power, as they look at how the persecution of Jewish people in the Reich increased in the lead-up to the Second World War. *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 Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“We must have a healthy people to dominate in the world”. In July 1933, Hitler’s Nazi party passed a new law for the compulsory sterilisation of anyone with a physical disability, or “congenital feeble-mindedness”. They claimed this was scientifically sound, and for the moral and biological good of the Aryan race. The measure darkly foreshadowed the tragedies to come, as Nazi Germany ratcheted up its horrific program of racial sterilisation, euthanasia and extermination. But why did the Nazis see their horrific crimes as beneficial to the fatherland, and consider themselves on the right side of History? What motivated Hitler, the figurehead behind these terrifying ideologies, to act on them? And how many of these ideas, propagated by Hitler and his generals, were shared and accepted by the German people? Join Tom and Dominic as they delve into the roots of the Nazis’ pseudo-science: from the glorification of ancient Greece, Rome, and the “Nordic” race, to the intellectual ideals of the 19th century, in which Darwinism and the survival of the fittest flourished. They attempt to unravel one of the darkest ideologies in all world history, and their uniquely hideous brand of anti-semitism.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 1937, Hitler’s ever-growing ambitions were driving Europe to the brink of war. Ever restless, he knew that Germany must conquer the world, or be destroyed. His first target was Austria, his homeland, whose annexation to Germany would unite German blood under one indomitable Reich. However, in an effort to avoid Nazi rule, the Austrian Chancellor, Kurt Schuschnigg, called a referendum on annexation, to show the Austrian people’s will against it. Hitler’s reaction was one of rage, and on the morning of Friday, the 11th of March, 1938, he sent an ultimatum to Vienna. At 5.30am the next day, the German army crossed into Austria. It was met by great cheering crowds, and Hitler’s arrival in Vienna was one of true apotheosis… Yet the darkness at the heart of Hitler’s European dream was also emerging, as the Nazis began to detain and repress Austrian minorities, particularly the Jewish population, on an unprecedented scale. Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the annexation of Austria, and the post-war myth of Austria’s victimisation at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis. They also look at the Nazis’ first acts of violence, discrimination and deportation against Vienna’s Jewish population, prefiguring the horrors to follow. Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“No one can doubt that this world will one day be the scene of dreadful struggles for existence on the part of mankind. In the end, the instinct of self-preservation alone will triumph.” Hitler has been planning for war since 1928. However, the Treaty of Versailles has placed immense limitations on his ability to rearm Germany, and he must first overcome internal enemies, whether the SA or the communists. He will then need to build-up the Nazi war machine, to allow him to expand the Third Reich and gain his much-desired lebensraum, “living space”. But with Germany facing economic decline, will Hitler’s push for rearmament provide a solution to the economy’s manifold problems? Or will the Führer simply use foreign policy coups as a smokescreen, to hide the dire straits facing the German people? Hitler can be certain of one thing - Britain and France do not want another war… Join Tom and Dominic in the third part of our series on the Nazis in Power, as they look at how Hitler, both materially and ideologically, prepared the country for war, and, as a brilliant opportunist, preyed on the Allies’ weaknesses in order to complete his rearmament of Germany. Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“We did not lose the war because our artillery gave out, but because the weapons of our mind didn’t fire” In September 1934, the Nazis held their sixth annual party conference in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg. The location held a symbolic resonance for the party, being not only the embodiment of an uncorrupted medieval Germany, and the centre of the First Reich, but also a bedrock of anti-Semitism. It was therefore here that Hitler would lay out his terrifying vision for the mighty new empire’s future, promulging the superiority and purity of the Aryan bloodline. The rally was a pageant of ritualised fanaticism, recalling the majesty of Germany’s mythic past and all the heroism of classical antiquity. It was the first of many such extravagant displays, replete with parades of marching workers, bonfires, and swastikas, as the Nazi propaganda machine, under the leadership of the grotesque Joseph Goebbels, tightened its stranglehold over Germany. Through the popularisation of the radio, Nazi youth organisations, cinema, and even the Olympic Games, German minds were being steadily remoulded… Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the Nazis' gradual indoctrination of the German people in the build up to the Second World War, and the beginnings of Hitler’s plans for not only the Third Reich, but the entire world. Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Hitler had entered Röhm’s bedroom alone with a whip in his hand. Behind him had stood two detectives holding pistols, with the safety catch removed, at the ready…” The 30th of June 1934 saw a seismic moment unfold in the early years of the Third Reich. With the Führer and his party firmly in power, a bloody faction fight takes place within the Party. The Nazis have gained control of both the streets and the democratic institutions of Germany, with Hitler made Chancellor in 1933. But the SA, the largest Nazi military faction, led by the unmistakable Ernst Röhm, have shown signs of challenging Hitler, and rumours have reached the Führer that he is facing a coup… After a bloody night of murderous terror led by Hitler and his personal guard, the SS, they are left as the strongest military wing in the Party, with the SA facing extinction. Join Tom and Dominic in the first episode of our series on the Nazis in Power, as they delve into how Hitler solidified his and his party’s control of Germany, the different right wing groups at play, the signs of uprising against Hitler’s rule, and the eventual quelling of all opposition. Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Pope of great renown once reigned during chaotic years for the medieval Church: she was an extraordinary figure, from a time when women were forbidden from even becoming priests - indeed she is History’s only female Pope. But did this “Popess" really exist, and if so, who was this mysterious, awesome woman? What does her story reveal about the murky politics of the medieval Vatican? The original account described an English woman named Joan, who through her brilliance rose to become none other than Pope John VIII. Then, in a shocking turn of events, she fell pregnant and gave birth to a son during a procession, before meeting a sinister end…  Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss this most remarkable of legends and discover the truth behind the story of the pregnant Pope - a tale of teenage Popes, female persecution, blinding, castration, and Europe’s greatest revolution. Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“The Church was anxious to draw the attention of its members away from the old pagan feast days, and the December date did this very well, for it coincided with the birthday of the invincible son of Mithraism…” Is Christmas as we know it merely an invention, created by plagiarising from rival cults, such as the worship of Mithra, the Iranian sun god, during the days of the Roman Empire? Is Christmas in fact based on a pagan festival, that Christians have made their own? Or has Christmas always been an authentically Christian celebration, born of its tradition and rituals? Join Tom and Dominic as they delve into the roots of Christmas, the importance of the Roman festival of Saturnalia, the cult of Sol Invictus, and much more. 📱Protect your tech valuables with our exclusive 20% off discount at http://uk.mous.co/RestHistory🎒 Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the 8th of June 1948, the HMT Windrush sailed from Kingston with almost 500 migrants on board, destined for England. The ship docked at Tilbury on the 22nd of June, and history was made. Since that day the legend of Windrush has gradually come to characterise an increasingly broad and more diverse group of British citizens, and the event stands as a sacred moment in the history of British multiculturalism, race relations and immigration, laden though it is with moral and political baggage. In today’s episode Tom and Dominic are joined by acclaimed journalist and author Trevor Phillips, to discuss this seminal moment in the history of Black Britain. During the course of the episode they dismantle some of the myths that have since developed, explore the people who came over, and the emergence of the communities that settled in Britain in the wake of 1948. They also consider the complicated wider context of the Windrush story, and the long term significance of this foundational moment. 📱Protect your tech valuables with our exclusive 20% off discount at http://uk.mous.co/RestHistory🎒 Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1854, the twenty-five year old aristocrat Roger Tichborne, heir to an impressive fortune, died in a shipwreck ....Or did he? His mother, certain of her son’s survival, advertised extensively with a tantalising reward for her son’s return. Twenty years later a rough, corpulent butcher from Australia named Arthur Orton arrived in Europe and declared himself to be the long lost heir. The trial that ensued captivated the public imagination, becoming the greatest and most dramatic case of Victorian England and arguably, all of British history. Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss The Tichborne Case with best-selling author Zadie Smith, which forms the centrepiece of her new novel The Fraud. It is a darkly comic story of intrigue and mystery, that crosses continents and encompasses the issues of race, empire and class that smouldered at the very heart of 19th century British society. 📱Protect your tech valuables with our exclusive 20% off discount at http://uk.mous.co/RestHistory🎒 Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Battle for Italy in 1943 proved to be one of the bloodiest and most brutal episodes of the Second World War. Following hot on the heels of their recent victory in Sicily, the Allies crossed the Straits of Messina and entered Italy in September, to fight their way up the Italian peninsula, what Churchill termed “the soft underbelly of Europe”. Intended to draw Axis troops away from the Eastern Front, and with Churchill’s enthusiastic backing, the campaign was expected to be an easy one, with Allied troops in Rome by Christmas. But this wasn't to be the case. What unfolded was an attritional meat-grinder, in which every mile the Allies covered was a hard-fought struggle against fierce German resistance.   Join Tom, Dominic and renowned historian of war James Holland to discuss this dark and dramatic campaign, fought amidst the precarious ruins of a vanished Roman empire, as they describe in unflinching detail its horrors, hardships, and tragedies. Buy your copy of James' new book here: https://coles-books.co.uk/the-savage-storm-by-james-holland-hardback 📱Protect your tech valuables with our exclusive 20% off discount at http://uk.mous.co/RestHistory 🎒 Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this landmark edition of The Rest is History, Dominic and Tom reveal the astonishing solution to the mystery that has fascinated so many people for the last sixty years. In thrillingly definitive detail, they explain just who killed President Kennedy and why he did it.  Step by step, they trace his journey to the killing ground, and delve into the psychology of a murderer. They unmask his fellow conspirators, and explain just how his crime reflects the chilling political secrets of American life in the 1950s and 1960s. And they discuss how the conspiracy echoes through the pages of American history, and continues to influence American politics to this day. Join Dominic and Tom for this unforgettable journey into the dark heart of American history - an episode that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the Kennedy assassination. 📱Protect your tech valuables with our exclusive 20% off discount at http://uk.mous.co/RestHistory 🎒 Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“We can’t accept very comfortably that two nobodies, two nothings - Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby - were able to change the course of world history.” The murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK’s apparent assassin, by the night club owner Jack Ruby on 24th November 1963 changed everything. Right from the start, rumours had circulated that Oswald had not been acting alone, building on the deep anxieties of American society in the 1950s and 1960s. Some blamed Communist states such as Cuba or the Soviet Union; others anti-Castro exiles, or the Ku Klux Klan. As the years passed, the CIA and FBI came under suspicion. Did Lyndon Johnson know more about the conspiracy than he pretended? Just what was Richard Nixon doing on that fateful day? And how did Frank Sinatra’s drummer fit in? Join Tom and Dominic as they explore the background to the Kennedy conspiracy theories, from umbrella men to grassy knolls, discussing the wider context and investigating every last clue in their tireless search for the truth. *Dominic’s book The Fall of the Aztecs is available now from bookshops across the UK - the perfect Christmas present!* Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Jack, you son of a bitch, don’t do it!” Just hours after President Kennedy’s assassination, in the full glare of the world’s media, the Dallas police are confident they have solved the case. They have found the murder weapon, and are poised to charge their chief suspect, a strange loner called Lee Harvey Oswald. But as they prepare to move him to the county jail, one local businessman has other ideas. As they are leading Oswald into the station garage, an eccentric nightclub owner Jack Ruby steps forward. And as he aims his pistol at Oswald’s chest, the course of American history is about to take another dizzying turn … Join Dominic and Tom as they trace the footsteps of two erratic nobodies, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, in the days before Kennedy’s assassination, leading up to the critical moment on 24th November when the two men finally came face to face, changing both of their lives and the course of the investigation forever… *Dominic’s book The Fall of the Aztecs is available now from bookshops across the UK - the perfect Christmas present!* Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s 12:31pm on Friday 22nd November 1963, and in Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy lies slumped against his screaming wife, half of his head cradled in her hands and his blood spattered across her elegant pink suit and the seats of their car.  Just moments earlier, three shots had rung out from the direction of the Texas Book Depository. Or had they? Who had fired the shots? A single gunman - or more? Just who was the oddly detached, vacant-looking man whom left the building minutes later? Why did he murder a Dallas policeman shortly after the shooting? Was he really Kennedy’s killer, or a red herring, planted by a wider conspiracy? And was he working for the Cubans, the Communists - or the CIA? Join Tom and Dominic as they plunge into the extraordinary drama of 22 November 1963, from the national shock after the president’s assassination to the thrilling hunt to track down his assassin. *Dominic’s book The Fall of the Aztecs is available now from bookshops across the UK - the perfect Christmas present!* Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“It wouldn't be very difficult to kill the president of the United States, you just have to be in a high building with a high powered rifle, telescopic sight and there's nothing anyone could do about it….” On the morning of Friday, 22nd November 1963, John F. Kennedy awoke with just hours to live. Ahead was a flight to Love Field, Dallas; then a motorcade into the heart of the city’s business district. But as the president and his glamorous wife, Jacqueline, settled back in their limousine for the journey towards destiny, they had no idea of the horror to come …   By 12:22pm the motorcade had reached Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, passing the nondescript Texas Book Depository and slowing for the unexpectedly large and enthusiastic crowds gathered to greet the President. At 12:25 bystanders spotted the figure of a man on the sixth floor of the Book Depository, staring strangely away from the motorcade. Then, at exactly 12.30 pm, the first shot rang out around the square…. Join Dominic and Tom as they break down the events of the day of the assassination of President Kennedy moment by moment, from the night before the murder to its traumatic aftermath, poring over the evidence in order to solve this supremely fascinating historical mystery.  *Dominic’s book The Fall of the Aztecs is available now from bookshops across the UK - the perfect Christmas present!* Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the late 1950s, John F. Kennedy was a rich and handsome Democratic senator with a beautiful wife and young family, heading for the White House despite his Catholicism, his affairs and his secret illnesses. In January 1961 he became the youngest ever President of the United States, during a period of heightened political and social tensions at home and abroad, with the Cold War raging, communism on the rise and the Civil Rights Movement dominating the headlines. What role, then, did Kennedy’s domestic and foreign policies play in these monumental moments of world history? And does the backlash against him offer us the crucial clues to the motives behind his assassination, and the identity of his killer?  Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss Kennedy’s early political career, the successes and failings of his presidency, and world-shaking events such as the Bay of Pigs disaster, the Cuban missile crisis, the Space Race and the Vietnam War. All the while, Kennedy’s days are numbered as that fateful day in Dallas comes ever closer… *Dominic’s book The Fall of the Aztecs is available now from bookshops across the UK - the perfect Christmas present!* Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“There were a lot of people who wanted Kennedy dead, a lot of powerful people. There are secrets still being held and I never bought for a minute that Oswald operated alone.” The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on 22nd November 1963 is one of history’s most iconic stories, a moment of terrible innocence lost and a foundational myth for modern America. The tragedy of the murder, coupled with the mystery surrounding it and the glamour of Kennedy himself, have only heightened the enduring fascination with the event. But what really happened in the days before, during and after the assassination? Did Lee Harvey Oswald really act alone? Or was he just a tool for darker forces at play in American politics - or for an international conspiracy at the terrifying height of the Cold War? Join Dominic and Tom as they launch their epic investigation into the life and death of JFK, beginning with the controversial Kennedy clan, the young ‘Jack’s’ upbringing and the personality of the victim himself. Along the way they discuss his battle with crippling illness, his sexual escapades and his romance with the woman who became his wife, Jacqueline Bouvier. *Dominic’s book The Fall of the Aztecs is available now from bookshops across the UK - the perfect Christmas present!* Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tenochtitlan, once the glittering jewel at the heart of the mighty Aztec Empire, has fallen. Hernán Cortés stands triumphant, the master of this New Spain. Or so it seems. For the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtemoc, is still alive and well. And in the jungles of Mexico and Honduras, a dark and bloody story is only just beginning … In the final episode of this astonishing journey, Dominic and Tom discuss the aftermath of the fall of Tenochtitlan, the fates of Cuauhtemoc, Cortés and Malinche, the experiences of the local population and the story of Mexico in the decades after the Spanish conquest. As this mighty epic draws to a close, they also explore the Black Legend of Spanish imperialism, and discuss the long-term repercussions of the conquest and its status in the context of world history and politics today. *Dominic’s book The Fall of the Aztecs is available now from bookshops across the UK - the perfect Christmas present!* *The Rest Is History Live Tour 2023*: Tom and Dominic are back on tour this autumn! See them live in New Zealand and Australia! Buy your tickets here: restishistorypod.com Twitter:  @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices