His great grandson, Louis- shockingly- died a week later, also from measles. His younger brother got measles but survived & would become (you guessed it) Louis XV on the death of his great grandfather, today in 1715.
Creative Director of the world's best History Channel https://linktr.ee/HistoryHit | I host the Dan Snow’s @HistoryHit podcast
46,008 followers 169 following 996 posts
view profile on Bluesky
His great grandson, Louis- shockingly- died a week later, also from measles. His younger brother got measles but survived & would become (you guessed it) Louis XV on the death of his great grandfather, today in 1715.
His son Louis died of smallpox in 1711, at 49. His grandson, also Louis, died a few months later in Feb 1712, six days after his beloved wife. He had caught measles from her while nursing her through the illness that would eventually kill them both.
Today in 1715 one of the towering figures of history, Louis XIV, died. His 72 year reign remains the longest verified reign in world history, beating our Elizabeth II by under 2 years. He enlarged France ...... and broke it. His last few years were marked by personal & dynastic tragedy 👇
King Charles shifts slightly on his sofa, glances at the portrait of George I, and brings the subject back round to pesticides.
Lenin was shot and wounded today in 1918 by Fanny Kaplan, a socialist furious that the Bolsheviks had declared one party rule and betrayed the revolution. She was executed. He never fully recovered. In the aftermath he "opened the jaws of state terror."
‘My childhood was filled with memories of penurious exiled royals scrounging for meat & wine in the dining rooms of Grosvenor Square; stories of distant cousins stabbed in basements & shot in ditches. I think I will steer clear of radical utopian political experiments.’
Put another way. If you’re on 20 with five cards dealt, you don’t shout ‘Twist’.
Of course the Queen was Remain. You don’t sustain a hereditary monarchy by randomly pulling pins out of grenades for the lols at the urging of a cluster of snake oil chancers.
Today in 1350 Edward III's fleet defeated a Castilian fleet off Winchelsea. Known imaginatively as the Battle of 'Les Espagnols sur Mer.' I think it's the last time an English king commanded in a sea battle. Possibly also the first battle in the West in which cannon were used
Three and a half hours long. 50 movies. Years in the planning. It’s my YouTube story of WW2 as portrayed on the silver screen: 📺 : youtu.be/glnUWG8c1ec?...
“This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector" Plato
It is a curious coincidence that today in 1914 a young officer, Bernard Montgomery, aka ‘Monty', first saw action near St Python in northern France
Maybe he’s thinking of the War of 1812 in which both sides agreed to return to pre-war borders. In which case, ok.
WW2 WW1 Taiping Revolt US Civil War Napoleonic War… …. did not end in any meaningful, compromise, negotiated peace. The peace treaty was delivered to the vanquished at the tip of a bayonet.
William Wallace was dragged naked to Smithfield today in 1305. He was strangled, castrated, disembowled & his insides burnt. Then beheaded & quartered. His crime, according to Edward I, High Treason. His retort: "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject."
A few balcony tickets left: 🎟️: shop.kingsplace.co.uk/31652/31656
💥Built a golden house 💥Won ‘sporting events’ 💥Thirsty for prizes 💥Desperate for audience acclaim 💥Insisted on subservience of elite 💥Disastrous marriages 💥Attacked Iran 💥Inherited empire near its zenith… 💥… utterly trashed it NERO on the YouTube right now Watch here: youtu.be/ZnwkYZzEHN8?...
Today in 1897, 11 days after he first synthesised aspirin, Felix Hoffman re-synthesised diamorphine which Bayer would market as 'heroin.' It was marketed as a cough syrup for children.
Now, you ask? Friends all over the place. So many. Crazy. Friendy friendy friend. Only a week or two ago, I think it was, I participated in friendship.
I did struggle making friends my own age.
My dad and I went on a historical camping trip around Greece when I was 11. I was keen, history made and mercifully pre-teenage. I made this insane map when I got back. My sisters still tease my about my ‘Herodotus phase.’
Now in 1814 the British landed in Maryland & headed to Washington to unleash chaos Today they can manage that just fine without us.
Today in 1792 Alexander Hamilton described what has happened in the last decade.
This week in 1399 Richard II was holed up in Conwy Castle. Henry Percy went to meet Richard and promised him he wouldn't be hurt. He surrendered to Percy. He was taken to London, then Pontefract. And hurt.
'Darling. Just got VC. Don't know why. Letter follows. All my love. Nick.’
James Nicolson was awarded a Victoria Cross for an act of extreme gallantry in the Battle of Britain today in 1940. He stayed in a burning plane to shoot down a German aircraft. As he parachuted to earth he was shot in the arse by the home guard. When he found out he telegrammed his wife:
One day there will be no borders. Schengen is the beginning.
Today in 1543 Ottoman & French forces tried to storm Nice. Folk stories tell of Catherine Ségurane, a washer woman, who led the resistance, took out a Turkish standard bearer & showed her arse to the enemy. Probably not true but the city still celebrates Catherine Ségurane Day
Dawn in the greatest country on earth.
Today in 1704 the Duke of Marlborough won one of the most remarkable victories in British history at Blenheim. He dashed off this note to his wife on the battlefield saying, basically, tell the Queen. It was written on the back of a receipt.
Over on the Instagram Patricia Arquette is deep, deep in the comments doing heroic battle with those who think Hitler was right about the Jews. We need to turn the Internet off.
The last hours in the Führerbunker. A new As it Happened film on YouTube, out now: 📺: youtu.be/SWA38FURYJs?...
Fascinating period!
Today in 1628 the Vasa, the latest, most powerful and advanced ship in the Swedish navy set off on its maiden voyage. After travelling about 1,300m it capsized and sank. It was raised after 333 years on the seabed. Today @thevasamuseum is one of my favourite places in the world.
The mismatch of the battle of Thermopylae, illustrated in mounds of rice. Left for the Greeks, right for the Persians. Here’s an As it Happened video all about Thermopylae A privilege to have Dr Roel Konijnendijk take me through ancient history’s most famous battle. youtu.be/m7_ksGGJd7M?...
Welcome to the next addiction. But be warned - they won’t get any easier than that!
Once or twice it got very cold in Jordan but my team were careful to make sure I was fine.
There is a slim possibility that we did as well.
Do NOT show this video to our production management department. Thank you.
‘The Wolf in the Valley’ Kerak Castle. Crusader powerhouse beyond the Jordan. Stronghold of the most notorious crusader. Site of a siege like no other. On our History Hit TV channel now. 📺: access.historyhit.com/videos/the-g...
Today in 1503, James IV of Scotland married Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII- a union that, a century later, would finally unite the crowns of England and Scotland, and from which today's royals are directly descended
Today in 1914 the first British soldier fired a shot in the First World War. Alhaji Grunshi, of the Gold Coast Regiment, opened fire while invading German held Togoland.
I’ve got a Hiroshima, as it happened podcast out right now: 🎧: podfollow.com/dan-snows-hi...
At Hiroshima, the fireball was 370m in diameter, the temperature on the ground was 6,000 °C while the blast created a circle of extreme high pressure 3.5 km in diameter. Within this area casualties were approximately 100%
80 years ago today the United States dropped a single bomb which obliterated the entire city of Hiroshima. Less than a kilogram of uranium underwent nuclear fission. It was sufficient to kill around 80,000 and wound a similar number. Most of the buildings were damaged or destroyed.
With my girls
Hiroshima. 80 years ago today. New podcast- the atomic strike. As it happened. 🎧: podfollow.com/dan-snows-hi...
George Bernard Shaw wrote an article this week in 1914 urging both sides to shoot their officers and go home.
One job it obviously has not been able to adequately replace is ‘Fortune Mag List Complier’
This reflects the most profound, spectacular and bizarre misunderstanding of what historians do and are for.
I’m doing a live show. Sept the something in London. Click the link! 🎟️: shop.kingsplace.co.uk/31652/31656
Today in 1644 a Lieutenant Snow led a daring raid from the besieged Basing House to trash the siege works of the Parliamentarian forces. Was he an ancestor? I don't know. But I hope so. Thanks to @childs_jessie for her excellent book.
Dan in Paris 🎧: podfollow.com/dan-snows-hi...
He is a monster. I was actually shocked.
'Europe is to be the scene of the most terrible war that she has witnessed since the fall of the Roman Empire' The Times, today, 1914
Today in 1914 Britain was teetering on the edge of the abyss, Lloyd George wrote to his wife: 'I am moving through a nightmare world these days..I am horrified at the prospect of it... But I must bear my share of the ghastly burden though it scorches my flesh to do so.’
Jeanne de Clisson the 'Lioness of Brittany' watched her husband's execution today in 1343. Then went on one of history's most epic revenge sprees. She sailed the Channel becoming a legendary pirate. Capturing & massacring French crews but always left one survivor to tell the tale.
A huge privilege to work with @danpascoe79.bsky.social, MSDS Marine and Historic England on this amazing maritime project. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Shipwrecks on History Hit right now. Get some here: access.historyhit.com/videos/shipw...
Harold Godwinson: insufficiently patriotic for Ant.
Five reasons why the allies won WW2. With James Holland (shown on the occasion when we were mobbed by pigs) Listen to the podcast right here: 🎧: podfollow.com/dan-snows-hi...
We’re on the edge.
😉
The idea of asking this question with including the option of ‘The Failure of the Howe brothers to crush Washington in NY in 1776’ is embarrassing to all concerned.
No breakfast. No coffee.
The acting is exclusively on social media. The tv show is altogether more conventional….
(Tonight 9pm. Channel 5.)
My stunning portrayal of Augustus didn’t go down very well with @k8lister.bsky.social or our director. Sound on 🔉
Leonardo painted, Genghis conquered, and now, finally my genius is making itself apparent. Unzoomed #558 2/6 🟡🟢⚪️⚪️⚪️⚪️ unzoomed.com
I'm no football fan but delighted of course to see #Lionesses retain their #WEURO2025 title. Perfect opportunity to remember humanist Florence Dixie, who, unwilling to conform to the strictures of Victorian womanhood, became the 1st president of the British Ladies’ Football Club in 1895.
Today is one of the most fateful dates in history: The Austrian Emperor declared war on Serbia in 1914. It was the beginning of the First World War. Churchill wrote to his wife: ‘My darling...Everything tends towards catastrophe & collapse. I am interested, geared-up & happy.’
Although he was a serial philanderer from a powerful, fantastically dysfunctional family so the comparison doesn’t hold.
Henry I died from a ‘surfeit of lampreys.’
Watching with a group of mixed race group of 10 year old boys going absolutely chicken oriental about women’s football if any Daily Telegraph columnists want to know about boiling points.
Today in 1184 Henry VI of Germany was having a strategy meeting when the wooden second storey floor collapsed. Most of the courtiers fell through into the latrine cesspit below the ground floor, where more than 50 drowned in liquid excrement.
Today in 1797 Nelson was badly defeated in Tenerife, losing an arm & many of his men. After a musket ball smashed his arm Nelson demanded: "Dr, I want to get rid of this useless piece of flesh here”. The severed limb went overboard.
The Catholic Church decided to cancel Martin Luther today in 1520. The papal bull doing so was displayed at the Palazzo della Cancelleria
Not in this new place. Just you watch….
Thank you, British Podcast Awards.
Not for the first time I am begging angry people to put the phone down, walk through actual streets, go to actual pubs, stand on the touch line at local sports clubs, browse Saturday markets, chat with ramblers on footpaths and rediscover beauty & contentedness.
Meanwhile Rasputin was saying: 'You are the Tsar, the father of your people. Dont let the lunatics triumph and destroy you and the people. And if we conquer Germany, what, in truth, will happen to Russia? We all drown in blood: the disaster is great; the misery infinite.'
..[it] would be accompanied or followed by a complete collapse of European credit and industry. In these days, in great industrial states, this would mean a state of things worse than that of 1848, and, irrespective of who were victors in the war, many things might be completely swept away."
Say what you like about Sir Edward Grey, he saw it all coming. This was him, as Foreign Secretary to the Austrian ambassador shortly before the outbreak of WW1. He predicted the a great power war would... “involve the expenditure of so vast a sum of money & such an interference with trade, that ..
Krupp wrote that 'The Kaiser's repeated emphasis on how nobody will be able to accuse him this time of indecision was almost comic!’
Kaiser Wilhelm met Gustav Krupp tonight in 1914 and repeated three times: 'This time I shall not topple over.' If Russia mobilised, he declared, it would be war. The fragility of these autocrats’ egos led to the death and brutalisation of tens of millions
Nice. We’re getting close. If only it wasn’t in the mountains.
Here’s a great, time hallowed British value that I am deeply attached to: That we don’t get to roam around in goon squads burning and smashing up stuff we take a dislike to. www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Couldn’t work in ‘Lion of the tribe of Judah’ Haile Selassie. Am angry at myself.
New cover reveal for my next book: ‘The defeat of Italy in E Africa 1940-1’ Out July 2057
This, by @lewan.bsky.social and Ralph Hertwig says it better than me. theconversation.com/the-paradox-...
Thanks for this. Fascinating.
He defo said it better.
I wish social media was tougher on seeking to overturn democracy than on showing a nipple.
I wish I could just pipe the three of you into the media diets of the lot of them.
‘They won, they got bored, they turned on themselves.’ Epitaph of liberal democracy
These bored cortisol seekers have had to build their own monsters and the levitations to slay them.
Our grandparents knew titanic warfare, genocide, economic dislocation, smashed cities & hideous disease. They clung to the ideals of liberal democracy as if their lives depended on it These people have known only peace, prosperity, safety and it has blown their minds. They hunger for dislocation.
Today in 1916 Robert Graves was severely wounded by artillery on the Somme. His commanding officer thought he was dead and wrote this letter to his mother. Despite the prognosis of every medic who saw him, he did not die.
