Explore episodes from Dan Snow's History Hit podcast relating to the decade of centenaries.

The Partition of Ireland

The television presenter Dan Snow explores the partition of Ireland in this episode of his History Hit podcast series.

Historians Patricia Clavin, Niamh Gallagher and Caoimhe Nic Dháibhéid lead this discussion, exploring the tumultuous events leading up to partition, and its impact on the people of the island of Ireland.

The discussion situates the events of partition in a global context, exploring how the end of the First World War, the flu pandemic of 1918–1919, and questions about the future of the British Empire, affected Anglo-Irish relations.

Irish Independence

On 18th April 1949, the Republic of Ireland Act came into effect, which saw Ireland become a republic and leave the Commonwealth. 2021 also marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the Irish War of Independence.

To help mark these important dates Diarmaid Ferriter, one of Ireland’s best-known historians and Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin, joins Dan on the podcast. They examine the importance of these big anniversaries for Ireland not just in the past, but also in the present.

The Sinking of the Lusitania

On 7 May 1915, the ocean liner RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland with more than half the passengers and crew being killed. Some of those lost were Americans and the sinking hardened opinion in the United States against Germany and marked the beginning of the process which led to the USA entering the First World War on the side of the allies.

To mark the anniversary of the sinking Stephen Payne joins the podcast. Stephen is a British naval architect and worked on designing passenger ships for over 40 years and is an expert both in their construction and their history. He and Dan discuss the circumstances of the sinking, whether there was any justification for it and the effect it had on public opinion and naval policy.