Hourly History

Kosovo is a tiny land-locked nation located in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula in Eastern Europe. Before the 1990s, few people outside the immediate area had ever even heard of Kosovo. Then, in 1998, war began, and Kosovo moved to the center of the international stage.

What would become the nation of Yugoslavia was created in the turbulent period following the end of World War I in 1918, but ended 74 years later in the chaos of another war....

The Hittites lived among gods and kings and captivated the mysterious Sir Lawrence of Arabia, among many eager minds. Who were they? Simply warlike conquerors on a mission to impose Hittite power on the world? How did they become part of the elite highly-exclusive club of kings as great as Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires of the second millennium BCE....

Michael Jackson is undoubtedly a legend. His music is known all over the world, and his status as the “King of Pop” is rarely if ever disputed. However, as much as we know about Jackson’s larger-than-life presence on the stage, less is known about the story of his life....

Until 1939, World War I was known as “the war to end all wars”, but when Nazi Germany capped its mounting aggression against its neighbors by invading Poland, Europe was plunged into a second global conflict....

The British people had no sooner finished rescuing their trapped army from Dunkirk than they found themselves preparing for an attack from the Germans once again. This time, the Nazi menace struck from the air, as Hitler’s Luftwaffe bombed the British in an attempt to break their spirit and...

On May 25, 1961, less than two months after a Soviet cosmonaut had made the very first space flight, President John F. Kennedy told Congress, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon"....

Robert the Bruce is one of the most iconic figures of Scottish history. Born in Scotland’s desperate hour of need, Robert stepped forward to answer the call....

James Clerk Maxwell was a brilliant mathematician and scientist, but his impact on this world goes even deeper than that. Maxwell singlehandedly overturned what was believed to be fact with a whole new outlook on fundamental aspects of the universe....

During 14 years, from 1955 to 1969, the Soviet Union and the United States of America were engaged in a dramatic race against each other to conquer space. This period encompassed dramatic victories, humbling defeats, and more than one tragedy....

Discover the dark history of the Holocaust... Jewish communities have existed in the territories of modern-day Germany since Roman times, around the fourth century. By 1925, a census identified over half a million Jewish people living in Germany, accounting for around 1% of the total population.

Eleanor Roosevelt was no ordinary First Lady. Her life reads like an epic novel: childhood tragedy, political intrigue, personal betrayal, and ultimate triumph.

This audiobook takes a closer look at who Charles Darwin was, how he lived his everyday life and how influential he became; not just in his own day but into the modern world as well....

Florence Nightingale is usually thought of for her work in the Crimean War, where, as the “Lady with the Lamp”, she tirelessly nursed wounded soldiers at all hours of the night and day. But while these two years were a significant part of her life, she was also much more....

There are many versions of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the beautiful young Tudor Queen courted by all the princes of Europe....

With his signature guitar that reverberated like a ringing bell, Chuck Berry captured the spirit of teenage rebellion and the joy of the youth culture of the time....

Dutch painter and printmaker Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is considered one of the greatest artists of all time. As a painter, he never considered glamorizing what he saw, and he was a master of creating extraordinary scenes with light and shadows....

Constantine the Great was one of the most pivotal figures in the history of the Roman Empire and the widespread expansion of the Christian religion. He played the most significant role in transforming the Empire from a Greco-Roman pagan dominion into a bulwark of the Christian faith....

The War of the Spanish Succession, which occurred between 1701 and 1714, was fought over who would succeed the childless King Charles II to the throne of Spain. During the early modern era, European countries were almost constantly at war, vying for land, resources, power, and wealth....

The Renaissance, or rebirth, was a period of time when Europeans began to question what they had been told was sacrosanct. Through art, inventions, science, literature, and theology, the separate nations of the European continent sought answers....