A History Hit Alternative: Stories in Five Minutes
Love history documentaries but lost in a big library? See how History Hit compares with a short, ordered path of five-minute history stories.
If you are searching for a History Hit alternative, you probably enjoy watching and hearing history, and you want something a little different. Maybe you want a clear order, a shorter session, or a path with a beginning and an end. This page describes History Hit fairly and then shows what History9 does differently.
What History Hit is and who it suits
History Hit is a subscription history channel on demand. By its own description, it carries original documentaries, a network of podcasts and articles. The podcast network includes shows such as Dan Snow's History Hit, The Ancients and Gone Medieval. The documentaries take you to places and let you see them.
This is a real strength. A documentary can show you a battlefield, a castle wall or a dig, and a good presenter makes the place matter. A podcast can follow one topic for an hour with a guest who knows it well. If you like to browse, to follow your curiosity from one film to the next, and to spend an evening in front of a screen, a library like this is a pleasure.
It suits someone who already has a rough map of the past in their head and wants to fill in more of it. It also suits someone who enjoys the personality of a presenter and returns to a favourite show every week.
What a documentary library does not give a beginner
A beginner meets a different problem. A large library has no first page. Where do you start with the Middle Ages? With the Vikings, or with Rome falling, or with the Crusades? Many films are good, and none says "watch this one first."
There are three gaps for a beginner:
- No fixed order. The library is a place to browse, not a path. You can watch ten films on war and still not know what came before them.
- Long sessions. A documentary or a podcast episode asks for a longer block of time. It can be hard to start on a short break.
- Assumed background. A show about one siege may take for granted that you know who the two sides were and why they fought.
None of this is a fault. A library should be wide, and a presenter should be able to go deep. But a reader who is new to a period often wants the opposite: a narrow road, in order, with a short step each day.
What History9 does instead
History9 tells world history as five-minute stories in an order that makes sense. Each story opens on a person or a moment, adds concrete detail and dates, and ends with one clear takeaway. A historian from the past narrates, warm and sometimes wry, and says so when the evidence is disputed. There are no exams.
Here is a worked example. The track called Charlemagne, Vikings and 1066 begins to answer a beginner's question: what happened in Europe after Rome? Its lessons include:
- Charlemagne, crowned emperor on Christmas Day.
- Why the Vikings left Scandinavia.
- Leif Erikson reaches America five centuries before Columbus.
- Alfred the Great and the burnt cakes.
- 1066 and why the Battle of Hastings changed English forever.
Follow the thread. A Frankish king is crowned in Rome and tries to rebuild an empire. Raiders and traders from the north spread by sea, and some sail as far as North America. In England a king holds them back, and a famous tale about burnt cakes is told about him. Then the Normans cross the Channel, and the English language itself changes. Each story is complete on its own, and together they sketch the map of medieval Europe.
You can then go to a documentary library with a map in your head. A film on Hastings makes more sense when you already know who the Vikings were.
For the whole period, see our beginner's guide to medieval Europe.
Side by side
| History Hit | History9 | |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | History in many forms and periods | World history in one ordered path |
| Format | Documentaries, podcasts and articles | Told stories with pictures and a narrator |
| Time per session | Set by each film or episode | Five minutes |
| Order | Browse and choose | Tracks of lessons, in order |
| Device | See the service's own site | Phone and the web |
| Language level | Made for a general audience | Plain words, no background assumed |
| Price model | Subscription | Subscription |
| Best for | Browsing, depth on a topic, favourite presenters | Beginners who want a path in short steps |
Who should pick which
Pick History Hit if you like to watch places and people, you enjoy following a presenter, and you do not mind choosing your own route through a big library.
Pick History9 if you want to know where to begin and what comes next. Pick it if your time comes in small pieces and you want each session to end with a reason why the events mattered.
Using both is a good plan. Let the short stories give you the outline, then use the library for depth on the stories that caught you. If you are weighing more options, our list of the best history apps for adults may help.
Questions people ask
Is History9 a documentary service?
No. It tells stories in short narrated sessions with pictures. It does not film real locations.
Do I need history knowledge to follow the lessons?
No. The lessons are written for adults with no background, and unfamiliar terms are explained in one sentence.
Is the order of the lessons fixed?
The lessons in a track follow each other, because each story builds on the last. The tracks themselves move through world history, so you can see the whole sweep.
Can I try before I subscribe?
Check the History9 app page for how trying a lesson works. History Hit is a subscription service, so see its own site for what it offers before you pay.
Learn this in five minutes
Try the track Charlemagne, Vikings and 1066. In a few short stories it shows how Franks, Vikings and Normans filled the space Rome left behind and drew the first lines of medieval Europe.