Free Online History Courses

Get free History courses online from the world’s leading universities. You can download these audio & video courses straight to your computer or mp3 player. For more online courses, visit our complete collection, 1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities.

• African American History: Emancipation to the Present – Free Online Course – Jonathan Holloway, Yale
• African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle – Free Online Course – Clay Carson, Stanford
• Age of Cathedrals – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Howard Bloch, Yale University
• Age of Jefferson – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – University of Virginia
• America Through Foreign Eyes – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Rice University
• American Economic History (Syllabus) – Free Online Video – Martha Olney, UC Berkeley
• American Economic History – Free Online Video – Gerald Friedman, UMass-Amherst
• Ancient Greece: City and Society – Free Audio – Dr Gillian Shepherd, La Trobe University, Australia
• Ancient Greece: Myth, Art & War – Free Audio – Dr Gillian Shepherd, La Trobe University, Australia
• Ancient Greek History – Free Online Course – Donald Kagan, Yale
• Ancient Israel – Free Online Video + Course Info – Daniel Fleming, NYU
• Asia in the Modern World: Images & Representations – Free Online Video & Course Info – John Dower, MIT
• Australian Aboriginal History – Free Audio – Richard Broome, La Trobe University
• Ben Franklin and the World of the Enlightenment – Free iTunes Audio – Bruce Thompson, Stanford/UC Santa Cruz
• Big History – Free Online Video – David Christian, Macquarie University
• Chinese Politics – Free Online Video – Rory Truex, Princeton
• Church History – Free iTunes Audio – Westminster Theological Seminary
• CIA in the Third World – Free Online Video – Thomas O’Brien, University of Houston
• Colonial and Revolutionary America – Free iTunes Audio – Jack Rakove, Stanford
• Coexistence in Medieval Spain: Jews, Christians, and Muslims – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – UC Boulder
• Deciphering Secrets: The Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – University of Colorado
• Economic History of the Soviet Union – Free Online Video – Guinevere Liberty Nell, Marginal Revolution U.
• Early Modern England: Politics, Religion & Society under the Tudors and Stuarts – Free Online Video – Course Materials – Keith E. Wrightson, Yale
• Emperors of Rome – Free Audio – Rhiannon Evans, La Trobe University, Australia
• Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 – Free Online Course – Frank Snowden, Yale
• European Civilization, 1648-1945 – Free Online Video – Course Materials  – John Merriman, Yale
• European Civilization from the Renaissance to the Present – Free Online Video – Thomas Laqueur, UC Berkeley
• European Cultural History, 1500-1815 – Free Online Audio – George Mosse, University of Wisconsin- Madison
• European Cultural History, 1660-1870 – Free Online Audio – George Mosse, University of Wisconsin- Madison
• European Cultural History, 1880-1920 – Free Online Audio – George Mosse, University of Wisconsin- Madison
• France Since 1871 – Free Online Video – Course Materials – John Merriman, Yale
• Hannibal – Free Online Audio – Patrick Hunt, Stanford
• Harvey Goldberg Lectures (1975-1983) – Free Online Audio – Harvey Goldberg, University of Wisconsin
• Harvey Goldberg Lectures. Marxism and History: The 1970s Bootleg Student Tapes – Free Audio – Harvey Goldberg, University of Wisconsin
• Historical Jesus – Free iTunes Audio – Thomas Sheehan, Stanford University
• History of Information – Free Online Video – Geoffrey D. Nunberg, Paul Duguid, UC Berkeley
• History of Iran to the Safavid Period – Free Audio – Richard Bulliet, Columbia University
• History of the Culture of Tea in China and Japan – Free Online Audio – John Wallace, UC Berkeley
• History of the International System – Free iTunes Audio – James Sheehan, Stanford University
• History of MIT – Web – David Mindell and Merritt Roe Smith, MIT
• History of the Modern Middle East – Internet Archive – Richard Bulliet, Columbia University
• History of New York City: A Social History  – Free Online Course – Daniel Walkowitz, NYU
• History of the United States Since 1877 – Internet Archive – Dominic Capeci, Missouri State
• History of the World to 1500 CE – Free Online Video – Richard Bulliet, Columbia University
• History of the World Since 1500 CE – Free Online Video – Richard Bulliet, Columbia University
• Intellectual History of the United States since 1865 – Free Online Audio – Richard Candida Smith, UC Berkeley
• Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilization – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – University of Pennsylvania
• Introduction to Ancient Greek History – Free Online Course – Donald Kagan, Yale
• Introduction to American Studies – Free Online Video – Michael Cohen, UC Berkeley
• Ireland in Rebellion (1782-1916) – Free Online Video –  More Info – Trinity College Dublin
• Latin American History through the Novel – Free Online Video – Lois Zamora, University of Houston
• 21 Hours of Lectures by Howard Zinn – Spotify – Boston University
• Magic in the Middle Ages – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – University of Barcelona
• Medieval Europe (500-1500) – Free Online Video – David E. Thornton, Bilkent University
• Medieval British History – Free Online Video – David Thornton, Bilkent University (Turkey)
• Modern Civilization: 1750 to Present – Free Online Video – Lynn Hunt, UCLA
• Modern Jewish History – Free Online Audio – George Mosse, University of Wisconsin – Madison
• Pirates, Smugglers, and the Modern World – Free Online Video – Thomas O’Brien, University of Houston
• Russian History: From Lenin to Putin – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – UC Santa Cruz
• Science, Magic and Religion – Free Online Video – Courtenay Raia, UCLA
• The American Founders and Their World – Free iTunes Audio – Jack Rakove, Gordon Wood, etc. Stanford
• The American Revolution – Free Online Video – Joanne B. Freeman, Yale
• The Americas: Identity, Culture, and Power – Free Online Video – Cesar Seveso, University of Houston
• The Ancient Mediterranean World – Free Online Audio – Isabelle Pafford, UC Berkeley
• The Ancient Greeks – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Wesleyan University
• The Book of Kells: Exploring an Irish Medieval Masterpiece – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Trinity College Dublin
• The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archaeology and History of the Palatine Hill – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Sapienza University of Rome
• The Cosmopolitan Medieval Arabic World – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – The Universiteit Leiden
• The Civil War and Reconstruction Era, 1845-1877 – Free Online Course – David Blight, Yale
• The Crusades – Free Online Video – Sally Vaughn, University of Houston
• The Early Middle Ages, 284-1000 – Free Online Video – Paul H. Freedman, Yale
• The French Revolution – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – University of Melbourne
• The Great War and Modern Philosophy – Free Online Video – Nicolas de Warren, KU Leuven University
• The Holocaust – An Introduction (I): Nazi Germany: Ideology, The Jews and the World – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Tel Aviv University
• The Holocaust – An Introduction (II): The Final Solution – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Tel Aviv University
• The Flowering of the Middle Ages – Free Online Video – Sally Vaughn, University of Houston
• The Kennedy Half Century – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – Larry Sabato, University of Virginia
• The Making of Modern Ukraine – Free Online Video – Timothy Snyder, Yale
• The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910 – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – University of Virginia
• The Modern World, Part Two: Global History since 1910 – Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) – University of Virginia
• The Normans – Free Online Video – Sally Vaughn, University of Houston
• The Ottoman Empire – Free Audio – Adrian Jones, La Trobe University – Australia
• The Peculiar Modernity of Britain, 1848-2000 – Free Online Audio – James Vernon, UC Berkeley
• The Roman World – Free Audio – Rhiannon Evans, La Trobe University
• The Vietnam War – Free Online Video – Robert Buzzanco, University of Houston
• The Vikings – Free Online Video – Sally Vaughn, University of Houston
• US History: from Civil War to Present – Free Online Audio – Jennifer Burns, UC Berkeley
• 20th Century United States History – Free Online Video – Tyrone Tillery, University of Houston
• The Western Tradition (Video) – Free Online Video – Eugen Weber, UCLA
• War, Globalization, and Terror – Free Online Video – Robert Buzzanco, University of Houston
• World Revolutions – Free Online Video – Thomas O’Brien, University of Houston
• World Civilization to 1500 – Free Online Video – Sally Vaughn, University of Houston
• World Civilization Since 1500 – Free Online Video – Thomas O’Brien, University of Houston
• World Economic History Before the Industrial Revolution – Free Online Video & Syllabus – Free iTunes Video – Gregory Clark, UC Davis

Bookmark our collection of free online courses in History.

For a complete list of online courses, please visit our complete collection, 1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities.

For a list of online certificate programs, visit 200 Online Certificate & Microcredential Programs from Leading Universities & Companies, which features programs from our partners Coursera, Udacity, FutureLearn and edX.

And if you’re interested in Online Mini-Masters and Master’s Degrees programs from universities, see our collection: Online Degrees & Mini Degrees: Explore Masters, Mini Masters, Bachelors & Mini Bachelors from Top Universities.