The History Network
The military history podcast specialists, looking at all aspects of war through the ages.

On Sunday 22nd of August, 1642, Charles I of England unfurled his standard at Nottingham, it would signal the start of the English Civil war; a struggle which pitted regal power against Parliament. The war had ebbed and flowed for two years with varied success when in April of 1644 a Parliamentarian force laid siege to York, which was considered key to the Royalist defence of the north of England. When an army was dispatched under the young Prince Rupert to raise the siege the scene would be set for one of the bloodiest battles fought on British soil, when the two sides met at Marston Moor. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2510_The_Battle_of_Marston_Moor.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:00am UTC

Following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, Japanese forces simultaneously invaded British Malaya, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Japanese troops took just 70 days to crush the British Empire forces in Malaya and Singapore, which was surrendered on 15 February 1942. Dur: 30mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2509_Operation_Longcloth.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:00am UTC

On May 7, the Royal Flying Corps suffered one of their greatest losses when the great Albert Ball was shot down near Annoeullin, France. Ball had just scored his 44th victory and was pursuing another plane when he disappeared into a cloud. When he reappeared, his plane was falling from the sky and his propeller was motionless. Ball fell from the sky and his plane crashed some distance away. Lothar von Richthofen, the Red Baron’s younger brother, was officially credited with the kill. Dur: 24 mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2508_William_Billy_Bishop_Part2.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 8:43pm UTC

Just ten years after the Wright brothers successfully flew the world's first powered airplane, the First World War erupted across Europe and with it came the first air war. Airplanes of wood, metal, and canvas took to the skies to act as observers and engage in combat with enemy planes. The best pilots became known as "aces" and were celebrated by both sides. Dur: 27mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2507_William_Billy_Bishop_Part1.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 8:29am UTC

It is a cliche that wars seldom go according to plan, but perhaps none has gone astray as dramatically as the First World War. The vast German sweep through the Low Countries succeeded only in branding the Kaiser's Reich a nation of butchers and bringing the United Kingdom into the war. Field commanders were unable to achieve the clock-work precision required by the Schlieffen Plan and the German advance was stopped at the Marne in early September 1914. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2506_Sidearms_of_The_Great_War.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 12:55pm UTC

If one were to travel through the modern day US state Louisiana, you would quickly be transported to what seems like another world. French language signs adorn the streets as the sounds of Zydeco or Louisiana French folk music fills the air. Most would cite the menagerie of foods combining french peasant recipes with African and native additions cooked into the various creatures inhabiting the bayou or swamps as the most intriguing sight of all. The genesis of this unique culture started far to the north in what is now the modern Canadian Maritime province of Nova Scotia. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2505_Le_Grand_Derangement.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 10:00am UTC

Although a good amount of time was allowed to prepare for the operation, the campaign itself was poorly planned. Inexplicably, the 13,000 men Napoleon led across the Sinai desert towards Syria in January 1799 were not properly equipped for the desert conditions. Dur: 29mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2504_The_French_Campaign__in_Egypt_and_Syria_1798-1801_Part2.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 2:20pm UTC

The French invasion of Egypt in the summer of 1798 was the first great seaborne invasion of the modern era. With 335 ships and almost 40,000 men, it was the largest seaborne force ever launched in the Western world – at least since Xerxes' vast fleet attacked Athens at the Battle of Salamis in 480BC. It remained the largest ever seaborne invasion throughout the nineteenth century, only to be superseded in size by the Gallipoli landings in 1915. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2503_The_French_Campaign__in_Egypt_and_Syria_1798-1801_Part1.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 7:45am UTC

On the morning of 16 December 1914, at around 8am, the German battlecruisers SMS Von der Tann and Derfflinger opened fire on the British coastal resort of Scarborough. For the town's inhabitants the shelling seemed indiscriminate, the prominent Grand Hotel was hit a number of times, as was the medieval castle overlooking the bay and residential parts of the town. Dur: 24mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2502_Remember_Scarborough.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 8:00am UTC

In 1753, the Governor of the colony of Virginia sent George Washington, who was a twenty one year old major in the Virginia militia, to the French Fort LeBoeuf near Lake Erie in the Ohio Valley, to demand the French leave the area. This ultimatum was rejected and Washington returned to deliver the message. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2501_Braddocks_Defeat.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 8:43am UTC

A battle at Dorking, that never happened, and German spies that never existed were a cause of great anguish to the British in the early part of the twentieth century. The result would be the creation a secret service, the rounding up of foreign nationals and an explosion in the popularity of the spy genre; which would manifest itself with classics such as John Buchan's 'The Thirty-Nine Steps' Dur: 17mins  File .mp3

Direct download: 2410_The_Battle_For_Dorking_and_Spy_Fever.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 6:05pm UTC

We all know that Britain was last successfully invaded in 1066, when William the Conqueror defeated the Saxon King Harold at Hastings, but, that does not mean the shores of Albion have not since been attacked. In 1797 the French landed a small force near Fishguard, in Wales, and were ignominiously forced to surrender. In 1914 a German naval squadron sailed long the north-east coast and bombarded the towns of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool, though no landing was attempted it caused widespread consination. A more successful attack was made in 1667 by the Dutch, they sailed up the river Medway, which flows into the Thames estuary, attacking British ships whilst they were in dock. It proved to be a crushing defeat for the Royal Navy. Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2409_The_Raid_on_the_Medway_1667.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:00am UTC

The Duke of Wellington, late in life, was asked what was his most difficult battle during all his years of soldiering, after a short pause he replied with just one word, Assaye; his great victory against the Marathas in 1803. A hard fought battle, he would lose a third of his men, the Indian Marathas troops were well equipped and drilled in modern tactics by mercenary European officers. Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2408_The_Battle_of_Assaye.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:00am UTC

Long time listeners might know after ten years of producing the podcast, last year Angus took the decision to return to university to study a Masters Degree in History. More by chance than design his niche turned out to be the First World War.

During his studies he came across a new book titled ‘Led By Lions’ written by Neil Thornton, which looks at British Members of Parliament, who, serviced in the military during World War One.

So he asked Neil if he fancied a chat!

Direct download: 2407_Led_By_Lions.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 10:00am UTC

As some of you might be aware Angus hosts the Ancient Warfare podcast, a monthly round table discussion about war in the ancient world. Last year we launched a patreon page for the podcast.

Historians aren’t the best paid lot, and everyone is essentially doing the podcast for free. We thought it might be a good way to help cover costs, and if you enjoy it, to tip us a $ each time we produce something.

The upshot is regular, Murray Dahm has decided to read some of his old Articles he’s written for Ancient Warfare Magazine, exclusively for patrons of the podcast.

As we had a hole in our schedule, we thought we’d let you guys have a listen to the first one Murray recorded… 'You could be the next Alexander’

Direct download: 2406_You_could_be_the_next_Alexander.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 4:00am UTC

British soldiers in Boston were furious. They were pent up in the city by a bunch of farmers and merchants while their commander seemingly did nothing. April turned to May. The militia forces grew stronger as more companies joined the siege. By now, four colonies were represented at Boston: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Dur: 27mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2405_The_Battle_of_Bunker_Hill_Part2.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:00am UTC

On June 17, 1775, over one thousand New England militia stood on a hill overlooking Charlestown, Massachusetts and Boston Harbor. Arrayed in front of them in their scarlet and white uniforms, brushed clean for the occasion, were regiments of the British Army. Their goal was to take this hill from the erstwhile colonists-turned-rebels and fortify it, which would prevent the rebels from controlling the harbor. Honor would not allow General Thomas Gage, commander of British Forces in North America and governor of the Colony of Massachusetts, to stand by while farmers and merchants made pitiful displays of defiance. Gage expected these amateur soldiers to flee at the sight of his professional army. Instead, to the shock of British command, the American colonists stood and fought. Dur: 15mins  File: .mp3

Direct download: 2404_The_Battle_of_Bunker_Hill_Part1.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:00am UTC

Julius Caesar waged campaigns of strategic boldness and tactical prudence. He fused himself into both head of state and military commander and in the chaos of the late republic, where it became nearly impossible to distinguish war as politics by other means, Caesar waged both war and politics. In his success was sown the seeds of his demise and that of the republic he served. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2403_Caesar.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 1:25pm UTC

Mikhail Petrovic Devyataev was the 13th child of a Moldovian blacksmith who provided one of the most extraordinary stories of World War 2. The Soviet pilot, captured by the Germans in July 1944, made an incredible escape from Usedom, an island on the Baltic coast, where Hitler's V rockets were being made to return home, eventually becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union. Dur: 13mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2402_Mikhail_Petrovic_Devyataev.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:29am UTC

In the year 1754, twenty two year old George Washington was on a mission from the Governor of Virginia to enforce the colony's land claim on the area of western Pennsylvania. The French forces had just built Fort Duquesne (modern day Pittsburgh) as a means to solidify their claim to the land. At this time both England and France had started to develop the area. Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2401_Fort_Necessity_and_the_Battle_of_Jumonville_Glen.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 9:10am UTC