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

In the First World War, one of the main aims of the French was to retake the "lost provinces" of Alsace and Lorraine, which had been occupied by the Germans since the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. But this was only one phase of a long cycle of power imbalances leading to invasions and thirst for revenge between these two countries. Dur: 24mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2706_Franco_German_Rivalry.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 12:00pm UTC

The British now occupied the tip of the Aboukir peninsula directly opposite the French forces. The flanks of both armies were secured by the Mediterranean Sea on the one side, and the marshy ground of the dried up Lake Mareotis on the other. Following the landing on the 8 March, the British built defences, heaved supplies ashore and buried the dead. A short action took place on 13 March, during which the British repulsed an attack by French cavalry and horse-artillery. After this, the British paused to consider their next move. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

Direct download: 2705_The_British_Campaign_in_Egypt_1801_Part2.mp3
Category:military -- posted at: 8:47am UTC

If one was to ask about the contribution of the British army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, some of the immediate responses would concern the Duke of Wellington, the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo. These subjects have acquired great fame over the past two decades, thanks in part to Bernard Cornwall’s popular Sharpe novels, and to the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015. However, the battles fought at Waterloo and in the Spanish Peninsula were only a fraction of those fought by the British army during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. One British campaign that has largely been forgotten was fought in Egypt in 1801. Although the numbers of men who fought in Egypt were far smaller than in later campaigns in Spain, Portugal and Belgium, Egypt nevertheless proved a turning point in the fortunes of the British army. The significance of the Egyptian campaign can still be felt to this day. 

This episode was written by Simon Quinn

Simon is a postdoctoral research fellow in history at the University of York. He has recently completed a PhD studying the lives of British soldiers on campaign in Egypt in 1801.

 

Direct download: 2704_The_British_Campaign_in_Egypt_1801_Part1.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:23am UTC