WW1: Not So Quiet On The Western Front!

What happens when an army built for a short war finds itself fighting in a long one? In 1915, the British Army found out, and learned the answer the hard way. Short of guns, short of shells, and up against defences that no one had previously seen, the Army would experience a year of courage without glory. Recommended Book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Courage-without-Glory-British-Wolverhampton/dp/1912...

In this episode, a continuation of our Germany at War series, we take a deep dive into the fighting on the Western Front throughout the crucial year of 1915. From poison gas and pillboxes to elastic defence, we explore the tactics, technology, and brutal realities of the war and much more in this week’s episode. Join Our Community: ⁠https://not-so-quiet.com/⁠ Use our code: Dugout and get one month...

Charles de Gaulle was wounded and captured at Verdun in March 1916, but this marked the beginning of a new phase of his First World War. Over the next two and a half years, he would dedicate himself to escaping captivity and rejoining the fight. This is the story of how the future president of France became one of the most notorious escape artists of the First World War. Our first book INFERNO is...

It is difficult to imagine Charles de Gaulle as a young man before the képi, the presidency, and his famous silhouette. But in August 1914, he was a 23-year-old lieutenant about to be wounded and tested in the inferno of combat. Ultimately captured in the brutal fighting at Verdun, he would do all in his power to escape from captivity in Germany. This is the story of Charles de Gaulle's First Worl...

1917 British patrols walked into Serre without firing a shot. The Germans had gone - withdrawn back to the Hindenburg Line, abandoning ground over which some one million men had been killed and wounded. Four months after the Battle of the Somme officially ended, the British were left masters of the field - but it was a field of shell holes, ruins and unburied corpses. Were they the victors? In thi...

On 13th of November 1916 the British Army attacked at Beaumont Hamel, Serre and Beaucourt - the ground of the first morning of the Somme. Four and a half months after the catastrophe of the first of July, the last battle of the campaign was fought across the same fields, still littered with the fallen from weeks earlier. What happened at the Battle of the Ancre - the final major battle of the Somm...

Today in popular memory the Battle of the Somme is often seen as titanic struggle fought between Britain and her vast Empire an the military might of the German War Machine. But, what’s far too often overlooked, and the subject of today’s episode is the contribution of the French Army who fought tenaciously from the very first to the very last shots of the battle. NSQ Tour 2027: ⁠https://battlegui...

By late September 1916, the British Army stood ready to attempt something it had failed to do on the war's bloodiest day: capture Thiepval. Once a village, now a fortified maze of underground cellars and interlinking tunnels, the position had repelled the 36th Ulster Division on 1 July and become a symbol of German resistance ever since. Two and a half months on, a very different British Army laun...

In this episode we continue our exploration of the 1916 Battle of the Somme with a focus on a key crucial stage famed for the global debut of a new weapon - the tank - But the battle of Flers-Courcelette was not just the tanks, debut - tens of thousands of infantry played their part in what would become one of the greatest assaults of the battle. Join Our Community: ⁠https://not-so-quiet.com/⁠ Use...

The struggle for Pozieres would become one of the most infamous campaigns of the Battle of the Somme: some 23000 Australians would become casualties over six weeks fighting on a front barely three miles wide. The total casualties were comparable to Gallipoli and the outcome would be controversial. What happened at Pozieres and why did it degenerate into one of the bloodiest battles of the war for...

There was no terrain on the Somme that soldiers feared more than woodland - a maze of broken stumps, fallen branches, and hidden barbed wire. In this episode we explore how and why the woods of the Somme became such a crucial part of the battle. Join Our Community: ⁠https://not-so-quiet.com/⁠ Use our code: Dugout and get one month free as a Captain. Support via Paypal:⁠ https://battleguide.co.uk/n...

Just two weeks after the catastrophe of 1 July 1916, the British Army launched another major assault on the Somme - this time with dramatically different results. Attacking before dawn after silently assembling thousands of men in No Man's Land, they overran much of the German second position, captured thousands of prisoners, and briefly created what many believed was the best opportunity for a de...

When people think of the Somme, they think of failure: men cut down in no man's land; shattered battalions; and catastrophic losses. Yet along much of the southern part of the battlefield, this is not what happened at all. Here, British troops broke into the German defences, captured villages and advanced further than anywhere else on 1 July. For a few brief hours, it even seemed that the offensiv...

What happens when an entire nation runs out of food? This is one of our favourite episodes from our sister podcast, Reichs and Republics: The German History Podcast, and we’d like to share it with you. In this episode Katja and Chris explore the brutal reality of the 'Turnip Winter' of 1916/17, when the German civilian population was forced to endure extreme hunger, freezing temperatures and a col...

At 7.30am on the morning of 1st July 1916, whistles blew along a front stretching more than twenty miles. Tens of thousands of British soldiers climbed from their trenches and began walking towards the German lines. By nightfall nearly 20,000 of them would be dead. It remains the bloodiest day in British military history. But that catastrophe was not evenly spread across the battlefield. Some sect...

What turns a unit into an elite? Is it rigorous selection, a hard-earned reputation, or simply being thrown into the fiercest fighting and surviving? In today's episode, we search for the answer through the story of the Blue Devils of the Vosges. From the Chasseurs to the Corps Francs, we'll explore what the French considered to be their elite units of the First World War. Join Our Community: ⁠htt...

For eight brutal months in 1915, every Allied plan at Gallipoli had failed. However, on the final night of the campaign, the Allies finally managed to pull off one perfectly executed operation and evacuate. This is the story of how a disastrous campaign came to an end with an almost flawless final action. The Caribou Trail — Steam:  https://store.steampowered.com/app/3065030/The_Caribou_Trail/ The...

In this week’s episode and in a long overdue collaboration between Not So Quite on the Western Front and WW2 Both Sides of the Wire, four of us sit down to explore what we feel are the battles that, for one reason or another, shaped the course of the 20th century. Pre-order here: ⁠http://battleguide.co.uk/inferno Written by four historians, each bringing their own unique perspective, Inferno explo...

In August, the Allies prepared for their largest offensive yet on the Gallipoli Peninsula. This was intended to be the decisive breakthrough that would break the deadlock and end the stalemate once and for all. The plan involved a new landing, a night march and a dash for the heights. But how did the campaign's most imaginative plan become its most bitter failure? The Caribou Trail: https:/⁠⁠⁠⁠/st...

Four miles from the beaches of Gallipoli stood a small village called Krithia. Allied commanders believed it could be captured in a single day. Instead, thousands of British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops would die trying to reach it. Beneath the heights of Achi Baba, repeated assaults collapsed in gunfire, confusion and bloodshed, turning the southern tip of Gallipoli into a battlefie...

Have you ever wondered what it was actually like to survive in the trenches of the Gallipoli Front in the First World War? Not the battles we read about in textbooks, but the heat, the flies, the constant shellfire, and only metres from the enemy. In this episode we ask, and answer those very questions. The Caribou Trail: https:/⁠⁠/store.steampowered.com/app/3065030/The_Caribou_Trail/⁠⁠ Guest Stev...

In July 1918, the German spring offensives had reached their high watermark, and it was time for the French army to strike back. This is the story of the Battle of Soissons, the largest French tank attack of the entire First World War and a turning point for the Allied cause. Guest James Taub Socials: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-taub-670096103⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/taubhistory.bsky....

In this episode, Spencer is joined by Professor Mark Connelly, a renowned expert in military and cultural history, to explore the cinematic legacy of the Gallipoli Campaign. From the earliest newsreels of 1915 to the monumental impact of Peter Weir’s 1981 masterpiece, we discuss how film has shaped and sometimes rewritten our visual and cultural understanding of the Great War. Guest: Professor Mar...

In 1915, France sent an army to Gallipoli. Few in the English speaking world know this, and few in France remember their efforts. In this episode, we recover the forgotten story of the French contribution to the campaign. The landing on the Asian shore and the colonial soldiers who held the right flank at Helles is for eight brutal months. NSQ Tour 2026: ⁠https://battleguide.co.uk/nsq-tour-2026⁠ G...

In 1915, Anzac troops landed on the rugged coastline of Gallipoli in an attempt to break the Ottoman defences from the north. What they encountered were steep cliffs, chaos and devastating fire from concealed Turkish positions. This is the story of the Anzac landings. The Caribou Trail: https:/⁠/store.steampowered.com/app/3065030/The_Caribou_Trail/⁠ Guest Steve Chambers Books:⁠ https://www.pen-and...