Forgotten Wars

 On the morning of Oct. 25, 1813, the inhabitants of the Pacific island of Nuku Hiva awoke to a startling sight, a fleet of strange ships sailed across the cobalt blue sea and landed at their island. It was an American fleet, trying to escape the British during the war of 1812. So began the most bizarre US military campaign in history, a riproaring yarn involving fights with cannibals, mutiny...

Dark times have fallen on the Republic, after the disastrous Teruel offensive the Republican zone is now split in two. The triumph of the Nationalists seems inevitable, but as the Munich Crisis begins the Republicans plot one last great offensive to turn the tide. The Battle of the Ebro will decided the fate of Spain and bring about the triumph of Franco. #war #worldwar2 #spain #history #historyne...

The Republic is still recovering from the meat grinders of Brunete and Belchite, while it faces the grim prospect of Franco overrunning what was left of its northern enclave. Desperate for a success to silence the doubters, the Communists will take the biggest gamble of the whole war. After the Battle of Teurel, nothing will ever be the same again. #war #militaryhistory #historynerd #history...

With the Communist's now dominant in Republican Spain after the May Days, they decide to launch two huge offensives. Brunete and Belchite will become disasters for the Republic, inflicting gaping wounds that will never heal. Meanwhile Mussolini embarks on a career as a Mediterranean pirate. #history #historynerd #spain #war #worldwar2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What a difference 3 months can make. In March 1937 the Republic won its greatest victory of the civil war at Guadalajara, for the first time since the coup it seemed as though they could defeat the Nationalists. Yet by May Franco's forces were on the verge of victory in the north, after destroying the town of Guernica with the help of the German Condor Legion. Meanwhile a civil war within a civil...

As Franco's forces advance on Madrid everyone believes it will fall easily. General Mola even boasts he will soon drink coffee on the Grand Via. But it will be a much harder fight than anyone suspects, setting the scene is set for an epic contest that will leave the Nationalists frustrated, and guarantee that this will be a long drawn out war. #war #militaryhistory #historynerd #history #worldwar2...

In July 1936 the army rose up and attempted to seize control of Spain, yet the nation was so polarized that while it was successful in some areas, in others it completely failed. With Spain split in half, Civil War is the only way to victory. Meanwhile in Berlin, Rome and Moscow plots are made that will soon internationalise the conflict. #Militaryhistory #War #History #Historynerd Hosted on Acast...

The Spanish Civil War gave the world a tragic vision of the upcoming devastation of World War 2, in many ways it was its prelude. In the first episode of our series we trace the origins of the conflict, the battle between the two Spain's, as the Centre collapses and the army launches a coup. #worldwar2 #Spain #History #militaryhistory Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's 1883 and troubling news is coming out of the Sudan. Tales of a revolt in the name of God, a mysterious figure called the Mahdi who is winning victory after victory against Egyptian forces. Soon Cairo and its new master Great Britain will send one of the worst army's in history to finally put down the Mahdi, setting the stage for an epic defeat that drag Britain into multiple wars and change t...

For our first episode of 2026 we cover one of World War 2's least known failures. Its 1940 and Britain stands alone against the might of Nazi Germany, while a battle for the soul of France rages between the Free French of Charles De Gaulle and the collaborationist Vichy regime of Marshall Petain. With the Battle of the Atlantic just beginning, Britain and the Free French cook up a scheme to seize...

It's 1975 and the United States is still reeling from the Watergate scandal and the fall of Saigon, when Communist Cambodians seize an American ship on the high seas. What sounds like the start of an 80's action flick would turn into one of the most tragic, hilarious and flawed operations ever launched by the US military. #History #USA #MilitaryHistory #War Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

In the final part of our series on the Boxer Rebellion, the allied army fights its way to the gates of Beijing, all the while dealing with the terrible heat and squabbling among themselves. Meanwhile in the besieged Legations, the foreigners desperately try to hold on as the Chinese go all out to crush them. #History, #militaryhistory #war #china Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

The Boxer Rebellion is in full swing as Northern China descends into chaos. While one of the strangest army's ever assembled, combining troops from all the Great Powers, assaults Tientsin, the foreigners trapped in the Beijing Legations desperately fight for their very survival as the siege rages on. #History #War #China Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get ready for a tale of one the strangest wars in history. China explodes into the blood chaos of the Boxer Rebellion, as rebels who believe their martial arts make them invincible to bullets go on the rampage. Trapped in Beijing and Tientsin, the Western and Japanese communities are soon desperately fighting for their very lives. Meanwhile one of the strangest alliances in history is being formed...

Today the US army is the most formidable in the world, but in the young nations early years it was a very different story. Amateurish, badly led and underfunded, it stumbled into the worst military defeat in American history. A defeat so terrible it would change the American army forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last episode Adolf Hitler takes central stage in the story of the Freikorps. On the backfoot after the assassination of Walter Rathenau, the Freikorps stage a comeback as Poland threatens Germany's boarders, France invades the Ruhr, and hyperinflation devastates the land. With Germany in chaos and the Republic gravelly weakened, Hitler and his Freikorps allies will launch the Munich Putsch....

After rampaging through Germany and invading the Baltic States, the Freikorps still thirsted for combat and blood. Turning on the very Republic that had been paying and supplying them, they would bring a reign of terror that would shake Germany to its very foundations. #Germany #WorldWar2 #Nazis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does a society do when it has trained killing machines that it can't turn off? That is the situation Germany faced after World War 1, as its elite Storm Troopers returned home to a country where the old order had collapsed. Despising the new German Republic, they would band together to crush Communist revolts and even invade the Baltic states, leaving death and destruction everywhere they wen...

In 1941 World War 2 isn't going well for Britain. In North Africa a new German General called Erwin Rommel is running rings around them, turning the desert into this own playground. Desperate to turn the tide they launch a commando mission that was as ambitious and daring, as it was badly implemented and dogged by bad luck. Its mission was simple, to 'Get Rommel.' #worldwar2 #history /#rommel Host...

Who is the worst traitor in American history? The man with the best claim to that dubious title is James Wilkinson! Join me for an epic tale of espionage, corruption, wine and woman, as Wilkinson undermines George Washington, spies for Spain, tries to assassinate the explorers Lewis and Clark, and plots to split up the United States with Aaron Burr. In between he finds the time to cause the worst...

After her husband is falsely accused of treason and executed by the King of France, Jeanne de Clisson embarks on an epic rampage of revenge. Taking to the high seas, she became a pirate, earning the nickname the Bloody Lioness of Brittany. #war # history #france #pirates Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After disasters in North Africa and Greece, the last thing Fascist Italy needs is another front to fight on. Yet Mussolini will launch his soldiers into the Russian snows, where despite early successes, they will meet their doom as the Battle of Stalingrad unfolds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Not content with a disaster in North Africa, Mussolini decides to invade Greece to show Hitler whose boss in the Balkans. What he claimed would be a walkover turns into his most humiliating mistake. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a 3 part series we delve into why Italy's campaigns in World War 2 turned into humiliating defeats, starting with the beginning of the duel in the desert. As Mussolini tries to build a new Roman Empire by invading Egypt, a genius British general will launch one of the greatest forgotten offensives of the whole war. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today Canada is most famous for its politeness, maple syrup and ice hockey, but during World War 1 they were the most feared and brutal soldiers on the Western Front. Join me for a tale of heroism, raids on enemy trenches and a force that became the Stormtroopers of the British Empire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.