The History Network

After World War Two, former New Zealand prisoner of war Gunner Jim Henderson wrote "We used to say after the war the Red Cross should take over the world and run it. They'd shown what they could do in a world mad with war." Most people know about the Red Cross: during the War of Italian Unification between imperial Austria and the Franco-Sardinian alliance, Swiss businessman Henri Dunant visited t...

In this episode we look at  Ancient Warfare Magazine VIII.3 "Swift as the wind across the plains" . Angus is joined by Josho Brouwers, Murray Dahm, Lindsay Powell, Mark McCaffery and Owen Rees. "Cimmerians. Sarmatians. Scythians. Horsemen of the steppes. They emerged from the fog of prehistory around the eighth century BC. Semi-nomadic, they dominated the Pontic Steppes for a millennium. Over cent...

Gas was one of the most feared weapons of world war one. Proportionally though, there were few casualties from gas throughout the war. The British kept accurate figures from 1916, of those casualties only 3% were fatal and 70% would be back on the front line in weeks. Gas was the "bogeyman", it was not a bullet to be dodged or something you could hide from. Initially protection was rudimentary fro...

On October 17, 1781, four years to the day when British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army to American forces at Saratoga, New York, Lord Charles Cornwallis requested terms of surrender from General George Washington. Two days later, the British marched between lines of French and American soldiers to the tune of "The World Turn'd Upside Down." Upon hearing the news, British Prime Minister...

In this episode we look at  Ancient Warfare Magazine VIII.2 "War, trade and adventure: struggles of the Ionian Greeks ". Angus is joined by Josho Brouwers, Murray Dahm, Lindsay Powell, Mark McCaffery and Cezary Kucewicz.  "The ancient Greeks originally divided themselves into four major tribes, namely the Dorians, Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians. Each of these tribes also spoke a distinct dialect...

In elegant bronze capitals, the name 'M. AGRIPPA' graces one of the most famous and iconic buildings to survive from antiquity, the domed Pantheon in Rome. He was one of Ancient Rome's most remarkable sons, and the best friend and general of Caesar Augustus. Yet the extraordinary story of his rise from obscurity to be the second most important man in the Roman World is known to remarkably few. Dur...

On the 23rd July 1998, the Public Records Office published a number of files, that had previously been held in secret, in respect of activities planned and undertaken by the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, in Western Europe during the Second World War. Dur: 24mins File: .mp3

Angus Wallace (from the History Network) is joined by Josho Brouwers, Lindsay Powell, Mark McCaffery and Murray Dahm to look at  Ancient Warfare Magazine Volume 8, Issue 1 .  Deserters, defectors, traitors: Betrayal in the ancient world. "The ancient world had its fair share of brave and courageous men, who stayed the course despite profound adversity or who seemed to laugh in the face of death. H...

The musket might have revolutionised the battlefield, allowing relatively unskilled levees to become truly dominant. But up until the machine guns of the first world war stopped the cavalry in their tracks, the mounted horseman had a vital role to play in any conflict. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

Marlborough, following his victory at Blenheim in August of 1704, attempted to exploit the situation even further by campaigning in the Moselle Valley. Due to the lack of political will of his Dutch Allies together with a shortage of supplies and the autumn rains fast approaching, Marlborough ordered his forces into winter quarters. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

The bombing of and the battle for Caen was just part of the overall bombing of and battle for normandy. The bombing of Normandy devastated and flattened many Normandy towns and cities and resulted in thousands of ‘friendly civilian cadualties’. U.S. General Omar Bradley remarked after the war that "We went into France almost totally untrained in air-ground cooperation." Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

In March of 1943 the 79th Armoured Division was due to be disbanded. A manpower shortage called for the bulk of the force to be redeployed, to make up shortfalls in other units. But the disastrous raid on Dieppe the previous year had proved that any invasion of mainland Europe would need to be supported by Armour, and this would need to be modified for an amphibious assault. So it was that Alan Br...

Angus Wallace (from the History Network) is joined by Josho, Lindsay and Mark McCaffery to look at  Ancient Warfare Magazine Volume 7, Issue 6 .  The Reluctant Warlord: The Wars of Marcus Aurelius . "With Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire was for the first time ruled by two emperors, both adoptive sons of the late Emperor Antoninus Pius (r. AD 138–161). Marcus had selected his nine-year-younger ad...

D-Day the invasion of Europe was to take place at low tide, this minimised the risk of landing craft hitting mines and other submerged obstacles. But this created problems for the troops being landed. It was going to be a long dash over a sandy beach which may have been mined, supporting vehicles could quickly become bogged down in the soft sand then once over the beach the man-made defences had t...

Column, Line or Square is a very simplistic way to view Napoleonic era tactics. Troops were either deployed in Column to march, Line to fight or in the case of the infantry Square to defend against Cavalry. Sounds simple. But these were tactics drawn up and codified to allow for a new era, where large numbers of troops were deployed. Sometimes they were conscripts, sometimes poorly trained and in...

The Battle of Arras was in fact a series of Battles in April/May 1917, including Vimy Ridge, which has gone down in history as being an allied victory, but which in reality saw little gain in terms of allied advance and huge casualty figures on both sides after its 39 day duration. In fact such was the attrition rate that for the allies it surpassed The Somme in terms of daily casualty toll. Inclu...

The clang of gongs hung in the heavy air of an August day, 1860. Waving their yellow flags, the rebels in their red turbans and colourful garb marched closer and closer to Shanghai – until artillery erupted from the city walls and sent them scurrying for cover. Yet the rebels would not fire back. At last they withdrew, scratching their heads that the British and French troops were killing them, no...

In looking back through history, it is kings, queens, politicians and generals who steal the limelight. Those people who actually "do" the bidding are often much less well known. How many people are familiar with Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Marshal of France? The foremost military engineer of his day, he was renowned not only for building fortifications but for developing the art of siege craf...

It had been largely accepted that "Charles the Sufferer", the feeble and sickly King of Spain, would die without an heir. The nearest claimants to the Spanish Crown were the king's cousins; the Bourbon King of France, Louis XIV, and the Austrian Habsburg Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor. Married to Charles's Sisters, both had a strong claim. With the succession storm brewing Europe's monarchs ent...

There is no single factor to blame for the outbreak of the First World War. At best we can say that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, was the catalyst setting in motion a string of events that resulted in war. For decades tensions had been mounting between the European powers. It was these tensions that lead to a complex web of alliances, which would eventually drag the gr...

Josho, Murray and Lindsay are joined by Roel Konijnendijk to discuss  Ancient Warfare issue VII.5 "The march of the Ten Thousand is one of the best documented campaigns in Greek military history, thanks to the detailed narrative of Xenophon. He was a young Athenian expatriate who eventually rose to a senior position of command among the Hellenic survivors of Cyrus’ mercenary army." For more inform...

On October 17, 1777, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his army to American forces under the command of General Horatio Gates, marking the end of an ambitious campaign to isolate the rebellious New England colonies from the rest with a three pincer movement all leading to Albany, New York. There were two battles at Saratoga. The first, the Battle of Freeman's Farm, took place on September...

The Versailles treaty, imposed after the First World War denied Germany a Military Intelligence gathering organisation. But in 1921 the German Government reactivated the intelligence service. As a sop to Versailles the new counter intelligence service would be called the Abwehr, or "Defence". Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

Josho once more hosts this episode joined by Murray, Michael and Lindsay. "Looking at ancient warfare through the lens of a logistician and discussing the army train provides a unique way of understanding combat operations. It is often said that amateurs discuss tactics and professionals discuss logistics. No combat operation would happen without the support of supplies, equipment, men, animals, a...

With Jasper away Josho is joined by regulars Lindsay Powell, Murray Dahm and guest Mark McCaffery. "The rise of Early Republican Rome, from leading city in Latium to imperial power dominating peninsular Italy, seems inexorable. The Romans' aggression, competitive nature and habit of annual campaigning -- for land, slaves, booty and glory -- are often cited as the stimuli for conquest."