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Essays in military history Primary Format : Unknown Also Listed as: City : London State/Province : Unknown Country : United Kingdom Country : EU User Tags: Warning: mysql_fetch_object(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /usr/home/sites/www.podcastdirectory.com/web/podcasts/index.php on line 218 User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: Great Britain | View this Podcast on a Google Map. Add to iTunes Text Only listing of The History Network Podcasts Trumix.com listings available of The History Network Podcasts Click Here to Update the directory of this podcasts programs.

Trumix.com listings available of The History Network Podcasts Build your own playlists with this podcast. 506 U-110 One of the most famous U-boats of the second world war was U-110, being as it was the inspiration for the Hollywood blockbuster U-571. Yet for all itâs fame, U-110âs career was a short one, lasting well under a year. Her short initial capture just prior to being sunk would see the British lay their hands on many code books and one of the elusive Enigma machines that would provide the code-breakers back at Bletchley Park in the UK with invaluable information, inspiration and techniques for ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 505 The First Crusade The First Crusade would see thousands of Europeans rally to the Papal call for a mission to recapture Jerusalem for the Christians and put an end to Muslim atrocities on Pilgrims. Thousands would die through starvation, lack of water and exhaustion ill prepared as they were for the climate, but religious favour, ferocious fighting ability would see these knights repeatedly turn what looked like impossible odds into victory. Dur:20min File: .mp3 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 504 Logistics - A potted history The General Antoine-Henri Jomini writing in the 19th century defined logistics as "the practical art of moving armies..." and includes "providing for the successive arrival of convoys of supplies". The very base need of any commander throughout the history of war is to provide the magic three thousand calories a day a soldier needs... ... to march, to dig, to build and fight. Dur:17.45 File: .mp3 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 503 The Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars of 1912-13 pushed the Ottoman Empire almost totally out of Europe, leaving her with a toe hold on Constantinople. Montenegro, Greece and Serbia, the Balkan League, after defeating the Turks then fell out over the spoils and fought one another. One result of this would be heightened Serbian aspirations which worried its Austria resulting in tensions that would inevitably lead the rest of Europe into World War One. File: .mp3 Dur: 12min Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 502 The Hurtgen Forest By mid September 1944 the Allies had raced across France after hard fighting breaking out of the Bocage country of Normandy. On the Belgian-German border lies some 50 square miles of forest only eight miles deep and 25miles wide, with Aachen to the North. The Roer River ran along the eastern edge of the Hurtgen. Beyond it was the Rhine. This Forest, the Hurtgen, would see American troops fighting the longest battle in US history and even though they outnumbered the Germans five to one they ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 501 Austerlitz The Battle of Austerlitz, or Three Emperors, took place in December 1805. Out-numbered, Napoleon faced the combined forces of Emperor Francis II of Austria and Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Operating in enemy territory and having been on the move since Austria the battle would provide Napoleon with one of his greatest victories, smashing the Third Coalition against him. File: .mp3 Dur: 13min Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 410 Abyssinia 1868 In 1896 20,000 Italians were thoroughly beaten by the Abyssinians at the battle of Adowa, 14,000 Italians were killed or missing with a further 4000 captured. This casualty rate was the highest of any European battle of the nineteenth century, including the Napoleonic wars. Yet only just over thirty years earlier the British with only 13,000 men marched 400 miles in three months, through mountains and over plains to defeat the Abyssinians with almost no loss of life to themselves. Dur: 11.5 ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 409 Ninja The history of the Ninja is hard to trace due to the scant records kept and even fewer being still in existence today. In fact, most of what is known about the Ninja has been passed down in stories and folklore from generation to generation, thus adding to the myth and mystery surrounding them. Dur: 16.34  File: .mp3 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 408 The Needle Gun For over a hundred years European armies had developed infantry tactics based round massed ranks of infantry firing in volleys to maintain a constant rate of fire, and this was due to the equipment at hand. The muzzle loading muskets, such as the Brown Bess, required a long series of actions to be carried out to load and discharge the weapon, and these were drilled in to troops from the day they joined the army. The needle gun with its bolt to open the chamber and the insertion of the bulle ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 207 The Battle of Gaugamela The battle of Gaugamela would be the final confrontation between Alexander the Great and Darius III the Persian King, one in which the Persian King had to win... or lose his empire. After being beaten two years previously at Issus, Darius had brought together an army of huge proportions drawn from throughout the empire. The battlefield would be of his choosing and fully prepared. On paper the odds were in his favour with his forces out numbering the Macedonians by at least three to one... D ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 406 Rommel pt.1 Rommel was one of the most capable German commanders of the second world war and managed to be popular not only with his own troops, the German people, and with Hilter but also with the allied forces fighting him. Popular to such an extent that the British commander General Auchinleck issued orders not to refer to Rommel by name but as "the Germans" or "the enemy". He was an old fashioned chivalrous soldier who treated prisoners with respect and disregarded orders where he saw appropriate, ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 405 Tank pt2 - The Interwar Years No sooner had the tank entered the First World war and made its first tentative steps the war was over. With the closure of hostilities, armies of the world disarmed rapidly. The war had cost a fortune and the vast numbers of men in arms were a drain on the coffers. The British army which had championed the use of the tank now found its political masters had dreamed up the Ten Year Rule which stipulated that planning for the army was based on the fact that there would be no major conflict f ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 404 Chard Midway is a small atoll in the Pacific, only 2.4 miles square and over two thousand miles from the Japanese mainland. With two airstrips and a small American naval base it was about to give its name as possibly the most important single naval engagement of the second world war, at the end of which five aircraft carriers would be sunk and the balance of naval power in the pacific shifted. File: .mp3 Dur: 19min Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 403 Midway Midway is a small atoll in the Pacific, only 2.4 miles square and over two thousand miles from the Japanese mainland. With two airstrips and a small American naval base it was about to give its name as possibly the most important single naval engagement of the second world war, at the end of which five aircraft carriers would be sunk and the balance of naval power in the pacific shifted. File: .mp3 Dur:21min Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 402 War by Other Means Carl von Clausewitz the military theorist and historian wrote "War is merely a continuation of politics by other means", but can we wage war with out actually going to war? Do huge armies have to face one another for us to achieve our politic ends?? File: mp3 Dur: 14min Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 401 The Battle of Kohima Kohima is the capital of the Indian state of Nagaland, now in Bangladesh, high in the mountainous Naga hills. It was here the Imperial Japanese army would suffer its largest defeat of WWII thus far. The fighting was savage and proved to be a turning point for the British 14th army. It would gain a new confidence and prove its commander Bill Slim's new tactics to be a success. Mountbatten, Commander in Chief in South East Asia would describe it as: âprobably one of the greatest battles in h ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 310 Tank part 1 Throughout history armies have looked to protect themselves whilst advancing. The greek hoplites developed the phalanx while the Romans used the testudo (or tortoise) whereby their interlocking shields could minimise the effects of the enemies' long-range offensive weapons. With the coming of the gun powder age nothing could stop a bullet, but the rate of fire was only limited. The first machine guns changed this, however. Thousands of rounds could be spewed forth slowing an enemy's advanc ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 309 The Battle of Balaclava In 1854 war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire with Britain and France throwing there hat in with the Turks. Landing in the Crimea British and French defeated the Russians at Alma, driving them back and laid siege to Sevastopol, home of the Tsar's Black Sea Fleet. The French took up positions at Kamiesh whilst the British dug in at Balaclava... The following battle is the "boys own" stuff of legend, the "thin red line", the charge of the heavy brigade and the disastrous charge ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 308 The SS The SS was established in 1925 as Hitlers personal bodyguard, a latter-day "Praetorian guard". SS members were selected on principles of racial purity and absolute loyalty to the Nazi party. By the end of the second world war they had fought in every major battle and become feared for their fanaticism and loathed for their cruelty. It was the SS that ran the concentrations camps, organised death squads and were associated with many other atrocities. File: MP3 Dur: 14min Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 308 The SS The SS was established in 1925 as Hitlers personal bodyguard, a latter-day "Praetorian guard". SS members were selected on principles of racial purity and absolute loyalty to the Nazi party. By the end of the second world war they had fought in every major battle and become feared for their fanaticism and loathed for their cruelty. It was the SS that ran the concentrations camps, organised death squads and were associated with many other atrocities. File: MP3 Dur: 14min Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 307 Assault from the Sea â The Story of Amphibious Warfare A few miles or so out to sea, an armada of warships is revealed by the lifting dawn mist. Fleets of landing craft battle their way through the surf to grind their way onto the beaches. Ramps slam down, boots tramp down metal and splash into water. The desperate race across the beach begins... Dur: 25min File: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 306 William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman is a controversial figure. The second most famous of the Union Commanders in the American Civil War he never won a major victory, yet it was his "march to the sea" splitting the confederacy and depriving it of supplies which contributed so much to the Northern victory. His scorched earth policy and the burning of Atlanta has led him to still be despised in Georgia for the devastation he caused, Sherman bluntly commented "If the people of Georgia raise a howl against ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 305 The Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross is the highest medal of gallantry awarded by the British Armed forces, it is awarded irrespective of rank or service and even to civilians under military command. Cast from captured Russian cannons from the Crimean war this unassuming medal is only 41mm high by 36mm wide bearing a crown surmounted by a lion, and the inscription FOR VALOUR. it has only ever been awarded to just over one thousand three hundred and fifty individuals. Dur: 12min File: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 304 The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest In 9AD Publius Quinctilius Varus, the Roman Governor of Germania, marched over the Rhine to spend the summer at advanced posts far inside the recently conquered province. On his return a coalition of Germanic tribesmen, led by Arminius attacked and decimated the Romans, the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth legions would never be raised again and their commander, Varus, committed suicide. The result of the battle was that ultimately Germania remained independent and was never included ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 303 Arnhem - A Bridge To Far Operation Market Garden was the largest airborne assault in history. Planned as the spearhead of a massive thrust into Holland, securing bridges along a thin sixty mile corridor through which the armoured columns of XXX corps would charge through relieving the parachutists as they went, and hopefully catching what they thought would be weak German resistance off guard, before finally capturing the Rhine crossing at Arnhem. The operation would lead Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick "Boy" Brow ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 302 The Maxim Gun The American born inventor Hiram Maxim whilst visiting the Paris Electrical Exhibition was told: "If you wanted to make a lot of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater facility." His solution was the Maxim gun, the first self powered machine gun. Adopted by the British army in 1891 by 1905 it was in use with nineteen different armies and twenty one navies. With its invention war changed forever, and would leave it's indelible mark ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 301 The Peninsular War By the year 1808 France had achieved domination over the great majority of continental Europe. Britain stood alone. In 1806 Napoleon declared the Continental Blockade, forbidding British imports to Europe, Portugal remained neutral tring to avoid the ultimatum. Napoleon needed to close Portugal, and gain tighter control over Spain since its ports were not entirely closed to British goods... Dur: 25min 30sec File: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 210 The Bismarck The Bismarck sailed in May 1941, on its first and only mission codenamed RheinÃbung, its mission to break into the Atlantic and harass British shipping bringing in food and other essential materials. Five days after sailing into the Atlantic it had sunk the battle-cruiser HMS Hood, flagship and pride of the British Royal Navy and soon after was itself crippled and scuttled... Dur: 17min 30sec File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 209 Samurai The Samurai warrior has reached mythological status through modern films, television and written popular fiction. Weilding there Katana swords they lop of heads and slice through opponents with no emotion and yet held in check by there code "Bushido", they hold life and death of ordinary people at there whim. But where did they come from and is this even close to the truth? Dur: 13min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 208 Total War With industrialisation the nature of war changed, for an army to function it needed not just men but munitions, these had to come from factories. In turn as the factory became more important to the war effort it to became a target, as did those who worked in it. By the mid nineteenth century we had seen the birth of Total War, where every resource a country can muster is engaged and put to work to win the war. Dur: 13min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 207 The Macedonians and Alexander Alexander the Great is one of the greatest military commanders to have ever lived, conquering much of the known world by the time he was 30. But he could not have managed this alone, his Macedonian countrymen were the back bone to his success, who were they and why under Alexander did they become so formidable a force? Dur: 12min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 206 The Gurkhas The Gurkha's have been fighting in the British army for over two hundred years, recruited from Nepal these fearsome warriors still carry their traditional 18-inch long curved knife known as the kukri into battle. Such is there fearsome reputation that during the Falklands war when the Argentinian troops heard they were about to be attacked on Mount William by the Gurkha's, nearly a whole battalion fled without firing a shot! Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 205 Achtung Panzer AchtungPanzer is one of the most important military books of the twentieth century. Written by the German Heinz Guderian and published in 1937 it set out his theories on modern mechanized warfare, ideas of speed, tank requirements, use of aircraft and supply. It was a complete manual for Hitlers forth coming Blitzkrieg... Dur: 11min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 204 "Stonewall" Jackson "Stonewall" Jackson was one of the most outstanding commanders of the American Civil. In many ways his battles would be a precursor to the modern methods of the mid twentieth century fighting where bold, swift, highly aggressive actions would prove so successful to the early German Blitzkrieg. Dur: 18min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 203 The Battle of Marathon The battle of Marathon has become a defining moment in world history where the fledgling Greek city states found a new confidence to defend themselves. The Persians had not been defeated on land for many decades and although not a conclusive victory it did show the Persians to be vulnerable... Dur: 11min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 202 Operation Jubilee - The Battle of Dieppe On the morning of the 19th of August 1942 over 6,000 infantrymen, mainly Canadian, supported by large British naval and air contingents attacked the French port of Dieppe. By the end of the day 4,384 of the 6,086 men who made it ashore were either killed, wounded, or captured. Dur: 14min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 201 The Battle of Agincourt In 1415on a rain soaked field in France an English King with his tired, hungry and sick army faced at least three times their number of experienced, well-armed and armoured Frenchmen. Yet even with the odds heavily stacked in their favour by the end of the day the French had suffered a catastrophic defeat on the field of Agincourt... Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 10 The Battle of Alesia In the winter of 54-53BC, the tribes of Gaul, which Julius Caesar had pacified over the previous few years, suddenly revolted destroying the Fourteenth legion, a quarter of the Roman strength in the region. Julius Caesar quickly march back to face the Gauls... Dur: 13min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 10 The Battle of Alesia In the winter of 54-53BC, the tribes of Gaul, which Julius Caesar had pacified over the previous few years, suddenly revolted destroying the Fourteenth legion, a quarter of the Roman strength in the region. Julius Caesar quickly march back to face the Gauls... Dur: 13min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 09 Marshal Zhukov - part 2 Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was Russia's most successful commander of the second World War, in the Russian Army there was a saying "where Zhukov is, there is victory"... Part 2. Dur: 16min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 09 Marshal Zhukov - part 2 Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was Russia's most successful commander of the second World War, in the Russian Army there was a saying "where Zhukov is, there is victory"... Part 2. Dur: 16min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 08 Marshal Zhukov - part 1 Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was Russia's most successful commander of the second World War, in the Russian Army there was a saying "where Zhukov is, there is victory". Part 1 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 08 Marshal Zhukov - part 1 Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was Russia's most successful commander of the second World War, in the Russian Army there was a saying "where Zhukov is, there is victory". Part 1 Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 07 The Anglo-Afghan Wars Walking round any Church in Great Britain you will see plaques and tombs to British troops lost in Afghanistan, but these troops aren't from the current troubles these men fought and died in previous Afghan wars dating back to the campaigns of 1839 onwards. These conflicts saw some resounding defeats for the British at a time when they were at the height of their power... Dur: 18min File:AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 07 The Anglo-Afghan Wars Walking round any Church in Great Britain you will see plaques and tombs to British troops lost in Afghanistan, but these troops aren't from the current troubles these men fought and died in previous Afghan wars dating back to the campaigns of 1839 onwards. These conflicts saw some resounding defeats for the British at a time when they were at the height of their power... Dur: 18min File:AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 06 The Chindits The Chindits were the largest of the allied Special Forces of the Second World War. They would operated deep behind enemy lines and for many months they lived in - and fought the enemy in - the jungles of Japanese occupied Burma...totally relying on air-drops for their suppliesâ Dur: 17min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 06 The Chindits The Chindits were the largest of the allied Special Forces of the Second World War. They would operated deep behind enemy lines and for many months they lived in - and fought the enemy in - the jungles of Japanese occupied Burma...totally relying on air-drops for their suppliesâ Dur: 17min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 05 Double Envelopment The Pincer Movement or Double envelopment is one of the basic elements of military strategy and has been used in almost every war from the Roman defeat at Cannae by Hanibal, to the largest ever encirclement in history by the Germans at Kiev in 1941... Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 05 Double Envelopment The Pincer Movement or Double envelopment is one of the basic elements of military strategy and has been used in almost every war from the Roman defeat at Cannae by Hanibal, to the largest ever encirclement in history by the Germans at Kiev in 1941... Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 04 Life and Times of the Brown Bess In 1722 the British army was ordered that any new muskets purchased should be of the âStandard Pattenâ model. This gun would be in use by the British army for over a hundred years and became know as the Land Patten Musket or Brown Bess... Dur: 12min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 04 Life and Times of the Brown Bess In 1722 the British army was ordered that any new muskets purchased should be of the âStandard Pattenâ model. This gun would be in use by the British army for over a hundred years and became know as the Land Patten Musket or Brown Bess... Dur: 12min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 02 General Patton General George Patton was undoubtedly one of the most capable Allied commanders of the second world war. He pushed his men hard, especially for what was ostensibly a civilian conscript army, but he got results... Dur: 15min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 03 British PALs Regiments of WW1 People expected the First World War to be over by Christmas. Very quickly the armies ran out of energy and were forced to dig in to prevent loss of territory. The regular troops quickly started to be depleted, then irregulars, then conscripts were drafted in... Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 02 General Patton General George Patton was undoubtedly one of the most capable Allied commanders of the second world war. He pushed his men hard, especially for what was ostensibly a civilian conscript army, but he got results... Dur: 15min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 03 British PALs Regiments of WW1 People expected the First World War to be over by Christmas. Very quickly the armies ran out of energy and were forced to dig in to prevent loss of territory. The regular troops quickly started to be depleted, then irregulars, then conscripts were drafted in... Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 01 Battle of Thermopylae In 480BC an alliance of Greek city states fought an invading Persian army of which Herodotus estimated to be over two million. The Greeks, led by the Spartans held out for three days.... Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 01 Battle of Thermopylae In 480BC an alliance of Greek city states fought an invading Persian army of which Herodotus estimated to be over two million. The Greeks, led by the Spartans held out for three days.... Dur: 10min File Format: AAC Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 04 Life and times of the Brown Bess In 1722 the British army was ordered that any new muskets purchased should be of the “Standard Patten” model. This gun would be in use by the British army for over a hundred years and became know as t Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 03 British Pals Regiments of WW1 People expected the First World War to be over by Christmas. Very quickly the armies ran out of energy and were forced to dig in to prevent loss of territory. The regular troops quickly started to be Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 02 General Patton General George Patton was undoubtedly one of the most capable Allied commanders of the second world war. He pushed his men hard, especially for what was ostensibly a civilian conscript army, but he go Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 01 The Battle of Thermopylae In 480BC an alliance of Greek city states fought an invading Persian army of which Herodotus estimated to be over two million. The Greeks, led by the Spartans held out for three days.... Dur: 10min Fi Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website