The History Network

In the year 1754, twenty two year old George Washington was on a mission from the Governor of Virginia to enforce the colony's land claim on the area of western Pennsylvania. The French forces had just built Fort Duquesne (modern day Pittsburgh) as a means to solidify their claim to the land. At this time both England and France had started to develop the area. Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

Something a little different for you with this episode, we were offered the opportunity to speak to Anthony McCarten the scriptwriter of the new film about Winston Churchill in 1940, ‘Darkest Hour’.

One of the key issues with the Japanese conscript army was that it had primarily been established to counter an invasion from the continent. As such it had been modelled along the same lines as the enemy forces that the Japanese had assumed they would have to confront. While this army may have initially been quite professional, its potential as a fighting force had dwindled over time. This was in part due to the fact that it saw little or no action, thus very few men amongst its ranks had any actual battlefield experience. Dur: 24mins File: .mp3

The term samurai is a word that is almost universally recognized around the world. This is somewhat unusual for a historically based word, particularly for one that traces its origins back to a culture as unique as 10th century Japan. The image conjured by the term samurai for most people is that of a fierce, sword wielding warrior, and while somewhat cliché, is not entirely incorrect. And yet for a historical word and group that is so widely known, very few people really know anything else about these famed warrior figures of Japan's feudal past. Dur: 30mins File: .mp3

The battle of the Medak Pocket in the autumn of 1993 was, up to that point, the biggest military engagement participated in by Canadian soldiers since the Korean War. Though it was an almost day-long battle against Croatian forces bent on ethnic cleansing it was covered up by the Canadian government and still remains one of the least known episodes in Canadian military history. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

The Limburg War of Succession began in 1283, and ended with the Battle of Worringen on June 5, 1288, fought fifteen kilometers north of Cologne. On this day, Duke Jean Ier of Brabant fought Count Henry VI of Luxembourg for the rights to the Duchy of Limburg. The specifics of the battle come to us from a single source—Jan van Heelu's epic verse, Rymkronyk. A member of the Teutonic Order, he witnessed the battle while serving in the duke of Brabant's court. His written account demonstrates not only his knowledge of knightly conduct, but also battlefield tactics, as well as the underlying political and social tensions of the time. Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

The Limburg War of Succession began in 1283, and ended with the Battle of Worringen on June 5, 1288, fought fifteen kilometers north of Cologne. On this day, Duke Jean I of Brabant fought Count Henry VI of Luxembourg for the rights to the Duchy of Limburg. Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

Operation Frankton, which took place from 7th to 12th December 1942, had the intention of sending a handful of Royal Marines paddling 70 miles up the River Gironde during the hours of darkness with the goal of laying limpet mines on enemy shipping to disrupt German operations out of the port of Bordeaux. Dur: 14mins File: .mp3

It's easy to take for granted how artillery was used in the First World War. Artillery acquired a target, usually out of direct line of sight and fired. But if the target is out of sight how did they know it was there? How did they know if the shell had landed in the correct location? So much of the technology we are now familiar with telephones, airplanes and even consistent manufacturing quality at the turn of the twentieth century was still in its infancy. Indeed when it came to artillery even its use came into question, was it to destroy or neutralise the enemy? In this episode we'll explore British artillery in World War 1. Dur: 21 mins File: .mp3

This week we re-run a classic episode from Season 2 (due to a scheduling error and not having a script quite ready!). We didn't want to put out anything rushed, so we hope you enjoy this re-run of one of episodes from the archives. Dur: 13mins  File: .mp3  

Fort Duquesne, a French outpost fort in present day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was strategically placed where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers merge into the Ohio River. The Ohio then flows into the Mississippi River producing an important waterway linking Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

On December 14, 1944 an unusual order rang across the Imphal plain: "Lieutenant Generals, by the left flank; march." So ended the investiture ceremony in which William Slim and his three corps commanders - Geoffrey Scoones, Philip Christison and Montague Stopford - had been knighted by the Viceroy of India Archibald Wavell. The laurels were well earned. In the 1943-44 campaign season Slim's 14th Army had crushed the Japanese invasion of India, inflicting massive casualties and seizing several bridgeheads on the Chindwin River. Their reward was mixed. The commanders were knighted, and ordered to drive the Japanese from Burma. Dur: 30mins File: .mp3

When we consider the bayonet (off the rifle), its history is the history of all direct combat warfare. In modern times, if you are in personal combat where your last device is your bayonet, it means a lot of things have gone wrong for you to be in that situation. Do you have what it takes to survive? The next two minutes will tell. Dur: 24mins  File: .mp3

Many of you will be aware we have other military history podcasts, Angus's WW2 Podcats and the Ancient Warfare Podcast. Well we have a new one for you: Medieval Warfare hosted the Peter Konieczny. For those who have not already had a listen here is the first episode where Peter discusses why we should study Medieval Warfare. Dur: 40mins File: .mp3

In the early hours of the 9th of August, 1976, 84 Selous Scouts disguised as local soldiers crept across the Mozambique border into a terrorist training camp on the Nyadzonya River. In the few hours that followed, four Selous Scouts were lightly wounded, however, over 1,000 ZANLA recruits lay dead and twice as many were estimated as wounded. This raid was to go down in history as a textbook example of Special Forces employment in asymmetric warfare, showing how small teams of highly motivated and highly trained troops could inflict vastly disproportionate results. The Rhodesian military named the assignment Operation Eland, taking its name from the large African game antelope. It would however be remembered in history by another name; the Nyadzonya Raid. Dur: 29mins File: .mp3

The Battle of Antietam Creek as it was known to the Union, or the Battle of Sharpsburg as it was known to the Confederate States, was fought on the 17th of September 1862 and became the most costly one-day battle of the American Civil War. The battle claimed nearly 23,000 casualties including 6 generals, and in a protracted 4 year civil war would go on to cost over 600,000 lives. While the official death toll for the battle stands at nearly 4,000, in actual fact, the true death toll is closer to 9,000 as many men who were marked down as wounded on the field of battle would later die in hospitals, some even months after the battle. Dur: 25mins File: .mp3

Germany invaded Poland on September 1st 1939, and England, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3rd. The Netherlands, which had remained neutral in World War One, continued its policy of neutrality, along with Denmark and Norway. Belgium also decided to remain neutral - unlike the others it had been invaded by Germany in World War One. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

There seems to be a whole plethora of reasons about how and why 'chat' has been associated in modern times with having a casual conversation with others. The term "Having a chat" is most commonly associated militarily with the first world war trenches and soldiers using lulls in the fighting to get together and de-louse each other while having casual conversations. Chat is often ascribed to the Hindi word for a parasite, 'chatt' (with 2 Ts), but is more possibly from an earlier medieval English word for idle gossip, "chateren". There are certainly references to it in 13th century english literature. But certainly Soldiers in the Napoleonic Wars referred to lice as 'chats'. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

The fighting on the 7th of September 1812 would be the bloodiest day of the Napoleonic war. The French victory would open the road to Moscow, but the failure to finally smash the Russian's in the field would ultimately prove fatal for Napoleon's Grand Armee. Dur: 20mins  File: .mp3

We’ve something different for you in this episode. I’m sure many of you are aware Angus does a number of podcasts other this one with Nick, one being Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy. Whilst putting the latest episode together he had a chat with military historian Murray Dahm about Friction. They chatted for 40 min on the topic but only needed 4min for the WSS podcast. We thought you guys might like to hear the conversation it in full. So what you have here is the unabridged version of Murray and Angus talking Clausewitz and Friction… If you don't like this format for the podcast, don't worry normal service will resume in the next episode.