The History Network (military)

The battle of Abritus saw the death of two emperors in battle against a foreign enemy – Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, usually known as Trajan Decius (r. 249-251) and his son and co-emperor Quintus Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius, known as Herennius Etruscus (r. 251). They lost their lives intercepting an invasion of Goths led by their king, Cniva, as it attempted to leave the empire weighed down with plunder after an immensely successful two-year raid. Dur: 33mins File: .mp3

For the battle of Chaeronea, we get none of the detailed deployment which we get for the subsequent battles of Alexander in sources such as Arrian, Plutarch, Curtius Rufus, and even in Diodorus himself. We can use those later deployments to our advantage, however, as Macedonian deployment remained remarkably similar - and, having learned so many lessons evident at Chaeronea, why would Alexander deviate from what had happened there – especially when his subsequent battles too brought him so much success. Dur: 26mins File: .mp3

Australia's involvement and commitment to the Vietnam War continued until 1973 when the last remaining platoon who were acting as guards for the Australian Embassy in Saigon, were withdrawn in June 1973. As with American involvement, Australia's contribution also escalated over time. Following the arrival of the AATTV in 1962, in August 1964 the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) began to run supply missions to Vung Tau, the port south of Saigon. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

Arthur Martin-Leake, serving as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914 was the first man to be awarded a Bar to the Victoria Cross he received during the Second Boer War in 1902. In both circumstances Martin-Leake's conduct was to put the lives of his injured comrades first despite being exposed to constant enemy fire, and being wounded himself. Martin-Leake is the only recipient to gain his two Victoria Crosses in separate wars. Only two other men have been awarded two Victoria Crosses: Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse in 1916 and 1917, and Captain Charles Upham in 1941 and 1942. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

On September 22nd, 1862, already almost two years into the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation stating that, as of January 1st, 1863, all slaves within any State would be "thenceforward, and forever free." This proclamation freed 3.5 million men and women of African-American descent and, included in the proclamation, was the sentence that "the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." This meant that African-Americans could serve in the armed forces of the Union. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

In the Spring of 334 BC, the 22-year-old Macedonian king, Alexander III (r. 336-323 BC - not yet ‘the Great’), invaded the vast Achaemenid Persian Empire with an elite but small army of some 30-40,000 veteran infantry and only 5,000 cavalry. This invasion was the culmination of almost a century of pressure for some Greek commander or other to punish Persia for its own invasion of Greece during the fifth century BC. Persia had also continued to seriously meddle in Greek affairs thereafter, affecting the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC and with the King’s Peace in 386 BC. Dur: 31mins File: .mp3

Twelve years have passed since the disastrous Crusader Battle of Varna and three years since the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. Europe is reeling under the relentless pressure of Ottoman advances: Serbia fell in 1455, and Sultan Mehmed II had now amassed his forces for an invasion of the Kingdom of Hungary. To launch this invasion, he first needs the fortress town of Belgrade... Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

The Italian invasion of British Somaliland is an often-overlooked action of the Second World War. Although small and a backwater of the British empire, the region would see several significant firsts of the Second World War. The loss of the colony in mid-1940 was the first significant loss of British colonial territory during the war. The loss alongside the few casualties suffered, caused frustration and concern in London. While the unexpected collapse of Italian East Africa less than a year later represented the first significant theaterwide defeat of the Axis powers. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

At the turn of the nineteenth century, Italy, a newly unified upstart Great Power, was looking to expand its political and economic influence into neighboring North Africa. Just a few years earlier, France had taken effective control of the North African coast from Tunisia to Morocco, while Egypt was a British protectorate. Just two areas of North Africa were unoccupied by Western European powers: Morocco and Ottoman Libya. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

In the early stages of the Battle, aimed at capturing the high ground east and south of Ypres, the men of the New Zealand Division were tasked with capturing the village of La Basseville, southwest of the Messines Ridge (where the division had fought in June). La Basseville was situated on the Lys River (the border with France) and on the extreme right of Haig’s grand offensive. The New Zealanders' attack would act as a distraction to the German forces and, hopefully, cause them to divert troops away from the centre of Haig’s main attack. The Germans were under instructions that Warneton (an important rail hub), just north of La Basseville and with it La Basseville, must be held. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

In AD 376 an entire nation of Goths (the Theruingi) gathered on the northern banks of the Danube and asked permission to enter and settle within the Eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern Emperor, Valens (r. 364–78), agreed and this set off a series of events which would end in the greatest disaster for Rome since Cannae in 216 BC: the battle of Adrianople, fought on August 9, AD 378. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

It is a rare thing that a man be awarded his country's highest award for bravery because of his actions as a Prisoner of War, but that is exactly why Air Wing Commander James Stockdale was singled out. He was the highest ranking US Prisoner of War during Vietnam from 9 September 1965 until 12 February 1973 and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his unrelenting bravery in the Hanoi Hilton. Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

In late October AD 312, the fate of the future of the Roman world was decided near the Pons Milvius, the Milvian Bridge (the modern Ponte Milvio, Italy), crossing the River Tiber some 5 kilometres north of Rome on the via Flaminia. The battle was the culmination of the war between rival Roman emperors, Maxentius and Constantine, to see who would dominate the western Roman Empire. Dur: 34mins File: .mp3

The First Battle of Ypres came at the end of the strategic 'race to the sea' which occurred following the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, when allied forces halted the initial Axis advance made since the outbreak of the war. Before winter set in, several offensives were launched by both sides to try and outflank the other’s northern flank as they each moved towards the North Sea coast. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

This episode was written by Scott Forbes Crawford. An author based in Asia, he writes about ancient and medieval history in novels and nonfiction alike. A newly published history book, The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 BC – 89 AD, explores a decisive conflict between China and a nomadic steppe empire through the lives of fifteen historical figures, including the subject of today’s episode. Dur: 29mins File: .mp3

During the Baltic campaign of the Crimean War, in August 1854, Lieutenant John Bythesea together with Stoker William Johnstone of Her Majesty's ship HMS Arrogant performed an audacious act of bravery. This would lead to both men being awarded the Victoria Cross, among the first gazetted and earliest actions so awarded. Despite this, tragedy would soon envelop Stoker Johnstone and his story deserves to be better known. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

During the Baltic campaign of the Crimean War, in August 1854, Lieutenant John Bythesea together with Stoker William Johnstone of Her Majesty's ship HMS Arrogant performed an audacious act of bravery. This would lead to both men being awarded the Victoria Cross, among the first gazetted and earliest actions so awarded. Despite this, tragedy would soon envelop Stoker Johnstone and his story deserves to be better known. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

The legions of Magnentius and Decentius in Amida had been raised by the former usurper Magnentius (a general who usurped against Constantius in Gaul between 350 and 353) in his name and that of his brother. They were therefore a remnant of those disloyal troops, hence their stationing (a banishment) in the east. Their conduct at Amida would restore both their honour and reputation. Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

In the summer of AD 359, the armies of the Sasanian Persian Shahanshah ("King of Kings"), Shapur II (r. 309-379), invaded the Roman east. This invasion was the long-cherished revenge for a humiliating peace imposed on the Persians by the Romans sixty years earlier. The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus was an eyewitness to the most dramatic events of this new war, serving in the army of the emperor Constantius II (r. 337-361) as a protector domesticus, a guard cavalryman. His Res Gestae (Roman History) at this point is full of precise detail and evocative description. No action is more dramatic than the Siege of Amida. Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

Our best source for Thutmose's battle of Megiddo are the Annals of Thutmose, an account kept by his scribe Tjaneni and then, almost twenty years later, inscribed into the interior walls of the sanctuary of the temple to Amun-Re at Karnak. There are other sources too. These were official documents, however, and we must be wary of 15th century BC spin. The traditional date of the battle is usually given as 1479 BC but it is more likely to date to 1457 BC - whichever year it was, it was the 23rd year of Thutmose’s reign. Dur: 24 mins File: .mp3

The Battle of Megiddo, fought during the latter stages of the First World War over a week in late September 1918 against the Ottoman Turks, was so-named quite deliberately by the victorious British general, Edmund Allenby. Allenby was entirely conscious of the associations with the battles of Megiddo of the past (especially Thutmose’s famous battle although another had been fought in 609 BC) but also with Armageddon and Revelation, named after the ‘perfect’ battlefield the area around Megiddo represented. Dur: 30 mins File: .mp3

On July 31st, 1945, the Japanese cruiser Takao sat at anchor in Singapore dockyard. Little did her crew know that beneath the surface of the water, Royal Navy divers prepared to place magnetic mines which would take her out of the war. The Takao-class heavy cruiser had been a threat to US and allied forces throughout the Pacific War. She had been in action since 1941 and participated in many engagements, sinking enemy shipping and supporting various landings and evacuations. She had also survived several engagements where many other Japanese ships had been sunk. With the sinking of her three sister ships, Atago, Maya, and Chōkai in late 1944, Takao, although damaged, remained a major threat in the theatre. Dur18 mins File: .mp3

Only one man has ever been awarded both the Victoria Cross and the Iron Cross - Surgeon General William Manley. In 1864 he was awarded a VC for his actions during the siege of Gate Pa during the New Zealand Wars. Then, when the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Manley went with the British Ambulance Corps attached to the Prussian Army - in December 1870 he was awarded the Iron Cross (second class) for bravery in several engagements around Chateauneuf, Bretoncelles, Orleans, and Cravant. Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

When the Second Boer War was declared on October 11th, 1899, governments of colonies from around the British Empire offered to send troops to contribute to the British war effort. This included the governments of the six colonies of Australia (Australia would not be confederated into a Commonwealth until January 1st, 1901). Among the troops sent were the 1st Tasmanian Imperial Bushmens’ Contingent, a unit whose members would be awarded two Victoria Crosses. Most of the troops the colonies of Australia contributed were mounted units, formed before departure. This was despite a decree requesting infantry contingents as being of most service and cavalry of the least. Dur: 36mins File: .mp3

Benedict Arnold chose treason. In a shocking turn of events, one of the most talented American generals had turned traitor. The news sent shockwaves throughout the rebellious states. Arnold became the most wanted man in America as General George Washington made it clear he wanted Arnold captured and put on trial. Arnold, however, was safely behind British lines. Left behind was the British officer sent to recruit him, John André, another victim of Arnold's greed. But that was of little concern to Arnold. Now that his treason was complete and he a Brigadier General in the British Army, his focus was on winning the war and ensuring his place in history. Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

Benedict Arnold spent years becoming a respectable merchant in Connecticut and the coming of the American War of Independence presented him with an opportunity to increase his standing even further. His bravery in battle was unquestioned, but his desire for reward led him to dubious actions. Congress had little money to pay the soldiers, so Arnold decided to pay himself through the sale of captured goods. His temper, greed, and arrogance created enemies within American ranks. Fellow officers wished to see him fail and forwarded complaints to Congress. The victory at Saratoga should have been Arnold’s crowning achievement, but his severe wound at the moment of triumph opened the door for his rival, Horatio Gates, to receive the credit. Dur: 24 mins File: .mp3

Benedict Arnold, a name in the American lexicon that is synonymous with treason. History remembers Arnold solely for his attempted betrayal and his subsequent return to the American War of Independence as a British general, this was only the sudden climax to a story that saw Arnold rise from humble beginnings as an apothecary apprentice to one of the most competent generals in the Continental Army. He fought to protect his honor and was quick to challenge any perceived slight. Dur: 30mins File: .mp3

The entry for the year AD 991 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Olaf Tryggvason (later king of Norway) sailed with a fleet of ninety-three ships and raided the English coast. He began in Kent raiding Folkestone and then Sandwich, and then moved on to Ipswich in Suffolk. After overrunning Ipswich, the fleet moved onwards to Maldon in Essex, sailing up the River Blackwater and establishing a base at the island of Northey in early August. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

1951 had begun disastrously for the United Nations forces in Korea. On December 31st, 1950, the Chinese 13th Army breached UN defences below the 38th parallel as part of the Third Phase Campaign and, on January 3rd, Seoul was evacuated by the US Eighth Army. The Eighth Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgeway, who had been in office for little over a week, taking up his command only on December 26th, 1950. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

On their seemingly inexorable advance south in 1942, the Japanese had occupied Aitape in northern New Guinea on their advance south. Allied offensives to halt the Japanese advance began in 1943 and in April 1944 units of the United States Army, especially the 163rd Regimental Combat Team from the 41st Infantry Division landed at Aitape and retook parts of the area (centred on the Wewak airstrip). Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

On 27 September 1918, Captain Frisby and Lance Corporal Jackson led the assault against enemy machine-gun positions during the battle of the Canal du Nord, Nord-pas-de-Calais region of Northern France. Following the successes of the German Spring Offensive in March 1918, the Allies launched a series of successful counter-attacks from May to July 1918 which forced the Germans to fall back.

Epaminondas' victory at Leuctra created the Theban Hegemony, a brief period where Thebes dominated Greek politics. There has always been criticism that when Thebes defeated Sparta at the battle of Leuctra they had no real plan to replace the Spartan domination of Greece with one of their own. Hence the Theban hegemony of Greece was short-lived. One consideration to keep in mine is that Thebes only sought to end Spartan domination, not replace it. By achieving that feat at Leuctra, they actually created a power vacuum (which would eventually be filled by Macedon under Philip II, achieving domination of Greece in 338). Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

Epaminondas of Thebes is one of the greatest and most revolutionary commanders in military history, destroying the might of Sparta in a single day at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. At that battle, Epaminondas led the outnumbered Theban phalanx to an overwhelming victory over an army of feared Spartan hoplites. Theban victory that day forever changed the political map of Greece. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

By mid-afternoon on the 4th of August 1578, three monarchs lay dead on the battlefield of Alcazar in Morocco: two Sultans and King Sebastian I of Portugal. The consequences of their deaths would resonate for decades throughout Europe and North Africa. The Battle of Alcazar is known by several names, all of which are attempts at Anglicizing the town of El-Ksar el-Kebir in Morocco where the battle was fought. It is also known, unsurprisingly, as the Battle of the Three Kings.

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Just before his 31st birthday in September 1939, Charles Upham volunteered as a private in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF). He had been in the Territorials but refused to join at any higher rank. He was soon singled out for his natural leadership qualities and made temporary lance corporal, but refused to attend the Officer Cadet Training Unit since he feared that such training would delay his departure for Europe. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

Simo Häyhä tormented Soviet forces invading his native Finland between December 1939 and March 1940, killing 542 enemy soldiers in only 98 days. In the hostile, minus forty degree conditions of the Finnish winter of 1939-40, a man clad all in white lay with packed snow mounded in front of him as he awaited his enemy. The man was Simo Häyhä and he was armed with only a regulation, bolt action rifle – he preferred the standard sight as it could not fog over or catch the light and was less conspicuous than a telescopic sight. Next to him lay his sub-machinegun and he was no less deadly with that weapon. During the Winter War, Häyhä accurate sniper fire would account for almost an entire battalion of Russian soldiers. Dur: 24mins File: .mp3

In late 1791, during the Battle of the Wabash, also known as St. Clair's Defeat, saw the largest defeat of the American military at the hands of the Native Americans. Out of a force of about 1,000 men, the American suffered a 97% casualty rate: including 632 killed and 264 wounded. In addition, 200 camp followers, women and children included, were also killed against around 60 causalities on the Native American side. In a single morning, almost one quarter of the total United States Army was wiped out and the Western frontier left wide open for further Native American raids. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

On 4 July 1187, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, An-Nasir Yusuf Salah ad-Din ibn Ayyub - better known to us as Saladin - won a tremendous victory, one of the most famous of the Middle Ages. Beneath the Horns of Hattin, the twin peaks of an extinct volcano, his forces destroyed the largest army that the Crusader states ever fielded, killing or capturing the great majority of knights and foot soldiers. Dur: 26mins File: .mp3

We saw in Season 31 Episode 4 and Season 30 Episode 7 that due to the remarkable actions of several civilians who took up arms under military orders during the Indian Mutiny in 1857 and 1858 that the newly instituted Victoria Cross was altered to allow such acts of bravery to be recognised. Although Thomas Henry Kavanagh was recognised as the 'first' civilian Victoria Cross for his action during the relief of Lucknow in November 1857, his actions were not the first. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

On the death of King Charles IV of France in 1328, Edward III of England was his closest male heir and therefore the legitimate successor to the throne of the childless Charles. This was due to the ancient Salian (or Salic) law which prevented female succession (it had, however, only been enacted in 1316). Despite Edward's legitimate claim, the French crowned Philip, Count of Valois, King Philip VI of France and the slighted Edward refused to pay him homage. In revenge, Philip confiscated Edward’s lands in Aquitaine (held as a vasal Duchy to the crown of France). Edward therefore declared war against France and plunged England and France into a war that would last, on and off, for the next one hundred and sixteen years, a war we know as the Hundred Years War. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

The Allied landings at Normandy on June 6, 1944 were the largest amphibious operation ever undertaken in military history. Across five separate beaches, over 150,000 men made up the landing forces from the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. To protect the men on the beaches, a massive bombardment of naval gunfire and aerial bombs struck German fortified defences, troop concentrations, and artillery positions. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

In his 1944 book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, Raphael Lemkin says that "genocide is composite and manifold, and that it signifies a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of the essential foundations of life of a [specific] group." Collective dispossession, including plunder and spoliation, is only one of the many crimes that accompany and even fortify genocidal policies—or perhaps better said, expropriation and pillaging are important aspects of the political economy of genocide. Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

Agitation from the Armenian community for political reform and autonomy, brewing since the 1870s, was further intensified by large-scale massacres that occurred across the empire in 1894–1897 and in Cilicia in 1909; additionally, the more seemingly benign expressions of oppression and discrimination faced by Armenians, which had increased throughout the second half of the nineteenth century, also contributed to growing discontent. Though they had already suffered grave injustices, the previous misfortunes of the Ottoman Armenians paled in comparison to the genocide of 1915–1916. As Bloxham notes, the massacres of the 1890s and genocide of 1915 differ in significant ways—notably in their motivations as well as in participation by centralized versus localized actors—but share a common time frame at the twilight of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, the massacres of 1894–1897 themselves charted the course of what was to come, conditioning the mentality of both perpetrators and victims.

This episode was written by Ümit Kurt.

Ümit Kurt is a historian of the Modern Middle East with a particular focus on the transformations of the imperial structures and their role in constituting the republican regime. Kurt is Polonsky Fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He is the author of several books in Turkish and English, including “The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide.” His recent book is, The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province , published by Harvard University Press, May 2021. He is currently teaching in the Dept. of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Kurt is the winner of the Discovery Early Career Research Award of 2021, given by Australian Research Council.

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The battle of Königgrätz (also known as the battle of Sadowa or the battle of Chlum) was the most decisive clash between the armies of Prussia and those of Austria and her allies during the short, seven-week long, Austro-Prussian War in 1866. The war itself is also known under several different titles. Königgrätz was also one of the largest battles of the age with almost half a million men fighting on the field. Dur: 26mins File: .mp3

At the end of the First World War France and Italy had wanted the German High Seas Fleet divided between them, Britain and the USA wanted it scuttled, which Germany did anyway without permission. The resulting Treaty of Versailles imposed strict limits on size and number of warships the newly constituted German government was allowed to build and maintain. This nullified the threat of Germany at sea. Dur: 14mins File: .mp3

In his account of Xerxes' invasion of Greece, the historian Herodotus goes out of his way to give an account of Artemisia, female tyrant of Halicarnassus, before, during and in the aftermath of the battle Salamis in 480 BC. This account, and Artemisia herself, are remarkable for a variety of reasons but the idea of a woman commander, one as clever as a man, had a great impact on the ancient world. Dur: 24mins File: .mp3

Throughout the Indian Mutiny of 1857-1858, a total of 182 Victoria Crosses were awarded; more than one third of those were awarded for actions in in the city of Lucknow. It is a place with which anyone who studies the history of military bravery should be intimately familiar. One of the most remarkable actions during that part of the conflict was the relief of Lucknow on November 16th, 1857. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

In this second episode of the life of Charles V Holy Roman Emperor we continue the story of his reign and of the conflicts in the first half of the 16th Century that shaped Europe and the world. The ruler of an empire is forever in the saddle and so it was with Charles. Conflict began in the year of the Diet of Worms when the French under Francis 1 invaded Lombardy in Italy. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor also known as Carlos was born in 1500 and he lived for 58 years, dying in the Spanish monastery of Yuste of malaria. As we list his titles, King of Spain, King of the Netherlands, Flanders and Belgium, Emperor of Austria and Hungary, ruler of much of Italy including Milan, Sicily, Sardinia and Naples and Emperor of the Americas, the listener is apt to think that his realm encompassed much of the known world, as indeed it did, but this does not take account of the periphery. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

The Byzantines, the subjects of the Eastern Roman Empire, were great survivors. They outlasted their cousins in the west by a thousand years, withstanding the great waves of barbarian invasions and even managing to flourish amidst the chaos. Less than a century after the last western emperor was deposed in 476, the Eastern Romans under Justinian reconquered Italy and North Africa, and seemed on their way to restoring the entire Mediterranean to Roman rule. Dur: 30mins File: .mp3

On May 18, 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant achieved the objective he had sought for months. Union troops surrounded Vicksburg on three sides, and on its west side, Admiral David Porter's warships controlled the waters of the Mississippi. For three months Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton had watched as Grant flailed about in the floodplain on various unsuccessful bayou expeditions. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

On May 18, 1863, Major General Ulysses S. Grant achieved the objective he had sought for months. Union troops surrounded Vicksburg on three sides, and on its west side, Admiral David Porter's warships controlled the waters of the Mississippi. For three months Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton had watched as Grant flailed about in the floodplain on various unsuccessful bayou expeditions. Dur: 30mins File: .mp3

At the Battle of Cannae, 2 August, 216 B.C., Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca administered one of Rome's most crushing military defeats. Depending upon the ancient source, Roman losses on the Apulian battlefield numbered anywhere from roughly 50,000, as Livy relates, to around 70,000, as Polybius insists. Hannibal had enacted a double envelopment of the Roman army, a maneuver widely considered to be a tactical masterpiece that is to this day studied in war colleges around the world. Dur: 25mins File: .mp3

The last pitched battles on English soil were Sedgemoor in 1685 and Preston in 1715. But after that the army still needed to train and practice. The first land on Salisbury Plain was not bought for army training until 1897 and Catterick Camp was opened after the outbreak of WW1. So from 1853 when there was a renewed invasion scare, to 1914, there were many large scale army exercises or 'manoeuvres' all across the countryside of southern England. Dur: 26mins File: .mp3

The First Victoria Cross – Charles Davis Lucas, Cecil William Buckley, or Henry James Raby. During the Crimean War (March 1854-February 1856), the movement to recognise the valour of the ordinary fighting man of the various branches of the British armed forces gained immense momentum. The Crimean War was the first conflict where newspaper reporters were with the troops (today we’d use the term ‘embedded’) and wrote back to their publications with the details of the heroism of the rank and file. Dur: 16mins. File: .mp3

Ask most people about the Battle of Britain, and they will think of the Spitfires and Hurricanes of RAF fighter command in combat with the German Luftwaffe over southern England in 1940. History books will often also mention Bomber Command carrying out raids on the French and Belgian ports where the Germans were assembling the fleet of barges and small craft to be used to transport German troops across the Channel in Operation Sealion. Dur: 19 mins File: .mp3

The machinery of war which Charlemagne inherited from his father. Pepin the Short, and grandfather (Charles Martel, 'the hammer') was singularly well tuned to wage war. All of Charlemagne's vassals were expected to serve militarily and all free men were expected to serve if needed. This service included bishops, abbots and abbesses; they too could be called upon to provide armed men or other provisions of war according to the wealth of their estates. Dur: 17mins. File: .mp3

Charles the Great, known as Charlemagne and the father of Europe, created an empire which would last 1,000 years. To secure it he fought continuously, on multiple fronts, throughout his long reign. Charlemagne came to power at a time when Europe was made up of many small kingdoms and principalities. Since the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, it had also faced invasion from various peoples who had established kingdoms of their own, such as the Visigoths and Muslims in Spain. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

Thermopylae and Artemisium were never intended to be decisive stands even though the defeat of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae has gone down in history as just such a stand. There were also 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans at that defeat but their sacrifice has been all but been ignored. (indeed the historian Herodotus goes out of his way to show the Thebans to be perfidious traitors). The other cities' soldiers had already withdrawn, and fierce debate ensued to keep the alliance together. Dur: 23mins. File: .mp3

The American West contains many epic tales and stories, perhaps the most astounding is the story of Lewis and Clark and the Corp of Discovery. Over the course of seventeen months a group of over forty individuals traveled seven thousand miles through hostile native tribes from the middle of America through previously unexplored mountain ranges to the Pacific Ocean and returned healthy and well with only one casualty. Dur: 18mins File: .mp3

July 15th 1779. The night was dark, the soldiers were ordered to fix bayonets and unload their rifles. Men exhausted, a 14 mile road march in the dead of summer that started at noon got them to this point. Anxiety filled the air as Washington's men set to take back Stony Point. What took 20 minutes left the southern and western and northern flanks of the point covered in blood. Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

The greatest mercenary commander of the 14th century, inspiration for historians, poets, novelists and playwrights, John Hawkwood is a name everyone should know. 14th century Europe was a plagued with incessant warfare. The Hundred Years' War began between France and England in 1337 and would last until the middle of the next century. Other conflicts engulfed various parts of Europe as well, especially in Italy where Sir John Hawkwood would make and maintain his name. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

The greatest mercenary commander of the 14th century, inspiration for historians, poets, novelists and playwrights, John Hawkwood is a name everyone should know. 14th century Europe was a plagued with incessant warfare. The Hundred Years' War began between France and England in 1337 and would last until the middle of the next century. Other conflicts engulfed various parts of Europe as well, especially in Italy where Sir John Hawkwood would make and maintain his name. Dur 18mins File: .mp3

By the beginning of September 1066, King Harold II was in a quandary. Expecting Duke William of Normandy to invade, he had summoned the fyrd (what passed for the army in Anglo-Saxon times; made up of a proportion of the freemen of each shire who were required to perform military service in defence of the land) back in April and they had long since passed the usual two to three months' service. And now they were starting to grumble... Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

When a contingent of archers is mentioned in the context of Greek and Roman armies, more often than not the culture associated with them is that of Crete. Indeed, when we just have archers mentioned in an army without a specified origin, Cretan archers are commonly assumed to be meant, so ubiquitous with archery and groups of mercenary archers were the Cretans. The Cretans are the most famous, but certainly not the only ‘nation’ associated with a particular fighting style (Rhodian slingers and Thracian peltasts leap to mind but there are others too). The long history of Cretan archers can be seen in the sources – according to some stretching from the First Messenian War right down to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Even in the reliable historical record we find Cretan archer units from the Peloponnesian War well into the Roman period. Dur: 14mins File: .mp3

Bougainville is a 9000 sq. km pacific island and was first subject to European contact in 1768 when Louis Antoine De Bougainville landed there and, in an act of typical vainglory, named it for himself. People had been on Bougainville for 28,000 years but it was the Austronesian people who 4,000 years ago established pigs, chickens, dogs and cultivation with obsidian tools. The Comte De Bougainville was every bit the equal of James Cook and it was he who established the Falkland Islands, circumnavigated the globe and fought as a captain of dragoons in the what was effectively the first world war, the 7 years’ war between England and France. As an Admiral he sailed south from Tahiti and nearly discovered the Great Barrier Reef then in 1768 encountered Bougainville, east of Papua New Guinea. The wonderful variegated coloured flower, Bougainvillea, is named for him. The island is a natural wonder and historical treasure.

This episode was written by Lt Col Chris Alroe.

Chris was an Australian Army Officer and specialist medical practitioner who spent twenty-one years full and part time in the Australian Defence Forces. He was at one time SMO 11 BDE and later appointed SMO 3 BDE, retiring from the army before taking up the appointment. During Operation Bel Isi commenced 1999, the UN Peace Keeping Mission to the Island of Bougainville after the civil war there, he was appointed Officer Commanding the Combined Health Element for the mission. He was commended by the Brigadier of the Mission for his survey of New Guinea Health services which he conducted as part of the plan to complete the Mission.

The year 1776 began joyously for the American rebels. After the Battle of Bunker Hill and the subsequent siege of Boston, the rebel army, now formally organized into the Continental Army commanded by George Washington, successfully forced the British army under William Howe to withdraw from Boston and sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia. There Howe licked his wounds and awaited reinforcements. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

The year 1776 began joyously for the American rebels. After the Battle of Bunker Hill and the subsequent siege of Boston, the rebel army, now formally organized into the Continental Army commanded by George Washington, successfully forced the British army under William Howe to withdraw from Boston and sail for Halifax, Nova Scotia. There Howe licked his wounds and awaited reinforcements. Dur: 33mins File: .mp3

At the moment when the Galwegians were at their most hard pressed, it seems as if Prince Henry led his Battle in a charge (the detail is not in Richard of Hexham). Henry 'hurled himself, fierce as a lion, upon the opposing wing.' He put the English to flight on that wing (the English left) and continued on against the men stationed with the horses (some distance away from the English line if we use the detail from Richard of Hexham). The English there fled two furlongs and the poorly armed peasants ran with them. Several reconstructions of the battle have Henry's charge a mounted one although this is far from clear and there are reasons to believe his charge was on foot (he could not mingle with the English pursuing the retreating Scots as he did if he was mounted and therefore obviously stood out from the English troops). Dur: 19 mins File: .mp3

King David I of Scotland invaded England in the summer of 1138 in support of his niece, the Empress Matilda, who was embroiled in a fight against her cousin, King Stephen (of Blois) for control of the English throne. This period of civil war, known as the Anarchy, raged in England from 1135 until 1153. It was caused by the succession crisis following the drowning death of William Adelin in the White Ship disaster in 1120. William was Henry I’s only legitimate son and, even though Henry nominated his daughter Matilda as his heir, when the king died in 1135, his nephew Stephen of Blois seized the throne. Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

In August 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire and systematically set about its conquest. At the core of Alexander's army were 10,000 members of the phalanx, the phalangites. Armed with a long pike and fighting in formations up to 16 ranks deep, these grizzled veterans were the mainstay of the Macedonian army.

Facing them were the myriad armies of the peoples that made up the Persian Empire. At the centre of these forces was the formation known as the Immortals: 10,000 elite infantry, armed with spears and bows.

In this episode we're going to be discussing the "Macedonian Phalangite vs Persian Warrior " with Ancient Warfare Podcast regular Murray Dahm, who has literally written the book on the topic.

The treatise How to Survive Under Siege by Aineias Tacticus, is among the earliest treatises to survive from the genre of didactic military literature. Its author was regarded as the pre-eminent authority on military science in subsequent centuries because he wrote many other works. None of these survive. This single surviving treatise (although incomplete) covers nearly everything that a city need do in order to survive a siege by an enemy. Dur: 24mins File: .mp3

The British now occupied the tip of the Aboukir peninsula directly opposite the French forces. The flanks of both armies were secured by the Mediterranean Sea on the one side, and the marshy ground of the dried up Lake Mareotis on the other. Following the landing on the 8 March, the British built defences, heaved supplies ashore and buried the dead. A short action took place on 13 March, during which the British repulsed an attack by French cavalry and horse-artillery. After this, the British paused to consider their next move. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

If one was to ask about the contribution of the British army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, some of the immediate responses would concern the Duke of Wellington, the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo. These subjects have acquired great fame over the past two decades, thanks in part to Bernard Cornwall’s popular Sharpe novels, and to the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015. However, the battles fought at Waterloo and in the Spanish Peninsula were only a fraction of those fought by the British army during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. One British campaign that has largely been forgotten was fought in Egypt in 1801. Although the numbers of men who fought in Egypt were far smaller than in later campaigns in Spain, Portugal and Belgium, Egypt nevertheless proved a turning point in the fortunes of the British army. The significance of the Egyptian campaign can still be felt to this day.

This episode was written by Simon Quinn

Simon is a postdoctoral research fellow in history at the University of York. He has recently completed a PhD studying the lives of British soldiers on campaign in Egypt in 1801.

The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1763 ending the Seven Years War. The victorious British moved west into the Ohio Valley of North America and occupied the forts and outposts of the defeated French. New and drastic policies were instituted on the Native tribes inhabiting the area. These tribes rose up and attacked the British and displaced colonists from the territory. This began a summer of conflict between the Native tribes, the American colonists and British military. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

On 27th February 1782 the British parliament voted to immediately cease the war in America; Britain had lost the War of Independence, (or the Revolutionary war as it is known in America). But Great Britain was not fighting America alone; by 1782 they were at war with 3 European countries and had survived the most serious invasion threat since the Spanish armada. The war had escalated far beyond the 13 colonies, to threaten Britain and her European bases. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

The government troops approached from the east, their redcoats standing out against the green of the glen and the dark waters of the River Shiel. The skies overhead were clear, it was the height of the summer, unusually hot for the Scottish Highlands and marching up Glen Shiel were 850 infantry, over 100 dragoons on horseback and a similar number of Highland levies. A long trail pack horses followed in their wake. Dur: 19mins File:.mp3