The Tet Offensive. It’s not a battle – it’s a campaign, a campaign that would change the course of American history. Tet combined major set-piece battles with guerrilla strikes up and down the length of South Vietnam, there was fighting everywhere. One Colonel said his situation map lit up like a pinball machine. With this one stroke, General Giap and the North Vietnamese high command undercut the American war effort in Southeast Asia and considerably hobbled American foreign policy for decades. It wasn’t talk or ideas or values that seriously curtailed American policy ambitions – it was a battle – it was war. It was Tet.

Lone Survivor.  It’s the deadliest day for United States special forces since World War II. Four Navy Seals, cut off and alone, fought for their lives on a literal mountain of pain – in terrain so hostile it actually fought against the men. I mean this literally, the terrain cut them, smashed them – foiled their plans. The true story is different from the movie and we’ve got it all here for you – with every resource the libraries of the world can bring to bear on this story. Every shot, every cut, every fall, every sacrifice – they’re all here and it’s all for free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its socio-political impact.

http://media.blubrry.com/429895/archive.org/download/BC29final/BC29final.mp3

Download: download link

Maps:

References:

Seal of Honor: Operation Red Wings and the Life of Lt. Michael P. Murphy, USN by Gary Williams

Victory Point: Operations Red Wings and Whalers – the Marine Corps’ Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan by Ed Darack

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson

Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics) by Thomas Barfield

Afghanistan: A Military History from Alexander the Great to the War against the Taliban by Stephen Tanner

Simo Häyhä was the greatest sniper that ever lived. Using only iron sights and the normal equipment of the Finnish soldier in the Russo-Finnish Winter War, he carried out a 90-day reign of terror on the Soviet invaders of his homeland. They called him “The White Death.” He had over 200 confirmed kills. He gave all he had to give and never stopped – engaging the Russians in constant combat. Here is the story of a man worthy of a Hollywood epic. Here is a man that can show you the way to self-mastery and achievement. Here is Simo Hayha – the greatest sniper of all time. His story and the story of the Winter War are all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its socio-political impact.

Download link: download

Pictures and Maps:

References:

The White Sniper: Simo Häyhä by Tapio Saarelainen

A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940 by William R. Trotter

The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland, 1939-1940 by Eloise Engle and Lauri Paananen

Finland at War: The Winter War 1939–40 by Vesa Nenye, Peter Munter, et al.

Waterloo. It’s a battle that’s on the top of every list of decisive battles in human history. It’s a day that changed the world forever. It’s the nail in the coffin for one of the greatest military leaders in human history and it’s all covered on Battlecast, the world’s foremost podcast on war and its socio-political impact.

Download episode 27 here: download

Battle Maps:

References:
Waterloo: Day of Battle by David Howarth
The Fifteen Most Decisive Battles of the World by Edward Creasy 
The Face of Battle by John Keegan
With Napolean at Waterloo by Mackenzie Mcbride and Edward Bruce
Waterloo by Alessandro Barbero
Waterloo: 1815 by Thierry Lentz
Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts
Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David Bell

In 1956 the Hungarian nation revolted against their Soviet masters. The Soviets responded with massive force – columns of tanks that went on for miles, like an interminable death train. The rest of the world looked on dumbfounded. They did nothing. The Hungarians fought against overwhelming odds – in the teeth of air strafing, tanks, and artillery – they fought and they died. And the rest of the world drank tea and chased women as the youth of Hungary were massacred by their gallant Soviet allies – as the dictatorship of the proletariat murdered workers in the street. It’s a little told story. Most people have never heard of it. Today you won’t be one of them. It’s all for free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and it’s sociopolitical impact.

Download the show here: download

Battle maps

References:

Twelve Days: The Story of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution by Victor Sebestyen

The Cambridge History of the Cold War edited by Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad

The Hungarian Revolution 1956 by Erwin Schmidl et al.

This is the second part of our series on the Paraguayan War, the bloodiest war in South American history. It’s a war of waste, of burned cities and child soldiers. It’s a war of tyrants and monarchs. It’s a war to the knife. It’s all here and it’s all for free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on military history and its sociopolitical impact. You can find the first episode in this series here: link 

Download this episode here: link

References

The Road to Armageddon by Thomas Whigham link: amazon

The Paraguayan War: Causes and Early Conduct by Thomas Whigham link: amazon

I Die with my Country: Perspectives on the Paraguayan War by Hendrik Kraay and Thomas Whigham

Francisco Solano Lopez and the Ruination of Paraguay by James Saeger

Seven Eventful Years in Paragay by George Masterman

The War in Paraguay by George Thompson

Maps

The Paraguayan War. It’s the bloodiest inter-state war in South American history. It’s the bloodiest war in modern history on a per capita basis. Because of this war, the Paraguayan people, an entire culture, almost ceased to exist. And how many of you even knew about it before you read this? But it’s not just me on the show today. Riding shotgun is Dr. Thomas Whigham, Professor of Latin American history at the University of Georgia and the definitive historian on the Paraguayan War. In our show tonight, you’ll hear about the bloodiest battle in South American history – the battle of Tuyutí. You’ll hear about Solano Lopez – the man who took dictatorial control over the nation of Paraguay and brought his people to the brink of annihilation. You’ll hear about pain, blood, sacrifice. So much sacrifice. Sacrifice that you can’t even imagine. Starvation. Limbs hacked with machetes. Men blown to pieces. Trench warfare. Devastation. Waste. Child soldiers. And it won’t cost you a dime. It’s all here on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its socio-political impact.

Download here: download

References

The Road to Armageddon by Thomas Whigham link: amazon

The Paraguayan War: Causes and Early Conduct by Thomas Whigham link: amazon

I Die with my Country: Perspectives on the Paraguayan War by Hendrik Kraay and Thomas Whigham

Francisco Solano Lopez and the Ruination of Paraguay by James Saeger

Seven Eventful Years in Paragay by George Masterman

The War in Paraguay by George Thompson

Maps

Christmas, 1944. The weakest sector of the American line is getting ready to celebrate the Yuletide when Nazi Germany, like a second-Mordor, disgorged multiple armies no one knew Hitler even had into the green American troops. The tide of steel was overwhelming. Hundreds of thousands of men would die. Hundreds of thousands of mothers would weep. And the Devil laughed because it was his best Christmas ever. The battle is the Battle of the Bulge – the bloodiest battle in American military history. It’s all here and it’s all free, our gift to you in this most holy time where the bird of dawning sings all night long and no spirit dare stir abroad. But with our battle tonight we’ll make the planets strike.

Download the show here: download

Battle Maps

References

Battle of the Bulge Volumes 1 and 2 by Hans Wijers

Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose

The Second World War by John Keegan

The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw

Atlas of the Second World War by John Keegan

Ardennes 1944: The Battle of the Bulge by Antony Beevor

Battle – The Story of the Bulge by John Toland

A Time for Trumpets by Charles Macdonald

Dracula. He’s a legend who will appear at innumerable parties on Halloween. Children will wear capes and not understand why. Adults will watch movies about vampires sucking blood and never know why they do it. As Armand said in Interview with the Vampire: “I know nothing of God, or the Devil. I have never seen a vision nor learned a secret that will damn or save my soul. And as far as I know, after four hundred years, I am the oldest living vampire in the world.” Armand was wrong. The oldest vampire was Dracula. On tonight’s show, we will show you the first vampire. We will tell you the origins of the cape you will see on every American street. We know why the legend of blood-sucking appeared. We have the answer for the stake-through-the-heart. Allow us to introduce you to Vlad Tepes, the real Dracula. You hear his orchestral soundtracks in your mind’s ear; he still haunts your children’s nightmares. Here he is and the truth, if you can believe it, is more brutal than the art it imitates. It’s all free and it’s all on Battlecast- the world’s foremost podcast about war and it’s sociopolitical impact.

The beer this episode is Pumpkin Ale by Sam Adams: 3.5 bullets out of 5.

http://media.blubrry.com/429895/archive.org/download/nothing_BC22/BC22.mp3

Dracula download: download

Illustrations

Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times by Radu R Florescu and Raymond T. McNally

In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires by Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally

A Concise History of Romania (Cambridge Concise Histories) by Keith Hitchins

The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 3, Part 1: The Prehistory of the Balkans, and the Middle East by John Boardman and I. E. S. Edwards

History of the Byzantine State by George Ostrogorsky

A History of the Ottoman Empire by Douglas Howard

On May 29, 1453 Constantinople fell. This is the story of the fall. Check out the first part of the story here: Fall of Constantinople part 1

The beer this episode is Mythos, 3 bullets out of five.

http://media.blubrry.com/429895/archive.org/download/BC21_2034/BC21.mp3

Download link: download

Illustrations

References

1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley

Diary of the Siege of Constantinople 1453 by Nicolo Barbaro

The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: A Chronicle by George Sphrantzes translated by Marios Philippides

History of Mehmed the Conqueror by Kritovoulos, translated by Charles T. Riggs

The Fall of Constantinople 1453 by Steven Runciman

History of the Byzantine State by George Ostrogorsky