Key Battles of American History

By James Early

History

What's Key Battles of American History about?

War has played a key role in the history of the United States from the nation’s founding right down to the present. Wars made the U. S. independent, kept it together, increased its size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America’s wars is essential for understanding American history. In the Key Battles of American History, host James Early discusses American history through the lens of the most important battles of America’s wars. James is an Adjunct Professor of History at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, TX. He has published one book and two scholarly articles. He is also the cohost (with Scott Rank) of the Presidential Fight Club, Key Battles of the Civil War, Key Battles of the Revolutionary War, and Key Battles of World War I podcasts.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4747725/advertisement

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This American President - T...

11.25.2023

November 22 marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. To commemorate this pivotal event in American history, learn more about Kennedy's 1963 Texas visit, reelection campaign, assassination, and legacy, with this excerpt from This American ...

Key Battles of American History episodes:

11.25.2023 This American President - The JFK Assassination November 22 marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. To commemorate this pivotal event in American history, learn more about Kennedy's 1963 Texas visit, reelection campaign, assassination, and legacy, with this excerpt from This American ...
11.22.2023 From Orphan to High Flyer with Philip Martin In this episode, James interviews Philip Martin, author of From Orphan to High Flyer. In this book, Philip tells the story of his late friend Denis Eliot. Denis rose from the horrors of a Victorian-style British orphanage and brutal foster ...
11.18.2023 Stalag 17 In this episode, Sean and James review the 1953 film Stalag 17, which tells the story of a group of American airmen confined with 40,000 prisoners in a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp "somewhere on the Danube". The film ...
11.15.2023 Axis Prisoners of War in the U. S. The experiences of Allied prisoners of war in Germany are relatively well-known, thanks in part to movies and television shows that tell their story. However, few Americans know that over 400,000 Axis prisoners of war were held in hundreds of ...
11.11.2023 The Great Escape Join James and Sean as they discuss the 1963 classic The Great Escape, the thrilling story of the largest mass breakout from a POW camp ever in World War 2. Steve McQueen leads a truly all star cast with his ...
11.08.2023 Allied Prisoners of War in Germany Over 300,000 western Allied servicemen were captured and imprisoned by Nazi Germany during World War 2. Join Sean and James as they tell about the experiences of British, American, French, and other western Allied prisoners of war, including capture, camp ...
11.04.2023 The Tuskegee Airmen In this episode, Sean and James discuss The Tuskegee Airmen, a 1995 HBO television movie based on the exploits of the first African-American combat pilots in the United States Army Air Corps who fought in World War II.This show is ...
11.01.2023 African-Americans in World War 2 In this episode, James interviews Dartmouth College professor and best-selling author Matthew F. Delmont about his excellent book Half American: The Epic Story of African-Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. In the interview, Professor Delmont gives an ...
10.28.2023 Judgment at Nuremberg One of the greatest films of all time, 1961’s Judgment at Nuremberg is a gripping courtroom drama about a small town American judge called to preside over the trial of German judges accused of crimes against humanity. Join Sean and ...
10.25.2023 The Holocaust During the Second World War, the Germans murdered 6 million Jews and about 5 million other so-called “undesirables” in what became known as the Holocaust. In this episode, Sean and James discuss this difficult but crucial topic.This show is part ...
10.21.2023 The Train The Train narrates the gripping story of a German officer’s attempt to ship great masterpieces of art out of France by train ahead of the Allied advance and the efforts of the Resistance to prevent this from happening. Join James ...
10.18.2023 Resistance Movements In every nation that the Germans occupied, resistance movements emerged. In this episode, Sean and James discuss anti-German guerilla movements, focusing primarily on the resistance efforts in four nations: Norway, France, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union.This show is part of ...
10.14.2023 To Hell and Back America’s most decorated soldier of World War 2 was Texan Audie Murphy. When the time came for Hollywood to adapt his memoir into a film, there was no better star for the film than Murphy himself, who had become a ...
10.11.2023 American Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen Following another long-time KBAH tradition, Sean and James discuss the life and experience of the common soldier, sailor and air crewmen in the European Theater of Operations in World War II. For the sake of time, the discussion is limited ...
10.07.2023 Eyewitness History Podcast: Special Compilation Feed Drop In this special compilation episode, Josh Cohen of Eyewitness History shares his favorite interview moments and stories from people who witnessed some of history’s most extraordinary events.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in ...
10.04.2023 The American Home Front The heroic efforts of American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines were made possible by millions of factory workers, farmers, fundraisers, government officials, and others who never left American soli. In this episode, Sean and James discuss the American home front, ...
09.30.2023 Kelly’s Heroes In this episode, Sean and James review the 1970 World War II comedy-drama heist film Kelly’s Heroes which tells the story of a motley crew of American GIs who go AWOL in order to rob a French bank, located behind ...
09.27.2023 Epilogue 4: How Each Side Won the War When They Were Winning It In this episode, Sean and James examine the strategies, decisions, and conditions that dictated the course of the war, both from an overall perspective and through the different phases of the action.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, ...
09.23.2023 The Dirty Dozen The 1967 film The Dirty Dozen tells the story of a penal military unit of twelve convicts who are trained as commandos by the Allies for a suicide mission ahead of the Normandy landings. Join Sean and James as they ...
09.20.2023 Epilogue 3: Key Technology of the War In this episode, Sean and James discuss some of the key weapons, technology, and innovations of the war for all the major powers, and how they impacted the course of the war.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, ...
09.16.2023 Von Ryan’s Express In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 1965 classic film Von Ryan’s Express, starring Frank Sinatra, which depicts a group of Allied prisoners of war who conduct a daring escape by hijacking the freight train carrying the POWs and ...
09.13.2023 Epilogue 2: Key Leaders in the War In this episode, Sean and James follow a long-established KBAH tradition by giving brief overviews of the postwar lives and careers of the major leaders, Axis and Allies, discussed in the series.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, ...
09.09.2023 The Best Years of Our Lives In this episode, Sean and James review the 1946 WIlliam Wyler epic drama film The Best Years of Our Lives, which tells the story of three U. S. servicemen’s struggle to re-adjust to civilian life after coming home from the ...
09.06.2023 Epilogue 1: Europe in 1945 and the Postwar World The Second World War completely changed the world. In this episode, Sean and James discuss the human cost of the war, the rise and fall of empires, the beginning of the Cold War, and major changes within the United States. ...
09.02.2023 Downfall In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 2004 German film Downfall, which gives an inside view of the final days of Hitler, his closest advisors, and the Third Reich itself.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if ...
08.30.2023 Downfall: Over the Rhine and Oder and the Fall of Berlin By the early spring of 1945, the Third Reich was on its last legs. Forces of the Western Allies crossed into Germany and pushed eastward, while in eastern Germany, Soviet forces surrounded Berlin. On April 30, Hitler committed suicide, and ...
08.26.2023 Fury In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 2014 film Fury, which tells the story of an American tank crew fighting against stubborn German resistance during the final weeks of the European theater of World War II.This show is part ...
08.23.2023 Collapse of the Reich: Soviet Campaigns in Poland, Hungary, and the Balkans Having destroyed the German Army Group Center and pushed back Army Group North and Army Group South, the Soviet Army in late 1944 and early 1945 swept through the Balkans and Poland, while thousands of German refugees fled westward. Join ...
08.21.2023 History Unplugged Preview Teddy Roosevelt faced many challenges at the end of his life. Racked by rheumatism, a ticking embolism, pathogens in his blood, a bad leg from an accident, and a bullet in his chest from an assassination attempt. But none of ...
08.19.2023 Battleground In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 1949 classic film Battleground, starring Van Johnson, which presents a surprisingly realistic depiction of the Battle of the Bulge through the lens of a single squad.This show is part of the Spreaker ...
08.16.2023 Hitler’s Last Gambit: The Battle of the Bulge In the early hours of December 16, the pre-dawn stillness experienced by the thinly held American line at the eastern edge of the Ardennes Forest was shattered by a massive German offensive. After a summer of rapid advance, and a ...
08.12.2023 A Bridge Too Far In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 1977 epic film A Bridge Too Far, which dramatizes Operation Market Garden. The movie had a big budget and an all-star cast, but does it live up to the hype? Listen and ...
08.09.2023 To the Siegfried Line: The Western Allies’ Advance to Germany In the fall of 1944, the Allied push toward Germany began to slow down due to supply and logistical problems. The daring September offensive codenamed Operation Market Garden, designed to break the logjam, failed miserably. By the end of November, ...
08.05.2023 Saving Private Ryan Generally considered the one of the greatest–if not THE greatest–war movies ever made, Steven Spielberg’s 1998 film Saving Private Ryan revolutionized the genre of war movies. In this episode, Sean and James present an in-depth discussion of this modern-day classic.This ...
08.02.2023 Breakout: From San Lo to the Seine After eight weeks of grinding, grueling combat that expanded the Normandy beachhead, the Allies conducted a remarkable series of offensives that led to one of the great breakthroughs of the war, carrying the Allies to Paris and beyond to the ...
07.29.2023 History of North America Feed Drop In The History of North America Podcast, historian Mark Vinet takes us on an exciting and fascinating journey through time, exploring and focusing on the interesting, compelling, wonderful, tragic, intriguing, and inspiring stories of North America. In this episode, Mark ...
07.26.2023 We May Dominate the World with Sean Mirski In this episode, James interviews foreign policy expert Sean Mirski about his recently published book We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are ...
07.22.2023 The Longest Day The 1962 docudrama movie The Longest Day was a groundbreaking war film. Join Sean and James as they discuss this classic film, with its all-star cast and realistic depiction of the 1944 Normandy Invasion.This show is part of the Spreaker ...
07.19.2023 The Longest Day: D-Day and the Normandy Campaign On June 6, 1944, a massive Allied land, sea, and air force crossed the English Channel and conducted the largest amphibious attack in world history, hitting Normandy at five different beaches. The German defenders were well-trained, well-armed, and dug in. ...
07.15.2023 Valkyrie In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 2007 film Valkyrie, which deals with the “July Plot,” an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler which came very close to succeeding. Tom Cruise stars as Klaus von Stauffenberg, the leader of the ...
07.12.2023 The Soviets Strike Back: The Destruction of Army Group Center and the March to the Gates of Warsaw On June 22, 1944–three years to the day after the German invasion of the Soviet Union began–the Soviets launched a massive offensive called Operation Bagration, which resulted in the destruction of the German Army Group Center and the opening of ...
07.08.2023 Organized Crime and Punishment Feed Drop In Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast, historian Steve Guerra and his trusty sidekick “Mustache Chris'' explore the rise of organized crime in various regions of the world and delve into the lives of some of the ...
07.05.2023 V For Victory - Franklin Roosevelt's War Leadership with Craig Nelson Under President Franklin Roosevelt’s resolute leadership, the United States rose from poverty and solitude to defeat the greatest evils of the twentieth century. Join James as he interviews historian Craig Nelson, author of the recently-released book V is for Victory: ...
07.01.2023 Memphis Belle In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 1990 film Memphis Belle, which narrates the harrowing story of the 25th and final mission of the most famous B-17 bomber of World War 2.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime ...
06.28.2023 Masters of the Air - Strategic and Tactical Air Campaigns Over Europe The Allied strategic bombing campaign against Germany was long, difficult, costly, and still elicits controversy. The battle went through different phases, with constantly evolving tactics, objectives, and technology, but the end result was critical to the defeat of the German ...
06.24.2023 Operation Mincemeat In this episode, Sean and James discuss the 2021 Netflix film Operation Mincemeat, which tells the story of one of the most successful examples of military deception in history.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are ...
06.21.2023 The Soft Underbelly: The Invasion of Sicily and Italy to the Fall of Rome On July 9, 1943, Allied forces launched Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. 38 days later, the entire island was under Allied control. On September 3, British and American forces took the fight to the Italian peninsula, although this time, ...
06.17.2023 Patton In this episode, Sean and James discuss the epic biographical 1970 classic film Patton, starring George C. Scott in the title role. Patton narrates the life and career of General George S. Patton, from his taking command of the American ...
06.14.2023 Operation Torch: The Allied Invasion of North Africa In the final days of the great defeat of Rommel’s Panzerarmee Afrika at El Alamein, a new enemy appeared to threaten the Axis position in North Africa. For the first time in the war, America took the field against the ...
06.10.2023 Greyhound In this episode, Sean and James discuss the brief but gripping 2020 film Greyhound, starring Tom Hanks. Greyhound tells the story of a group of American, British, and Canadian destroyers that are trying to defend a supply convoy from a ...

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