The History Network

The Duke of Wellington, late in life, was asked what was his most difficult battle during all his years of soldiering, after a short pause he replied with just one word, Assaye; his great victory against the Marathas in 1803. A hard fought battle, he would lose a third of his men, the Indian Marathas troops were well equipped and drilled in modern tactics by mercenary European officers. Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

Long time listeners might know after ten years of producing the podcast, last year Angus took the decision to return to university to study a Masters Degree in History. More by chance than design his niche turned out to be the First World War.

During his studies he came across a new book titled 'Led By Lions' written by Neil Thornton, which looks at British Members of Parliament, who, serviced in the military during World War One.

So he asked Neil if he fancied a chat!

As some of you might be aware Angus hosts the Ancient Warfare podcast, a monthly round table discussion about war in the ancient world. Last year we launched a patreon page for the podcast.

Historians aren't the best paid lot, and everyone is essentially doing the podcast for free. We thought it might be a good way to help cover costs, and if you enjoy it, to tip us a $ each time we produce something.

The upshot is regular, Murray Dahm has decided to read some of his old Articles he's written for Ancient Warfare Magazine, exclusively for patrons of the podcast.

As we had a hole in our schedule, we thought we'd let you guys have a listen to the first one Murray recorded… 'You could be the next Alexander'

British soldiers in Boston were furious. They were pent up in the city by a bunch of farmers and merchants while their commander seemingly did nothing. April turned to May. The militia forces grew stronger as more companies joined the siege. By now, four colonies were represented at Boston: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Dur: 27mins File: .mp3

On June 17, 1775, over one thousand New England militia stood on a hill overlooking Charlestown, Massachusetts and Boston Harbor. Arrayed in front of them in their scarlet and white uniforms, brushed clean for the occasion, were regiments of the British Army. Their goal was to take this hill from the erstwhile colonists-turned-rebels and fortify it, which would prevent the rebels from controlling the harbor. Honor would not allow General Thomas Gage, commander of British Forces in North America and governor of the Colony of Massachusetts, to stand by while farmers and merchants made pitiful displays of defiance. Gage expected these amateur soldiers to flee at the sight of his professional army. Instead, to the shock of British command, the American colonists stood and fought. Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

Julius Caesar waged campaigns of strategic boldness and tactical prudence. He fused himself into both head of state and military commander and in the chaos of the late republic, where it became nearly impossible to distinguish war as politics by other means, Caesar waged both war and politics. In his success was sown the seeds of his demise and that of the republic he served. Dur: 22mins File: .mp3

Mikhail Petrovic Devyataev was the 13th child of a Moldovian blacksmith who provided one of the most extraordinary stories of World War 2. The Soviet pilot, captured by the Germans in July 1944, made an incredible escape from Usedom, an island on the Baltic coast, where Hitler's V rockets were being made to return home, eventually becoming a Hero of the Soviet Union. Dur: 13mins File: .mp3

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