The History Network

Column, Line or Square is a very simplistic way to view Napoleonic era tactics. Troops were either deployed in Column to march, Line to fight or in the case of the infantry Square to defend against Cavalry. Sounds simple. But these were tactics drawn up and codified to allow for a new era, where large numbers of troops were deployed. Sometimes they were conscripts, sometimes poorly trained and in the case of the infantry using muskets with limited range and poor accuracy. Dur: 20mins File: .mp3

The Battle of Arras was in fact a series of Battles in April/May 1917, including Vimy Ridge, which has gone down in history as being an allied victory, but which in reality saw little gain in terms of allied advance and huge casualty figures on both sides after its 39 day duration. In fact such was the attrition rate that for the allies it surpassed The Somme in terms of daily casualty toll. Include the German casualties and an average of some seven and a half thousand casualties a day occurred throughout. Dur: 21mins File: .mp3

The clang of gongs hung in the heavy air of an August day, 1860. Waving their yellow flags, the rebels in their red turbans and colourful garb marched closer and closer to Shanghai – until artillery erupted from the city walls and sent them scurrying for cover. Yet the rebels would not fire back. At last they withdrew, scratching their heads that the British and French troops were killing them, not greeting them as Christian brothers. For these rebels had been baptized and had no quarrel with the foreigners of Shanghai. And their enemy was the same Chinese government that Anglo-French forces on that same day battled in the north. Dur: 33mins File: .mp3

In looking back through history, it is kings, queens, politicians and generals who steal the limelight. Those people who actually "do" the bidding are often much less well known. How many people are familiar with Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Marshal of France? The foremost military engineer of his day, he was renowned not only for building fortifications but for developing the art of siege craft. Dur: 15mins File: .mp3

It had been largely accepted that "Charles the Sufferer", the feeble and sickly King of Spain, would die without an heir. The nearest claimants to the Spanish Crown were the king's cousins; the Bourbon King of France, Louis XIV, and the Austrian Habsburg Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor. Married to Charles's Sisters, both had a strong claim. With the succession storm brewing Europe's monarchs entered into agreements in order to place themselves in favorable positions at the moment of Charles's death. Some aligning themselves with the house of Bourbon, others with that of Habsburg. Dur: 23 mins File: .mp3

There is no single factor to blame for the outbreak of the First World War. At best we can say that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, was the catalyst setting in motion a string of events that resulted in war. For decades tensions had been mounting between the European powers. It was these tensions that lead to a complex web of alliances, which would eventually drag the great powers into war. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3