The History Network

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.

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.

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.

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.

A fortnightly military history podcast looking at all aspect of war throughout the ages.

The battle of the Medak Pocket in the autumn of 1993 was, up to that point, the biggest military engagement participated in by Canadian soldiers since the Korean War. Though it was an almost day-long battle against Croatian forces bent on ethnic cleansing it was covered up by the Canadian government and still remains one of the least known episodes in Canadian military history.

A fortnightly military history podcast looking at all aspect of war throughout the ages.

The Limburg War of Succession began in 1283, and ended with the Battle of Worringen on June 5, 1288, fought fifteen kilometers north of Cologne. On this day, Duke Jean I of Brabant fought Count Henry VI of Luxembourg for the rights to the Duchy of Limburg.

Operation Frankton, which took place from 7th to 12th December 1942, had the intention of sending a handful of Royal Marines paddling 70 miles up the River Gironde during the hours of darkness with the goal of laying limpet mines on enemy shipping to disrupt German operations out of the port of Bordeaux.

In this episode we take a look at the problems, tactics and solutions of World War 1 Artillery.

This week we re-run a classic episode from Season 2 (due to a scheduling error and not having a script quite ready!). We didn't want to put out anything rushed, so we hope you enjoy this re-run of one of episodes from the archives. Dur: 13mins File: .mp3

Fort Duquesne, a French outpost fort in present day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was strategically placed where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers merge into the Ohio River. The Ohio then flows into the Mississippi River producing an important waterway linking Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

A fortnightly military history podcast looking at all aspect of war throughout the ages.

A fortnightly military history podcast looking at all aspect of war throughout the ages.

A fortnightly military history podcast looking at all aspect of war throughout the ages.