Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was a soldier, statesman, and prominent political figure who served the United Kingdom twice as Prime Minister. He is known to many as a successful defensive general, but what about when he was on the offensive? In this episode, we explore the life, career, and death of Wellington. James is once again accompanied by Historian and presenter Zack White as they delve into the complex life of Wellington. Debunking myths, exploring his life, legacy, and contr...
Sep 24, 2021•52 min•Ep. 93
Odette Sansom, was the most highly decorated woman, and the most decorated spy of any gender during World War II. She was awarded both the George Cross and was appointed a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur. Her wartime exploits and later imprisonment by the Nazis were celebrated in the years after the war, but she has fallen out of the spotlight recently. Larry Loftis' book reinstate her as one of the most celebrated members of the Special Operations Executive, the British sabotage and espionage ...
Sep 22, 2021•24 min•Ep. 92
From munitions factories and the cabinet war rooms, to flying aircraft and even shaking hands with Joseph Stalin; during the Second World War women could be found throughout the workforce. Lucy Fisher has been interviewing surviving women of the Second World War workforce and in this episode, she shares some of her favourite anecdotes. Lucy is an author and the Deputy Political Editor for The Daily Telegraph, having formerly been a Defence editor for The Times. Her book ‘Women in the War’ is out...
Sep 20, 2021•27 min•Ep. 91
Twenty years after the release of the landmark series Band of Brothers, screenwriter John Orloff is back to bring us Masters of the Air with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. James spoke to John to get some inside information about the ongoing production of this project, including the exact repllication of Second World War aircraft and buildings from American Air Force bases in Britain. John also discusses how writing Masters of the Air differed from writing Band of Brothers, and the involvement o...
Sep 17, 2021•24 min•Ep. 90
In June 1940 Nazi Germany overran France and forced the British army to evacuate at Dunkirk. Severely lacking in military equipment, Britain and its Empire now stood alone against Adolf Hitler's forces. To stand any chance of crossing the English Channel, Germany would have to crush the Royal Air Force and gain control of the skies during that summer. The Battle of Britain, the first major battle to be decided entirely by air power, had begun. Dan talks to military historian Andy Saunders a...
Sep 15, 2021•34 min
Her American nationality could have offered her protection from the Nazi Regime. Instead, she used it to benefit the resistance movement. Mildred Harnack and her German husband, Arvid, began their underground resistance group in Berlin in 1932. Both contributed bravely to what was later known to the Gestapo as the Red Orchestra, also taking part in espionage, until their capture and execution. In this episode, Rebecca Donner explores the extraordinary life of Mildred, who also happens to be her ...
Sep 13, 2021•52 min•Ep. 89
For the majority of us, our experience of 9/11 was transmitted through a TV screen, radio, newspaper or even history book. But Joe Dittmar’s experience of these terror attacks was personal. On the morning of the 11 September 2001, he was in a meeting on the 105th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Joe shares his story of surviving 9/11 in this moving episode. Joe’s WTC Survivor/ Always Remember Initiative if found here http://www.wtceskp.com/
Sep 10, 2021•52 min•Ep. 88
At 8:46 am on 11 September 2001 the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Centre in Lower Manhattan. Over the next 9 hours, almost half a million people were evacuated from that island by boat, many other options being made impossible. Here to share the story of this maritime evacuation is Jessica DuLong. Jessica is a journalist and historian, as well as chief engineer emerita of the retired 1931 New York City fireboat, John J. Harvey. She tells us about the boats involved, the obst...
Sep 08, 2021•42 min•Ep. 87
As the world prepares to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks two decades on, we discuss the history of plane hijackings. From politically motivated attacks to propaganda tools used by governments, Dr Yannick Veilleux-Lepage shares his knowledge of the broader context of the attacks of 2001. Dr. Yannick Veilleux-Lepage is assistant Professor of Terrorism and Political Violence at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University. His book, 'How Terror Evolves: The Emergence a...
Sep 06, 2021•37 min•Ep. 86
At lunchtime on 16 September 1920, a horse drawn cart exploded on the busiest corner of the Financial District of New York. To find out more about the United States’ first age of terror, James spoke to Professor Beverly Gage. Beverly explains what we know about this attack on Wall Street. Who were its victims, suspects, and investigators and what impact did it have on American society? Beverly is a professor of 20th-century American history at Yale University and author of ‘The Day Wall Street E...
Sep 03, 2021•27 min•Ep. 85
In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was arrested by the Nazis. Along with his sixteen-year-old son Fritz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany, where a new concentration camp was being built. What followed is a remarkable story of horror, love and the impossible survival of a father and his son. In this episode from the archive, Dan Snow and historian Jeremy Dronfield explore Gustav's secret diary, Fritz' accounts and other eyewitness testimony, and build a picture of this...
Sep 01, 2021•44 min
With the nuclear submarine TV series, Vigil, coming out last night, the UK’s leading expert on Trident, Dr Nick Ritchie from the University of York, joins James on Warfare. Dr Nick gives us a step-by-step history on the multilayered missile system, which is said to act as a deterrence posture. Earlier this year, Boris Johnson’s government agreed to increase the amount of nuclear weapons in the UK by around 40%, and it’s still unknown where the warheads would be stored if Scotland secure a second...
Aug 30, 2021•54 min•Ep. 84
Their attacks of 11 September 2001 sparked a War on Terror which echoes loudly to this day, but where did Al Qaeda come from, how did their ideologies form and what role do they play in the world today? For this episode James spoke to Dr Afzal Ashraf, an expert in Al Qaeda's ideology and violent religious extremism. Dr Ashraf spent over 30 years in the UK Armed Forces as a senior officer and is a Senior Government Advisor. © Shutterstock/Everett Collection
Aug 27, 2021•48 min•Ep. 83
It's one of the great stories of American military history; The Doolittle Raid. In 1942 after the humiliation assault on Pearl Harbour and determined to show that America still had offensive capabilities the charismatic figure of James Doolittle came to President Rosevelt with the proposal to fly army bombers off aircraft carriers and attack Tokyo the capital of the Japanese Empire. Michel Paradis, the author of Last Mission to Tokyo, joined Dan to discuss the mission itself and also the fascina...
Aug 25, 2021•25 min
As the international community moved from World War to Cold War in the second half of the 20th century, the defence requirements of the United States also evolved. But what did this mean for arms manufacturers, and how did it affect their relationship with politics? In this episode, Mike Brenes from Yale University explores the changes which took place as the Cold War developed, and where the power in defence spending lies. Mike’s new book, For Might and Right: Cold War Defense Spending and the ...
Aug 23, 2021•32 min•Ep. 82
On 19 August 1745, the Jacobites engaged in the final of their five uprisings, stretching back to 1689. In this episode, Kelsey Ellington examines the Jacobite’s uprisings, their supporters and their opposition. Kelsey explains how Bonnie Prince Charlie Stuart and his supporters were hampered by difficult terrain, an exhausted army and division among the ranks; how the uprisings were and are depicted in art; and how the Jacobite conflicts may not be cut so clearly along the national lines that t...
Aug 20, 2021•22 min
In 2014, Dr Mike Martin famously critiqued the Ministry of Defence with a book based on a series of conversations Martin had with the Afghan locals, as one of the few within the military who could speak pashto. The MOD tried to prevent the publication of this book but in this episode, Dan talks to Mike about his problems with the way that the military is run, and how the conflict in Afghanistan may change in years to come.
Aug 18, 2021•34 min
Major-General Eugene Vincent Michael Strickland, known to many as Strick - was a tankman and war hero of France, Italy, and North Africa during World War II. He played a vital role in the Battle of Arras in 1940 and aided in the breach of the Hitler Line in 1944. James is joined by archaeologist and historian Tim Strickland, son of Michael Strickland, to take us through the life, adventures, and achievements of his father. Tim is the author of 'Strick: Tank Hero of Arras': https://www.casematepu...
Aug 16, 2021•53 min•Ep. 80
The current withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan raises a lot of questions about the conflict. Why are they withdrawing now? Was there a better time for this? How might the assistance of Western countries have been more successful? In this episode, Rory Stewart OBE, former Secretary of State for International Development in the UK and now a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, shares his thoughts on the war in Afghanistan. Rory completed a solo walk across...
Aug 13, 2021•27 min•Ep. 79
Sandwiched between the Second World War and the conflict in Vietnam, the Korean War has often been termed 'The Forgotten War' in the United States. In this episode, Dan Snow spoke to H. W. Brands, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of 30 books on American history. H.W. takes Dan through the remarkable course of events which saw an immense civilian death toll and the destruction of virtually all of Korea's major cities. Why are commemorations of this bloodbath somewhat overlooked, and how did it ...
Aug 11, 2021•37 min
It’s a devastating weapon of mass destruction, and in the United States the power to use it belongs to one person: the President. Since the Truman administration, there has been no requirement for the President to gain approval from Congress or even the Secretary of Defence before unleashing the nuclear arsenal. To learn more about the authority of Presidents Truman to Trump and now Biden, James welcomes William J. Perry, Secretary of Defence in the Clinton administration and Undersecretary of D...
Aug 09, 2021•27 min•Ep. 78
What does the price of wheat and global food supplies have to do with one of the greatest disasters in the history of warfare? Why was the decision made to send thousands of Allied troops in an attempt to free up the most heavily defended waterway in the world, the Dardanelles Straits? Historian and award-winning author Nicholas A Lambert joins James to talk us through the lead-up to Britain’s worst defeat in World War One, the catastrophic Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Find out why Prime Minister...
Aug 06, 2021•53 min•Ep. 78
The Western Front of the First World War is a story of aristocratic generals sending ordinary men over the top to their deaths in futile frontal attacks against entrenched positions. Or is it? In this episode from Dan Snow's History Hit, Dan interviews the brilliant historian Nick Lloyd, author of The Western Front who tells a much more nuanced account of the Western Front. They talk about the myths and legends of these campaigns, the great leaps forward in technology between 1914-1918; and how ...
Aug 04, 2021•28 min
The First Gulf War was the combat debut for the RAF Tornado, and also for many of the aircrew who would fly one. John Nichol served as a navigator in the RAF for 15 years, even returning to service after being shot down in 1991. In this conversation with James, John shares his own experiences of the Tornado and the First Gulf War during which he was shot down, intertwined with the story of the aircraft and those of his fellow aircrew. John’s book, ‘Tornado: In the Eye of the Storm’ is published ...
Aug 02, 2021•27 min•Ep. 76
The year is 1942; American citizens are still recovering from the surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor, which had intensely impacted morale across the country and brought them into the Second World War. Fear and division ran deep within the American people, and democracy was under pressure. Joined by Historian and award-winning author of ‘The Year of Peril: America in 1942’, Tracy Campbell, we dissect one of the most devastating years in America's history and discuss whether we could see sim...
Jul 30, 2021•33 min•Ep. 75
Every century of recorded history has featured a war. In this episode, Margaret MacMillan joined Dan Snow to discuss the ways in which war has influenced human society. They discussed how, in turn, changes in political organisation, technology, or ideologies have affected how and why we fight.
Jul 28, 2021•23 min
In August 1928, signatories from France, the United States and Germany signed a treaty outlawing war. This so-called Kellogg-Briand Pact was soon signed by almost every state. Yet, in the century since, countless wars have been started ... and not all of them finished. To find out whether the pact has had any impact on international relations since its inception, James speaks to Professor Oona Hathaway from Yale University. Oona and her colleague Scott Shapiro are the authors of ‘The Internation...
Jul 26, 2021•35 min•Ep. 73
‘One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind’: in July 1969 the United States successfully landed on the moon. It was part of a race into space which continues to this week and Jeff Bezos’ short voyage. But how was the American space race aided by Nazi Scientists and their barbaric experiments? Eric Lichtblau has returned to Warfare to take us further into Operation Paperclip, through which Nazi scientist like Wernher von Braun and Dr. Hubertus Strughold emigrated to America to aid vari...
Jul 23, 2021•30 min•Ep. 74
In 1961, UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld's plane was shot down as he flew over the Congo. Dag Hammarskjöld was called ‘the greatest statesman of our century’ by John F. Kennedy, but he was found dead with an Ace of Spades mysteriously placed on his body. In this episode, Dan was joined by award-winning investigative journalist, Ravi Somaiya, who takes him into the depths of this event and the remarkable consequences across the globe.
Jul 21, 2021•19 min
Besieging a city is often thought to be an antiquated strategy, lost to technological advances and the complexity of modern conflict. In this episode, however, Major Amos C. Fox tells us about modern siege warfare in Ukraine, Iraq and Bosnia, and where the reluctance to label them sieges comes from. Amos is a Major in the U.S. Army and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies, Ball State University, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.
Jul 19, 2021•37 min•Ep. 72
