As protests continued across Iran last week, a number of Iranian-made kamikaze drones were fired by Russian forces at targets thousands of miles away in Kyiv, Ukraine. It marks the first time that these Iranian weapons have been used against a European capital, as well as a new low for relations between Iran and the West - which were already under strain. So how did we get here? In this episode, James is joined by Professor Ali Ansari of St Andrews University in Scotland to learn the historical ...
Oct 24, 2022•40 min
The siege of Dien Bien Phu took place in 1954 and was a definitive victory for Vietnam. Although the battle brought an end to French colonial rule, the separation of the country’s north and south created a volatile political environment between capitalism and communism, eventually leading to American involvement. But how did the long time leader of Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh, take his guerilla army and turn it into a modern fighting force that was capable of overthrowing an empire? In this episode, J...
Oct 21, 2022•45 min
The Battle of Midway has gone down in history as a key turning point in the Pacific Campaign of the Second World War. In June 1942, the US Navy outthought, outflanked and overwhelmed the formidable Imperial Japanese forces thanks largely to the work of pioneering codebreakers. Japan's first-line carrier strength was obliterated as well as a huge percentage of the country's highly-trained pilots, either of which were easily replaceable. But just how did the Americans find themselves in such a rem...
Oct 17, 2022•32 min
In a world so dependent on the need for oil and gas, it's no wonder why oil rich nations like Russia hold such power on the global stage. The power these Petrostates have influence foreign policy and conflicts around the globe. But why does oil play such a key role in global geo-politics? And what does the development of clean energy mean for those dependent on oil? In this episode, James is joined by author Emma Ashford to help explore the potential links between oil production and possession i...
Oct 14, 2022•36 min
In World War Two the ancient fortress of Colditz Castle was used by the German Army to hold its most defiant prisoners of war. Located near Leipzig, deep in Germany, it was almost impossible to escape. If an Allied escapee did manage to make it out of the castle walls, they’d face a journey home of hundreds of miles in enemy territory, with no guarantee of safety or help. But the men of Colditz were no ordinary prisoners, and their captors were about to find out why. In this episode James is joi...
Oct 10, 2022•30 min
When we think of pirates our minds turn to figures both real and fictitious such as Blackbeard and Long John Silver, or perhaps even Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa. We certainly don't tend to think of their involvement in the American Revolution. After all, why would we? What role did those involved in piracy even play in the Revolutionary War? Well to answer that very question James is joined today by historian, and grandson of General Patton, Robert H. Patton, whose book Patriot Pirates...
Oct 07, 2022•33 min
The resistance fighters of the Moro, an indigenous Muslim population of the Philippines, have been described as most the most successful and least-known guerrillas of World War II's Pacific Theatre. The Moro mounted an armed opposition so vigorous that the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army found themselves outfought time and again by their far less well-armed adversaries. When the soldiers of the Empire of Japan invaded their homeland, the Moros, sometimes with swords as their only weapons,...
Oct 03, 2022•39 min
General George S. Patton was one of America's most successful - and indeed unconventional - military leaders. From a young age, 'Georgie' Patton believed he was destined to lead a great army, and after an eventful youth - in which he even competed in the 1912 Olympic Games - the Californian forged an incredible military career during both World Wars. In this episode James is joined by General Patton's grandson, Robert H. Patton, to discuss his grandfather's esteemed, if not slightly controversia...
Sep 30, 2022•48 min
Warning: This episode contains content that some listeners may find upsetting No matter the war being fought, it's a sad fact that war crimes take place all around the world - we need only look to Russia's offensive war in Ukraine to see how civilians can be illegally targeted in an indiscriminate and disproportionate fashion. With contemporary events in mind, we decided to take a look at the long history of war crimes and how perpetrators have been held to account over the decades. To help with...
Sep 26, 2022•48 min
When you think of the Blitz, you think of the Blitz on London. The two are synonymous, and not without reason. Over 57 consecutive nights and days, Luftwaffe raids left tens of thousands dead in Britain's capital in late 1940. But the truth is that the heavy bombardment of the UK involved so many towns and cities across the country: from Plymouth in the southwest, to Swansea in Wales, to Belfast in Northern Ireland, to the Clydebank in Scotland and all up the northeast coast of England from Hull...
Sep 23, 2022•23 min
This month marks 75 years since the establishment of the United States Air Force (USAF). So to mark this anniversary, we wanted to follow up on listener Rick Harrison's request for more air power. Well Rick, we hope this will suffice! In this episode James is joined by Lt Col Whit 'Skate' Collins, a current USAF fighter pilot with the 64th aggressor squadron who is responsible for knowing, teaching, and replicating adversary tactics in order to train aircrews of the US and its allies....
Sep 20, 2022•44 min
Following the recent death of Mikhail Gorbachev at the age of 91, we've decided to take a look into the beginnings, career and legacy of the last ever leader of the Soviet Union. There was a mix of sadness in the West as well as sorrow, silence and indifference in Russia at the news of Gorbachev's passing on August 30, no surprise given how extraordinary his relatively short time in power would prove. In this episode James is joined by Dr Susan Colbourn to explore Gorbachev's contested legacy, f...
Sep 16, 2022•34 min
Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer was the first senior fire chief to arrive at the World Trade Center on 9/11. His actions, along with those of hundreds of other firefighters, helped save tens of thousands of lives on that fateful morning 21 years ago. Joe's key role in organising the emergency response on September 11 2001 was captured on tape by the Naudet brothers in their extraordinary film 9/11 , and the Warfare podcast was honoured to welcome the retired chief - who now lecturers at Harvard - onto t...
Sep 12, 2022•20 min
As a mark of respect and remembrance to the late Queen Elizabeth II, we've chosen to focus on Her Majesty's personal history as a veteran of the Second World War. For this episode, James is joined by Tessa Dunlop to learn more about how the inspirational, dedicated, and devoted monarch that was Elizabeth II went from a young girl living through the blitz, to serving as a second subaltern in the all-female Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) by the end of WW2. Note: This episode was recorded befo...
Sep 09, 2022•22 min
If Germany's audacious plan to invade Britain - Operation Sea Lion - had succeeded, what exactly would the country's last line of defence have looked like? Well much like the French Resistance, who were backed by the UK's very own Special Operations Executive (SOE), Britain had prepared its very own network of brave civilian saboteurs, spies, and assassins - many of whom went to their grave without revealing a word of what they'd been tasked to do. In this episode James is joined by historian & ...
Sep 05, 2022•38 min
The Battle of Salamanca was fought in Napoleonic Spain on 22 July 1812, during the Peninsula War. It pitted Lt Gen Arthur Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, against the French military master Marshal Auguste de Marmont. Despite being one of the lesser discussed Napoleonic battles, Salamanca defined Wellington's reputation as a defensive general and shattered French dominance on the Iberian peninsula. In this episode James is joined by Dr Zack White to learn more about the bloody & ...
Sep 02, 2022•52 min
Their attacks of September 11 2001 sparked a War on Terror which has a legacy that very much lasts 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? In this episode James is joined by Dr Afzal Ashraf, an expert on the terror group's ideologies 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. A version of this episode was originally...
Aug 29, 2022•47 min
After the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the focus of the Pacific War moved closer to Australia. Japanese forces bombed Darwin and began to launch attacks on Papua New Guinea, with a view to capturing its capital Port Moresby. If the Japanese had captured that city, they would have been able to bomb vital Allied bases in northern Australia - potentially turning the tide of the war in their favour. In this episode, James is joined by author David W. Cameron to find out about the ferocious, d...
Aug 26, 2022•24 min
In 1970, the deadliest storm in modern history ripped Pakistan in two, leading the world to the brink of nuclear war after American and Soviet forces converged in the Bay of Bengal. Over the course of just a few hours, the Great Bhola Cyclone would kill 500,000 people and begin a chain reaction of turmoil, genocide, and war. In this episode James is joined by Scott Carney and Jason Miklian, who take us deep into the story of the cyclone and its aftermath, told through the eyes of those who lived...
Aug 22, 2022•32 min
80 years ago today on 19 August 1942, a 6,000 strong combined Allied landing force took part in a raid on Dieppe, Northern France. Tragically, no less than 67% of these fighters - most of them Canadians - became casualties in what has gone down in history as an unmitigated catastrophe conceived chiefly by Lord Mountbatten. In this episode to mark the Dieppe Raid's 80th anniversary, James is joined by David O'Keefe who has uncovered declassified material proving how the disastrous raid concealed ...
Aug 19, 2022•34 min
If you were asked what you thought about the Iraq War in Alaska, you'd probably be more than a little confused. But that confusion might turn to shock when you learn about the conflict's controversial legacy of destruction in America's 49th state, of all places. Despite long-held local protests and previous restrictions, the US Department of Defense controversially reopened Eagle River Flats - an Alaskan estuary that had been historically polluted with white phosphorous munitions - for weapons t...
Aug 15, 2022•25 min
Today's guest Kitty Baxter was aged just nine when World War II broke out in 1939. One of five children born to a road sweeper and a cleaner, Kitty joined thousands of children being evacuated to the countryside as German bombing raids loomed. This would be the first of three times that she was rehoused far from home over the course of the war. Sometimes treated more like a servant than a small child, Kitty endured gruelling years cut off from her parents rather than a safe haven from war. In th...
Aug 12, 2022•28 min
Warning: The events recounted in this episode may be distressing to some listeners At 11.02 am on August 9 1945, America dropped the world's most powerful atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Japanese port city was flattened to the ground 'as if it had been swept aside by a broom', with over 70,000 people killed. At that time, hundreds of Allied prisoners of war were working close to the bomb's detonation point, as forced labourers in the shipyards and foundries of Nagasaki. Having survived four y...
Aug 08, 2022•34 min
Warning: The events recounted in this episode may be distressing to some listeners Keiko Ogura was just eight years old on August 6 1945 when her home city of Hiroshima was destroyed by the US in the first atomic bomb attack in history. Almost 150,000 people lost their lives in that first bombing, which was followed three days later on August 9 by the destruction of Nagasaki, in which around half that number perished. Japan surrendered shortly thereafter, drawing a close to the Second World War....
Aug 05, 2022•34 min
Located just 100 miles off the coast of mainland China, the nation of Taiwan sits in the so-called 'first island chain' - a group of US-friendly territories deemed crucial to American foreign policy. Yet China's president Xi Jinping maintains that Chinese reunification with Taiwan must be fulfilled. He's not ruled out the possible use of military force - and neither has US president Joe Biden. Tensions have grown even in the last few weeks, so to what extent can tensions over Taiwan be compared ...
Aug 01, 2022•40 min
With Kim Jong-un having issued a new threat of nuclear war just this week on the anniversary of the Korean War armistice in 1953, we take a look at the origins of the North Korean state and the Kim dynasty that has ruled it with an iron fist since that conflict. From founder Kim Il-sung, to his successors Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un, the ruling family of North Korea have lasted remarkably long by the standards of authoritarian dictators. In this episode - the fifth and final of our special minis...
Jul 29, 2022•30 min
The war in Ukraine has left many of us aghast that open armed conflict could again erupt on the European continent... except the idea of a peaceful post-WW2 Europe is hardly historically correct. The Kosovo War of 1999 is but one example. Over 78 days NATO aircraft bombarded the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's forces into submission, achieving a swift victory without a single ground troop having to be deployed. The conflict has been described as Tony Blair's 'Perfect War', but is this accurate?...
Jul 25, 2022•38 min
In July 1945 when Korea was divided by the 38th parallel into North and South, families were suddenly torn apart by a border that would change the course of history. Post World War Two, Korea was of massive strategic importance, a stepping stone to the rest of Asia. After centuries of monarchy and 35 years of brutal colonial rule - many Koreans were unsure which side would provide them with a future that promised them independence. The fourth episode in our series on the Korean War, James is joi...
Jul 22, 2022•28 min
18 minutes. That's how much extra time the US Navy Seals had during their raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In that time they managed to secure never seen before correspondence from across the Al-Qaeda network giving US intelligence a new insight into their movements and plans. In this episode, James is joined by Dr Nelly Lahoud, a senior fellow in New America's International Security program, to talk about this vital raid and why this information is so important. Givin...
Jul 18, 2022•41 min
Moored in the River Thames, the HMS Belfast is an important part of the Imperial War Museums and a brilliant learning resource for those who visit. But for veteran Ron Yardley, it was his home for two years while he served in the Korean War. In this episode of our Korean War miniseries, Ron joins James aboard the Belfast to talk about his experiences and memories of those unforgettable years. Remembering the much sought after rum rations, the benefits of a good hammock, and honouring those who l...
Jul 15, 2022•57 min
