Age of Revolution podcast: Recent Episodes
Dave Inglehart
Readings from the Age of Revolution trilogy, beginning with BORN IN BATTLE: the American Revolution. Narration by Dave Inglehart, text by William Hillenbrand, with music by Dennis Kennedy. New episodes to be posted weekly.
Following a succession of failed efforts in the East, Union forces score a narrow victory in the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg, Maryland). Though the battle falls short of capturing Lee's army, its result boosts northern morale and provides President Lincoln with an opportunity to reframe the purpose of the war by means of the Emancipation Proclamation. For complete text plus animated maps, music, and more, visit www.ageofrevolution.net.
McClellan's Peninsula Campaign having come to nothing, President Lincoln calls upon John Pope to lead Union forces in a fresh advance upon Lee's army near Gordonsville. Outmaneuvered and befuddled, Pope eventually attacks Stonewall Jackson's corps near the Warrenton Turnpike, only to be taken in flank by Longstreet's Rebels and driven back as far as the battlefield of First Bull Run. Music by Dennis Kennedy, text by Wiliam Hillenbrand, narration by Dave Inglehart. For complete text including animated maps, visit www.ageofrevolution.net.
In the wake of the Union defeat at First Bull Run, George B. McClellan turns the Army of the Potomac into a formidable fighting force yet reveals few instincts for field command. After advancing to the outskirts of Richmond via a round-about, amphibious route, McClellan retreats and the Peninsular Campaign ends in humiliating failure. For related content, including animated maps, visit www.ageofrevolution.net
With an army of 15,000 men, Ulysses S. Grant sets out from Cairo, Illinois, in an effort to end Kentucky's bid to remain neutral in the Civil War. Seizing Fort(s) Henry and Donelson, he next launches an even more ambitious campaign deep into Tennessee, where a large Confederate force under Albert Sidney Johnston awaits. The ensuing confrontation will be referred to by General William T. Sherman as "The devil's own day."
Following the Battle of First Bull Run, the war's center of gravity shifts westward to western Virginia (soon to become its own state), Kentucky, and Missouri. Though relatively obscure, these lesser engagements in the border states will play an oversized role in the larger conflict, bringing to the national stage two rising stars in the Union war effort: George B. MacClellan and Ulysses S. Grant.
Following the attack on Fort Sumter, both North and South prepare for war, racing to redress the country's military complacency after a decade unthreatened by foreign wars. Responding to calls to prevent the first session of the Confederate Congress from meeting in Richmond, Virginia, President Lincoln orders an advance upon Rebel forces in the vicinity of Manassas Junction. The ensuing battle (First Bull Run) provides early evidence of the ferocity of the looming crisis. Text by William Hillenbrand, music by Dennis Kennedy, narration by Dave Inglehart.
In Age of Revolution's first podcast to feature the text of "Fateful Lightning: the American Civil War" we trace the long history of slavery in America from its origins in the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to its central role in the emergence of economic and political sectionalism and the seemingly inescapable crescendo of violence that would lead to war in 1861. Text by William Hillenbrand, music by Dennis Kennedy, narration by Dave Inglehart.
Following the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon confronts the two remaining great powers on the Continent, Prussia, and Russia. In hard-won victories at Jena/Auerstadt, Eylau, and Friedland, France's new dominance of Europe is affirmed, and a continental blockade is instituted with the aim of choking off English trade. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
This week's episode covers two of the most consequential engagements of the Napoleonic Wars: the battle of Trafalgar, in which the virtual annihilation of a combined Franco-Spanish fleet gave England undisputed mastery of the seas, and the battle of Austerlitz, which gave France an equally dominant position on land. Together, these two conflicts would set the stage for a decade of nearly continuous warfare. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Napoleon returns from Egypt to stage the coup d'etat of 19 Brumaire (10 November 1799). Seizing control of the French Republic as First Consul, he takes up official residence in the Tuileries Palace in Paris, signaling a more centrist style of government. Scoring a dramatic victory over the Austrians in the Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800), the 30-year-old leader's popularity among the French is assured. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Following an initial brush with officials in Paris, Napoleon resumes his stunningly successful campaign in northern Italy, defeating a series of Austrian armies and eventually negotiating a peace settlement highly advantageous to French interests. In the course of his ensuing conquest of Egypt, however, various setbacks force the young commander to return to France to help defend the country against a new coalition of monarchist enemies. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
The end of the Reign of Terror leads to a new constitution for France and the advent of a period of relative stability under the rule of an executive body known as the Directory. During this period, Napoleon meets Rose Beauharnais, a well-connected member of the salon scene who helps him win a coveted command in the army. The two are married, and Napoleon sets off on a stunningly successful campaign across northern Italy, defeating the allied forces of Sardinia and Austria. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Burdened by heavy debts incurred in part from its role in the American Revolution, France undergoes a revolution of its own, setting the stage for a long period of conflict with the remaining monarchies of Europe. As a student at the national military school in Paris, Napoleon bears witness to much of the violence of the Revolution and seeks to play a role in the leadership of his homeland, Corsica. His attempts to do so, however, lead to failure and the loss of his family home. Later assigned to take part in the siege of Toulon, he plays a key role in ousting a large, allied force of English and Spanish troops. For his success there and in Paris during a royalist insurrection, he is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Interior. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
France's entry into the American Revolution is seen to have far-reaching consequences in this week's episode, which jumps ahead in time to the French Revolution and the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first reading in the Quest for Empire series, the episode begins with the battle of Valmy, where a deep sense of national pride is awakened within the French, a pride that, as much as his own inborn gifts, will propel Bonaparte to unprecedented military success. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Increasingly isolated and low on supplies with the campaigning season slipping away, General John Burgoyne gambles on a desperate bid to cut his way through to Albany, where General Clinton is expected to arrive by transport from New York. In an initial battle at Freeman's Farm, Burgoyne's army is stopped in its tracks by Americans under the command of hard-fighting Benedict Arnold. Three weeks later, his anticipated reinforcements Clinton having returned to New York, Burgoyne is soundly beaten and driven from the field. Falling back on Saratoga, he is compelled to surrender. His failure to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies, the strategic objective of the campaign, is widely seen as a turning point in the war. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
When a British invasion force under General John Burgoyne arrives at Fort Ticonderoga at the foot of Lake Champlain, the fort's American garrison escapes under cover of darkness and flees southward with a British detachment in hot pursuit. A series of skirmishes culminates in a pitched battle at Bennington, where much of the detachment is destroyed. Next, Burgoyne decides to pursue the Americans through dense forest on a direct route to Albany. By the time the British cut their way through to the upper Hudson, however, a combined force of American militiamen and Continentals under General Horatio Gates have assembled near Stillwater to block their passage south. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
With the campaigning season seemingly over, General Washington plots a surprise attack against a Hessian garrison force at Trenton. On Christmas Day the army recrosses the Delaware to achieve complete surprise, routing the Hessians and consolidating a position east of the river. When a British detachment arrives under Lord Cornwallis, Washington deftly side-steps the new threat to score another improbable triumph at Princeton. Continuing northward, the army goes into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, having ended the year 1776 with two restorative victories. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Following his victory on Long Island, British general Sir William Howe drives the Continental Army the length of Manhattan and succeeds in capturing a large garrison force under Nathaniel Greene at Fort Washington. The fort's namesake, meanwhile, leads the bulk of his army north, drawing the British into the interior to extend their line of supply. Howe proves up to the challenge, however, dealing the Americans a punishing blow at White Plains, and sending them on a long trek across the breadth of New Jersey to safety on the west bank of the Delaware River. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
In his first major battle of the Revolution, General Washington takes half his army across the East River from Manhattan to Long Island in an effort to challenge the enemy's landings there. Nevertheless, under the cover of the Royal Navy, the landings proceed unimpeded and General Howe brings his forces into line opposite American forces in front of Brooklyn Heights. Here, rather than make a direct assault on the enemy, Howe sends a large flanking force in a wide sweep around the American left. The scheme succeeds in taking the enemy by surprise and the American line is rolled up from left to right, sending stragglers streaming to the safety of the high ground. When Howe fails to capitalize on his success with a follow-on assault, however, Washington is given sufficient time to mount a desperate rescue effort. Rounding up every boat to be found, he orders the evacuation of the island under cover of night and fog, bringing his isolated force back to Manhattan in the face of certain destruction. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
With a British fleet on its way to attack New York, a 33-year-old member of the Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson, works on a writing assignment in the seclusion of his rooms in a bricklayer's house in Philadelphia. The resulting document undergoes strenuous debate and is eventually adopted as the United States Declaration of Independence. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Upon the departure of British forces from Boston in March 1776, General Washington leads the Continental Army to New York and prepares for an attack there. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, evidence that King George has contracted with various German princes for 18,000 mercenaries for American service. The implication of this latest affront to their civil liberties compels members of the Continental Congress to order the drafting of an official document stating the case for independence. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
While Patriot forces besiege Boston, a British attempt to seize Charleston, South Carolina, meets surprisingly strong resistance. When an amphibious assault goes forward against American defenses on Sullivan's Island, a number of British warships are badly damaged and their land forces are completely stymied. The blow to British pride is exemplified by the fate of Sir Peter Parker, commander of the Bristol, who has his pants blown off by the explosive force of American cannon fire. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Patriot general Benedict Arnold and an army comprised of rugged frontiersmen take ship from Newburyport, Massachusetts on an ill-fated mission to seize the fortress city of Quebec. Following a harrowing journey through untracked wilderness, part of the desperate force wins through to the banks of the St. Lawrence River only to suffer defeat in front of the city walls. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
George Washington's long road to leadership of the Continental Army lands him in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he conducts a prolonged siege of Boston. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
In the first light of dawn on 17 June 1775, British ships open fire on a newly-constructed redoubt atop Breed's Hill in Charlestown, and by noon a force of some 2000 Regulars are on their way from Boston by boat to seize the enemy's makeshift fortification. Under a similarly makeshift command structure, additional Patriot forces gravitate to the hill, and their tenacity in defense of the fort will require three concerted attacks and substantially greater losses to the British than to their own. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
In the aftermath of the skirmishing at Lexington and Concord, both sides prepare for a wider war. As militia forces grow in the outskirts of Boston, a makeshift command structure takes shape with General Artemas Ward assuming overall authority. By the middle of June, a strategy to threaten the British presence in Boston emerges, and General Prescott is ordered to fortify Bunker Hill in Charlestown. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
From Lexington, a British search-and-destroy mission proceeds to Concord, where its countermarch to Boston quickly becomes a bloody ordeal on Battle Road. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
Episode 2 of Born in Battle: the American Revolution details events leading up to the action on Lexington Green. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.
A British search-and-destroy mission encounters the residents of Salem, Massachusetts, at the Northfield Bridge in what might have been an alternative opening to the American Revolution.