Cauldron - A Military History Podcast: Recent Episodes
Cullen Burke
I'm Cullen Burke, and this is Cauldron - A Military History Podcast. I'll cover the significant battles in history, breaking down the vital players, weapons, methods, events, and outcomes. Let’s take a peek into the past and see what, if anything, can be learned from the most dramatic moments in our collective story. Let’s get stuck in!
Hey guys, it’s been a bit since last we had some new content but the next couple weeks we’ll have some fresh audio for you. Today, however, we have a friendly takeover as Elliot, host of Anthology of Heroes, takes over the podcast feed and talks about the “scramble for Africa”. Anthology of Heroes is a fantastic podcast, Hardcore History-esque, and Elliot does an excellent job of bringing you fast-paced, detailed history. The production is top-notch but it’ll be the storytelling that keeps you riveted and listening. I hope you enjoy Anthology of Heroes as much as I do, and if you do, give him a follow/subscribe/rate/review. As always, thanks again for listening!!
When the English colonists first came to the New World there was friction but, given the limits of the colonists population and power, no large scale conflict. The Abenaki homelands consisted of most of modern day New England and North East Canada. At first they had no issue with the English, so long as they stuck to the coasts. The fishing and fur trading hubs created by the newcomers was as a commercial positive for the Abenaki. The issue arose when the English population grew and the colonists began to settle the interior lands. The Abenaki were hard pressed as they fought the mighty Iroquois for domination of the fur trade and now found themselves dealing with a growing threat from the Europeans. The slaughter and sacking of a key Pequot village along the Mystic River in 1637 was one of many such defeats that finally made the situation clear to the Abenaki; the only way for them to maintain their homelands was through violence...
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Music - Alpha Mission by Jimena Contreras courtesy of Youtube free sound library
Few battles in history are so complete and decisive as Koniggratz. In a day the Austro-Prussian War was won and ended. The brilliant Moltke the Elder faced a much larger Austrian army and roundly defeated it. That, however, doesn’t mean it was easy. On July 3rd, 1866 Moltke and his army’s fate hung in the balance as the Austrian forces fought harder and harder before the timely arrival of the Prussian salvation decided the day.
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Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim al-Khattabi, otherwise known as Abd el-Krim, was President of the Rif Republic, a Moroccan freedom fighter, and a guerrilla warfare specialist. He led his people through the Third Rif War and won a resounding victory against the Spanish at the battle of Annual in 1921. He would go on and influence many a revolutionary, from Ho Chi Minh to Mao to Che and in the process he helped to chip away at the tottering colonial system in Africa.
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War A to Z
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Abbasid Revolution
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Date- 747 A.D. - 750 A.D.
Location - Khorasan province Iran
Participants - Umayyads vs Abbasids
Key Players - Caliph Marwan, Governor Nasir Ibn Sayyar, Muhammad Ali, Abu Muslim
Key Battles - Merv, Nahavand, Isfahan, Mosul
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The Issue - The powerful Umayyad Caliphate, the second of the original four in early Islamic history, had a rocky relationship with its many subjects. The Umayyads were an Arab dynasty but could prove no direct relationship or bloodline to the Prophet’s family, and they had a willingness to tax all subjects at very high rates, Arab and non-Arab alike. Because they treated Arabs better than anyone, and should no preference for non-Arab muslims, the Umayyad’s had few friends in their lands. Some of the more discriminatory policies led to unrest and two leaders started to form an opposition party; Muhammad Ibn Ali, who could boast a blood tie to the Prophet and Abu Muslim, an Iranian leader that gave voice to the over taxed non-Arab and non-muslims. Wearing black and touting a black flag, mirroring the Prophets own battle flag, the Abbasids began their revolution in 745.
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The Result - The ensuing five years saw dozens of battles, from Merv to Nahavand, Isfahan to Mosul. The Abbasid forces crippled the Umayyad power structure and forced the governor of Khorasan to flee from city to city until at last he died in 748 A.D. The ignominious death of Governor Sayyar was to be repeated by the Caliph himself. As Abu Muslim’s forces marched on Harrran, Caliph Marwan ran for safety making it all the way to Egypt. Unfortunately for him, Marwan didn’t live long in the land of the pharaohs, he was murdered in 750 A.D. The resulting power vacuum caused by the Umayyad collapse allowed Abu Muslim to roll up Syria, Iraq, and Iran into the Abbasid Empire. A legitimate Islamic government was installed and tax laws and revenues regulated by the ruling Muslim dynasty. Abu al-Abbas was chosen as their first caliph and he ruled from the new capital of the Islamic world - Baghdad.
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Source - MacGill’s Military History
War A to Z
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Abbas I The Great
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Born - January 27 1571, Iran
Died - January 19 1629, Iran
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Wars/Battles of Note - Uzbek-Persian Wars, Turko-Persian Wars, Mogul-Persian Wars, Tabriz 1603,Sis 1606, Siege of Baghdad 1624-1626
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Through a combination of guile, patience, and determination, Abbas the Great ruled a powerful Persian state for over forty years. Upon taking the throne he faced threats from every direction including the vaunted Janissaries of the Turks and the mighty Mogul Empire to the south. Understanding that he could only deal with one enemy at a time, Abbas prioritized each opponent and then in turn dealt with the Uzbeks, Ottomans, Moguls, and even the Portuguese. His was court of culture and when not campaigning he was a powerful patron of the arts and builder of beautiful cities. On his death the Persian Empire ran from the Indus River to the Tigris River.
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Napoleon Bonaparte is, almost always, in the “Mt. Rushmore” greatest military commanders of all time conversation, and rightfully so. That being said, he wasn’t without a great many flaws, and long before Waterloo, Napoleon suffered his fair share of defeats. Marengo doesn’t fall into the loss column for Bonaparte, but it came pretty damn close. A poor French tactical choice, a drastic French inferiority in artillery, and a ferocious Austrian assault all led to Marengo being a "close run thing" for the First Consul. But as the First Consul said “The fate of a battle is a single moment…the decisive moment arrives, the moral spark is kindled and the smallest reserve force settles the issue.”
As the title makes clear, this is not the promised battle of Marengo! Nope, it’s still very busy up here in Maine and the tourist season has yet to slow, so getting the new episode written up has been a bit more of a struggle than I anticipated. To hold you guys over while I finish up the Marengo script here is a conversation with Brett from the Whiskey Tango Podcast. Brett came on to chat about Turks, cataphracts, and the Byzantines at the battle of Manzikert and, much like the first time he and I talked, this was a blast. We ran a little long but since it has been over a month since the last show, I figure more is better! Enjoy!
“For this campaign I see so very ill a prospect that I am extremely out of heart.”
So wrote the man most responsible for today’s battle and one of Britain’s greatest military victories, the battle of Blenheim.
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"I had scarcely finished speaking when the enemy's battery opened fire upon us, and raked us through and through. They concentrated their fire upon us, and with their first discharge carried off Count de la Bastide, the lieutenant of my own company with whom at the moment I was speaking, and twelve grenadiers, who fell side by side in the ranks, so that my coat was covered with brains and blood. So accurate was the fire that each discharge of the cannon stretched some of my men on the ground. I suffered agonies at seeing these brave fellows perish without a chance of defending themselves, but it was absolutely necessary that they should not move from their post.” - Jean Martin de la Colonie
The battle of Schellenberg is one of the interesting stops on the Duke of Marlborough’s road to Blenheim. Time was in short supply and the Grand Alliance was in a tight spot, the heights over Donauworth had to be taken, and quickly. A frontal assault was in the offing and the deadly struggle that followed almost cost Marlborough his campaign, reputation, and maybe even the war itself. Let’s go back to the War of the Spanish Succession, the age of Marlborough and muskets. Let’s go back to 1704 and the battle of Schellenberg!
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Let’s go back to the year 1702, a time when Spanish treasure ships still sailed the open seas. Let’s go back to the age of sails and cannon, of Sun Kings and wars of succession. To a time when the Royal Navy was just coming into its own, and the Bourbon navy was about to find out what the cost of maritime power would be. Let’s go back to 1702, 23rd of October, and the battle of Vigo Bay!
Bringing the booty of the Spanish Main with it, a Spanish-French fleet sailed into Vigo Bay to avoid lurking English and Dutch allied ships. Once the Grand Alliance fleet got wind the treasure fleet was penned up in close quarters, they pounced. The end result was a crushing victory that led to Portugal switching sides, Gibraltar becoming an English possession, and Jules Verne's Captain Nemo making his fortune.
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Let’s go back to the year 1700, a cold, gray late November day in Estonia. Let’s go back to the age of muskets and bayonets, of dragoons and hussars. To a time when the Lion of the North, the Last Viking, young Charles XII of Sweden was sizing up his first meal, Peter the "not yet" Great of Russia. Let’s go back to the battle of Narva!
Facing a vastly numerically superior enemy (that was dug-in) with a well defended position with heavy artillery support, Charles XII of Sweden would have been wise to not attack. But then he wouldn’t have been Charles XII. Using a sudden snow squall to mask his advance, Charles and the Swedish army attacked the dug-in Russian line and the first great victory of The Great Northern War was won.
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Let’s go back to the year 1014, a late summer in the Balkans where Basil II, of the Byzantine Empire, has brought his army to destroy his oldest foe. Let’s go back to the final days of the Bulgarian Empire of Czar Samuel, seventy years old and still willing (and able) to lead his army into the fight. Let’s go back to the battle of Kleidion! In the mountain passes of the Bulgarian Empire, Basil II used a deceptive ploy to destroy the army of his enemy, Czar Samuel. In the aftermath Basil committed a heinous act of revenge and violence that earned him the epitaph - the Bulgarslayer.
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A little bit of a pivot this week; instead of the Battle of Kleidion (which will just get pushed back a week) you’ll be listening to a chat between myself and Brett from the Whiskey Tango Podcast. I’ve got a nasty little cold that’s keeping me from recording but Brett and I have been talking about doing a joint show for a while and we finally got one recorded. I had a blast and getting to actually speak to someone instead of the wall of my recording closet was a nice change of pace. Ipsus is a fantastic battle to cover and I think you guys will enjoy it! Make sure you follow/rate/review and subscribe to the Whiskey Tango Podcast guys, and enjoy!
Whiskey Tango Podcast
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@brett_james_theincomparable@whiskeytangopodcast
“They fought then, and each of them endeavored to slaughter the other; and they fell by each other, and the way that they fell was with the sword of each through the heart of the other; and the hair of each in the clenched hand of the other…” - Cogdha
This week on cauldron we are going back to good friday, April 23 1014, to the emerald isle itself - Ireland. On the beaches just north of Dublin Brian Boru defeated an uprising and the existential viking threat, saved his kingdom and country, and lost his life. Let’s go back to the Battle of Clontarf.
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The first cycle of episodes in the Cauldron re-boot featured exclusively battles from antiquity and the truly ancient world. This next cycle will see us hop in the imaginary time machine and fast forward from the sandy beach outside of Troy, zooming past the rise and fall of a dozen or more empires, from Persia to Athens to Alexander to Carthage and finally to the powerhouse that was Rome. For a thousand years Rome, in one of its many fashions, ruled much of Modern Europe, and then came the barbarian hordes, plague, rapid and incurable inflation, and a whole myriad of other factors that led to the great city’s fall. With the dying of the light that was Rome, Europe descended into what was once called the Dark Ages, a time in which life was as cheap as it had ever been. Now, most scholars agree that things weren’t nearly as bleak or “Dark” as they used to seem, but when Europe pretty rapidly went from a unified centralized singularity to a shattered constellation of smaller petty kingdoms things certainly became more interesting. A good mark for the beginning of the Early Middle Ages or the Late Antiquity Period is the Huns burning their way through Central Europe and the fall of Rome itself to the Visigoths. We dive into the Huns in one of the earliest episodes so check that out if you want. Both the Early Middle Ages or the Late Antiquity Period are accepted terms used by scholars in lieu of the Dark Ages, which is a bit less fun and dramatic, even if it is more accurate. From roughly 400-500ad to 1000-1100ad these Early Middle Ages were a period of upheaval and change for Europe. A time of turmoil and faith, war and famine, kings and priests. Which, after writing that I realized, is pretty much every period in European and likely World history. But our story today comes in at the tail end of the Early Middle Ages, when the age of the Viking was all but over and the Age of the Knight and Castle was about to begin. Let’s go back to Late Antiquity, to the steel blue waters of the Baltic Sea, where two lines of Long Ships entangled in a desperate struggle, the winner lives, the loser drowns. Let’s go back to September 9, 999/1000A.D., the Age of the Viking and the Battle of Svolder.
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I am (as you all probably guessed) a huge Dan Carlin fan and I often find myself re-listening to his different series. Recently I put fresh ears on his King of Kings episodes about the ancient Persians. One rough quote, or paraphrase is probably more accurate, from historian Pierre Briant that stuck with me is “you must believe in ancient history, even if it never happened.” As I put this episode on Troy together this idea keeps slamming me in the head. I’m not sure there is an episode in military history that better encapsulates the sentiment Briant is trying to get across than the Trojan War and subsequent fall of the great city itself. There isn’t a hell of a lot of evidence, but, if you don’t believe the siege of Troy occurred, ancient history becomes a much less human, colorful, and tangible world. Now, you don’t need to believe gods like Athena and Apollo fought alongside the Trojans and the Achaeans, but damn if that doesn't make for a hell of a story!
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From Megiddo to Kadesh almost 200 years passed with Egypt at the pinnacle of its power. From modern day Sudan to the southern border of modern day Turkey, Egypt reigned supreme. They weren’t unchallenged and certainly, like their life-giving river itself things where often in flux; uprisings, rebellions, and border fighting happened regularly and territory was lost just as often as it was gained, but even so the people of the Nile maintained their control over much of the modern Middle East. The chariot, brought to Egypt on the conquering tide of the Hyksos invasion and retooled and perfected by the Egyptians themselves, was in large part what brought Egyptian freedom from the foreign oppressors at home and victory and Egyptian dominance abroad. At Megiddo, this engineering marvel, the Egyptian war chariot, showed the world what it could do to an unequal enemy. At Kadesh, the last great clash of chariots showed the world that this unique weapons system had reached its peak and would soon (in relative historical terms) be outdated and surpassed. But for one glorious late May day on the plains outside of Kadesh, the Pharaoh Ramses the 2nd, who would later be known as the Great Ancestor, saved his army and his reputation from the back of his chariot. Or at least that’s what he wanted us to think…
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Megiddo is an interesting story; by bringing along court scribes Thutmose III allows us to follow along in his footsteps and see the battle as he saw it. Now, obviously we can’t take everything the scribes wrote at face value; propaganda is as old as written history, and probably older, but at least, for the first time, we can paint a historical battle with color instead of just black and white. And the drama of Megiddo is real and intense. The pharaoh’s choice to take the middle route and risk his army being picked off, man by man, would be a bold decision in any time period. The Canaanites fleeing the field and having to be hauled over the city walls is the very picture of comical desperation. At Megiddo, whether it all happened as the scribes said or not, history comes to life.
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For the re-launch of Cauldron I've chosen the fight between Umma and Lagash as our starting point. Certainly not the first battle in human history but in my humble non-historian opinion the first that we can really get a clear narrative picture of. It’s ancient ancient history, 2,116 years before Alexander crossed the Hellespont, so dates, facts, and numbers are loose when present at all. But, there are character archetypes we’re familiar with; a great and greedy king, a ravenous blood-thirsty god, and there are recognizable themes; revenge, jealousy, pride, and lust for power. All this means is we can only broadstroke the battle given the lack of information and facts, truly a glimpse of the past, our past, through Tuchman’s “distant mirror”. But, a picture can be formed, however loosely, of that long gone version of ourselves and we can start to tell our history, the history of war, if not from it’s beginning then somewhere closeby. So, let's get In Medias Res, and get stuck in with episode one the battle between Umma and Lagash!
Thanks for hanging in there if you are an old listener, thanks for joining the audience if you are a new listener!
For a list of sources just shoot me an email.
Music - VHS 80’s bundle by DopeBoy Kits
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Each of the contests in this series will showcase a martial failure from generals unfit to command or overly confident of their abilities to simple poor planning and the untimely (often unwanted) intervention of meddlesome politicians. I'm going to tell the story of the battle, just like a regular Cauldron episode, but I'll be going deeper into the events' command and control aspect. Like the main Cauldron show, this series will bounce through time and travel all over the globe. A Roman army annihilated in Germany's dark forests to a modern French army's surrender in Vietnam's rainforests. From the slaughter of French knights at Crecy to the fearsome floating German paratroopers above Crete, I plan on diving into these fascinating failures, always intending to figure out why or how they happened.
In this episode, I talked to Dr. Karl James, the head of military history at the Australian War Memorial. The book he edited, Kokoda: Beyond the Legend, was the principal source for this series, and let me tell you, it's a fantastic read! Various contributors, including Antony Beevor, weave together the story of Kokoda, both past and present. A truly comprehensive account of the battle for the Owen Stanley mountains, Kokoda: Beyond the Legend, also contextualizes the campaign within the wider war. Like any fair bit of history, the book tells the story of struggle and endurance, suffering and success, from every angle; Allied, Japanese, and Native giving each their proper due. Dr. James was a blast to chat with, funny, engaged, and a man that knows his stuff; he was kind enough to give me a full hour of his Sunday morning. Give a listen, rate review, subscribe, and click the link in the show notes to pick up a copy of Kokoda: Beyond the Legend!
Guest - Dr Karl James is a Senior Historian in the Military History Section of the Australian War Memorial, where he has worked since 2006, and Departmental Visitor with the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, he specializes in Australia’s involvement in the Second World War, and the history of Australia’s Special Operations Forces.
Find him on Twitter @KarlJames_1945
And grab a copy of Kokoda: Beyond the Legend @https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B06XB1J7CG&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_7028W0ETR0NJ49SSYX2R&tag=cauldronpodca-20
Sources
- Kokoda: Beyond the Legend edited by Dr. Karl James
- Kokoda by Peter Fitzsimons
- The Pacific War by William B.Hopkins
- Battlegrounds by M. Stephenson
- The West Point Atlas Of War - World War II: The Pacific edited by Brigadier General V. J. Esposito
Music - Cinematic Trailer by Scott Holmes Music
No general can say they will use the central position, and therefore, they will win. There is no plug and play preset list of maneuvers to fit all circumstances that guarantee victory. Victory relies on much more, and Napoleon understood that. His ability to sense the enemy's intention and force them to act against their own will is spooky at times. He had an intuitive feel for combat readiness, not just with the enemy but, maybe more importantly, in his ranks. His innate understanding of the weight and physics of battle, timing, and morale is hard to explain. The vision to see the picture, both strategic and tactical, and react with uncommon speed was unique for the time.
And beyond the general's tent and the map-room, Napoleon displayed what was probably his most remarkable traits as a leader. With a playwright's understanding of men's passions, he could give heart or strike fear with a few well-placed words. His glance, produced at the right moment to the right man, could expose a weakness or inspire courage. Like Hannibal and many others, he was a commander that lived and suffered very much with his men, at least at the beginning of his career. All these things mark Napoleon out as a uniquely gifted general. At the battle of Rivoli in mid-January 1796, we see them all come together at once, on full display for the first time in the "Little Corporal's" career.
- 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present by Paul K. Davis
- The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost by Cathal J. Nolan
- Masters of the Battlefield: Great Commanders From the Classical Age to the Napoleonic Era by Paul K. Davis
- Strategy by B. H. Liddell Hart
- The Napoleonic Wars by Gunther E. Rothenberg
- The Rise Of Napoleon Bonaparte by Robert B. Asprey
- Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics by Robert B Bruce
- Wars of Napoleon. West Point Military History Series by Thomas (ed). Griess
- A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars by Brig. Gen. Vincent Esposito
Music - At Launch by Kevin McCloud
I had a great conversation with Josh of the Adventure in Historyland blog and author of the book Wild East: The British in Japan 1854-1868. He knows his stuff, and his passion for history comes through loud and clear! We talked about all things Napoleon, the Italian Campaign, and Rivoli. Josh does a great job explaining interior lines and the central position doctrine as they relate to Rivoli. I had a lot of fun, and we will be sure to have him back for another battle; next time, I'll find a little Wellington engagement for him to chat about!
Check Josh out on Twitter and his blog link below, and let's support him independent historians need some love - buy his book! I have my copy coming and maybe we can get him back on to do a deep dive on it! Buy, follow, subscribe, rate, review!
Joshua Provan is a book reviewer, history writer and blogger, the founder of the award winning Adventures in Historyland blog and contributes regularly to the Britannia Magazine* on Facebook. His guest posts can also be found on several respected history blogs and websites. Although all of history fascinates him, he concentrates on British military history from the 17th to the mid-19th century. In addition, he has gained a reputation as a historical consultant and proofreader, an online historical content advisor and a research consultant.
https://adventuresinhistoryland.com/about/
https://twitter.com/LandOfHistory?s=20
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B0894XPQ29&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_a9gaGb319FB5X
This was a lot of fun, and I hope pretty educational; I know I learned a ton. I reached out to Matt and asked him to join me for 20-30 minutes to talk about Vietnam's small arms. Instead, he gave me almost an hour of his time! Jammed with insight and information, the hour zipped right by. We covered the early development and reliability issues of the M16, its performance at Ia Drang, and briefly talked about some of the other weapons of the battle. We made sure to leave plenty of meat on the bone for conversations down the line! The Armourer's Bench is a great follow on all the platforms and if you can do so, support their Patreon page.
https://armourersbench.com
Support on Patreon - The Armourer's Bench
Instagram and Facebook - @armourersbench
Twitter - @historicfirearm
https://www.historicalfirearms.info
"After the bravado, you're left with the anguish." Col. Nadal US 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry Regiment Air Mobile
Few battles have shaped the modern American mind while remaining mostly anonymous to the general public quite like Ia Drang. An iconic engagement that defined not just a war but a generation has gone, for the most part, forgotten. Maybe one of the most misunderstood battles in a misunderstood war, Ia Drang, had a considerable impact on modern American history. The action of Ia Drang Valley, fought from the 14th to the 17th in November 1965 remains, maybe the defining moment of the Vietnam War.
- We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam Book by Hal Moore and Joseph L. Galloway - the definitive account of the battle
- Vietnam, the Decisive Battles Book by John Pimlott - a well done full account form the Birdseye with great sidebar info
- Command ConceptsA Theory Derived from the Practice of Command and Control by Carl H. Builder, Steven C. Bankes, Richard Nordin - fascinating if somewhat heady read
- Battlegrounds: Geography and the Art of Warfare by Michael Stephenson - one of my favorite reference books, really paints a picture
- PBS: The Vietnam War by Ken Burns - the best obviously
- The Armourers Bench - excellent conversation explaining the weapons of the battle
- Oxford History of Warfare - a good but very surface coverage of the war as a whole
- https://lzxray.com/lz-xray/ - the full load with after action report and images from Moore and his plans
- https://www.stripes.com/news/special-reports/vietnam-at-50/1965/ia-drang-valley-where-the-us-truly-went-to-war-1.376662 - another view of the battle form Col Nadal
- https://battleofiadrangvalley.weebly.com/tunnel-warfare.html - a brief but full coverage of the tunnel warfare
- http://www.wtj.com/articles/xray/ - excellent interactive battle maps
- http://www.generalhieu.com/iadrang_revisited-2.htm - This Homepage is dedicated to General Hieu of the Armed Forces of Viet Nam - an incorruptible, virtuous and competent General; with the hope that it would indirectly boost up the morale of all soldiers of the ARVN who had sacrificed their prime lives to the just cause of their beloved country. run and written by his brother
- https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-battle-of-the-ia-drang-valley-changed-the-course-of-the-vietnam-war - interesting quick read
- Music - Indigo Strokesby Daniel Birch
The seeds of what would eventually become the Seven Years War or French and Indian War, a truly global conflict, were planted the moment Europeans landed in North America. Empire building was hungry work, and the British and French in the mid-18th century had become ravenous. In North America, the two empires frequently butted heads and regularly used Native tribes to stir up trouble or fight proxy wars. Initially, the French explored deeper into the heart of North America than the coast-bound English. So they staked a larger claim to the land, built far more numerous (and amicable) alliances with Native tribes, and most important of all, the French had chiseled together a lucrative, intricate trade network. The British daily had ships filled to the gunwales with people and goods landing up and down the easter seaboard and planned to smother the French through sheer weight of numbers. A fight over which national culture would dominate the New World was in the offing; all that was needed was a spark.
As the war progressed, events seemed to favor the French. Victory after victory fell the French way and the British were on their heels. The Siege of Fort William Henry and the massacre that followed appeared to be one more proverbial nail in the coffin. The short siege of the star fort on Lake George was small in terms of scale, but the aftereffects were massive. The propaganda coup that the massacre represented for the British was considerable. Never again would the Native American tribe's swarm to the French banners. The power of the colonial militias became abundantly apparent as they answered the call in the wake of the siege. Pitt's sea-change leadership in London went on to turn the war around in favor of the British, and soon the Seven Years War would be over. Of course, colonists would not remain content for long, war's are expensive, and the British Empire wanted the Americans to pay for their share.
Main Source - The Crucible of War by Fred Anderson
Music - Will be war soon_ by Kosa T
The battle of Naseby decided the English Civil War in that by the day's end, King Charles I no longer had an effective field army. The two cavalry displays that define the fighting are a masterclass, one in battlefield control, and one in a lack of control. The brilliant command of Oliver Cromwell is on full display here while the Cavaliers show off their brash unruliness very…cavalierly! (I'm sorry it's the only bad joke I promise)
The aftermath of the battle in human costs was relatively small compared to the other actions we have covered, but the King's baggage train's seizure was catastrophic for Charles. Added with the loss of his army, events proved too great for Charles to overcome. His surrender and eventual execution dramatically changed the world political scene, and seeds were planted all over the world for the end of monarchy. Enjoy!
Main source - Naseby 1645 by Martin Marx Evans
Artwork - King Charles I and Prince Rupert before the Battle of Naseby 14th June 1645 during the English Civil War - unknown author
Music - Americana Aspiring - Kevin McLeod
In this episode, we are diving into one of the more controversial and least covered battles of WWII - the fight for Monte Cassino. A sideshow to the main events of Normandy and the Eastern Front, the Italian Campaign was no less violent or brutal, consuming men and material at the same rate as the worst fighting in either World War. The ancient monastery of the Benedictine Order loomed over the entire battlefield like some Tolkein-Esque evil tower. Time and again, the Allied soldiers mentioned the ever-present feeling of being watched by Monte Cassino, and its eventual destruction was likely inevitable. But the bombing of such a culturally relevant sight has become the lasting legacy of the battle - is "military necessity," as Eisenhower phrased it, always the right path? Are there any structures of historical significance that should be outside the realm of warfare? In the case of Monte Cassino, both Allied intelligence at the time of the fighting and inquiries after the war found no German occupation of the monastery. And unfortunately for the Gurkha, Indian, New Zealand, and eventually the Poles that had to try and take the rubble that was Monte Cassino, the bombing had made the Axis position ten-fold more challenging to assault. By battles end, the Axis forces along the Gustav Line had been dislodged and sent reeling north. Rome was taken soon after, and the overwhelming might and logistical superiority of the democracies were brought to bear on the Wehrmacht for the first time in Europe proper.
So this time on Cauldron, let's go back to the frigid rain and icy peaks of the Southern Apennine Mountains. The late winter in the Liri Valley, waterlogged and deadly, bristling with the guns and traps of a dug in and ready Wehrmacht. To 1944, a time when the Grand Alliance was shaky at best, Stalin demanding the Western powers spill blood so his armies could catch their breath. To a time when the Americans were still trying to figure out how best to use their incredible strength and regularly failing. To a time when the British relied on their colonial forces for much of the heavy-lifting, and those colonial fighters never failed. To a place where 100's of years of art, culture, and religious thought resided in one of the world's most elegant and beautiful monasteries. Perched over the land like humanity had placed all his finest things on a grand pedestal in the hopes it would remain unharmed forever; the monastery was doomed from the battles beginning. Let's go back to what historian Matthew Parker has called "The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II." Let's go back to January to May 1944, and the battle of Monte Cassino.
Checkout the interview I did with author/historian Matthew Parker here - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-matthew-parker-author-monte-cassino-hardest/id1345505888?i=1000480879271
Also for some fantastic photos and maps go to here - https://www.matthewparker.co.uk/About_the_author.php
To buy a copy of Parker's excellent book Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II go here - https://www.matthewparker.co.uk/buyonlineoptions.php
Main source - Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II by Matthew Parker
Artwork - terrybogard392 @ Fiverr
Music - The Future Ancient Now - Nathan Moore
This past Sunday, Matthew Parker, author of Monte Cassino - The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II, and I talked about his excellent history of one of WWII's least talked about battles. I had told him the whole thing would run about 45 minutes, and he was patient and gracious enough to give me over an hour of his time. Our chat ranged from his early days as a ghostwriter to the most exciting moments of Monte Cassino and beyond. Matthew has a natural, conversational way of delivering facts and history that comes through in his writing just as much as it does in this interview.
The book is fantastic. I'm not just saying it to please the author (although he's a great guy, and I'm not above such things!). I came to Monte Cassino with little knowledge of the battle other than the monastery was destroyed, and it was something of a fiasco on the part of the Allies. The stories Matthew tells - of Italian peasants having little but still giving food and sustenance to weary soldiers on both sides, of Gurkhas from half a world away fighting in the icy Italian mountains, of brave but exhausted German infantrymen writing letters to fathers on the Eastern Front, of men (with women in support roles) fighting on the very precipice of human endurance. From start to finish, this book is jammed with fascinating details, first-person accounts, and the kinds of stories of battle that can only be true. If you are looking for an introduction to the "Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II," look no further.
Click the link to buy the book
http://www.matthewparker.co.uk/buyonlineoptions.php
Click the link to visit the website
http://www.matthewparker.co.uk
Let's go back to the time of the Mongols, Lord Novgorod The Great, and the Teutonic Knights. To the frozen landscape and icy lakes fo a medieval spring. To a time when the Pope in Rome wanted nothing more than to force the known world to follow the Latin Creed. To a time when Russia was nothing more than a dream, far in the distant future. In this episode of Cauldron, let's go back to the Battle On The Ice April 5th, 1242.
This has been one of the more exciting battles I have covered in Cauldron to date. The high drama of Teutonic Knights crashing into the brave Russian peasantry suddenly crashing, man and horse alike, into the icy waters of Lake Peipus, is so cinematic it belongs on the bog screen (likely the only place it has ever existed.) The real battle was so unimportant at the time that one contemporary chronicler noted of the year 1242, "Nothing happened." The real fight was a brutal, deadly little melee on the side of the lake that ended abruptly when the Crusaders broke under heavy flanking horse-archery. There was a chase on the ice, and some horses and men may have broken through the ice, but Esientsien's vision is not likely to have been the result.
Producer's Note: This episode was recorded without a script in an attempt to speed up the production process. Working just from notes and ideas was a new and stressful experience, but scriptwriting takes days, this episode took days from record compiling to release. Not sure how I like it yet, any constructive feedback is appreciated - cburke111@gmail.com or DM in on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook. Thank you for listening and for your help!
Maine Source - Lake Peipus 1242: Battle of the Ice (Osprey Military Campaign Series, #46) by David Nicolle
Artwork by terrybogard392 on Fiverr
Music - from Youtube's Free Library
Check the show out on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook just search Cauldron
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This episode is in honor of ANZAC Day and serves as a salute to Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations". This week I'm sharing an extraordinary story requested by Patreon Producer and friend Tim from Australia. This was the first of the Patron Producer episodes, and it covers the life and heroics of Cameron Stewart Baird, VC, MG (7 June 1981 – 22 June 2013).
An excerpt from his VC citation reads as follows "For the most conspicuous acts of valour, extreme devotion to duty and ultimate self-sacrifice at Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, as a Commando Team Commander in Special Operations Task Group on Operation SLIPPER.
On 22 June 2013, a commando platoon of the Special Operations Task Group, with partners from the Afghan National Security Forces, conducted a helicopter assault into Ghawchak village, Uruzgan province, in order to attack an insurgent network deep within enemy-held territory. Shortly after insertion, Corporal Baird’s team was engaged by small arms fire from several enemy positions. Corporal Baird quickly seized the initiative, leading his team to neutralise the positions, killing six enemy combatants and enabling the assault to continue.
Soon afterwards, an adjacent Special Operations Task Group team came under heavy enemy fire, resulting in its commander being seriously wounded. Without hesitation, Corporal Baird led his team to provide support. En route, he and his team were engaged by rifle and machine gun fire from prepared enemy positions. With complete disregard for his own safety, Corporal Baird charged towards the enemy positions, supported by his team. On nearing the positions, he and his team were engaged by additional enemy on their flank. Instinctively, Corporal Baird neutralised the new threat with grenades and rifle fire, enabling his team to close with the prepared position. With the prepared position now isolated, Corporal Baird maneuvered and was engaged by enemy machine gun fire, the bullets striking the ground around him…"
"A place where empires go to die." Mike Malloy said this about Afghanistan, and there are plenty of examples to make his point. The British Empire, at its height in the late 19th century, suffered a genuinely smashing debacle of a defeat at the Khyber Pass, and could never really come to grips with the country. The Russians in the late 20th century made fools of themselves. They tried to overawe and outgun the natives only to be repeatedly humiliated and sent packing. Learning nothing from the failure of these enormous superpowers, the United States in the early 21st century found itself in the same jagged mountains and dusty countryside. Going on 20 years of fighting, thousands of U.S. personnel have died, countless injured or forever altered, and trillions in treasure has been spent. The cost to the native peoples can never be fully tabulated. All this has created what Gen. Petraeus termed a "Generational struggle." And it's not our first go around this particular dance floor. Not even close.
I can't think of a place more different in appearance from Afghanistan than Vietnam. But the thickly jungled South East Asian country has just as much claim to be the graveyard of empires as anywhere else. The Mongols, perhaps the greatest conquerors of all time, had a rough go in Vietnam. Various Chinese dynasties have made plays at controlling their southern neighbor, with varying degrees of success. Still, ultimately they could never conquer the country. Then the French tried to stake a claim, but at Dien Bein Phu, it became abundantly clear that continued colonial rule wasn't going to happen. As late as the 1980s, the Red Chinese government made a play, sending tanks and armor over their shared border. Again the Vietnamese sent them packing. And of course, there was the whole 20-year quagmire known in the West as the Vietnam War. A futile fight to pen in the spread of communism, the Vietnam War saw the United States go from humiliation to humiliation, even though it was one of two Super Powers at the time, and Vietnam was a far weaker opponent on paper. The key phrase there is on paper. By the wars end over 50k us soldiers had died, maybe as many as a million Vietnamese dead, and those numbers are up for debate and still changing. The war also broke the country's trust in its generals and military leaders. Ike, with all his integrity, led the people to believe generals would not lie or plot or cheat. Then Vietnam came and the false hope and out and out lies of progress, footholds, victory close by, an end in sight, flooded from the top brass to the rightfully skeptical press. Even more damning was, for the first time, the public got to peek into the mad, mad world of fighting an angry, insurgent riddled native population on their nightly news. It's out of these dark, steamy, damp Vietnamese jungles comes the insane line, "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it,'.
The chaos inherent in that thinking, though, is by no means unique to Vietnam or the latter half of the 20th century. There is another place where empires have gone to die and where military minds were at a loss for how to win. In this place, a decade's long struggle would kill and maim thousands, produce 88 medals of honor worthy tales, and see five future army chiefs of staff. Many of the famous names from WWI and WWII saw some time in this forgotten war, even though a quick google search today produces only a handful of books to be had on the conflict. Compare that to 10k and more for both the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan. This hellish place generated the same kind of deadly madness as the others as well. One U.S. official prophesied the paradoxical reasoning of the Vietnam era quote about destroying the village, saying of his punitive and brutal pacification methods "While these methods may appear harsh, it is the kindest thing to do."
This time on Cauldron, let's go back to the island of Jolo in the Southern Philipines. Let's go back to the humid, sticky air of March 1906. To a mountain that sat among the clouds. A volcanic rock with cliffs so sheer a man had to crawl to climb. Let's go back to the crater where hundreds of native Moros, men, women, and children awaited their deaths. To the crater crest where Krag carrying modern U.S. infantrymen prepared to punish the desperate sword-wielding natives with terminal violence. Let's go back to March 5-8 1906 and the battle of Bud Dajo.
Main Source
- Honor For The Flag - The Battle of Bud Dojo 1906 and the Moro Massacre - Robert A Fulton
- America's First "Endless War" Was Fought in the Philippines - Danny Sjursen
Music
Overcome by Ugonna Onyekwe
Art
terrybogard392@fiverr
Just a check in to let you guys know where things are at on the show. Things have been very hectic and crazy of late, for everyone I'm sure. I wanted to let you guys know that yes, everything is delayed, and content is coming out slower, but it's still coming! I'll have Bud Dajo out soon, some awesome battles are coming up next, and our Livestream on Instagram is a lot of fun. Every Wednesday at 8 pm EST listeners and other podcasters get together and catch up, shoot the breeze, and debate. Coming up, we have a listener presentation on TR, Nicole from The War Project is giving us some WWI key figure profiles, and our Field Commander bracket is in the first round. Also, check out the Youtube channel, I'm starting to get more video content up and soon I'll be doing a Livestream viewing of a movie picked by the audience. Please rate, review, subscribe! And not just to my show but to some excellent other shows out there - Battles of the First World War Pod, Peter HArt's Military History Pod, and Trapped.
William "Red" Martin never thought he'd climb through a cloud. If he had ever given the idea a second worth of thought, he probably would have said such a thing wasn't possible. But, by God, he'd done it! Now he could tell everyone until the day he died, "I climbed through a cloud on a volcano in the boondocks of the Philippines." Whether they believed it or not was up to them, "Red" would know the truth of it. He'd ended up on the side of volcanic rock, amidst the very clouds because he was a damn fine climber. Red grew up in the Appalachian range of West Virginie. He'd spent a boyhood scrambling along cliff edges and tiptoeing his way to the very edge of oblivion, with only a couple of broken bones to show for it. When Captain Lawton had asked for volunteers to climb hard and fast, Red had raised his arm without thinking…
As always, some of the people and events have been altered or added. The goal is to entertain, enjoy!
To learn more about the Battle in the Clouds, the Massacre at Bud Dajo checkout the full episode on Friday 13th!
Music- Orison by Dan Bodan
Art - US Army Center of Military History, DA Poster 21-48
"My God! What is this?!" cried Francis I, the bewildered and soon to be captured King of France. Or at least that's what has come down to us; I'm always suspicious of battlefield quotes. Who heard him, and how did they hear him?? But, if it is what the desperately shocked monarch screamed outside the city of Pavia as his army died around him, it would make sense. Francis's feudal outlook on the world was rooted in a system 500 or more years old. For most of that time, the idea that it would or could change would have been ludicrous, even blasphemy….
This week, let's go back to Northern Italy, and a power struggle between King and Emperor. Let's go back to the enclosed hunting ground of Visconti Park, with its Castle-like lodge, wide-open fields, boggy canals, and wooded thickets. Let's go back to a time when Swiss mercenaries were just as likely to win you a battle as they were to walk away, all depending on the pay—when the german Landsknechtes fought like lions at carnival, ferocious but decked out in outrageously colorful garb. Where a military revolution was well underway, one that combined modern weapons with old ways, let's go back to a place where a King was captured, and the common man became a threat to everything and everyone. Let's go back to February 24th, 1525, and the battle of Pavia.
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Sources - European War 1453-1815 Edited by Jeremy Black, Thomas F. Arnold's The Renaissance At War, Military History Monthly, Fighting Techniques of Medieval World by Bennett, DeVries, Bradbury, Dickie, and Jestice
Music:
Journey in the New World by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/258/journey-in-the-new-world
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org
Art - Melhak @ Fiverr
In this week's short fictional episode, we join Francis Valois as he tries to destroy the Habsburg army facing him. The Spanish arquebusiers, Swiss and German Landsknecht, and French gendarmes all find themselves fighting for their lives outside the besieged city of Pavia. The French King wanted Milan and control of the Italian Pennisula, his Habsburg rival, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, wanted control of all Europe. Pavia was the decisive battle in a long series of wars known as the Italian Wars, and it was this battle that changed Francis I's life forever. To learn more about the fight, check out this week's main episode dropping Friday 28th.
*As always, with these fictional episodes, some characters and events are fictitious or have been altered slightly. The purpose of this show is to entertain while also giving listeners a peek into a moment in time. Enjoy!
Source - Thomas F. Arnold's The Renaissance At War
Cover Art - Portrait of Francis I, King of France (ca. 1532-1533) by Joos van der Beke
Journey in the New World by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/258/journey-in-the-new-world
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org
Heavy Interlude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100515
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
A civil war cracked off in the New World that would last four years and rip the Republic asunder. For more than 1400 days, brother fought brother, father killed son, friend cut down friend. Not for a minute did the suffering stop, whether for the soldiers or the noncombatants. Disease, privation, hunger, petty violence, rape, and pillage roamed the land from the swamps of S.C. to the P.A. forests. From the Mississippi to the Mountains of Appalachia, 10k and more battles were fought of every size, from glorified bar brawls to clashes of cataclysmic scale. By its end, over a million lives had been snuffed out and millions more ruined. The butcher's bill on both sides included lowly privates and brilliant generals, statesmen and lawmakers, farmers, women, shopkeepers, teachers, children, slaves, a president, and everyone in between.
"In every battle, there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins." - Grant's statement is not just a bit of battlefield wisdom. He could just as readily have been describing North and South in the lead up to the American Civil War. Or throughout the War itself. Or any of the thousands of battles that took place during the War. Lincoln, self admittedly no military man, understood the dogged nature needed to win the drag em out drop em down type contest that this War was going to become. "Our success or failure at Donelson is vastly important and I beg you to put your soul in the effort" he wrote to his Western commander. Finding the type of man that would attack even after he thought he'd already lost proved difficult, but not impossible. It was on the rivers of the Western theater that the War would shift for good. Where the man and the mind Lincoln and the Union most needed would mature into a singular force. Let's go back to February 1862, to the winding calm of the Cumberland River. New bizarrely beetle-like and inky black but deadly ironclad beasts are chugging upstream to pound two forts into submission. One will fall quickly, and with little fight, the other will take days and see savage combat. Where a determined Brig General is preparing to show his family, his country, and himself that he's no failure, he can, in fact, succeed, maybe even excel. Where a group of cold but confident confederate soldiers is readying to defend their new country no matter the cost. Let's go back to the battle of Fort Donelson.
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Sources - Grant by Ron Chernow and The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville by Shelby Foote and The American Civil War: A Military History by John Keegan
Music:
Battle Hymn of the Republic by The U.S. Army Band
When Johnny Comes Marching Home by Air Force Band of Liberty
Americana - Aspiring by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200092
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Art - Melhak @ Fiverr
Unconditional Surrender - Col. Heath at Fort Donelson
"Sleep poorly, you bastards..." grumbled Col. John Heath as he watched the Union officers trudge back down a snow-covered corpse-strewn palisade. The emissaries had, under a flag of truce, brought a message for whoever was in command of Fort Donelson. It was most likely an agreement to negotiate a surrender of the Fort. Yesterday's fight had started so well that, for a moment, Col. Heath thought they might just make it, they might just win even. But the South seemed to get a lot of tough breaks in the last 24 hours, mused the Colonel as he folded his arms against the chilly early morning air. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. He watched for a moment longer as the soon to be victors grew smaller, threw his cigar stub aside and began to head back. The HQ was in the ugly, long, and squat Dover Hotel right on the riverbank. Col. Heath wasn't sure who was in charge of the garrison anymore, but he knew whoever it was they'd be there.
The gunboats the Yanks had brought down from Fort Henry proved more bark than bite. Col. Heath had heard from the men at that fight that these new technological monsters were impervious to artillery fire. The frightened faces from Fort Henry whispered about how that place had been pounded by shot so continuous that she fell in under two hours. Col Heath surmised there was likely more to it than just a couple of gunboats, but when the very same ironclads steamed into view, he had to admit they struck a fearsome figure. Of course, Fort Donelson was no pushover, and he knew it. More a ring of earthworks and heavy artillery, Donelson used the land to perfection. A warren of trenches, crisscrossed by streams and gully's, the landward side of Donelson was designed to play murder on anyone brave (or dumb) enough to attack. And the riverside of the fort wasn't much easier on the attacker.
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This week’s sources - Grant by Ron Chernow and The Civil War: A Narrative. Vol 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville by Shelby Foote and The American Civil War: A Military History by John Keegan
Music -
Art - Bror Thure de Thulstrup
The world was on fire. Evil had spread across the lands and seas like a virus, infecting everything with death and hatred. The monstrous Empires of Europe and the East seemed unbeatable and destined to victory. To win the Allies would need to try every trick in the book, use every method of war known to them. And at times even invent new methods. The more daring the more dangerous. But in a fight that could mean the end of everything, there can be no reserves, no plans too risky. Better to leave no stone unturned. Better to lose, if lose you must, having exhausted every possible or even impossible chance. The Allies in WWII knew this and in the Pacific theatre they tried every imaginable gambit.
Let’s go back to beautiful Bali and the perilous Lombok Strait. Let’s go back to the hundreds of empty featureless miles of the Java Sea. To the craggy bushland and winding river training grounds of Camp X on the Hawkesbury River. Let’s go back to the crowded shipping lanes and jam-packed wharves of the Jewel of the East, Singapore itself. Let’s go back to a time when everything was on the line, freedom hung in the balance, and a few fearless men had the courage to gamble their lives in the hopes of striking the enemy a blow. Men that recognized the truth in Faulkner’s line "You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore." Let’s go back to September of 1943 and Operation Jaywick.
The General That Wept - Battle of Passchendaele - Jul 31, 1917 – Nov 10, 1917
“Harry Devers leaned up against the bonnet of his muddy, dinged up and dented Vauxhall D-type. The large, boxy staff car had a certain beauty and grace to it, and Harry had been in enough close-run situations while driving her that he'd grown to trust her. Of course, that hadn't always been the case…”
This is the tale of the "General that Wept," a famous story that comes from the First World War. First reported by B.H.Lidell Hart and the corroborated in David Lloyd George's memoirs, the story tells of a decision making officer that was driven to the front lines at the end of Passchendaele. The man was a respected paper pusher and more a soldier of theory than of mud. So far removed from the realities of the war he was directing was this man that upon seeing the front, he uttered the famous question, "We sent men to fight in that?" The story goes that his driver, a veteran of the battle, responded laconically, "It gets worse farther up."
The people involved and even the veracity of the story has been debated since first reported. Regardless of the truth, the tale has stuck in our collective memory of the war. The idea of "lions led by donkeys" was solidified by this apparent evidence and has been a considerable narrative of the Great War ever since. Whether or not it occurred, at this stage, doesn't matter. What matters is that for decades, the idea that the men in charge of making the decisions on the Western Front seemed oblivious to the horrors they ordered.
Harry Devers is a fictional soldier. Through him, I thought it would be interesting to reimagine this famous tale from the muddy front itself. Any errors are mine and unintentional.
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Music -
This weeks sources - Passchendaele by Nick Lloyd, Passchendaele by Steele and Hart, The First World War by John Keegan
To support the show got to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8278347 and search Cauldron Podcast
For images, videos, and sources check us out on social media -
@cauldronpodcast
@cauldronpodcast
Hello again, and thank you for listening to Cauldron. I'm your host, Cullen, and we have another doozy for you today but first some quick housekeeping. I want to thank all of you that have given the show a 5-star rating. Seventy-three people have taken the time to support the show on iTunes, and it means a lot to me. I especially want to thank Archernova, nap_sack, and EMT_Hank for writing the most recent excellent reviews. You guys rock! If you haven't already - rate review subscribe, it helps the show grow, and I love to get your feedback. Go to facebook, twitter, or Instagram for cool images, videos, and the weekly Livestream. We are a couple of episodes into the new Netflix docuseries, the greatest events of WWII in color, so watch and join us for the discussion. Also, starting December 8 only on Instagram, I'll be setting up polls to pick the battles we cover each month in 2020, so check that out if you want to have a say in what we cover next year! Alright, that is enough of that; let's get stuck in!
Years of artillery fire in both directions had cratered the Ypres salient into a lunar landscape. And remember these craters rapidly filled with water from below and rain from above. The rain at Passchendaele went on and off for the entirety of the offensive. August historically a dry month, in 1917, full of rain and damp, moist weather. Everything and everyone was wet all the time; even on rain-free days, the men couldn't dry-out because they were sitting in muddy holes. Robert Sherriff of the East Surrey Reg wrote, "The living conditions in our camp were sordid beyond belief. The cookhouse was flooded, and most of the food was uneatable. There was nothing but sodden biscuits and cold stew. The cooks tried to supply bacon for breakfast, but the men complained that it smelled like dead men...At dawn, on the morning of the attack, the battalion assembled in the mud outside the huts. I lined up my platoon and went through the necessary inspection. Some of the men looked terribly ill: grey, worn faces in the dawn, unshaved and dirty because there was no clean water. I saw the characteristic shrugging of their shoulders that I knew so well. They hadn't had their clothes off for weeks, and their shirts were full of lice."
Music - We_Lucky_Few by Hainbach
This weeks sources - Passchendaele by Nick Lloyd, Passchendaele by Steele and Hart, The First World War by John Keegan
To support the show got to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8278347 and search Cauldron Podcast
For images, videos, and sources check us out on social media -
@cauldronpodcast
@cauldronpodcast
Spotify
iTunes
Hello again, and thank you for listening to Cauldron. I'm your host, Cullen, and we have another doozy for you today but first some quick housekeeping. I want to thank all of you that have given the show a 5-star rating. Seventy-three people have taken the time to support the show on iTunes, and it means a lot to me. I especially want to thank Archernova, nap_sack, and EMT_Hank for writing the most recent excellent reviews. You guys rock! If you haven't already - rate review subscribe, it helps the show grow, and I love to get your feedback. Go to facebook, twitter, or Instagram for cool images, videos, and the weekly Livestream. We are a couple of episodes into the new Netflix docuseries, the greatest events of WWII in color, so watch and join us for the discussion. Also, starting December 8 only on Instagram, I'll be setting up polls to pick the battles we cover each month in 2020, so check that out if you want to have a say in what we cover next year! Alright, that is enough of that; let's get stuck in!
The English Poet Siegfried Sassoon famously wrote: “I died in hell (They called it Passchendaele).” The First World War was an incubator for man-made hellscapes and mechanized death. Each passing season brought some new horrid way for mankind to inflict suffering on itself. Like Dante’s Inferno, each fresh hell had a name; the Marne, Mons, Verdun, the Somme, Tannenberg, Gallipoli, Izonso, the Kaisershlacht. But of these now infamous names, no battle of the Great War was quite like the human experience at Passchendaele. The Third Battle of Ypres played out like a fever dream, full of ghastly visions, insane scenery, and the theater of the macabre. Most of our mental picture of the war - bodies or parts of bodies lying still in rolls of barbed wire, bloated horse bellies half-submerged in the inky water of shell craters, men ordered by fools to be cut down for nothing but a few measly yards- most of this comes from Passchendaele. It’s odd then that this titanic slugfest, the ultimate test of man vs. man vs. nature, has gone somewhat forgotten. The memory of Passchendaele has been replaced in France with the blood and rubble of Verdun, in Great Britain with the sadly romantic Somme, in the U.S. by the bravery of Belleau Wood, in Germany by those murderous final offensives. For those that lived in the mud, though, the memory of that place was seared into the minds forever. It’s for those men, on both sides, now likely all past, that we remember that there was once a place on earth that men called hell. And there they went to die.
This is episode one of two on Passchendaele.
Music - We_Lucky_Few by Hainbach
This weeks sources - Passchendaele by Nick Lloyd, Passchendaele by Steele and Hart, The First World War by John Keegan
To support the show got to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=8278347 and search Cauldron Podcast
For images, videos, and sources check us out on social media -
@cauldronpodcast
@cauldronpodcast
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Derfel the Clever - Battle of Stamford Bridge 1066
Young Derfel is not much of a fighter but he is a problem solver. This comes in handy as Derfel finds himself in the front rows of men being pushed towards certain death. In front of Derfel stands a great Viking warrior and this Norseman is killing all who attempt to cross the bridge at Stamford. King Harold Godwinson needs to move quickly though and crossing the bridge to destroy the Norwegian invaders is essential to the king’s defense of the realm. Can Derrfel find the warrior’s spirit within himself? How can the last and fiercest of the Norsemen be beaten? Will Young Derfel survive the encounter? Find out in this week’s episode!
This is the second of 6 special episodes. Each episode represents the exclusive content available to Patreon supporters. These particular episodes are fictional accounts of the battles covered in the main podcast. I wrote each one, and I’m no Bernard Cornwell, but they are a blast to write and perform! Patreon supporters also get book review episodes, interviews, and access to other bonus content. Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy it!
Music -
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himself. A mysterious green glow on the wounded at the battle of Shiloh. A listener has a tale that involves the Yom Kippur War and an uncanny coincidence. Alright, let's get stuck in!
This week’s main source - https://www.rbth.com/history/328908-russian-attack-of-dead, https://allthatsinteresting.com/angels-glow,
Cover Art - Vasily Nesterenko
Music - 12 Emergency Center
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At the outset of the battle, several mailed horsemen rode up to the Viking lines. Tostig Godwinson moved up to hear what the Anglo Saxon riders had tot say. The leader of the men was his brother, King Harold, and he offered Tostig peace and his life. When Tostig asked what the King offered to his ally, Harald Hardcounsel, the King, responded, "Six feet of English ground, and then some more as he is taller than most men." With this little quip, the second most important battle in English history began. At Stamford Bridge, the fate of the Viking World hinged, and the future of the rest of the world was changed. Enjoy and send me your "What If?" theories!
This week’s main source - 1066 by Peter Marren and Osprey’s Combat Series Viking Warrior Vs. Anglo Saxon Warrior by Garreth Williams
Music - Vol Halla from YouTube
Cover Art -Melhak
Questions or Corrections - https://www.cauldronpodcast.com/sendustheories
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https://open.spotify.com/show/228wnzQC4Pq3hDbJIjtyOk?si=9so3Dn1fSBC5ulxUE3uuiA
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cauldron/id1345505888
Raolet of Foix - The Battle Of Nicopolis- 25 September 1396
This episode is a little different. I wrote a fictional account of the battle for the Patreon supporters and instead of writing 50k words this week I am going to share this with everyone. This is the first try but I plan on continuing to write fictional pieces for the Patrons with some regularity. I hope you enjoy it and send me any notes you all. Might have! Alright that’s enough of the business, let’s get stuck in with Raolet of Foix!
This week’s main source - Nicopolis - The Last Crusade by David Nicolle
Music - Bus_Da_Blockbuster from YouTube
Cover Art -Melhak
Questions or Corrections - https://www.cauldronpodcast.com/sendustheories
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Hello again and thanks for listening I'm your host, Cullen. Today we are wrapping up our coverage of the battle of Guadalcanal. From the second battle of Bloody Ridge to the Japanese evacuation of Starvation Island we cover it all.
Alright, let's get stuck in!
Let's go back 77 years ago. To the steamy rank jungles of the South Pacific. To a place where the kuni grass grows as tall as a man and cuts like a katana. To an island whose name, few knew but soon all would remember. Where Marines became legends and that the Japanese knew only as Starvation Island. Let’s go back to Guadalcanal.
This week’s main source - the Pacific War by William B. Hopkins
Music -
All This - Scoring Action by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300001
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Sid Philips video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0LokYgWQN4
Image - USS Hornet (CV 8) Painting by Gordon Grant, 1942, U.S. Navy Photo
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Hello again and thanks for listening I'm your host, Cullen. Today we are covering another massive story so strap in for the long haul, but first some housekeeping. Go to Instagram and Facebook for maps and images and to follow along. Head to iTunes when you get the chance and rate review subscribe! This really does help get the show get heard by more people. As always thanks to melhaks on fivver for the episode artwork! Two quick notes this episode has some Japanese names, I'm going to do my best, but I may butcher them, and for that I'm sorry! Lastly, there are a few quotes from historical figures I use in the episode that have a racist term. I wrestled with whether or not I should include them and ultimately I think it's necessary to give an idea of the people that said them and the emotions of the time. Just a heads up, I don't want anyone to be bowled over!
Alright, let's get stuck in!
Let's go back 77 years ago. To the steamy rank jungles of the South Pacific. To a place where the kuni grass grows as tall as a man and cuts like a katana. To an island whose name, few knew but soon all would remember. Where Marines became legends and the Japanese knew only as Starvation Island. Let’s go back to Guadalcanal.
This week’s main source - the Pacific War by William B. Hopkins
Music -
All This - Scoring Action by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1300001
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
At Launch by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100539
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Elegy by Wayne Jones
Image by Melhaks@fiver.com
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https://open.spotify.com/episode/4zma1h3SbkReAOBrvE442e?si=fY9cEzpjS1GWZoLlujPs6g
iTunes
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/heroics-at-henderson-field-guadalcanal-campaign-7-august/id1345505888?i=1000448227977
Hello again and thanks for listening to Cauldron I'm your host Cullen. Today we have another whopper of a story for you but first some housekeeping. As always check us out on the social media stuff just search Cauldron on Facebook or Instagram. Please rate and review on iTunes, shout out to Persons117 for the latest review! Also, check out Patreon and become a producer for the show. A buck a month helps get research materials, production equipment, and show art. Welcome aboard to our latest producer Methuselah, thanks for your support!
All right enough of the business lets get stuck in at Poltava!
Let's go back 310 years to the plains of southern Ukraine, fresh of a winter so cold birds fell frozen out of the air. Charles XII of Sweden put his kingdom on the line outside a city called Poltava.
After the collapse of the Teutonic knights, the Baltic region and Eastern Europe was in disarray. A power vacuum was left by the old order of crusading knights, but for some time no power emerged preeminent. Out of the madness and horrible violence of the 30 Years War emerged a Lion. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was one of the great commanders in history and clawed out an empire. Seemingly overnight France, England, Spain, and the Netherlands had to acknowledge a new member to their elite club. After Gustavus glorious death on the field, Sweden was set up well for the future. Large swaths of Denmark and Germany, as well as most of the Baltic region and east end of the Gulf of Finland, were under Swedish control. When Charles the 11th died the army he left behind was lithe, sinewy, and ready to be put through its paces. In the hands of a genius tactician, this army would be most formidable…
This week’s main source - Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie
Music - From Russia With Love by Huma-Huma
Image by Melhaks@fiver.com
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Alright, this is the quick and dirty episode for July! Full of information on Japan, China, and the very first shots of the Second World War. From the mid-1800s to the 1930s, Japan was moving faster and faster towards superpower in the East status. By the early '30s, Japan had finally arrived on the big stage. China, on the other hand, was unraveling and had in the 20s only recently started to put itself back together. A series of sometimes bloody sometimes innocuous sometimes staged "Incidents" happened from 1931 straight through to 1937. Then the most incident like incident of them all happened near a beautiful old bridge. A missing private, a confusing firefight, and an insulting truce led to the fall of Northern China and the Second Sino Japanese War.
All right enough of that lets take a look back to 1937 some 82 years ago, to the dry hot summer of northern china. In the chaos of nighttime training one man has to pee, by morning the world has changed, the course for war is set, and everything from Hiroshima to Pearl Harbor to the Rape of Nanking can be traced to one seemingly small incident at the Marco Polo Bridge.
This week’s main source - Combat: China 1937-1938 Chinese Soldier versus Japanese Soldier by Benjamin Lai
Music - Confliction & Catharsis by Asher Fulero
Thunderstorm by Hanu Dixit
Image by Melhaks@fiver.com
Questions or Corrections - https://www.cauldronpodcast.com/sendustheories
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https://open.spotify.com/episode/4tjUbXTt6U041h37Jjn6i3?si=4x4-FVOARwy2FMUxsdMXBQ
iTunes
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-mans-pee-is-another-mans-war-marco-polo-bridge/id1345505888?i=1000444543034
Here it is, the most significant episode yet, which is fitting considering the topic! We have Dreadnoughts, the Royal Navy, German technical ability, and pretty much anything you'd want to cover on the battle of Jutland. This titanic fistfight between to two most dominant navies of the first half f the 20th century is full of wild little facts and fascinating tales. We also dive a little bit into the reasons the battle happened at all and why it might not have needed to taken place at all. If you like your WWI with a side of the sea and a twist of broadsides, give this a listen!
Even before the Arch Duke was cut down in Sarajevo, the Royal Navy was planning for war. Churchill had sent the Grand Fleet, the colossal home water force, to its Scottish berths at Rosyth and Scapa Flow. The Royal Navy had the right ships in the right place to hold the German Navy in place. The concern now was did it have the will and the men to defeat them.
The century since Nelson commanded the "hearts of oak" had improved the equipment of the Navy and its technical abilities but not it's fighting experience. The great European peace had offered little opportunity for large scale fighting, especially at sea. What little experience was to be gained was mostly done on rivers or in colonial combat. In fact, Admiral Beatty, a critical British commander, cut his teeth in Sudan against the Mahdi. Churchill feared that when the war broke out, "we had more captains of ships than captains of war." Sailing, navigation, exploration, seamanship were the balliwhack of the Royal Navy. Listen for more…
Devastation and Revenge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100694
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
This week’s main source - The Price of Admiralty by John Keegan
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https://play.google.com/music/m/Daq75ucopay5xe2hnyya56d4gka?t=The_Meat_Grinder_-The_Battle_of_Hamburger_Hill_10-20_May_1969-Cauldron-_A_History_Of_The_World_Bat
The fighting was intense on Dong Ap Bia (the mountain of the crouching beast), but according to U.S. command, the hill was crucial to the overall success of Operation Apache Snow. Apache Snow’s goal was to clear the A Shau Valley of the enemy. The “crouching beast” moniker was appropriate as the Communist forces were well dug in and ready for a fight. For ten days the two sides smashed and sliced through each other, the U.S. forces finally taking the hill in the 20th. A few short days later, the position that was paid for in blood was abandoned by the U.S. generals backing up the idea that the war's strategy was senseless and pointless. In fact, the battle became so violent that one young sergeant was quoted about the fight, “Have you ever been inside a hamburger machine? We just got cut to pieces by extremely accurate machine-gun fire.” The battle was known from then on as Hamburger Hill, and due to the extensive media coverage, it became a symbol for the anti-war community.
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The song we used - Sao Meo by Doug Maxwell
This weeks main source - Why the Battle for Hamburger Hill Was So Controversial by Barbara Maranzani
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https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DwcIFRfNUYusIm33ecZVN?si=Wxc6KiYMSzGaFp1iWDBbjg
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-meat-grinder-the-battle-of-hamburger-hill-10-20-may-1969/id1345505888?i=1000440535640
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https://play.google.com/music/m/Daq75ucopay5xe2hnyya56d4gka?t=The_Meat_Grinder_-The_Battle_of_Hamburger_Hill_10-20_May_1969-Cauldron-_A_History_Of_The_World_Bat
The 100 Years War was a seesaw clash between the French and English thrones. The first third of the war saw great victories won by the English, at Sluys and Crecy the English forces smashed their continental enemies. After a one-sided peace treaty was declared, the Channel separated foes settled into an uneasy Cold War. With the advent of the Black Death, both sides suffered massive losses to their populations and a shift in the makeup of society. Farmers and land workers tried to find safety and work in the cities of Europe, changing the power structure of the feudal system dynamically and ushering in a new world. The Black Death also brought about an even more ardent Christianity, as people sought for reasons and hope in a world seemingly devoid of both. With the death of Henry V, the hero of Agincourt, the political waters became very murky. For the next few years, both the French and the English claimed the throne of France, but only one side had the power to back their claim. The weak and vacillating Charles VII was forced to be a bystander in his own land as he watched Henry VI’s regent, the Duke of Bedford, assert control over most of France. With the help of the Duchy of Burgundy, the destabilizing Black Plague, and a lack of inspired leadership, the English could claim most of France north of the Loire river and seemed to be on their way to a win in the 100 Years War. The English certainly could not have planned for a young girl to hear the voices of former queens and current Saints Margaret and Catherine.
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The songs we used
Yonder Hill and Dale by Aaron Kenney
Heavy Interlude by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100515
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
This weeks main source - Orleans 1429 France turns the tide by David Nicolle
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Thapsus was a rare battle in that it showed Caesar not as the consummate warlord but as a general that at times had no control over his own army. The action was joined after one of his wings charged the enemy of their own volition and unable to call his men back, Caesar was forced to order an all-out attack. Again at the end of the battle, we see another instance of Caesar having no power over his men when the enemy army collapsed a large number attempted to surrender. In many cases, the Caesarian soldiers ignored the attempted surrender and proceeded to slaughter the defenseless victims. In one case the blood rush was such that a group of Caesar’s officers was mistaken for the enemy and butchered before the confusion could be put to rights. Between Thapsus and Munda, the final battles of the Civil War were not Caesar the General’s most exceptional performances.
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The song we used - Crusade - Video Classica by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100884
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
This weeks main source - Masters of Command by Barry Strauss
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https://open.spotify.com/show/228wnzQC4Pq3hDbJIjtyOk?si=GLNc6VIjSmOVbEg1G7sozQ
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cauldron-a-history-of-the-world-battle-by-battle/id1345505888
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https://play.google.com/music/m/I2ajdfquypzr4sxjfmcd2p5bdau?t=Cauldron_-_A_History_Of_The_World_Battle_By_Battle
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The song we used - Eastern Thought by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100682
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
This weeks main source - The Pacific War by William B. Hopkins
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cauldron-a-history-of-the-world-battle-by-battle/id1345505888
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https://play.google.com/music/m/I2ajdfquypzr4sxjfmcd2p5bdau?t=Cauldron_-_A_History_Of_The_World_Battle_By_Battle
By the 1530's the conquest of the so-called new world and the age of discovery were both well underway. The wave upon wave of Spanish and Portuguese adventurers that had been crossing the Atlantic in search of wealth and fame had for decades brought the Christian god and death to the people of Central and South America. From the islands of the Caribbean to the cenotes of the Yucatan, Spanish steel and smallpox had destroyed the unprotected populations of entire cities. The complete lack of immunity to European disease and the weakness of or absence of armament made the native civilizations particularly vulnerable.
The Spanish attempt at controlling all of Central and South America involved relatively small armies with massive objectives. The Pizarro Brothers set out with a few hundred men and planned to topple the as of yet unknown Inca Empire. Through ruthless diplomacy and deadly European tools and methods of warfare, the Spanish found themselves fighting and often winning against overwhelming numerical superiority. After taking the Inca king, Pizarro aimed for the Inca capital if Cusco believed to be dripping in riches. The wealth of the Inca was his for the taking. First Pizarro and his men would need to capture an astonishingly mighty fortress, and then they would need to survive!
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The song we used is Dark Forest by Odonis Odonis
This weeks video sources - The Living Stones of Sacsayhuaman by Ombio Productions
This weeks web sources -https://www.academia.edu
Unlocking the Doors to the Worlds of the Guaman Poma and His Nueva Coronica by Rolena Adorao and Ivan Boserup
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This episode has been a real eyeopener for me. I knew going in that it would be a tough one to research and that very few facts are agreed upon. I did not know how heated social media can get lol. This was my first run-in with the kind of angry, acidic (often silly and factless) vitriol the internet is home to. Moving forward I will continue to delve into these controversial moments in history but I will do my best to keep the conversation focused. The Red Army was battering the Wehrmacht in the Eats, daily gaining ground. It looked like there was a chance the Russians would be in Berlin by April. To speed up the Axis collapse RAF Bomber Command and the USAAF planned on destroying Germany's industry. Due to this, they used massive strikes of heavy bombers delivering thousands of tons of bombs. Targeting the war industries, transportation, and communications first, large cities were also hit. The British, having suffered through the Blitz, knew first hand the psychological effect bombing had on large cities. This chaos and confusion was a side effect that only helped quicken the German defeat. By the early months of 1945, the Allies had unloaded on most German cities and began seeking out new targets. The city of Dresden had made it through the war mostly unmolested and with over 100 factories and a large rail hub,
On the night of February 13th over 250, British Lancaster bombers hung over Dresden long enough to drop 800 tons of explosives. The bombs dropped were a mix of high explosive and incendiary. This one-two punch was perfect for creating a massive conflagration and Dresden's wooden buildings only feed the fire. Only hours later, while the city's people tried to recover, the second wave of British bombers struck Dresden. Building on the destruction of the first wave, the second wave heightened the chaos. A massive vortex sucked the superheated air right out of the sky, suffocating or air-frying its victims. The Altstadt or Old Town was obliterated and most of the city burned.
The next day, February 15th, saw a massive daytime bombing raid by the USAAF. B-17 Flying Fortresses flew in force, targetting specific military installations around Dresden. A huge fighter escort would deal with the tiny German fighter wing. By the day's end, Dresden had been through another ordeal of death and destruction. When the fires stopped and the smoke cleared the city of Dresden was unrecognizable. 1,600 acres of the city’s center had been demolished. 75,000 homes were destroyed and almost all of the city’s famous medieval wooden structures reduced to ash. The final death toll is heavily debated even today, as I’m sure the comments to follow will show!
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The song we used is Falling Rain by Myuu
This weeks book sources - Ian Kershaw’s The End: Hitler's Germany 1944–45
This weeks web sources - https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2015/02/remembering-dresden-70-years-after-the-firebombing/385445/
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https://open.spotify.com/show/228wnzQC4Pq3hDbJIjtyOk?si=GLNc6VIjSmOVbEg1G7sozQ
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https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cauldron-a-history-of-the-world-battle-by-battle/id1345505888?mt=2
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https://play.google.com/music/m/I2ajdfquypzr4sxjfmcd2p5bdau?t=Cauldron_-_A_History_Of_The_World_Battle_By_Battle
The War of The Spanish Succession for the most part fought in Europe was still a huge, global affair just shy of what we would call a true “World War”. In Colonial America the war took the form of a number of French and Indian Wars mostly being fought in the 13 British Colonies. Queen Anne’s War was one of these and it was fought between the French and British with Native American tribes allied to both sides. By the mid 17th century British colonists in Massachusetts began settling the Connecticut River valley. This push westward put them into direct contact with the Pocumtoc nation, a native Algonquin-speaking tribe. By the 1660’s the Pocumtoc were under heavy pressure from the nearby Mohawk nation and had been hit extremely hard by European infectious diseases that they had no natural protection or immunity from. At the same time settlers from the town of Dedham began acquiring land from a number of Pocumtoc people, setting up a full village in 1670. The village was on the edge of the Massachusetts colony which made it’s isolation almost complete. Help if and when it was need would be a long while coming. The town was eventually called Deerfield. Back in Europe, Queen Anne's War, took the predictable form of most European conflict's. Set piece battles with large armies like at Blenheim were the norm. That was not the case on the frontiers of New England. Hit and run tactics, raids, and units of men in the tens not thousands were common. In the summer of 1703 French and Wabanaki forces started the Northeast Coast Campaign. Raiding villages and settlements throughout Southern Maine, the French/Wabanaki offensive was a success. Fear soon raced through each community on the frontier, forcing them to ready themselves for attack. In Deerfield, the villagers set about improving the low palisade. The hope was that, the defenses, would be enough. Leading the French/Native forces was Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville, a veteran raider. Moving out from his base in Canada, Rouville went south with 250 men. Along the march, he added another 40 Pennacook warriors. Aware of the enemy movements, the Colonial government sent Deerfield 20 militiamen. The town went on high alert, which meant everyone slept within its walls. On the 28th of February 1704, de Rouville set up camp a short distance from the village. The villagers went about their day, as Native American scouts stalked the town. The scouts noticed a weakness in the town wall, a snow drift. the late February snow had piled tight and high against the outer wall. It would allow the raiders to scale the towns only real defense, with ease. Right before sunrise a small group of attackers climbed over the wall and moved to open the North Gate. At that moment Deerfield held 291 sleeping, unaware souls.
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The song we used is Output by Kosta T
This weeks book sources - Jeremy Black - Warfare in the 18th Century
This weeks web sources - http://1704.deerfield.history.museum
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ch Cauldron Podcast
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Born in 1891, General Erwin Rommel, known as the Desert Fox, became one of Nazi Germany's most successful and famous field marshals. Highly decorated in World War One for bravery on the Italian Front, Rommel, even won the Pour le Merite. In the inter-war years, Rommel became a respected military theorist. With the invasion of France Rommel showed his brilliance, love of speed, and need for action early on. Once in Africa Rommel dazzled and befuddled the Allied armies he faced even when outgunned and undermanned. Rommel displayed a sense of chivalry and honor for his enemies that earned the Africa campaign the name "war without hate". After the collapse of the North Africa Front Rommel was recalled and put in command of Fortress Europe. By 1944 Rommel was in charge of fortifying and defending the entire Atlantic Coastline. A Nazi, Rommel, was never an ardent antisemite and there is still a heated debate on how much Rommel knew of the death camps. When the 20th July Plot failed to kill Hitler Rommel became a suspect. Given a choice between a trail and the murder of his family or suicide and their safety, he chose the later. Postwar Rommel became one of the few former Nazi symbols that was fairly clean. Rommel's legacy helped rehabilitate West Germany's image in the eyes of NATO and the West.
The song we used is Awaiting an Arrival by Blue Dot Sessions
This weeks book sources - Young’s “The Victors”, The Great Commanders Series
This weeks web sources - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel#Between_the_wars
To support the show got to patron.com and search Cauldron Podcast
For images, videos, and sources check us out on
@cauldronpodcast
@cauldronpodcast
Website
Cauldronpodcast.com
YouTube
Coming soon!
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/228wnzQC4Pq3hDbJIjtyOk?si=GLNc6VIjSmOVbEg1G7sozQ
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cauldron-a-history-of-the-world-battle-by-battle/id1345505888?mt=2
GooglePlay
https://play.google.com/music/m/I2ajdfquypzr4sxjfmcd2p5bdau?t=Cauldron_-_A_History_Of_The_World_Battle_By_Battle
Hello again and thanks for listening! Today we have a very cool little story about the spice trade, Portuguese exploration, Ottoman galleys and the fight for early global trade. To hear what sources I used and get a sneak peek into next weeks episode stick around until the end. Access it can be argued is one of the most consistent reasons for conflicts around the world and throughout history. Japan wanted access to raw materials in its lead up to WWII, Russia has always wanted access to a warm water port which has been the root of countless wars, the US has repeatedly gone to war to gain access or deny access to other countries for various reasons. Access to resources, rare goods, or simply to new markets has driven nations to explore, expand, and ultimately to war forever. With the advent of the age of Sail and Discovery a large number of European countries tried their hand at gaining access to the riches of the Asian East with varying degrees of success. The Portuguese were the first and for a time the only European country to have any real favorable outcome at forcing access and it all stemmed from a nasty little naval battle not far off the coast of a city called Diu. Portuguese victory at Diu went on to shake nations. The Egyptian Mamluk sultanate crumbled with the lack of income from the loss of the Indian trade and within a decade it was consumed by the Ottomans. The Ottomans had shortsightedly given marginal support and so spent the next 50 years challenging the Portuguese for control of both Diu and the Indian Ocean. Even Suleiman the Magnificent got in on the action sending his admiral Hussein Pasha to lay siege to Diu, but predictably this failed and the Ottomans had finally had enough allowing the Portuguese to have the subcontinent and the riches of the indies. The Gujarat Sultan Mahmud Begada died in 1511 and his sultanate, that in a way started the whole thing, fell to the Mughal Empire by the end of the century. Success would prove the Portuguese undoing as the other Atlantic European nations saw the potential riches that access to these markets and trade goods could bring. Soon the Dutch, English, and French swooped in like a bunch of seagulls looking to challenge Portugal for possession of India. Limited by its size and battered by so many dynamic and explosive competitors Portugal was unable to hold on but it can't be denied that for a brief moment, Portugal, used its access to stand alone as the first truly global power!
The song we used is called “Action” and is off the album American Dreams by Monplaisir
This weeks book sources - William Weir’s 50 Battles That Changed The World
This weeks web sources - https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2010/07/21/battle-of-diu-february-3-1509/
http://www.worldheritageofportugueseorigin.com/2015/06/21/the-battle-of-diu/
https://www.livehistoryindia.com/cover-story/2018/10/17/how-the-battle-of-diu-changed-world-history
For images, videos, and sources check us out on
@cauldronpodcast
@cauldronpodcast
Website
Cauldronpodcast.com
YouTube
Coming soon!
To support the show got to patron.com and search Cauldron Podcast
Also available to listen on iTunes, Spotify, GooglePlay and wherever you get your podcasts.
Hello again and thanks for listening! Today we have a very cool little story about the spice trade, Portuguese exploration, Ottoman galleys and the fight for early global trade. To hear what sources I used and get a sneak peek into next weeks episode stick around until the end. Access it can be argued is one of the most consistent reasons for conflicts around the world and throughout history. Japan wanted access to raw materials in its lead up to WWII, Russia has always wanted access to a warm water port which has been the root of countless wars, the US has repeatedly gone to war to gain access or deny access to other countries for various reasons. Access to resources, rare goods, or simply to new markets has driven nations to explore, expand, and ultimately to war forever. With the advent of the age of Sail and Discovery a large number of European countries tried their hand at gaining access to the riches of the Asian East with varying degrees of success. The Portuguese were the first and for a time the only European country to have any real favorable outcome at forcing access and it all stemmed from a nasty little naval battle not far off the coast of a city called Diu. Portuguese victory at Diu went on to shake nations. The Egyptian Mamluk sultanate crumbled with the lack of income from the loss of the Indian trade and within a decade it was consumed by the Ottomans. The Ottomans had shortsightedly given marginal support and so spent the next 50 years challenging the Portuguese for control of both Diu and the Indian Ocean. Even Suleiman the Magnificent got in on the action sending his admiral Hussein Pasha to lay siege to Diu, but predictably this failed and the Ottomans had finally had enough allowing the Portuguese to have the subcontinent and the riches of the indies. The Gujarat Sultan Mahmud Begada died in 1511 and his sultanate, that in a way started the whole thing, fell to the Mughal Empire by the end of the century. Success would prove the Portuguese undoing as the other Atlantic European nations saw the potential riches that access to these markets and trade goods could bring. Soon the Dutch, English, and French swooped in like a bunch of seagulls looking to challenge Portugal for possession of India. Limited by its size and battered by so many dynamic and explosive competitors Portugal was unable to hold on but it can't be denied that for a brief moment, Portugal, used its access to stand alone as the first truly global power!
The song we used is called “Action” and is off the album American Dreams by Monplaisir
This weeks book sources - William Weir’s 50 Battles That Changed The World
This weeks web sources - https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2010/07/21/battle-of-diu-february-3-1509/
http://www.worldheritageofportugueseorigin.com/2015/06/21/the-battle-of-diu/
https://www.livehistoryindia.com/cover-story/2018/10/17/how-the-battle-of-diu-changed-world-history
For images, videos, and sources check us out on
@cauldronpodcast
@cauldronpodcast
Website
Cauldronpodcast.com
YouTube
Coming soon!
To support the show got to patron.com and search Cauldron Podcast
Also available to listen on iTunes, Spotify, GooglePlay and wherever you get your podcasts.
This time around we head way way back to the Ancient World. On a field in Greece (of course) Philip of Macedon defeated a coalition of Thebans and Athenians, finally asserting himself as the most powerful ruler in the land. His young son Alexander began his military career on the same field and the world would never be the same. From the Sacred Band to the sarissa and everything in between, strap in because we cover a lot in this episode!
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In this battlecast we cover the events leading up to (and the battle itself obviously lol) the 2nd El Alamein. The desert, Rommel, and Monty (not to mention a whole lot of tank talk) all play key roles in the titanic fight in the sands. Sacrifice, persistence, and ferocity are the watchwords with witch the British 8th Army won the day and showed the Allies that even Hitler’s finest general could be beaten. We also talk about the modern historical controversy as to how important the battle itself was as opposed to the perception of the victory. Enjoy!
A Military History of the Western World : Vol III - Maj. Gen. J.F.C Fuller
The Second World War - John Keegan
Battlegrounds : Geography and the Art of Warfare Hardcover – Michael Stephenson
World History of Warfare - Archer - Ferris - Herwig - Travers
The Victors - Peter Young
Tank Warfare - Christer Jorgensen
https://www.patreon.com/rss?campaign=1305918&auth=_zQ40oG77pLnx3H0NRZDahKDHgjxjwWc
In this battlecast we cover the events leading up to, and the battle itself, at the 2nd El Alamein. The desert, Rommel, and Monty (not to mention a whole lot of tank talk) all play key roles in the titanic fight in the sands. Sacrifice, persistence, and ferocity are the watchwords with witch the British 8th Army won the day and showed the Allies that even Hitler's finest general could be beaten. We also talk about the modern historical controversy as to how important the battle itself was as opposed to the perception of the victory. Enjoy!
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In this Quick Hit I cover the victory of the Byzantine army under Heraclius over Persian Sassanid forces. On a plain not far from the rubble of the ancient Assyrian City of Nineveh, Byzantine cataphracts used superior numbers and generalship to bring an end to a decades long war with their eastern enemy. The end of the centuries long conflict known as the Roman-Persian Wars left a power vacuum in the Middle East and it would not be long before that vacuum was filled. An exhausted Byzantium and a crippled Persia meant there was little to slow the rise of the Arabic armies and the march of Islam.
In this episode Angelo the Armorer and I shoot the shit about one of the greatest battles of the Crusades. We cover the various weapons and methods of fighting used by the Saracens and Franks, as well as doing a deep dive into the historical context of the time period. Clocking in at just a tick over an hour, this was a lot of fun to record and at times we get fairly nerdy so be prepared! Thanks for listening and next up will be the Combat of the 30 sometime later this week.
In this episode we cover what many believe to be the single most lopsided naval victory ever -the Battle of Trafalgar! From heroic Nelson in his final battle, the desperate struggle to stop Napoleon from conquering the globe, to the destructive power of the ship of the line we cover it all. Thanks to David Hilowitz and to JerryBryant and Starboard Mess for the music!
This episode we have Dr. Greg Jackson of the History That Doesn’t Suck podcast on to chat about the most significant and maybe most decisive battle of the American Revolution, the battle of Saratoga. Its long and nerdy but we had fun chatting (please forgive the awkward talk over parts) but I think we found a decent rhythm. Greg has some great facts and interesting stories about this wild battle in the woods of New York. Thanks for listening and don’t forget to rate/review on iTunes!
The siege of Masada saw some truly amazing feats of Roman engineering, logistical organization, and deadly dedication. For the trapped Jewish Sicarri inside the city this was to be their final act of defiance in a failed revolt. A battering ram, siege tower, and a still standing agger all played a role in the capturing of a city most thought impregnable.
Sources -
The War Chronicles by Cummins
Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World by Amber Printing
Roman Warfare By Godlsworthy
The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes by Hastings
Thanks to Tri-Tachyon for the song!
Paul K Davis - 100 Decisive Battles
Charles Keen - Medieval Warfare
Winston S. Churchill - A History of the English Speaking Peoples
Melhaks for the artwork
West Point History Department for the maps
Free Music Archive for the music
The brilliant general Hannibal Barca uses an incredible command of tactics to defeat a Roman Army twice his size. By utterly destroying an army of 80,000 Hannibal believed he could bring Rome to her knees. With the amount of blood spilt on this southern Italian plain, it's shocking that the defeat at Cannae didn't break Rome but in fact Cannae made Rome stronger. Thanks for listening and don't forget to check out the Patreon!
In this battlecast we cover the daring 1976 hostage rescue at the Entebbe Airport. In Israel's long history dealing with terrorism this hour long hostage rescue may just be it's shinning moment. Flawless execution and precise timing combined to save the lives over 100 hostages. Only losing one man, the team leader Yoni Netanyahu, Israel's crack rescue team became the model for all nation's on how to deal with terrorism. Get stuck in!
In this battle cast we cover one of the deadliest battles of the First World War - the battle of the Somme. With its trenches and heavy casualties the Somme represents the very worst of the "Great War". Since the end of the battle many historians, politicians, journalists and armchair generals have argued that the battle was a senseless slaughter engineered by the generals, and though a victory there had been not much to show for it. By the end of the research process, I found that don't exactly agree. Thanks to melhaks for the great artwork! If you want to have an excellent experience (i.e. quick, easy, and cheap) getting your projects done got to melhak on fiver. Thanks again for listening and be sure to send in those theories and thoughts!
In this battle cast we are going to cover the highland charge, the fight for the English throne, and even the "clearances". So if you want to learn about the seemingly eternal war between England and her northern neighbor, Scotland, be sure to give a listen. And keep in mind that this seemingly small battle directly effected world history — from the Seven Years War to the American Revolution, Queen Victoria and her massive family to the Terror and Napoleon.
In this Battlecast Attila the Hun gets sent packing by a quickly thrown together alliance led by "the Last of the Romans" Aetius Flavius. We also take a closer look at who the huns were, where they came from, and why history remembers them with such terror. Thanks to Simon MacDowell for a great interview! Enjoy!
In our first Theorycast we cover why Hannibal wasn't at magnesia, how Antiochus may have won the battle, and why it was so important for Rome to win the day. Thanks to Corvus Corax for the great submissions!
What happens when you mix a Roman army outnumbered 2 to 1, fifty plus war elephants, and the Carthaginian Crusher himself, Hannibal Barca? Find out in this weeks battlecast were we cover the battle of Magnesia in 190 b.c. A defining moment for Rome's ability to impose it's will on the global level, as well as the final moment for the Seleucid Empire in terms of its presence as a powerful sovereign state, Magnesia is one of history's most decisive battles. With little solid factual information to back the ancient sources many now question what we believed about the battle itself, with that in mind I tried my best to blend the differing viewpoints and hopefully created an interesting engaging story. Thanks to yellowcubemusic for the tune, and to Ya for the cool art. Enjoy!
Do you know someone who likes history? Or need a new podcast for the drive to work? This is just a quick look at the road ahead.