Battlecast is the world’s foremost podcast about war and it’s sociopolitical impact. Each month Dr. Luke Wolf works to bring you an unfiltered understanding of the most important battles and wars of mankind’s history. The official motto of the show: “not left, not right: above,” provides a fresh look at the conventional understandings found in history books. So pull up a chair, grab a beer, and join the conversation.
Contemporary depiction of ConstantinopleBattle map. Notice the shape of the walls.A modern reconstruction of the walls.The space between the walls was open.Schematic of the walls.
References
1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley
Diary of the Siege of Constantinople 1453 by Nicolo Barbaro
The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: A Chronicle by George Sphrantzes translated by Marios Philippides
History of Mehmed the Conqueror by Kritovoulos, translated by Charles T. Riggs
The Fall of Constantinople 1453 by Steven Runciman
History of the Byzantine State by George Ostrogorsky
Show 20: Total Jihad – Fetih 1453 and the Last Battle of Constantinople
Sep 02, 2018
Show notes
It’s a holy war between Islam and Christianity. It’s a battle known the world over. It’s the last outpost of Christian Europe in the Near East facing down a Turkish onslaught. It’s a battle that has profound and lasting implications for our modern world: from debates about Turkish entry into the European Union to the role of religion in warfare. It’s called the Battle of Constantinople. We’ll recount it all and we’ll analyze it all on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on warfare and its socio-political impact.
1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley
Diary of the Siege of Constantinople 1453 by Nicolo Barbaro
The Fall of the Byzantine Empire: A Chronicle by George Sphrantzes translated by Marios Philippides
History of Mehmed the Conqueror by Kritovoulos, translated by Charles T. Riggs
The Fall of Constantinople 1453 by Steven Runciman
Show 19: The Last Hell is Never the Very Last – Stalingrad part 2
Jul 30, 2018
Show notes
What can you write to describe this battle? It’s Stalingrad. It’s a scar on all ethics – all morality – all outlooks that men are basically good. Were men good when they massacred each other, starved each other, shot and stabbed and exploded one another at Stalingrad? Homo homini lupus – Man is a wolf to Man, according to Hobbes. This is the story of wolves shaped like men. This is Stalingrad.
The beer this episode is Bitburger – 4 bullets out of 5.
Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II by Stephen G. Fritz
The West Point Military Atlas of Modern War edited by Thomas E. Griess
The West Point Military History of The Second World War edited by Thomas E. Griess
The Second World War by John Keegan
Diary of a German Soldier by William Hoffman
A Soviet Veteran Recalls by Anton Kuzmich Dragan
Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army by Hans Wijers
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer
Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer
Stalin: A Political Biography by Isaac Deutscher
Hitler by John Toland
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Atlas of the Second World by John Keegan
Battle Maps:
A military atlas depiction of the Soviet Winter Offensive
A closer view of the Soviet counterattack
The large red arrow represents operation Winter Storm. The blue-dashed lines represent the Soviet counter attack towards Rostov.
Crushing the can: the Soviet attack on the Stalingrad pocket. The red arrows indicate Soviet thrusts. Notice the shape of the pocket.
Show 18: Enemy at the Gates: The Battle of Stalingrad part 1
Jul 01, 2018
Show notes
Stalingrad. It’s a name we’ve all heard before. It’s a showdown between two totalitarian systems and a battle that sent millions of people to the grave. Can you even imagine millions upon millions of men at war? Think about it. In our show today, this tragedy will take place in your ear drums, will desecrate your speakers. It’s beyond entertainment, though it is that. It’s beyond history, but it’s that too. And before you listen, know, there are no words in human language to describe the tragedy of this show – the limitless suffering. All I can say is thank you for joining us for another episode. Thank you for taking the time to listen and to hear about the darkest corners of human capacity. Solzhenitsyn said, “The line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” Press play and I will take you over the line and show you the evil side in your heart, and my heart, and all of our hearts. It’s all for free and it’s all on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast about war and its sociopolitical impact.
The drink this episode is Green Mark Vodka – 4 bullets out of 5.
Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II by Stephen G. Fritz
The West Point Military Atlas of Modern War edited by Thomas E. Griess
The West Point Military History of The Second World War edited by Thomas E. Griess
The Second World War by John Keegan
Diary of a German Soldier by William Hoffman
A Soviet Veteran Recalls by Anton Kuzmich Dragan
Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army by Hans Wijers
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer
Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer
Stalin: A Political Biography by Isaac Deutscher
Hitler by John Toland
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Atlas of the Second World by John Keegan
Battle Maps:
Army group B drives to Stalingrad; Army group A drives to the Caucasus Mountains
A Russian map showing the German drive (in red) to the city. Notice the shape of the city.
Show 17: The Caravan of Death – The Chilean Coup
May 28, 2018
Show notes
On September 11, 1973, tanks ground the pavement of Chile’s capital city. Chilean air force jets bombed the presidential palace. Men fought in the streets. Snipers danced in between buildings, shooting friend and foe, and even each other. The whole nation was under martial law. The radio was taken over. The schools were taken over. Everything: taken over. Imagine it in your country: jets bombing the White House, tanks massing in downtown Atlanta, the military blocking websites and broadcasting coup justifications. Well, it all happened to nine million Chileans. This is their story and it’s only on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on military history and its socio-political impact.
Beer this episode is Hop Dang Diggity from the great people at Jekyll Brewing. 4.5 bullets out of five. Check out their website at Jekyll Brewing.
Show 16: Australia Turns the Tide – The Kokoda Track
May 01, 2018
Show notes
Japan Triumphant
On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States navy at Pearl Harbor. On December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. But Japan didn’t stop at Pearl Harbor, she launched a series of daring assaults across the Pacific theater of war. On the tenth of December, the Japanese invaded the Philippines and Guam fell. On December 23, General Macarthur began his long withdrawal from Manila to Bataan. On February 22, General Douglas Macarthur is ordered to leave the Philippines. 25,000 Americans are taken prisoner. About 500 would survive the horrors of Japanese internment. The Dutch East Indies, Singapore, Hong Kong – all fall to the Japanese.
But this whole time, the Japanese know America is massing forces for a counterattack. At the same time, Australia is at war with Japan. If Australia can be isolated, the whole of the Southern Pacific Ocean would lay secure in Japanese hands. The Japanese forces could concentrate on the westward thrust of the Americans, freeing valuable resources and manpower to blunt the American counterattack that was already forming in January 1942.
Australia in the way
All that stood in the way of the Japanese advance south were a few isolated Australian platoons on Papua New Guinea. The Japanese easily landed on the north coast of New Guinea at Buna and made their way south, on the Kokoda Trail. The Kokoda Trail is a mountainous track through dense, equatorial jungle. It’s literally only a man wide and vehicles cannot penetrate it. The vegetation blots out the sun and gives the entire place a somnambulant, ghostly quality. Artillery, grenades, and hand to hand combat would decide the outcome here, not machines. It’s men against men. It’s blood. It’s mud. It’s guts and it’s all for free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on military history and its socio-political impact.
Beer this week: Cooper’s Original Pale Ale, 4.5 bullets out of 5.
Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Volume 6 by David Dexter
A Bastard of a Place: The Australians in Papua by Peter Brune
Reaping the Whirlwind: The German and Japanese Experience of World War II by Nigel Cawthorne
The Path of Infinite Sorrow: The Japanese on the Kokoda Track by Hajime Marutani
The Turn of the Tide, July 1942-February 1943: Shifting Strategic Initiative in the Pacific in World War II (doctoral dissertation) by Sean Judge, Ohio State University
From Port Moresby to Guadalcanal: Roots of Japanese Failure (masters thesis) by Michael Foster, University of Nebraska
Show 15: Death Forest – Battle of Teutoburg Forest
Apr 02, 2018
Show notes
In today’s episode we have one of the most important battles in world history: Teutoburg Forest. A loose confederation of Germanic tribes, led by a Romanized German named Arminius, seeks to stem the irresistible Roman advance into the heart of Germany. It was Arminius’s actions that saved the German language. It was his actions that saved countless Germans from Roman dominion. And Roman dominion was harsh: by 9 A.D., the Roman peninsula had undergone a massive shift. It is a land teeming with slaves and poverty-stricken freemen, where 15,000 elites rule over approximately 7,000,000 disenfranchised subjects. Rome was coming and she had perfected warfare. Her soldiers are better-trained than the Germans. Her civilization is more advanced than the Germans. It should have been an easy victory for the Romans. It wasn’t. It’s epic history and it’s all for free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on warfare and its socio-political impact.
The beer this episode is Konig Ludwig – 4.5 bullets out of 5.
The Oxford History of the Classical World by Griffin Murray (ed.)
A History of Rome (3rd edition) by Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin and Yann Le Bohec
Roman History by Cassius Dio
The Annals by Tacitus
The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo by Edward Shepherd Creasy
Maps and Illustrations:
Map showing the Roman Empire and the rough location of the battle:
Map of the battle
Picture of the Teutoburg Forest today
Recreation of the wooden walls used by the Germans to constrict Roman movement
Monument dedicated to Arminius in modern-day Germany
Show 14: Canada Must Fall – the Plains of Abraham
Mar 01, 2018
Show notes
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham was fought outside the walls of Quebec City. It decided the fate of not only the French in North America but also hundreds of Native American tribes across the continent. In today’s show we have ethnic cleansing on a vast scale – entire provinces and regions deliberately depopulated. We have human sacrifice. We have the destruction of villages and towns. We outline a war and a battle that echoes across our time today. We show the direct link this battle has on modern Canadian politics – the vast sums spent, the thousands of man hours exhausted and the tensions of the modern Canadian state. All of it starts here, on the Plains of Abraham. In our show you’ll meet a young George Washington, who arguably starts a war between the French and British Empires. The burnt homes, the weeping widows, the lost languages, lost cultures, lost religions – it all begins at this one point in time. Steel and blood carved the modern Canadian and American states – nothing else. It’s all on today’s show and it’s all for free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast about military history and its socio-political impact.
The beer this episode is La Fin du Monde from the great people at Unibroue, 4.5 bullets out of 5.
The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War by Fred Anderson
The Penguin History of Canada by Bob Bothwell
A Short History of Quebec: Fourth Edition by John A. Dickinson and Brian Young
British Newspaper Accounts of Braddock’s Defeat by N. Darnell Davis. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 23, No. 3 (1899), pp. 310-328
A Journal of the Expedition up the River St. Lawrence by a Serjeant-Major of Gen. Hopson’s Grenadiers
An Independent Quebec: The Past, the Present and the Future by Jacques Parizeau and Robin Philpot (Translator)
Colonial Pennsylvania: A History by Joseph E. Illick and Milton M. Kline
Colonial New York: A History by Michael G Kammen
The Cajuns: Americanization of a People by Shane K. Bernard
Maps and Illustrations:
Map of France’s land claims in North America. The area shaded yellow shows French claims. The area shaded green shows British claims.
The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West. Oil on canvas, 1770
General Montcalm, mortally wounded on the Plains of Abraham, is taken to Quebec. Watercolour by Louis Bombled
Initial deployment of Anglo-Americans flanking Quebec
Map illustrating the battle of the Plains of Abraham
Land Acquired by British at the conclusion of the war.
A Canadian monument showing the depopulation of Nova Scotia called La Grand Derangement
Show 13: Black Hawk Down – The Battle of Mogadishu part 2
Jan 28, 2018
Show notes
It’s our anniversary show here at Battlecast and we’re starting our second year off with an action-packed episode on the Battle of Mogadishu. In today’s episode you’ll hear an epic story of self-sacrifice as two Delta Force operators attempt to hold back an entire city of hostiles. Meanwhile, General Garrison struggles to scrape together a relief column for the 100 men still battling for their lives in Mogadishu. It’s a battle that spawned the epic film Black Hawk Down and it’s one of our most widely requested battles. It’s modern war in all its savagery and it’s only on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on military history.
The beer this month is Tusker: 2 bullets out of 5.
Show 12: Black Hawk Down – the Battle of Mogadishu part 1
Dec 22, 2017
Show notes
It’s October 3, 1993 and 160 soldiers of an American task force are making a routine raid into Mogadishu. It should have been just another minor skirmish. It became a battle that would cost the lives of thousands. On today’s show we’ve got a classic showdown of cutting-edge military technology and training versus the sheer numbers of the ill-led Somali militias. It’s a unique battle made famous in the epic war-film Black Hawk Down. It’s also our first show about modern warfare here on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast about war. We released this one a week early as a Christmas gift to you and want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year. To all of you traveling out there, stay warm and stay safe.
The beer this episode is Sam Adams Winter Lager – 4 bullets out of 5.
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