Cauldron - A Military History Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Battle of Vigo Bay October 23 1702 Apr 28, 2022

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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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Battle of Narva November 19 1770 Apr 21, 2022

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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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Battle of Kleidion July 29, 1014 Apr 07, 2022

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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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Battle of Ipsus 301 BC Mar 31, 2022

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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!

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Battle of Clontarf 23 April 1014 Mar 23, 2022

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“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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Battle of Svolder 9 September, 999 or 1000 AD Mar 17, 2022

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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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Siege of Troy ?BCE Mar 04, 2022

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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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Battle of Kadesh 1274 BCE Feb 24, 2022

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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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Battle of Megiddo 1457 BCE Feb 17, 2022

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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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The Battle Of Umma Vs Lagash Feb 10, 2022

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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!

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