History Of The Great War

Latest Episodes:

Verdun Pt. 5 Mar 13, 2016

Show notes

Today the action finally begins at Verdun. Today we will look at the opening German attacks on the first and second days of fighting.

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Verdun Pt. 4 Mar 06, 2016

Show notes

Up to this point in these episodes we have been discussing Falkenhayn, The Germans, and their plans for the attack almost exclusively. It is finally time to take a look at the French, what they had been up to, and how they prepared for the defense against the coming storm.

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Verdun Pt. 3 Feb 28, 2016

Show notes

This week we move one step closer to the start of the battle in February by looking at the German preparations for their attack. First we will talk about one of the most important features of the fighting, which was the masses of German artillery that would be utilized in the opening attacks. Then we will take our discussion of plans down another level of detail to look at how the Corps of the Fifth Army were arranged around Verdun and what orders were given to the infantry that would be executing the attack. Then we will dive into some specific preparations happening on the ground that were unique to the attack at Verdun. The German troops then had to suffer through weeks of waiting for the weather to be right for the attack, which was a painful and slow process given the winter weather that blew through the region in early February 1916.

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Verdun Pt. 2 Feb 21, 2016

Show notes

This week we are going to dive much deeper into the German plans for their attack at Verdun. The attack would be planned for two phases, the first phase the attack at Verdun and then the second phase was the counter attack to a British or French relief offensive. We will also talk about why on earth the Germans would attack Verdun and more importantly the geography and fortifications around Verdun which made it such an imposing target for an army in 1916 to try and attack, let alone make any progress.

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Verdun Pt. 1 Feb 14, 2016

Show notes

In many ways Verdun became the First World War, and it distills down all of the problems that the armies had been facing since 1914, all of the lessons they had thought they had learned, and showcased so many of the problems that they still had to solve before either side could obtain victory.

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Shell Shock Feb 07, 2016

Show notes

100 years later and soldiers still come back from serving their country irrevocably changed. The fact that service men and women still suffer from problems not dissimilar from those experienced by men in the trenches gives this topic a type of applicability that often is not present in our histories.

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Year of Years Jan 31, 2016

Show notes

By January 1st 1916 the war, which was supposed to be over by Christmas was now 522 days old. And 1916 would be the year of the war, it would be the year that everybody remembers, it would be the year of Jutland, the year Verdun, the year of the Somme.

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