The History Network

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1506 The Battle of Gettysburg Aug 25, 2013

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Turning points are sometimes controversial but it is generally accepted that the Battle of Gettysburg was the major turning point of the American Civil War. It marked the high point of Confederate arms in that it was their last venture into the north and the furthest they reached. After Gettysburg the South was essentially permanently on the defensive and never regained the capability of significant offensive action against the North. Dur: 27mins File: .mp3

1505 Kalashnikov Aug 12, 2013

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With only 8 moving parts, the AK-47 assault rifle is simple to maintain and its simplicity of use and durability are legendary. It can fire 600 rounds a minute and every single bullet is potentially still lethal at distances of more than a kilometre or two-thirds of a mile. 70+ Million have been produced (over 100 million if you count its variants). Its initial design was submitted as a competition entry after the Soviet Army asked for designs for a reliable weapon capable of withstanding all that the then Russian front could throw at a weapon. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

Bringing Order to Chaos: The Armies of Diocletian Aug 02, 2013

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Jasper, Josho and Michael are joined by Jason Klazmer to look at the the armies of Diocletian (Ancient Warfare Magazine VI-5)

"When Emperor Alexander Severus was assassinated in AD 235, the Roman Empire fell into an abyss that it would only crawl out of after almost fifty years. Roman armies clashed in struggles for the throne, with generals proclaimed emperor by their troops and then meeting violent ends a few months later – often at the hands of those same troops. Besides this internal power struggle, the Empire was also plagued by attacks from without."

Dur: 40min 49sec

1504 The Battle of Isandhlwana Jul 28, 2013

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The origins of the Zulu War of 1879 can be traced to the first decade of the 19th century. It was then, that a rather minor clan of the Bantu people begun to grow into a formidable military force united under a single warrior chief. Zulu were always united in their ways by kinship. Dur: 28mins File: .mp3

1503 The Higgins Boat Jul 12, 2013

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Contrary to the 2010 film version of Robin Hood there was no medieval landing craft version of the "Saving Private Ryan" ilk. Before the Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (the LCVP), boats needed to be beached and their occupants jump over the side into water. Vital time was lost. Dur: 23mins File: .mp3

1502 The Battle of Plassey Jun 22, 2013

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From early in 1754 the Seven Year war started to bubble into full scale global conflict. In North America French and British colonists clashed over trade and disputed territory. In May 1756 the first naval action took place at Minorca in the Mediterranean where the British were forced to withdraw, opening up hostilities in Europe. In India the French and British East India Companies vied for influence over the region in a series for proxy conflicts as each would support local rulers against one another. At Plassey Robert Clive won a victory that would help secure the close relationship between Britain and India for the next 200 years. Dur: 16mins File: .mp3

1501 Stuxnet Jun 09, 2013

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The history of Cyber-warfare can be traced back to the advent of the telegraph communications in the first half of the 19th century. During the First World War the importance of codes and wired communications came of age with such famed episodes as the intercepting by the British Intelligence of the Zimmerman Telegram dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt. Dur: 19mins File: .mp3

The Campaigns of Pyrrhus of Epirus May 24, 2013

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In this our first video / audio recording Jasper, Michael, Lindsay and Josho look at Pyrrhus.

Pyrrhus was the second cousin to Alexander the Great, and at only two years he began his career as a penniless exile after his father was dethroned. Pyrrhus would rise to become King of Epirus, King of Macedon and King of Sicily...

1410 The Battle of Mirbat Apr 29, 2013

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In the early morning of 18th July 1972 nine British SAS soldiers stationed at a fort outside the coastal town of Mirbat in Southern Oman saw approaching in the distance what they believed to be the local troops returning from night watch. That was until they opened fire - they were in fact up to 300 Adoo Communist rebels...For six hours the SAS and a handful of local soldiers held out. Dur: 17mins File: .mp3

1409 British Commandos - Operation Biting 1942 Apr 15, 2013

Show notes

In David Thomas's The importance of Commando Operations in Modern Warfare 1939-82 he states: "Commando operations in the sense of self-contained acts of war mounted by forces operating within enemy territory are as old as warfare itself. However, before the second world war, the types of missions that later would become known as 'commando operations', were regarded in western military thought as belonging to the separate phenomenon of irregular warfare, that is, to partisan and guerrilla activity. Therefore, the several [British Commando] forces which came into existence between 1940 and 1942 owed their formation not to British army strategy and doctrine, nor to any far-reaching conception of commando warfare, but to the fertile imagination of Prime Minister Churchill and a number of gifted officers." Dur: 32mins File: .mp3

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